OH MY DARLING! || LOUIS

3 | UNRAVEL.

"Yeah." Louis nods stiffly. His voice cut cold. The kind of tone that sent shivers down Jamie's spine. It was a tone of voice that she's only ever heard when Louis talked about his dad. Way back when. When they were full of anger and resentment for their parents. The anger has ebbed years ago; dulled by the numerous deaths they've seen. Dulled by time. The flames they once held inside were more tame; barely lit. She looks at Louis and sees a new flame set. "Let's go."

"...Should...Should I come help?" Jamie questioned, tilting her head slightly. She doesn't feel safe letting Louis or Violet out there. Maybe they'll be safer if they outnumbered Clementine and AJ; despite knowing that the two were competent enough to handle themselves. Even if every cell in her body was basically screaming at her to rest. Even if she was tired, it was better to have another helping hand just in case things went south—wasn't it? Before Louis or Violet could answer, a hand ruffled the back of her hair and shoved her head slightly downwards. "Hey—!"

"Get some sleep, dumbass." Mitch cuts her off, scowling. He pulls his hand away before Jamie could pinch him in retaliation. "You look like you're a second from passing out."

"He's right." When Jamie looks up, Louis is smiling lightly. Tired. Even more tired than the others. The smile still reassures her; hell, Louis didn't have to work hard with reassuring her. It just came with him. "We'll be fine, Jamie."

With two people on the opposing side, Jamie sighed in defeat.

"...Alright." She clenches her fist, trying to find the right words to say. She shouldn't try parting words—no goodbyes. They'll come home safe. Clementine and AJ will be out of their hair. They can try to live normally again. "Just...be careful. Don't be dumb."

Louis nods. "We'll come back."

"C'mon Jamie, the two boys are right." Ruby pats her back lightly, directing her towards the dorms. Ruby winks. "For once."

Jamie can't help but chuckle at the snide remark. She was right. She lets the latter walk her over to the dorms. Aasim and the others have already disappeared off to their respective rooms. Only Willy trailed behind the two girls, nervously wringing his hands together. Ruby disappears off to her own dorm, leaving Jamie alone with Willy still trailing behind.

"Uh...Willy?" She cocks her head, waiting for the younger boy to find his words.

"Can I stay with you for a bit?" He asks, words tumbling fast from his lips. It took Jamie a few seconds before she could piece together what he'd said. She blinks once. Twice. Three times. Before her mind finally catches up to her.

"Oh! Yeah, 'course buddy." She opens her door with a smile. "Steph's old mattress is still here. I promise there's no gross bugs in it or anything."

"Thanks Jamie."

—

Willy brought his pillow over from his own dorm; got himself settled on the foreign mattress. Despite the heavy silence between them, Jamie could tell that he was far from falling asleep. She tried to keep her eyes open, waiting for Willy to fall asleep first.

"...You were close to Marlon...right?" Willy finally speaks up. His voice heavy and cautious, like he was walking on eggshells around her. Afraid of stepping too far; not that Jamie minded to talk about it with Willy. She supposes this question was more rhetorical. That he was setting it up for what he really wanted to talk about. Still, she nods. "...Are you and Louis going to be okay?"

Maybe in a few months. Years. She doesn't really know how long it takes to get over someone's death. It'd taken her a while to get over Stephanie's death. Maybe she just never did. Jamie had asked Brody to help her pack Stephanie's things. She didn't want to look at it anymore; since it's a constant reminder of who they just lost. Maybe it'll be even worse now. Because before Stephanie were people with names that she wasn't necessarily close to. Then, it was Stephanie's time. Then it was the twins. Now it was Marlon and Brody's.