Clair de Lune

22. Home

Marshall came back around noon, having loaded all of the groceries into the lift before bringing them down. We all helped to unpack, placing the food in the fridge and the cabinets before going through the clothes and taking our picks of what we wanted to claim as "ours". Osiris and I split everything down the middle, and I was glad Marshall hadn't attempted to buy us any dresses or skirts.

"Is this all for me?!" Lily gasped, looking up at Marshall with wide black eyes.

"Well, uh, yes." He shifted uncomfortably. "You're the only one it would fit."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around his legs. Marshall's eyes widened for a moment before he smiled and patted the girl's head, letting her run off to go change. Something flashed in his eyes, and the pain I saw in them filled me with concern. There was something about Lily that made him uncomfortable and I don't think it was her eyes.

"You can have all the long sleeves," Murmur said to Necro, "I can't wear those things."

"Works for me, I'm freezing all the time. Just make sure I get a couple short sleeves at least."

Necro pulled a sweater over his head, the gray material similar to one in my memories. I saw Nolan sitting at the piano in his favorite sweater, tapping the keys while it rained outside. My smile suddenly faded and I gripped the cloth in my hands tighter. Nolan always liked sweaters over anything else. Osiris caught my eye from the other side of the table and I just shook my head, taking my pile of clothing back to the bedroom after thanking Marshall again.

I sat on my bed and began to fold my clothing, placing the pants in one pile and shirts in another, taking the tags off while I went. Someone else walked into the room, and I didn't pause when Osiris took a seat across from me. I just listened.

"What's going on between you and Necro?" She asked quietly. "Obviously you two have a history."

"Nothing," I told her genuinely, "he's the first subject I met when I went into the facility and he helped me out. There's just some things that he does that reminds me of someone I'd...someone I'd rather forget."

"It was someone you loved, wasn't it?"

"Someone I loved dearly." I whispered, feeling my hands begin to shake. One traveled to my neck, and I clutched the tassel between my fingers.

"Losing people is hard, and it's harder to not search for them in the people around you," Osiris said, the words reaching me unlike any others, "the best you can do is go day to day and tell yourself it will all be okay."

"Seth...PASCI killed your brother, didn't they?" I said, and she nodded slowly. "I killed mine."

"How did it happen?"

"The house burnt to the ground and he was trapped in it," I explained, "I started the fire after I'd been...taken advantage of by one of my other foster brothers."

"You didn't mean to though."

"I didn't even know I could."

I held my hand out, a small vibration traveling along my skin before flames traveled from my shoulder to my fingertips. I twisted my fingers and twirled my hand before resting it on my cheek, the fire extinguishing as I pretended it was his touch against my skin.

"I miss him," a tear streamed down my cheek, disappearing into the crevasse in my skin, "I hadn't started missing him until now, I'd been so wrapped up in everything going on at the facility."

"You might be causing yourself some anger then," Osiris told me, "It's all I did after Seth died. I blamed myself and thought that I could've fought harder, but I couldn't have. It took me a very long time to understand that it wasn't my fault," her eyes locked with mine, "It was theirs."