The Garden of Heathen

Revelation

"Ok..." Aussie trailed off as she scratched the top of her head with her pointer finger, trying to wrap her head around the situation at hand. "Does it give us a hint where we should take it?"

His head tilted, one brow up and one down.
"Yeah. But you're not gonna like it."

She gazed up into his eyes in confusion, almost completely distracted from the conversation at hand by the fact he was so, so close to her face. But the thought finally dawned on her and her expression went slack.
"Is it the friggin basem-"

Gally nodded before she even finished the word and she bit her bottom lip angrily to keep from cursing. She took several steps back from him as her hands went to her head pushing her hair back. Her stomach was turning and her heart beat so fast she thought she'd faint. Her shaking hands went to her hips before she finally spoke again.
"Give me... like... 5 minutes and I'll meet you there."

She promptly turned on her heel and walked off without further explanation. Gally didn't head to the house or follow Aussie. He just stood there and watched her, the note firmly clutched in his fist. Aussie stomped into the clearing before looking around. Gally thought he heard a whistle and a moment later Aussie was tackled by a black and white blur. She was barely visible in the grass as she embraced the dog.

That girls suicide must have deeply affected Aussie if she wasn't racing for the chance to read a message from the outside world.

"What's going on?" Georgia asked, materializing at his elbow.

"What would it take to get Aussie into the basement?" He asked her without taking his eyes off where he'd seen Aussie sit down.

Georgia let out an obnoxious and humorless laugh as she placed her fists on her hips.
"Uh, knocking her out and dragging her body down there I guess, but I think she's had enough head injuries already. Why do want her to go down there? I thought you were supposed to be sweet on her or something."

"I wouldn't have asked her if it wasn't really important," his first clenched tighter around the note till he could feel a raw edge start to cut his palm.

There was a long pause and he could see Georgia out of the corner of his eye look at him, follow his gaze, and look back at him.

"What happened?" She finally asked, all seriousness now.

"I can't tell you until we're in the basement," he said quietly.

He heard her palms slap against her thighs as she uttered a low, long string of curses and profanities.

"Things just keep getting better around here," she finally mumbled. "So, do we have to go get her, or-?"

"She said she'd meet me there in 5 minutes and went off to find the dog," he told her. "She'll come."

"She's self soothing," Georgia nodded. "We should let her bring the dog with her."

"What do you mean?" Gally asked, finally looking at her since her voice had traces of sympathy in it.

"That dog is her only source of physical affection here. It's important to people like her," Georgia explained.

"What about the rest of you?"

Georgia wrinkled her nose.
"We're not soft like that."

Gally scoffed and looked back at Aussie as she stood up, wiped her face and straightened out her clothes.

"What?" Georgia questioned him.

He looked down at her, knowing better.
"You didn't say that like it was a good thing."