Goddamn Tragedy

III

His car smelled vaguely of lavender as he parked back in front of Monty's. He couldn't tell if he liked or hated the smell.

The smell stayed with him as he entered the small house, grabbed a beer and danced with some girl Monty claimed was "super fine and legal". He would have been annoyed but he didn't want to think and he didn't want to care.

He had a shitty day at work. For one, he had to work at the auto-shop and barely had time to make it to his shift at The Ark. And when he did get to work, he realized he had forgotten his dress shoes at home. He also didn't realize half of his face was covered in grease until after his shift.

All he wanted was to have a good night.

A night where he could forget about everything. Forget that he had to the shittiest day. Forget that his sister was ignoring him. Forget like he was barely making this month's rent, even with two full-time jobs.

Then she appeared, as if out of nowhere.

He spotted her once he got out of his car. A sad look filled her features and he was almost going to just walk right by her until she started to fall toward the ground. It was weird how he reacted because he reacted without thinking about it. He reached out his arms and there they stood, wrapped up in another like a vine.

She was stubborn and it annoyed him. Especially because she thought she could prance around in his neck of the woods like nothing would happen to her (he wouldn't admit that the thought made him feel a bit concerned because that would be stupid).

So, he drove her home and he would be lying if he said he didn't feel self-conscious in his old piece of shit Buick. (And he would be lying if he said he didn't stare at her backside when she walked up to her house.)

Fuck it. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

He shook his head at his thoughts and started to smirk when he felt the brunette in front of him rub against him to the beat. It was Sunday night, so that meant he didn't have to work anywhere tomorrow. Monday was his day off and he knew exactly how he wanted to start it.

"Bellamy." He bit his lip and turned his head to see Jasper Jordan standing a few feet away from him. The boy was scrawny as hell but he made up for it. Jasper had his back plenty of times and although he appreciated it, it only served to annoy him now. "It's –ugh- it's Octavia."

He dropped his hands from the slim waist they were gripping and he followed Jasper between the moving bodies.

The music was loud but he couldn't hear a single thing. He felt the vibrations in his chest and he felt the lights pounding on his skin.

When it came to Octavia, he dropped everything. He dropped school, he dropped work, he dropped friends and he dropped girls. Everything was dropped because nothing mattered without her.

His pulse grew as he headed toward the small hallway that leads toward the bedrooms. His skin was on fire.

Thoughts rushed into his brain.

He walked into the small bedroom and saw his sister, his baby sister, huddled in a corner clutching her ears and rocking. She looked like a small fallen fawn. His pulse ignited and he pushed past Jasper to get to her. Get to her. Get to her. Get to her.

He tried to pull on her arms but they wouldn't budge. She was clutching her ears so tightly and he didn't want to hurt her or have her hurt herself. The thought made him sick.

As he pressed his forehead lightly to hers, he hummed a song he always did when she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Images of their childhood haunted her. They haunted him but he wouldn't let that show. He had to be the strong one. He had to be the one to hold them together.