GUESS WHO'S BACK MY DUDES??! hint: it's me and C. yea boiiii have some brave johno -L
"Check mate," I snort, having cornered Peggy in chess again.
She sighs. "That's so cheating. Rematch."
I groan and stare out the window. There's a tree branch hitting the glass because of the wind, it sounds kind of like someone rude who's knocking on the door. Of glass. I give up. "No Peggy, that was like the fifth round," I groan.
She pouts, letting her bottom lip tremble. "You're always too busy with Alex to play with me now. All of you have date mates, and I'm so horribly lonely like... All the time."
I know she's kind of messing with me but I still feel guilty. "I'm sorry, you're right. How about a different game though?"
"We could go find Jenga or something. Eliza stored all kinds of 'family' games. Heck, we even had Twister at some point." She sniffles at the memory, clearly not fond of the game.
"Jenga makes me nervous," I complain. I start putting the chess pieces away. "We could do Connect 4?"
"Sure! Wish we could do something outside too... But the wind's picking up. Stupid wind." She rolls her eyes, glancing back over to the window. For a moment, Peggy looks a little worried. Then, she's back to all smiles and sunshine.
I turn my attention to the window and the howling winds again. It's getting dark, we wouldn't want to go out there anyways. "Maybe tomorrow we can go build snow forts," I say.
Peggy squeals. "Yes! Anything to avoid the thought of going back to college. Stressful things are coming up."
James comes down the stairs looking disheveled. "Do you guys have sleeping pills? Like, the almost-illegal-because-they're-so-strong kind?"
"Ask Maria. She seems like the type of a girl to have them." Peggy pauses. "That sounded a lot meaner than I meant it."
James shrugs and almost runs into a wall on his way back out.
"Anyways," I draw out my phrase slowly. "You say you're single, but anyone on your mind?"
Peggy pauses. "Well, first part of the year, I had a crush on you. Teased you about Alex to see if you liked him. You did. So, clearly, my crushing skills are better made for matchmaking. Guess I'll probably remain single."
I laugh at that. "Oh Peggy, you know I'd be a terrible boyfriend. No clue why Alex sticks around."
"Trust me. I get it." She winks at me dramatically before giggling.
Then I'm laughing too, and it feels really great to be laughing with Peggy again.
That is, before the branch hits the window so hard it cracks.
Peggy jumps, swearing under her breath as the wind intensifies. "It's never been this... Strong before! Go find Ang! She'll know what the crap to do!"
I run around the house a few minutes before finding Angelica. "Hey! Angie! The window's cracking!"
She looks at me for a long moment before she realizes I'm serious.
"Crap! Okay, everyone, get away from that window!" She screams, running out of the room. I follow her and see that it's started... hailing? Is that hail? I can't tell. Whatever it is, it's coming down hard. It sounds like a thunderstorm through the roof. Or, even better a hurrica-
Oh no.
I immediately start shouting for Alexander, desperately looking in every room I can think of. He never told me why this bothers him so much, but if it's anything like last time...
"Alexander!" I call. "Alex, where are you?!"
Whether he responds or not, I don't know. The storm is next to deafening, and there is chaos down on the bottom floor.
I run upstairs to try and find him. I'm getting really panicked now, he's not showing up anywhere I'm looking. I finally check his room. "Alex? You in here?"
"J-John?" His voice cracks a little.
I lift up the covers on the bed and find him there. "Oh honey, are you okay?"
Alex steamrolls right over me, pressing me into a hug. I notice that his arms and hands are slightly wet. "The w-window in the b-bathroom b-burst. So I t-tried to pick up the glass and-"
I curse loudly. "Are you bleeding?!"
"Just a little?" He cringes away from me. "What's happening? Because that's not natural! And nobody was in here, and I don't know what's happening, and people are screaming, and God..."
I gulp and worm my way out from underneath him. "Alex, everyone's safe right now, but you have to come with me. There's a bathroom downstairs without any windows, I have to clean your cuts and get any pieces of glass out before it gets infected. You can meet me down there or come with me, but I have to get my first aid bag. Okay?"
"I can't go downstairs!" he protests immediately, flattening himself against the wall.
"No-Alex it's okay, we'll stay away from the windows. I really really need to clean your cuts though, please so help me... I will carry you down there if you don't come willingly."
"No! It's dark downstairs and the winds are really bad and it sounds horrible and I'm notgoingdownthere. Don't you dare touching me," he stammers out, voice squeaking and words starting to jumble together sloppily.
I walk over to him and pull him into a tight hug. "Alex," I whisper. "I know it sounds bad, but do you know what's worse?"
"Going downstairs and dying is bad either way."
"We're not gonna die. I won't let you die. But Alex, I just really need you to bear with me here. I promise we'll be okay. I promise. Do you trust me?" I ask softly.
He sniffles. "That's not fair!"
"Do. You. Trust. Me."
"Why can't we stay up here?" he whines, heartbeat visibly picking up. I can feel it hammering against me in the hug. His breaths keep getting faster and faster until it's like he's running a marathon, panting and wheezing to get the words out.
It's freaking me out, but I think I can do this. "I would be totally fine with staying up here if your hands weren't bleeding, love. Not only that, but if we don't deal with it now, the storm will get worse and we won't have a chance until it's too late. Believe me, the very last thing I want to do is put you into a situation you don't want to be in, but the bathroom is the only safe place with running water."
"I can't."
"You can, Alex. You'll be safe. I really don't want to potato sack you and bring you down there, so please come with me." I force him to look me in the eyes as I speak.
He blinks hard, tears splashing down his cheeks. "I can't, John, I just can't. I'm not doing it again. I'm not going... I can't do it again. Don't make me. Everyone's down there! I can't watch them... I can't! Please! Please, John! It's not that bad! I've had worse!"
I'm crying now too because of so many reasons, but I know I need to do this, even if he hates me for it afterwards. "I'm really sorry," I choke out. I sling him over my shoulder and jog out of the room, on the way downstairs grabbing my medical pouch.
He screams and sobs until finally going to shaking and burying his face into my back.
I step away from some broken glass and get him into the bathroom, locking the door behind us. I set him down in the bathtub and open my bag, hands shaking.
"I have to work fast, and I need you to be still," I tell him, grabbing my flashlight and tweezers.
He refuses to look at me, curling in on himself and shaking his head. "No. Can't. Shut up."
I swallow heavily. Well, I tried. I put one of my hands in his hair to try and soothe him, the other drawing out one of his hands while I hold the flashlight in my mouth. I silently thank any entity there is, seeing only one piece of glass which should be easy to get out.
He whines a little. "John, that hurts. Stop."
I carefully pluck the piece out with some tweezers. "I know baby, I'm sorry. We still have to wash your arms and get them wrapped up."
"What about the storm?" he hiccups.
"We'll work fast and go back upstairs." I drop the glass in the trash and grab a cup. I fill it with warm water from the tub. "Alex, I need to see your arms please. Both of them, I need you to stretch them out in front of you."
Alex blinks at me. "But it hurts..."
"I know, but think of how much more it'll hurt if they're swollen and dripping with pus."
"But..." He silences himself by tenderly stretching them out. "I t-trust you."
I nod. "Thank you." Carefully, I pour the water over his arms, biting down on my lip hard. I hate to see him like this. He yelps and squirms, tears gushing down his face.
"All done baby, all done," I soothe him, grabbing the ace bandage out of my bag. I dry his arms with a disposable towel and start wrapping them up. "Your arms aren't bleeding very much, we won't have to double wrap."
He nods a little. "Can we go back upstairs now?"
"Yes, we're all done, we can go back up." I zip up my bag and hold my arms out for him.
Alex collapses within them. "Do you think anyone's dead?"
"No Alex, I think they're all safe in their rooms. And we can be too."
I pick him up and run out the door, up the stairs, and back into the room.
He collapses onto the bed the moment he could, climbing under the covers in exhaustion. His raspy sobs come out immediately, and Alex shakes underneath.
Quickly, I dive under the covers as well, encouraging him to cuddle into me.
He presses his face against my chest. Hiccuping, he just curls up defeatedly.
I thread my fingers through his hair, humming to him and whispering that we'll be fine, the storm will die. It's a bit worrying, I suppose, that he has this huge of a reaction to storms and I don't even know why. In any case, now is not the time to ask.
"But what if it doesn't pass?" he mumbles.
"It's weather, Alexander. It may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass."
"It doesn't matter," he finally says. "It's going to destroy everything anyway. Least I get to die in your arms."
I'm shocked at his words. "Alex, love, we're not gonna die. We're safe right here, nothing's gonna happen."
"That's what they said. And they still died."
Screw it. I have to know what happened to my boyfriend. "Alex, what? Who died?"
"The entire town! There was more bodies than people! You could hear the screams for hours afterwards. Because they were finding their loved ones dead and mutilated. All my neighbors were dead. There was a car on a roof, smashed in. Everything just... Gone. And anything left broken." He buries his face in my chest again.
The breath leaves my chest as he speaks. The pieces start to come together in one horrifying puzzle. "You... You were the one that survived Hurricane Valté... The one that hit the island those years ago," I murmur dizzily.
He nods. "Y-yeah."
"I... I didn't know," I say stupidly.
Alex nods again. "I didn't want you to. The last thing you need to do is worry about me."
I look down at him. "I was gonna worry about you regardless about whether or not I knew about your past. There are still so many things I don't know about you..." I stroke his hair. "I can wait."
"But you shouldn't need to," he whines.
"It's my job," I laugh softly.
Alex shakes his head. "It doesn't mean you have to be good at the job!"
"Baby," I murmur. "Rest. We'll be fine here. We're safe, I've got you. We can talk in the morning once the storm is over, okay?"
"Okay." He bows his head slightly and sighs heavily.
I hold him and wait for him to fall asleep before letting my eyes droop.