DEAD CALM;
part two
ATTICUS WALKED THROUGH HIS FRONT door with a smile on his face, a few wads of cash between his hands as he raked his fingertips through the bills for the fifth time that evening. It was half the money he and JJ had stolen, which would cover each of their restitutions.
"Hey, mum?" He called out, as he kicked off his shoes.
"In here, sweetheart!" He walked into the living room, where his mum was busy folding up clothes. "Hey, darl-" she turned around, eyes latching onto the money displayed proudly in his hands.
"I got the money," he whispered happily, eyes gleaming with pride. She dropped the clothes on the floor and rushed over, snatching the money out of his hands as she worriedly flicked through it.
"Where did you get all this?" She asked with furrowed brows.
"Don't worry about-"
"Where did you get it, Atticus? And don't you lie to me!" His smile instantly diminished as she raised her voice. She barely ever raised her voice.
"This guy tried to steal from us, so we . . . we, uh-" he stuttered, fingers fidgeting in front of his waist as his eyesight slowly trickled to the floor in shame.
"So you stole back from him? She took his immediate silence as an answer. "I don't want your filthy money."
She pushed the bills back into his chest, walking back over to the piled up clothes on the shiny floorboards and dumping them back onto the couch. "I thought you would be happy, mum," the boy whispered, eyes still latched onto the wooden flooring.
She whipped around, a fire in her eyes that had barely ever been there before. "Happy that you took someone else's money? Who in the hell would be happy about that?" She shouted.
"Me! I'm happy, mum. I've got the cash!" He stepped forward, waving the money in his hands in the air in front of her face.
"I don't care that you have the cash! If you worked for that cash, then I would accept it," she stated with a finger pointed into her son's chest.
"I did, mum. He held a-"
"I don't care what he did, that money was his. You stealing from him makes you just as bad, if not worse! Put it back, now!" She yelled, taking a step closer to the boy for each step he took back, until he stopped.
"No. No way. I'm not putting this back," he stated monotonically, staring equally as angry into his mother's fierce eyes.
"Then get out of my house," she seethed. He fell silent, chest rising and falling as he heaved deep breaths. Instead of turning towards the door, he turned towards his bedroom down the short hall, storming towards it before slamming the door shut behind him. It ricocheted off the walls.
"Hey! Don't you slam my doors!" He stashed the money beneath his mattress before standing up, pacing across the room with his hands in his hair. It wasn't long before his mum pushed his door open with her hands on her hips; unimpressed.
"Where's the money?" She questioned with annoyance.
"It doesn't matter," he mumbled as he walked back across the length of his room, eyes shut as he tried to calm himself down. Only one person could calm him down when he was that far gone, but she wasn't there.
"Where's the money, Atticus?" She walked into his room, eyes ablaze. He leaned closer to her, mouth pressed down in a sneer.
"It doesn't matter," he muttered, pronouncing each word as if they were their own sentence. His mother didn't show a sign of shock, sadness, or hurt. However, her hand did, as it came into contact with his cheek. His head fell to the side, his hair falling in front of his face as he held a tender hand to his flaming cheek.
"Tell me where the money is, now." Instead of answering her, he clenched his jaw and pushed past her, only getting as far as the cupboard beside his door after his shoulder had collided harshly with hers. "Why'd you do it?" She asked, still facing the wall. "Did you do it for pride? Smite? Revenge?" He pushed his hands against the cupboard, hanging his head low as he tried to catch his breath. "Did you do it to look cool? Did you do it to-"
"Stop!" He shouted as he flung his hand to the side, knocking off the assortment of figurines and other knick-knacks sitting on top of the shelving. "Just- Just stop it."
His mother had whipped around, mouth wide as she stared at the now statue-covered floor in astonishment. "I did it for you, so you wouldn't have to pay for that goddamn restitution, okay? I just want you to be proud of me, mum! I just want you to be proud."
She clenched her jaw, trying to hold back her tears. "Get out."
"What?" He asked, brows furrowing with both disbelief and dejection.
"Get out." He clenched his jaw again, his face darkening as he wiped away his tears. He stormed out of the house, making an effort to slam every door he walked past. As soon as he'd gone out the front door, Sylvia let out a breath, staring at the covered floor with blurry eyes. That was, until something moved out of the corner of her eye.
"Mum?"
',~☼︎~,'
At the Larson household, Renna called Blake for the twelfth time, only for the ringing to end as she was sent to his lengthy voicemail. She groaned out of frustration, dropping her phone on the bed as she sat down with it, hands running through her hair. She couldn't believe it, she had actually lost her brother.
He could have been out with a friend, but he would always answer her. She was worried and scared - all for him.
She walked out of her room and into his for what felt like the hundredth time, only to see his bed unmade, empty, like it had been for the last few days. She knew something was up, it was whether it had been anything to do with the gold that bothered her. Because, maybe, that would've been her fault.
So, she sulked back to her room again to dial the same number on repeat in her brain once again, but movement outside of her window caught her eye. It was Atticus.
He was sitting on the roof with his back facing her, hair blowing in the wind as he stared out at the marsh. She instantly let out a breath, thankful that one of the boys in her life was okay.
"Atticus," she smiled as she opened the window, leaning her elbows against the windowsill as she waited for him to turn around. He didn't.
"John B was right," he almost whispered into the wind, his voice barely being audible to the girl leaning out the window as the breeze carried it away.
"What do you mean?" She asked with confusion. She could tell he was upset, he was never that quiet, or cryptic.
"Mama's mad. I showed her the money and she lost it," he said sadly. She frowned, taking a moment to think about it, before stepping back.
"Come inside, love. It's too cold out there." He clambered inside her room with his head hung low, not letting Renna take a peek at his face. It worried her.
She sat on the edge of her bed, patting the empty spot beside her to gesture for him to sit down too. He did. "What did she say?" She questioned softly.
"That I shouldn't have stolen anything. That I should've earnt the money I owe them. She won't take it," he ranted quietly, eyes fixated on the floor like they had been for what seemed to be most of the day.
"Atticus . . . I'm sorry, but she's right. We really shouldn't have-" she cut herself short when she watched his sadness flick to anger, the boy standing up as he turned towards the blonde with a finger pointed at her face.
"I thought you would agree with me. I really, really thought you would agree with me."
"I want to, Atticus, I really do, but I can't. It's wrong, we can't keep doing this," she said, a hint of sadness lingering in her tone much like the boy's across from her.
"Doing what?" He questioned, eyes squinted as his brows furrowed with offence.
"Getting ourselves in trouble like this." She was standing now. "We didn't need to take the money. Now Barry's gonna be onto us."
"So what? I'll fight him off," Atticus retorted, his fist pressed against his chest as he stared down at the girl that usually calmed him down. At that moment, everything was riling him up.
"But I can't!" She yelled desperately, eyes latched onto his with the most amount of hopelessness the boy had ever seen. "What if he finds us alone, me alone? I can't do shit against him!"
"You won't be alone! Okay! You'll never be alone!" She stopped, eyes brimming with tears as she stared at the boy with flushed cheeks. "I trusted you . . . I trust you. That's why I came here instead of anywhere else. Please, just, help me out here, Ren. I need you to trust me too." He took a step closer, resting his hands on her shoulders as he examined her face. "Please, please just trust me," he cried.
"Oh, Atticus. Of course I trust you, I'll never stop trusting you," she said as she reached up and held his cheeks, his own tears cascading between her fingers and pooling in the webs between them. The corners of her lips twisted, her own hot tears finally brimming over the edge. "Come here."
She pulled him down towards the bed gently, letting his body fall onto the side of hers as she sat on the edge of her sheets. She held his head as he sobbed into her shirt, pressing her lips to his head as he clutched at her shirt like it was the only thing holding him together.
That's how they stayed for the rest of the night, the boy who usually held her together falling apart in the safety of her arms.