Hannah tells him -we're on it Nathan, the raft is almost there...- but the boy says -you don't understand, you need me there, I was a complete...- but then he falls silent and bends his legs and hugs them.
Trevor looks at him understandingly and approaches Hannah to move her away a little, he asks -you're an only child... right?- she nods and he says -then give us a moment... okay?-
She reluctantly nods and leaves the hut.
Trevor sits next to Nathan and sighs to say -sometimes I hated him, you know...- the boy looks at him without understanding and Trevor clarifies -Max, my brother- Nathan looks at him without understanding and he continues -sometimes he was very selfish... and when he got angry he knew exactly what to say to hurt me-
A solitary tear runs down Trevor's cheek, but then he smiles sadly and answers -but he was very protective of me, and when I was down I could always count on one of his "motivational speeches"...- he laughs a little sadly and continues -the bad thing is that I always had to hold back my laughter, because it was obvious that he had no idea what the hell he was talking about- and a laugh escapes him.
Which visibly relaxes Jonathan, Trevor finally continues -... but that didn't matter, all he wanted to say was "I understand, I'm here for you" and that's the only thing I ever needed to hear-
Nathan says -at the children's center, there was a couple that wanted to take us, I didn't want to, but he kept insisting that we had to, that his stupid imaginary friend told him that something bad was going to happen if we stayed... he was right, there's a reason they closed it a week after Elizabeth took me-
Trevor says -and what do you think now?- the boy sobs a little and says -I treated him really badly, I pushed him and told him that he wanted to leave mom and dad... I told him...- then he hides his head between his legs again and sobs harder.
The adult waits a bit for him to calm down and finally Nathan says -I told him that they were separating because of him... that before he arrived everything was fine-
Trevor asks -and you really believe that?- the child just looks away, which makes the adult say -look, I think I should say that IN MY OPINION, they already had problems before, what happened is that you couldn't differentiate well between their screams and the noise of the cars-
After a few more moments of silence, finally Trevor answers -look, I want you to keep this for me please...- and gives him a very worn compass, then goes on to explain -it was Max's, I'm sure Elizabeth will feel much better if you give it to her... maybe that way she can move forward too-
Jonathan looks at the utensil and nods putting it away in his pants, then Trevor continues -and once we get back home, I want you to call your mother and tell her that you love her very much... and when you see your brother again at the meeting with the judge, hug him and tell him that you are sorry... and don't forget to show them the amazing pictures you took with the camera she gave you-
Nathan shakes his head and says -he must hate me, he won't forgive me...- Trevor laughs a little and answers -of course, look at me, 10 years without knowing absolutely NOTHING about my brother, but the moment you saw those numbers flashing on my computer I literally spent every last penny I had to go to the other side of the world... and I'm sure your brother would do the same for you, that's how simple we younger brothers are-
The boy asks -do you think so?- Trevor answers -absolutely... now please try to sleep a little longer, we need you to help us look for all the food you can before we set sail- he nods and settles back on his mat.
Trevor, after checking that he was asleep, got up and left the hut. He ran into Hannah just a few steps away and asked -How are you? Did I overdo it with the speech? -
She nods and answers -The context was "I understand, I'm here for you" so I think it was good, but you're right, I don't have siblings, so I'd rather not give an opinion-
They walked a little further until they reached the coast, there they saw the eternal sunset and the tiny waves that reached the coast, they sit on a fallen log and she says, -Hey, about old wives' tales...-
He answers - hey, sorry if I offended you, but the boy already looked very agitated, I thought it was better... - but Hannah interrupts him saying - no, no, you were right, thanks for keeping me quiet, I was about to do something stupid... but, there is something I have not told you about this place-
Trevor pays attention to her and she begins - there is a branch of the Vernians even more radical, they do not believe that Verne's writings are real testimonies, but they do believe that they happened before... or that they will happen one day-
He looks at her without understanding and she continues - they believe that Jules Verne possessed... "parapsychological abilities" that allowed him to see the future and thus capture his works-
Trevor looked at her for a second and then laughed without any real humor, then he fell silent and asked seriously - are you serious? ... that's crazy-
Hanna then answers - this whole place is crazy professor... tell me, who are the protagonists of the book? -
Trevor answers - a mineralogy professor, his nephew and his guide... Hans- she nods, Trevor somewhat scared answers - that's crazy, don't be offended, but this could just be a coincidence, your father was a Vernian, maybe that's where he got inspiration-
She takes a breath and says -yeah, maybe... I just... needed to tell someone or I was going to go crazy, sorry for upsetting you-
Trevor tells her -well, standing where we are standing it's hard not to imagine things... calm down, but hey, even if it's true, that's good... in the book we managed to get out of here-
And he gets up to walk back to the raft, he doesn't hear his guide mutter -or maybe his editor didn't like a sad ending, just like he didn't like a female guide- and he continued looking at the horizon.
Okay, I know this isn't what you were expecting, but I have to explain myself, time is running out, "Squirrel_Tail22" is already halfway through "Fear Street" if the next one is one of the Byers trilogy, I want you to have my concepts in mind before the author starts it, so I'm going to speed things up a bit, I'm sorry if you don't like it, but from the beginning I made it clear that this wasn't a "Watching" and I have no intention of turning it into one.
I honestly don't see why the author decided that this was going to be Jonathan's movie, but again, I work with what I'm given, and since both stories involve brothers, I decided to play around with the concept a bit, and, modesty aside, I think I gave it a good twist.
I read about the veiled birth in a summary of The Shining (I haven't read the original book nor do I plan to, I'm too cowardly to dive headlong into the mind of the master of terror) and I thought it would be interesting to use it to give Jonathan EVEN MORE trauma.
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Criticism and comments are welcome.
YOU ARE READING
It works for them... why not?
Mystery / ThrillerSometimes it is very difficult, if not impossible, to leave the past behind, especially when the past keeps looking for you, again, and again... and again. Work based on the series "The Party Watches" by Squirrel_Tail22 on AO3
I understand, I'm here for you
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