Crystal Central Presents
In a metaphor Douglas would be the ice to Melanie's fire. Compared to his fiery, unstable and explosive twin, he was the cool, rational and calm guy.
Douglas had already left the living room. He was currently in his severely unfurnished bedroom with a fitting match of plain white walls. A big bed stood in as the centerpiece of the room, a brown polish sheesham wood nightstand to it's left and a study desk and chair set to it's right just beside the window.
"Those were the good times," Douglas mused to himself in nostalgia as he sat his skinny, pale and tall blonde self on the bed, looking at the picture in frame on the desk beside the neat stack of literature books. There in the picture fourteen year old Douglas, Valentine and Melanie were frozen in a moment, laughing wildly amid the buzz and colorful feathered troupes of the Carribean carnival at Roxbury.
Eight years ago. Before his sickness, before the gang, the times when Valentine had those rare laughing moments, when they didn't keep secrets from Melanie...
"Damn!", Spat Dag on an impulse but reigned in the urge to break something in his already sparse room as the rational guy he was.
If only the tales of Uncle Fate were true, The Prima Las that gave life, the immortals that forever dined with the gods, the undying vampires...
"That would be the best.", Dag thought. He was a thinker, and also a hopeful guy, some may even call him naive. Of the three- Valentine, Melanie and himself- he was the only one who actually put stock in the crazy tales of Uncle Fate. Valentine said Fate was as crazy as his tales and Melanie just loved the stories for her brother's sake. Even though she would sometimes fantasize of a miracle that would cure her brother like in the tales, she was realistic and would never go as far as believing their beloved Crazy Uncle.
However, Dag knew what he knew and thinking about everything that has happened in their life from the day they met that mysterious and stylish guy holding a scared and drenched ten year old Valentine's hand to date, hope sticks to his heart like in Pandora's box.
"After all, it feels like we live in a different world already, weapon training, and who encourages children to walk around with weapons and join gangs?, why didn't anyone ever notice nor ask where our parents were? A whole community around us and no one ever called the Child Protective Services. Then there are those weird eyes of Val on that Halloween, and now the hallucinations, maybe the stories are true or they are just impossible coincidences which...
makes them impossible of course.", The analytic in Douglas roved on in his mind under the silence in the house.
Well, he has been hopeful of another Red Sox world series title. Might as well bet on the tales of a crazy uncle.
Laying his back on his white bedsheets Dag felt how relieved his exhausted body was. 'Less than six month's, full body paralysis and ultimately death.'he savoured this sour thought the doctor had left him with. He has been counting his days of living and with March around the corner almost two months are gone. Only four left.
The fact that he literally has his days numbered hangs over him like a guillotine. This is part of the reason he works like a bee at the Albatross enjoying cheap thrills like walking, and also the cause of his daily changing interests hurrying to experience the wonders of the world before time ran out. Bootlegging might not be luxurious and campus may be tiresome sometimes, but it kept him moving around; a chance to see the numerous wall arts of Allston and its daytime liveliness nowadays than at night that always felt like a new experience.
But Dag yearned more time. With Melanie and Valentine. Three kids that grew up with no one but themselves. Three Musketeers against the world.
Laying there in the embrace of his bed, fantasizing on impossibilities and thinking of their imperfect bunch, Dag was getting sleepy when a sudden sound of a door opening and forcefully being shut followed by familiar stomping came through the ajar bedroom door.
"What is it this time?" Daglaus slowly got out of the bed and walked out of his room prepared for a Melanie in between irritated and angry.
"Mel's?"
"We're you ever going to tell me? We're you ever going to tell me you work for the Sinclairs?
A brief pause later,"Well, is it true?
Douglas could hear the discord as he walked the hallway to the living room. He could hear the concern in Val's soothing voice and the uneven one echoing Melanie's frustration, anger, fear and worry, a Stark contrast to the irritated Melanie was expecting. Her tone tore at his heart. The secret that they kept from her for her safety and peace of mind sounded like accusations of betrayal coming from her mouth.
He knew not whether to feel happy or sad as he closed in on the hallway's exit. Their dam of secrets had leaked but he was also getting tired of keeping these little (or maybe not so little) secrets from his twin even though he was the one to suggest reticence in the first place. But now it felt like he had built a wall between their kinship and the trust was lost. This was the person who had been with him through it all; through the tough streets of Boston and through a super excited Uncle Fate. The constant companion with whom they shared everything, even the unknown womb. He sometimes wished he could spill all the beans for her, his and Val's involvement with the Sinclairs, how they almost died last year in the shooting at the Albatross, Val's hallucinations, the pain that deprived him of sleep or of his less than four months left to live.
His rationality begged to differ though. Dag was aware that under that tough 'Amazon girl' exterior, his sister was an emotional mess. Any of these revelations would devastate her.
And so it was with these thoughts that he walked into the living room and turned on the switch, illuminating it.
Dag looked at his twin and knew he was right.
Mel was looking plumb at Valentine waiting for the vocal confirmation to the silent answer she already received. Her usual the-devil-may-care attitude was nowhere to be seen at this moment, instead, guilt, worry, hurt and fear could be seen in those blue eyes. She didn't even turn when the lights shone in the room and neither did she when Douglas moved close enough for her to notice his presence. And she wouldn't do it. Dag would just lie to her like when they were young. 'white lies', she believed he would call them. She was concious about how he would protect her from the worst of the world- not like she had ever been to anywhere else but Boston. She had come to rely on Douglas and Valentine in a way only parents could be relied on. In this make believe family she was the kid.
But the present matters were not of the tooth fairy leaving her a dollar nor was she young and innocent. Even Douglas couldn't hide from her the workings of Boston. What they were in was dangerous and she would not take one more lie from him today. She only had these two in her life and she wouldn't watch them kill themselves. Selfish, but only the devil may care about that, she did not.
Melanie could see those black irises of Val. Proud and firm. But she could also see the concern when those wide eyes thinned a bit as Valentine looked at her. Then her thin pink lips slowly stretched into a warm smile, pushing her naturally pale and plump cheeks such that her eyes thinned further.
The warm and concerned posture of Val birthed sensations of reliance with in Melanie. Warmth of a home and concern of a parent, both of which she craved.
Valentine then purposefully raised her long slender arms to Melanie like an embrace and with a smooth inviting gesture she said,
"Come here Mels." In that soothing tone.
Melanie did not like being addressed like that. 'Mels', it sounded childish. But when uttered by Val, who held a big role in her life, she couldn't care less. She felt love in those words.
Cracks broke the 'Amazon girl armor' she hid herself in as tears fell from her eyes. She dove into Valentine's embrace and there she let out all the pressure from tonight's conversation with Aerth through her sobs. This was the real Melanie. An emotional mess.
Dag stood close to couch the girls were on. He could see that genuine warm smile on Valentine's face he had not seen in a while and the adorable baggage of emotions that was his sister who had her shoulders quaking with every sob.
He couldn't help but smile and walk over, hugging the two most important women in his life. It felt like family.
'I would give anything to be together forever like this.'
He spread his arms and held the two young women tighter, who also did the same, savouring the comfort and assurance brought by their embrace.