Fettered

The More Things Change...

Right before the following holiday break, Lucas listened to Persephone and Ronald arguing over the phone. Persephone had strayed further from her parents until she was practically living with him on the weekends. He loved it, but Ronald obviously had a different opinion. They'd gotten into plenty of arguments about it and this weekend was no different. From his bedroom, Lucas heard her in the kitchenette.

"I've proved I'm more than capable of handling time with Lucas and my grades," she snapped. "This isn't even about my grades anymore, this is about you being controlling and I'm sick of it!"
He heard Ronald's voice barely chirping in the background as he said something back.
"Yeah, well don't expect me to live under your roof for much longer, Dad. And if you haven't noticed, I've grown up — I'm not some kid you can just meld to your own expectations anymore."
More Ronald chirping; his voice was raised now but still incomprehensible.
"You can't ground me if I don't come home."

Ronald's chirping was cut short and Persephone returned to the bedroom with her phone in her pocket.

"Went well, did it?" Lucas asked.
"Yep, turned my phone off and everything." She played irritably with his Ouija board necklace, then rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you still up for that shower?"
"Obviously."

The shower presented a perfect opportunity for a relaxing chat about Christmas together with his family. She gushed, talking excitedly about cooking and present shopping and helping decorate the home.

"Ooh, and we should decorate Hunter's grave with Christmas stuff."

Goddamn was she cute.

One mid-March afternoon on Sunday, Lucas still hadn't heard anything from Persephone. Strange, she normally at least texted him before the morning was over and it was past noon without a word. Plus, they always spent Sundays together. She'd been supposed to come over and hadn't arrived. His text had been left hanging. He looked at his phone, reading what he'd written, 'morning, gorgeous', then about an hour later he texted her a, 'still coming over?'. A call or two didn't go through afterward, like she'd ignored them.

Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary before and he found himself pacing his room, fingers tapping impatiently on his phone case. Lunch would be ending soon and he couldn't understand why she'd not contacted him. His thumbs hovered over the screen, letters a jumbled mess at the bottom that he tried to form into words. He eventually deciphered a,

'Pers, you ok?'

Then he waited, staring as his clammy palms tried to keep a grip on his phone. Did something happen to her? Was she sick?

He saw that she was typing — a fast reply that took him aback given her prior silence. Words popped up onto the screen and he had to read them twice to make sure he hadn't misread. Her text sent a chill down his spine, causing his cheeks to go cold.

'we're moving'

He didn't remember the drive there. All he remembered before finding himself across the street from her house was opening the garage, car keys in hand. The rest was a blur of shaking hands and a racing mind. He didn't want to believe that she'd actually sent him that text, but Persephone'd been waiting for him, arms crossed tight. When he pulled up, she rushed across the street to greet him at his truck. He had to catch her as she jumped into his arms. Her eyes were red, puffy, but he barely got to see them before she buried her face in his chest, holding his hoodie in clenched fists.

Her reaction confirmed to him that her text hadn't been some crazy hallucination. She'd really be moving away.

It took a while for her to let him go and climb around to the passenger side. He returned to his seat as well. She shut the radio off, making him aware that it had been on in the first place.

She said, "Let's go."
"Where to?"
"Don't care. Anywhere away from here."
"Want me to take you home?"

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. It was the first time he'd ever seen her cry. She was normally so strong. Seeing her lose control shattered his heart. Persephone's voice cracked as she spoke.

"Yes."

The whole ride was spent in silence, with the occasional sniffle or hiccuping cry from Persephone. He kept his hand on her thigh comfortingly, trying to focus on getting back home where they could talk. Focus was not easily kept and he often found himself spacing out, driving on autopilot as his mind raced with thoughts of losing Persephone forever. After everything they'd been through together, after all the love he felt for her and she felt for him, she was leaving. He didn't know if he could handle it.

When they got to the garage and stepped out of the truck, she attached herself to him, arms held tight around his shoulders.

The memory of how they got to his bedroom was a blur of looming loneliness and despair. Diane met them on the way and cuddled in Lucas's bed with them, pushed up against him with her head across his waist, as if she knew something was wrong.

Persephone had been quiet, her face in his chest. He wanted to hear her voice but didn't want to force her to speak, so he was quiet, too. Where was she moving? Would she break up with him? That thought was unbearable. A sharp pain ran through his chest as his mind repeated that he would never see her again. He couldn't let that happen — he wouldn't. If there was anything he could do to keep them together, he would do it without hesitation. But was it selfish to think that way? Selfish to think only of how he'd feel if they couldn't be together? Persephone was the one being uprooted, taken to a place she'd never been against her will. But he needed her; needed her touch, her voice, her smile. He'd made it through so much because of her help and support.

"We're not breakin' up, are we?" He asked before he could hold the words in.
She looked at him, putting her hand on his cheek. "No, of course not, Lucas."

Tears stained her face. As her thumb caressed his cheek, he gazed into her sad eyes. Her deep, amazing, stunning brown eyes that he'd go God knows how long without seeing whenever she moved away. He kissed her alluring lips, fearing that it was one of the few kisses they had left.

Once their kiss broke, she continued. "I could never break up with you. I'll do anything to make us work."
"Me, too, Pers. I'll do anythin' I can." He rested his forehead against hers. "Why are you movin', anyway? What's goin' on?"
Persephone's face fell and her eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as she spoke. "My dad got a job in Baltimore."
"Why am I not surprised? It's just like Ronald to fuck up a good thing."
Her voice cracked as she spoke, "I swear, he thinks the whole goddamned world should revolve around him — fuck whatever me and Mom want."

Once the words finished leaving her lips, she cried more, her face back in his chest. He held her close, wishing he never had to let her go.

____


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