Dark Corners / ✓

fourteen: of surprise visits

"You know, hope is a mistake. If you can't fix what's broken, you'll, uh... you'll go insane." - Max Rockatansky, Mad Max: Fury Road

When I woke up to someone knocking on my door that morning, I had a pretty good idea of who it would be.

So it's safe to say I was surprised when I saw Grant Cutkosky standing on the other side.

I paused, door halfway open, eyes wide in surprise. My hair was a mess, I was in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a sweater and Grant was grinning at me. I was aware of how messy I looked (I had just woken up) but Grant didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, Emmy," he said, smile finally fading a bit when he looked me over, "Did I just wake you up? Shit, I'm sorry - "

"It's fine," I said, cutting Grant's apology short. I backed away from the door and pushed it open, waving one hand to beckon him in, "Griffin does this kind of stuff all the time, so I'm kind of used to it."

Grant walked in slowly, hand lingering on the door for a minute before he gently pushed it slow. While Grant and Griffin were so similar looking in their physical appearance, they differentiated greatly in the way they carried themselves. Grant was gentle and hesitant, eyes darting around my apartment before he carefully sat in a chair by the couch. Griffin, on the other hand, would've came in and threw himself into the nearest seat, lacking all of the carefulness that Grant had.

I walked into the kitchen and headed straight over to the coffee pot, wasting no time in setting it up and pulling out an extra mug for Grant. I turned around and held the mug up and pointed to the coffee pot, which resulted in another big grin on Grant's part and a nod.

"I actually came over to talk to Griffin, but he wasn't home. Probably at work," Grant said, standing up from the chair and walking into the kitchen. Grant leaned against the wall and ran his fingers through his light hair, "He told me that he took you with him to talk to the officer."

The memory from two days ago hit me full-force, resurfacing everything that had happened. I remembered being shocked when I realized where Griffin took us, and then being absolutely horrified when Ruslan told us everything he knew about the case. I tried to forget what Ruslan said, but his words stuck with me.

"Griff told me it was a bust and that you guys didn't get anything," Grant added, and I had to fight off the look of complete surprise that threatened to overtake my features, "I'm just sorry that he took you with him."

Griffin didn't tell Grant what Officer Ruslan had told us - not about their mother knowing the killer, or her not screaming or fighting back. As dangerous as it was for Griffin to try and handle the case on his own, I respected that he kept that dark information from his brother. Grant didn't seem to be able to handle intense things like Griffin could.

I pulled the coffee pot away from the machine and poured myself a cup before handing it over to Grant, "It's fine. Nothing happened, so it's totally fine."

Grant didn't look convinced, but he shrugged lightly and poured himself coffee, denying my offer of cream or sugar. We lapsed into silence; the two of us just stood in the kitchen, drinking our coffee, occupied with our own thoughts.

I was surprised that Griffin wasn't home. Usually whenever I was home, Griffin always was, too. I really couldn't think of many times when I noticed Griffin being gone, but that was because he always popped back into my life. With the amount of time I spent with Griffin, it was actually easy to forget he even had a job.

Grant took a sip of his coffee and sighed, blue eyes locked on the wall. There was an air of innocence around Grant, making him seem years younger than he actually was. While Griffin handled himself confidently and assuredly, promising that he was capable to take care of himself, Grant just didn't. He seemed lost and confused, constantly looking for someone to assure him.