Into the Woods

Chapter 3

Shock must have dulled Lance's mind, blurring the rest of that afternoon. If he tried to remember what happened when he made it back to the pitifully small waiting area Lance could vaguely recall Veronica making fun of him for how long he'd taken, implying with an inquiry that he'd perhaps run into a pretty girl. Even the panic he'd felt in that moment had been muted.

When mama had come to gather them all up and take them home Lance hadn't been able to meet Rachel's gaze.

His mind had run in the same loop for he wasn't even sure how long. He must have misheard something. It might have been the wrong room! Some other mother and dying daughter, and he hated himself for even hoping such a thing.

And now? Well now Lance was sitting alone in his room, cross legged atop his bed. Tiburonsito resting in his lap, unsure of how much time had passed he idly flipped through one of his many comics, eyes static upon the pages. He couldn't say which hero's adventure he'd picked up and he certainly wasn't reading.

"Hey Lance." Rachel seemed to materialize out of nowhere, leaning over her twin, face inches from him. Without meaning too he scrambled backwards on the bed, comic slipping from his lap. His eyes already averted.

Rachel straightened up, hands on her hips and eyebrow raised. "You've been super out of it all day man.

She was acting so natural.... So... so normal. How did she do that? Still though, if she could behave like nothing had happened.... Maybe it really hadn't? Lance allowed this hope to plant into his heart like a seed, clutching it in a tight desperation.

Lance's gaze flicked up to hers finally, and she smirked. "There you are!" The smile he returned was tentative. A small part of him wanted to ask her but he was too afraid of the truth, and so instead the question that slipped from his lips was an unintended one.

"Rachel, do you ever... you really never like.... Know how I'm feeling do you?"

A look of worry passed over her features and she sat on the edge of the bed, shaking her head. "you already know Lance..." She pulled his hands into hers. "And you... you still feel mine?"

For a moment Lance thought about denying it, lying to retain some sense of the ordinary, until dread like an abyss swallowed him. His eyes widened as he stared at Rachel. This is what she was feeling right now?

"I thought so."

Before Lance could saying anything, before he could even try to salvage the small seed of hope that he'd barely planted, giggling broke through the loaded silence as Nadia and Sylvio chased each other down the hall and slammed through the doorway, left ajar by his sister.

"Come on guys dinnertime!"

The dread that filled Lance was impossible to untangle from the same exact emotion that Rachel was suddenly burdened with.

Neither of them could meet the other's gaze as they turned and faced the hallway. The kids already sped from the room their shouts of "dinnertime" ringing through the abode. To Lance, and to Rachel, the walk to the dining table felt like a funeral march.

It was by the ingenuity of family that all twelve of them were able to fit at the dinner table, sitting elbow to elbow as the meal was served. Every single one of them, even the smallest, could tell that something was off. Lance knew because each adult was tensed, and the two younger ones obviously felt this in the very air, and sat in anxious silence. Never before had their supper been so quiet.

It was the first time in a long while that the whole of them were all able to sit down together, what with everyone's work schedules it was nigh impossible outside of the big holidays.