Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Finding Color in the Darkest of Places

"It's as good as dead."

"Yeah, I'd say the traitor was thoroughly punished."

They walk away. Twenty paces away, when suddenly bang! bang! They're---

---dead?

Get up. Run over to them. Two bodies, two shots. One extra eye, just a little black hole, between their bright, bright green eyes...

...just like mine.

Someone pulls me to my feet. Leads me away. "I didn't get to say goodbye!"

"Do you really want to? Look what they did to you..." Gentle, caring. Confused.

I look.

I wish I didn't.

"No. I don't want to say goodbye."

"You're positive?"

"They didn't love me. Why should I love them?"

They walk a few paces ahead. Letting me gather my thoughts. Who killed my parents?

The cackling man. Duh. Look up, around. There he is, gun raised, aimed at the strangers, when

bang! bang!---

"No!" I scream, or try to anyway. My throat's been rubbed raw. Someone's gently shaking my shoulder, trying to wake me up. I all too gladly open my eyes and find myself face-to-face with Danny.

"Thank God you're awake. It sounded like you were having an awful bad nightmare," Danny murmurs, stroking my hair. I keep quiet. All is silent for a few minutes, and then: "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I whimper, trembling.

"Hey, hey, easy now," Danny whispers, pulling me into a tight hug. "Do you still want to go see your parents today?" I must tense up at the mention of my parents, because he gives me a cuddle and whispers, "It's okay if you don't. I guess they were in your nightmare, then?"

I nod, tears starting to form in my eyes. "They hurt me bad. They hurt me real bad and then Clyde killed them," I whisper into his chest.

Tenderly, he asks, "Why didn't you come and get me if you were having such a bad dream?"

"I didn't want to bother you," I mumble.

"Oh, sweetie, don't ever think you'd be bothering us if you woke us up because of a bad dream. We just want to make sure you feel safe and happy, yeah?" I smile and any fears of my parents not liking him vanished. How could they not? "How about you go get ready, and we can grab some breakfast out? How's that sound?"

"Sounds good to me!" We pull away and I hurry to get ready while Danny heads upstairs. I throw on some jeans and a jumper and run upstairs.

"Ready to go?" Danny asks.

"Yup!" I answer. He takes my hand and leads me outside, where a taxi is waiting for us. We get in and Danny gives the driver an address of a cafe. Once there, Danny pays the driver and we head inside. I get a chocolate chip muffin with a side of bacon and some tea (yum!) and Danny gets some sausage and eggs with tea. We take our food and sit down at a table and eat in comfortable silence.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Danny asks quietly, about halfway through the meal.

"Yeah," I murmur, staring into my cup of tea. He lets the matter drop and finish out breakfasts in silence. Danny leaves money on the table to pay and we head outside. We decide to walk to the cemetery where our parents are buried. We walk hand-in-hand through the streets of Dublin until we reach the black iron gates. We both hesitate before entering, but soon enough are crunching through the thick snow, the only sound in the cemetery our footsteps. Danny comes to a stop in front one of the graves. I give his hand a squeeze before trudging off to find my parents.

Untouched since the burial service, by my guess. I remember it like it was yesterday. The priest and his sermon, the few people my family was close to there to say goodbye, being carted off to the orphanage right after. And tears, so many tears, and nobody to wipe them away... I crouch down in the snow and sit on an old football somebody must've kicked over the fence. "Hey ma," I whisper. "Hey da."

I sit in silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to say. Suddenly it all comes rushing out, and I'm unable to stop it. "So we got out. Me and my cell mates. We escaped from Clyde, you know, that guy that abused us? But he shot me three times and I went into a coma because of it. I woke up a few days ago and found out that that guy over there," I gesture towards Danny, "that guy adopted me.

"His name's Danny. He's really super awesome, fun, loving, nice...he's from that band you like, ma. The Script. He still takes care of me, though, despite his job. And he's got a massive family; I've got a billion cousins! It's really different from our family, you know, but it's nice. I have to get used to being treated well, too, since Clyde didn't and it's basically the only thing Danny does. But I'll manage. I love him and I feel like I got a real family now."

The tears start falling at this point. "Is that okay?" I ask quietly. "Is it okay that I feel like that? I don't want to be betraying you or anything, but I can't help but feeling like that's what I'm doing. I don't want to be. Please, please, please let me know you're okay with this. I couldn't live with myself knowing you're not okay with it..."

Silence. The wind doesn't pick up, snow doesn't start falling, nothing. They're not okay with it.

The tears start falling heavier now. I hear footsteps crunching towards me and I stand up, not knowing what else to do. Danny pulls me into a hug when he reaches me and whispers, "It's okay, love. Just let it all out." He's been crying too; his voice is huskier than normal and his cheek is damp. After a few minutes, I haven't managed to calm down, so Danny starts singing quietly to me. When he finishes, I look up at the sky, hoping they've changed their minds.

They haven't.

I'm about to turn and walk away when two snowflakes---big snowflakes---land on my cheeks. I look up at the sky again, expecting more snow, but...

...it's not snowing.

I laugh with delight, an odd sound to hear in a cemetery for sure, and hug Danny tightly. "They're okay with it," I tell him, "They're okay with you being my da."

He smiles and picks me up, resting me against his hip. "Don't worry about a thing, Mr. and Mrs. O'Shanahan," he says, "I'll take good care of Callie for you. I promise." He turns to look at me and asks, "Are you ready to go?"

"One second," I tell him. He sets me down and I trudge over to their graves. I press my hand to my lips and touch each of their graves in turn. "Bye, ma. Bye, da. I love you," I whisper softly. I turn and walk back to Danny. "I'm ready now," I murmur. He takes my hand and we walk out of the cemetery, leaving behind any fears but bringing some sense of closure.

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So I do have to re-write everything after the last actual chapter. It was only three or four chapters (including this one) so it's not horrible, but it's still a pain...but yay an update!

Almost 7,500 reads? You guys are the best :)

I should be able to update again sometime next weekend, if I can find time to write. Thanks for your patience!