Fog Rising

✿three

"I'll warn you now," Aurora cautioned, "this story doesn't have a happy ending."

Andrew rested a hand gently on her shoulder. "You don't know that, because your story isn't over yet. It'll have a good ending, I promise," he smiled reassuringly.

She nodded and looked around the room as if the walls could tell her where to begin.

"Two years ago, I ran away from home," Aurora started. "I was fifteen, but I knew that I was in love. Of course, looking back now, it obviously wasn't love. But I was young and naive and still thought that Romeo and Juliet was a beautiful love story, that he was my Romeo.

"Lucas didn't have the Prince Charming qualities that all teenage girls fantasize, but he was so much more than that to me. He was adventurous and mesmerizing, never-- not even until the last day-- ceasing to amaze me. When I met him at a party this girl from school was throwing, I instantly knew that we had a magnetic relationship, and that nothing could keep me from loving him.

"He transformed right in front of my eyes, though. Lucas went from the kind and funny boyfriend I knew to a monster. He started pressuring me into doing drugs and--" Aurora's voice broke and her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," she choked, "I don't want you to think badly of me."

Andrew pulled her into a hug. "I would never," he patted her back, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Thank you," she smiled gratefully. "Anyway, Lucas got me into dealing. Together we ran a pretty successful business selling pot, but he wanted more. He was always ambitious but applied it to the wrong thing. So I started dealing harder stuff, too. My parents got suspicious and tried to punish me, but I was too in love with Lucas to let them get in my way. I left home to be with him. I left the only people that ever loved me to be with him.

"He turned eighteen just a few days after I ran away, so he used our money to buy an apartment. And while I had some twisted vision that we had a perfect life together, and despite constantly living on the edge, things got worse. He got into a major standoff with another dealer and his gang in the area, so I was living in a constant state of fear. He started gambling, leaving us broke and unable to stay in the same place for long.

"Our lives became a cycle of moving to a new city, setting up a client base, then running out of money or getting into trouble with rival dealers and having to pack up and move again. I hated it, and I hated myself for letting this happen. One night, he got drunk at a casino and came home with a bullet in his back and a gun in his hand, telling me to shoot the first thing that walked through the door. And something snapped in me. I left him hiding under our bed and ran, because that seems to be all I'm good at.

"I made my way back here, where we'd lived for a while and couch surfed with different people for weeks. But whoever had shot Lucas that night was following me, leaving messages that told me I owed them a debt. I thought I'd be safer if I stuck to the streets, so I stopped sleeping at friends' houses And decided to fend for myself. I was doing fine until last night, when they caught up with me and tried to physically threaten me. And now here I am," she finished sadly.

Andrew was staring at her with his mouth agape in shock.

"Aurora," his voice came out sounding cracked and low, "I'm so sorry. I--"

"Don't pity me, please," she smiled weakly. "I owed it to you to tell you after all the help you've given me, but I don't need your sympathy."

Andrew nodded, understanding. He hated when people tried to tell him how sorry they were, or how they knew what he felt. "Fine. But I will continue to help you, if it's the last thing I do. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing. I appreciate you letting me sleep here but I'm gonna move on now, let you and your brothers be. Thank you so much, I mean that," her shoulders were slumped and then Andrew could really see her as just a seventeen year old, beaten down by a life she didn't choose.

"No way. You're staying with us, or going back to your parents. I insist," he said firmly.

She visibly paled. "Please don't make me go back to my parents. I think that's a worse fate than whatever awaits me outside."

"Okay, fair enough. You're staying here then," Andrew pushed.

Aurora then felt something inside of herself that she hadn't felt for a long time. Hope swelled from her toes to her skull, washing through her and swirling with the bright yellow feeling of being cared for, about.

"Can I really?" She whispered, tears inching up in her eyes.

Andrew nodded. This was something he needed to do. It wasn't his personality to leave someone to fend for themselves.

Her arms flew around his broad shoulders as she hugged him tighter than he thought possible for such a skinny girl.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou," she spoke hoarsely, emotion thick in her voice.

"It's nothing," Andrew smiled at her once she pulled away. "Now, I'm gonna need to register you at school. What grade should I say you're in?"

//

"Boys, we've an announcement," Andrew said later that evening as his brothers and Aurora scarfed down Chinese takeout.

"You're getting married?" Sean pouted.

"You're moving our family to a tropical island?" Matt stuffed a dumpling into his mouth.

Andrew rolled his eyes and smiled. "Aurora is gonna be living with us now. She'll be going to school with you, Matt, under the pretense that she's your cousin or something that came to stay with us. Since there could be some trouble with people from her past," he paused and looked at her for approval, "she's gonna use our last name. Sound good?"

The boys were quiet for a few seconds, something rare. Then Sean spoke up.

"What are the laws about marrying your cousin?" He winked at Aurora, who scoffed.

"Doesn't matter if it's legal, I'd never marry you. And I'm not even your real cousin," she rolled her eyes but smiled.

Matt leaned over and gave her a high-five. "Keep that up and you'll be my favorite person in this family," he laughed.

"I'm glad you three are already getting along," Andrew looked pleased, "because you have another two months together. Or more," he glanced at Aurora with a glimmer of hope in his eye.

There would be nothing holding her back from leaving the second she turned eighteen. She could walk away from the Landry boys and never turn back. But for some reason, he hoped she wouldn't do that. He could tell that Aurora was a good person that had made bad choices, and that wasn't her fault. So a piece of Andrew knew that even once she could legally leave his house, she wouldn't.

But Aurora didn't share his reaction, instead smiling tightly and turning to ask Sean a question. She felt there was no other option; staying here until she could lawfully be on her own was the best plan she could come up with. It bothered her that she was potentially putting these boys in danger, but that was another reason to leave the day she became an adult. The less time she spent here was less time the Landry brothers could be hurt, and it would be impossible to repay them for taking her in if they were dead.

-

Sorry for the long wait! Hope you dig it.

Not sure yet but this might end up being a short story; depends on how I decide to format the chapters and everything.

Thanks for reading y'all!