Family

It's Right There

17 Feb, 1985

"You're still here are ya, lad?" the bartender smiled solemnly as he walked back into the main area of the pub. "It's just you now, and for good reason. We closed nearly an hour ago."

"I - I'm sorry," the man sighed, and the bartender could smell the bourbon on him. "I'll head off now."

"Do you have anywhere to go?" the old man asked tenderly, and the young man shook his head slowly.

"No, sir. Nowhere. I'm a fucking nobody."

"Oh," the bartender frowned as he walked around the counter towards the man. "You can stay with me if you like? Like I told you earlier, you remind me of Ph- you remind me of my son."

"No, sir, I'd be far too much of a burden." the man sighed.

"Do you have a name?"

"I - I did. Not anymore. Like I said, sir, I'm a nobody."

"Well, then, I'll give you a name," the bartender smiled. "How about Robert? My niece had her third son the other day, and their names are Reginald, Rigel and Jurgen, so Robert would place you snugly in our little family. And you know what, if you need a last name, use theirs - Torres. Robert Torres. My last name, Davis, it - it reminds me too much of my sons. I'm Teddy, by the way."

He extended his arm out, and the man took a deep breath before nodding and shaking it. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, Robert." Teddy grinned. "I'm sure you'll fit right in."

~~

13 Feb, 2022

Liam

Shit. What the fuck am I going to do? Pandrax is right - this man, who I trusted beyond almost any other, is far more culpable for everything that's gone on than James is. And for what? Love with my sister? Fuck off, man, no love ever existed in that relationship and no love ever will - it was made to be ended whenever Bojan needed it to. Felucca's own plan, it - it was selfish.

I hate this. I hate that I'm about to do this. But I have to. I have no other choice, do I? I took a deep breath, shaking, and looked over at the ashamed Felucca bowing his head and the tearful Bunny trying to take it all in before opening my mouth to reply.

"I would love to join you, Pandrax," I exhaled. "Truly, I would. But I can't. I just, I just can't."

"Fine," the being said coarsely. "And what about you, Bunny the dearest?"

14 Feb, 2022

I should do this. It's worth it. Bunny says so, at least. I mean - what Felucca did was even worse, not objectively but I guess - I trusted him more. So, it hurt more. Not that I didn't trust James, I did. But Felucca - he meant so much to me. He, Bunny, Pandora and I built ourselves up together after Christmas happened - we used each other as building blocks. But now he's - he's destroyed that.

James did that too - but it's different. It's more - forgivable. Except it's not. So why do I feel like this? I took a deep breath and picked up the phone, hesitantly writing the message.

'Hey. i know its been a while.. if u wood be ok w it, do u wanna meet up? U can be my valentines lol'

Soon after I sent it, it showed that he had seen it. He began texting a reply, but then stopped. And it stayed like that for ages - for the next ten minutes I sat there contemplating whether I even should have sent it in the first place. But eventually, he replied, and my heart stopped when I read it.

'Sorry cant. Im occupied.'

'Wdym occupied lol'

He didn't reply. For hours I sat feeling more and more like I was still living in that shack of a house I called home when I got a year prior. But that night I got a text from Bunny, and it told me to go meet her at the hotel. And so I did - soon arriving at the same place that so much of my personal trauma had occurred.