೫ೃೀ༺
❝ i've been sleepwalking
too close to the fire
but it's the only place
that i can hold you tight ❞
𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 | 𝐜𝐚𝐦
೫ೃೀ༺
a/n: we're introducing a new
character in this chapter!
meet romeo, who you guys can
imagine as rob raco because
why not :) him and ella are so
cute and since ella's violet,
i figured why not let rob be romeo!
here's a picture of rob & ella
if you guys don't know who
they are! they're such cuties <3
೫ೃೀ༺
𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 smoke is what filled Thalia's nostrils as the sleep-deprived eighteen-year-old tossed and turned helplessly on her bed, slamming her face into her pillow in annoyance when she failed to lull herself to sleep. Even with the quiet hums of Vancouver Sleep Clinic playing in the background, Thalia still found herself gasping for air as though the smoke that had clogged her lungs at age five had never left.
She remembered what it felt like, to have glass shards piercing through her pale skin and be surrounded by a pool of blood. She could barely remember that day, her mind had blocked most of it out but she remembered the earth-rattling scream Violet let out when she saw their parents' bodies. She remembered hanging onto Violet for dear life, her then twelve-year-old sister cradling the wailing five-year-old in her arms.
Ever since that day, it always felt like there was something stuck in her throat.
After she was dropped off by her house and wishing Karolina and Leslie a good night, Thalia had slipped through the front door, making sure to lock it behind her as she crept towards Elias' room, seeing the tell-tale streaks of blue light from the small crack under the door as she pushed the door open quietly, flinching slightly when the worn out hinges creaked slightly.
She could barely make out Elias' tuft of blonde hair poking out from underneath his patterned blanket as she smiled to herself, grateful that the little boy had managed to lull himself to sleep while she was out. Though well aware how detrimental putting her life on hold for Elias was to her social life, she still felt a sharp pang of guilt every time she left Elias at home.
She lay in her bed now, having changed into an old baggy tee of Violet's and some pajama shorts, trying her hardest to catch a precious few seconds of sleep to no avail. No matter where, when or who was around, the accident always weighed on Thalia's mind.
Bits and pieces of the accident still remained ingrained in her already tortured mind; she could remember that they were listening to an NSYNC song in the car that her mom loved and that she was holding onto a soft toy in the car, trying to fall asleep but Violet was screeching the song lyrics at the top of her lungs. It amused her in some dark, twisted way that she could remember the floral print blouse her mother was wearing or the flight jacket her dad had on and yet, she couldn't remember the crash itself.
She couldn't remember why the car had overturned or what it felt like when the car was spiraling through the air, she couldn't help but wonder if she knew that her life was about to change for the worse in the split second in which she flew through the air. The only vivid memory she had of the aftermath of the crash was feeling the weight of something crushing her chest, struggling to breathe and holding her stuffed rabbit to her chest as though it would take her pain away.
The smoke that nearly cost her her life was something that, like many torturous pieces of her past, Thalia couldn't leave behind. It wasn't really there but wherever she went, she could've sworn she could smell the thick, heavy smoke and almost picture orange flames swallowing everything she loved whole.
Sleeping pills could only do so much and that night in particular, Thalia found herself unable to get a wink of sleep. Though the pills she'd picked up from the pharmacy after ending her shift at Timely that day did keep the demons at bay, Thalia still found herself barely able to get a wink of sleep that night. Aside from the fleeting seconds Thalia's head would stop pounding in which Thalia could close her eyes, she would see Violet's daunting green eyes and just hear Violet's voice ringing in her head, screaming at her to find answers when she didn't even know where to start.
That night was particularly bad as she found herself thinking about what had happened to Karolina that night as well as the terrifying, blood-chilling ceremony they'd walked in on. Considering the eerie prophetic feeling her last dream had, Thalia couldn't help but shudder as she wondered if what she'd thought she'd seen in her other dream had actually happened to Karolina. These thoughts preyed on her mind as she sat up, knowing she wasn't going to get any sleep that night as she sleepily climbed out of bed, walking to her light switch as she flicked her bedroom lights back on.
She blinked several times to allow her eyes to adjust to the light that suddenly filled the room, sighing softly as she took a sip from the cup of water she had resting on her night stand. She was silent as she sat down on the white polar bear-shaped rug that covered the oak floorboards, smiling painfully to herself, reminded of how awestruck she was when she first set foot into this room.
Though much had changed since she moved into the Soleil household when she was five, the polar bear rug was one of the few things she couldn't bear to part with. Though Gert and Nico had made some comments about it being childish when they were in middle school, Thalia couldn't find it in herself to give it up. A long time ago, polar bears were her favourite animals and the fact that by some miracle, her adoptive parents had decorated a room with a rug shaped like one told five-year-old Thalia that everything was going to be okay.
Pieces of her childhood were still burned into her brain; some sweet, some bitter, others a beautifully tragic blend of both. She reached her hand under her queen-sized bed, groping around the seemingly endless abyss of the bottom of her bed till her fingertips stroked the wooden box she was looking for. It was her time capsule except like so many things, Thalia couldn't find it in herself to bury it.
Everything that made her who she was, the events that she chose to let define who she would be in the world was held in that wooden box. The box that reminded her of all she was, all she once was and all she'd lost. Yellowing pictures of her birth parents stained with Violet's mascara, photographs of Elizabeth Soleil covered in tear stains and crumpled pictures of Violet. It was what gave her solace in the moments she couldn't quite find her home in the world, it was her company when she was alone.
She never saw a point in locking the box; it wasn't like anyone would come over or care that much about her to try to find out that much about her. She pushed the cover open, peering inside to allow herself a small smile at the bittersweet sight of the many photo albums and little trinkets she'd allowed herself to collect over the years. The golden ring her adoptive mother noticed she loved to gaze at and had given her, the laminated bookmark with pressed violets she'd swiped from Violet's books, the bracelet her birth mother wore the day she died in the hospital.
Pushing past the trinkets, she took the first photo album, a maroon one with a leather cover, and placed it on her lap, recognizing it as one of the many photo albums that held pictures of her and Violet. It felt like she was watching a movie, gazing at someone else's life when she allowed her callused fingers to flip the pages of the album. The life she once had felt so foreign, the life that didn't even feel like it had once been hers.
Memories preserved in this state of immortality were what kept Thalia sane in the midst of the chaos; they were what helped Thalia to remember why she kept going. Her eyes glossed over pictures of herself as a little baby, cradled in Violet's arms as she bit her bottom lip. Ever since she was born, Violet had always protected her from everything.
Seeing the pictures of Violet made Thalia's heart ache as she slammed the photo album shut, quickly placing it back in the box before she sighed, feeling tears well in her eyes as her glossy eyes glazed over the smaller, flimsy paper box that she treasured, keeping it safely tucked inside the wooden box for safe-keeping.
She pulled the paper box out before she could think twice, eyes falling on the rainbow dance of cranes that Violet had folded for her. Three months' worth of paper cranes, one for every day, was kept inside that box. The first time one arrived was the first time Violet didn't come home. After she'd turned eighteen, Violet saw herself as above her father's law, able to push his buttons until he snapped. Thalia never understood at the time what was so suffocating about having a family that loved you, she never got why Violet ran away in the first place.
She just remembered, painfully, wishing that Violet had taken her too for nowhere could truly be her home without Violet by her side. Her constant amidst the chaos, the anchor to her straying ship, Violet was her world and in some ways, still was. Every night, Thalia would try to stay up to catch glimpses of Violet but her exhaustion would always overwhelm her and she would wake up the next day to find a folded paper crane on her nightstand.
The day they stopped coming was the day Thalia stopped believing.
Without thinking twice, Thalia got up, grabbing her phone from where it was charging on her nightstand before softly opening her room door as she crept down the corridor, making her way to the closed door at the end of the hall. She opened the door, jangling the keys her father always absentmindedly left in the lock as she opened the door to Violet's untouched room. Seven years later and neither Thalia nor her father could bear to take down any of Violet's things as if, like Thalia, her father held onto the naive hope that Violet would one day come home.
After closing the door, she sat down on the black rug that was below Violet's bed, leaning against the foot of Violet's bed as she brought her knees close to her chest, feeling a strangled sob trapped in her throat. As badly as she wanted to let it out, she felt as though something was choking her, preventing her from letting out the pent-up frustration she'd held in for so long. Resting her chin on her knees, Thalia wrapped her arms around her legs, holding herself as she rocked back and forth, pursing her lips together to keep herself from crying.
She looked up at the mural Violet had painted on the ceiling which got her a month's grounding from their father, smiling faintly at the sight of the white floral mandalas that were Violet's trademark, something Thalia adopted in her own art after Violet left. Tilting her head upwards with a timid smile, Thalia imagined Violet standing on a ladder, trying to get the petals and every little detail there. Though Violet wasn't a perfectionist like Thalia was, Violet always managed to perfect her art without trying, one of the many things Thalia admired about Violet.
Everything about Violet was ethereal; from her charismatic smile to her mesmerizing green eyes, Violet never seemed to be from this earth. The world was not worthy of her but yet, she was more than worthy of the world. In Thalia's eyes, Violet was always perfect, she'd never been anything less than perfect, she was who Thalia wanted to be.
"I miss you," Thalia whispered under her breath before she could help herself, turning her head to look at the rose gold grid photo wall that hung on Violet's wall, eyes falling on the one picture of Violet she'd taken. It was the first picture she'd ever taken when she was six, gifted a film camera for her birthday from Violet, who always understood Thalia's love for preserving memories.
Violet's green eyes staring intently at the camera, shoulder-length brown hair propped up on her shoulders as she beamed at the camera, a violet tucked behind her ear. The way Violet's eyes seemed to stare into her soul made Thalia look away as though she was violating Violet's privacy in some way.
"Why'd you leave me alone, Vi?" Thalia asked aloud, a single tear trickling down her cheek as she looked down at the ground defeatedly, hands gripping the furry carpet tightly as she sighed, heart sinking. "Why didn't you take me with you?" She said softly, forcing herself to stand up as she walked around Violet's room, fingertips brushing past Violet's dusty art plaques and medals, smiling weakly at the pictures of herself and Violet that Violet hung up around her room, always saying that Thalia was the best thing that happened to her.
"I would've gone with you if you asked...don't you know that?"
She looked at the last picture the two had together, the last one they'd ever taken that Violet had resting on her nightstand alongside the first picture of the two when Violet visited Thalia in the hospital the day Thalia was born. Their last photograph together was the one of eleven-year-old Thalia resting on eighteen-year-old Violet's shoulders, trying to reach Thalia's blue emperor butterfly kite that had gotten caught in the big maple tree in their front yard. She saw the bright smile her younger self had in the picture, remembering her father snapping the picture of the two girls as Thalia felt her heart shatter just slightly.
Brushing the tears out of her eyes, Thalia forced herself to go back to her room, knowing that staying in Violet's room only intensified her pain as she walked back towards her room defeatedly, making sure she locked the door behind her as she slipped back inside her room, flopping down on her bed. Trying so hard to force herself to sleep, she willed her eyes shut only for them to fly open seconds later, too terrified to keep them shut.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the dead look in her mother's eyes and was forced to watch her mother's body sway in the closet. She could feel her dinner re-entering her throat as she threatened to vomit, remembering how she stared up at her mother's dead body, barely able to even speak as she watched the body swing from side to side, a haunting reminder that Thalia couldn't shake to this day; meaning that Thalia was just a few seconds too late to save her mother's life.
Yawning as she stretched her sore arms over her head, she felt the temple of her head throbbing terribly, her neck horribly sore and her mood extremely foul as she reached over tiredly for her phone at the sound of a message.
೫ೃೀ༺
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ hello thalia aster ]
[ figured ud be awake ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ hello dipshit ]
[ to what do i owe this
pleasure considering
ur dumbass hasn't
texted me in like
days </3 dick move ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ lol sorry it's not my
job to check up on u ]
[ love u and all that lil sis
but i've got shit to do
too, my life ain't revolving
ard ur ungrateful ass ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ fk u dipshit ]
[ all u do is get stoned ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ u act as if u don't get
stoned w me wtf ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ i try not to smoke anymore
okay? can't have el following
our sick footsteps now can i ]
[ i barely ever get stoned! we
can't both be stoned at the
same time, someone's gotta
be at least semi-sane lol ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ ure a good sis to him ]
[ js wanted to ask how
u were coping w today ]
[ or like yesterday ]
[ idk homie it's 2am u tell me ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ fk i totally forgot to
see how u were holding
up too, fk i suck ass ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ yep, u do ]
[ ure a pretty big
dipshit too :) ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ gee thanks ]
[ anyway, i'm alive ]
[ u? ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ barely so but yes ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ sounds delightful ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ okay crazy idea but ]
[ wanna go out? ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ tf ??? like now ??? ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ no time like the
present, soleil jr ]
[ promise i have cigs ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ it's 2 in the fking
morning u fking idiot ]
[ i'm not supposed to
smoke anymore ugh
don't tempt me !!!! ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ so what? last time i
checked, the roads
don't just disappear at
2am ??? tf u on ]
[ clearly u ain't on the
right shit if u think time
stops anything in my
world broski ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ y arent u sleeping ]
[ dont u like hibernate for
like 15 hours a day ??? ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ same reason u arent duh ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ vi ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ of course ]
[ also ]
[ i was cleaning out my shit
and i found smt that ure gonna
wanna see :) trust me on this one ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ last time i trusted u we
ended up scaling my roof
so we could sneak me back
home before my dad skinned
me alive u idiot ]
[ not the best track record ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ it's something of vi's ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ wait what ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ i was cleaning out our place
and i found smt of hers i've
never seen before but i
think she'd want it to go
to you. she used to keep
all these diaries and say
that they were answers
for you in the future ]
[ i never questioned her at
the time but it's like she knew
her time was running out ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ n u didn't think to tell me ??? ]
[ all these years, romeo? wtf ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ she told me to wait till u
were old enough, she wanted
u to have time to be a kid ]
[ plus, i didn't even know
where her diaries went but
i found one today when i
was cleaning up. hence, i
reached out, dumbass ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ ure picking me up like right now ]
[ i need to see what was so important
she kept it from me ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ sure ur daddy will want u on
the back of some guys motorbike? ]
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐬 ♡
[ my stars! fk what he thinks ]
[ come over n bring what
vi asked u to give me ]
[ u and i are going to have
a very long talk ]
message from:
𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭
[ well fuck ]
[ see u soon, thalia ]
೫ೃೀ༺
She forced herself to change out of her comfortable pajamas and instead into something more presentable, putting together a simple outfit with a plain tee and a pair of jeans that would keep her somewhat warm in the middle of the night. She grabbed a gray hoodie, pulling the hood over her head as she grabbed her home, slipping out of her room and down the stairs, swiftly flinging the back door open as she snuck outside, walking through their yard and hopping over the garden fence as she waited for Romeo to pull up and show her what he was supposed to give her.
Romeo was the only other person who loved Violet as much as Thalia had, he was the only person who'd knew Violet like she had. Enigmatic and mysterious as she was, few people got to know Violet and even those who did could barely chip away at her walls. Romeo was the only other person Violet let her guard down for. When Violet's notes stopped coming, Thalia ransacked Violet's room for some clues, some answers, a hint as to why Violet just vanished, leaving after promising never to stray from her side.
It was one of the lonelier lights when Thalia's initial plan was just to lie in Violet's bed for a while, searching for every string to cling onto what was left of Violet. Though she expected to be numb to the feeling by now, loss never got easier for the faint-hearted girl and losing her anchor was horrible for the girl who struggled to hold on in the rocky seas. Her heart seemed to hurt slightly less, just a little less when she lay in Violet's bed, as if Violet was by her side, enveloping her in those warm embraces only Violet could offer her.
It was that night that she'd decided to do more exploring and rifled through Violet's precious belongings to find the familiar lilac leather journal that she recognized as Violet's diary. Violet, since young, carried the same journal around and only ever filled it with things that she knew mattered to her; addresses of places she found, entries of people who caught her eye and rough sketches of designs that called to her,
The crumpled, yellowing map Violet had kept in between two of the well-worn pages, was Thalia's guide to life without Violet. The only time Thalia dared to leave the house after Violet's disappearance was to chase after every trail, every breadcrumb that Violet had left behind, desperate to see what was so wrong with Violet's life that she'd spun off the edge and no one had been around to notice.
It was when she was at her favourite of all of the locations she'd discovered at the time that she'd met Romeo; working in a thrift shop Violet had described as 'a hidden treasure trove tucked just perfectly out of sight'. It was his family's shop after all and he noticed the girl the second she set foot into the store. The curtain of hair that hung over her piercing green eyes like the leaves of a weeping willow, the mysterious aura she radiated that he'd only ever picked up when he was around Violet told him one day, she would mean something to him. And that she did.
Though it took some time to break away at the ice surrounding Thalia, Romeo was nothing but persistent. It took some time to get Violet to warm up to it, he expected nothing less of the girl who walked into his store holding Violet's signature journal. The two connected over their loss of Violet, with Romeo finally meeting the esteemed Thalia that Violet had always spoken so highly of and Thalia learning just one of Violet's many secrets, her boyfriend.
She couldn't help but be so grateful that she'd found Romeo. Finally, someone who knew Violet as she did, finally, someone who was as broken as she was when Violet disappeared. All those years ago, she was an unhinged eleven year old who'd lost everything time and time again, the twisted world always finding something to snatch from her even when she thought she had nothing left. Had she not found Romeo to ground her, to remind her that she could live the life Violet was robbed of, Thalia couldn't bear to imagine what would've happened if she drifted off into the unknown like Violet had.
The flash of headlights caught her eye as she saw Romeo's motorcycle coming towards her, the lights dimming gradually so as to not wake Thalia's neighbours up as she took out her hands that were shoved inside her hoodie's pockets to take the helmet that Romeo held out to her, clipping the buckle on as the helmet strap fit just perfectly.
"Hey, squirt," Romeo called out as Thalia rolled her eyes at him, "real classy of you, Brentwood girl, rolling your eyes at a guy who drives out in the middle of the night to find you?"
"Oh, shut up!" Thalia scoffed as Romeo chuckled, amused by Thalia's reaction. "You're here anyway...can we just talk? I don't feel up to a drive, I need my goddamn answers."
"Come on, let's get further away from here, yeah?You've never been one to turn down an adventure...it's one ride, Thalia...we haven't gone on one in so long, you used to love it! Wouldn't want your dad throwing a hissy fit...don't really think I'm the type of guy a dad would want their daughter hanging around with at 2 in the goddamn morning," Romeo snickered, handing Thalia a bike helmet as she strapped in on, climbing onto the back of Romeo's motorbike.
"Is there a type of guy dads would want their daughters hanging out with in the middle of the night?" Thalia teased as Romeo rolled his eyes, starting up the bike once again as Thalia wrapped her arms around his waist, Romeo speeding off into the distance. "Where the hell are we going?"
"Our usual spot," Romeo answered, "where else would we go today?"
The mention of the spot immediately made Thalia crack a small smile, remembering when she was thirteen and had agreed to let Romeo take her on a drive for the first time. Perhaps it was because she reached the age of the spark of teenage rebellion, perhaps it was because she was reminded of Violet's love for living life on the edge but whatever it was, there was nothing quite like the feeling of mounting Romeo's Harley Davidson for the first time and letting the wind send her brown hair flying crazily as they sped down the roads without a care in the world.
The first place Romeo had taken her was easily Thalia's favourite place. It was a part of the hills that had just the right amount of mystery and secretiveness shrouding it that made it feel like it was straight out of The Secret Garden or something. As per what she was told by Romeo, it was Violet's spot that she would always ask him to meet her at, her go-to meeting spot, so fearful that Matteo Soleil would find out about Romeo and her.
"We haven't been there in so long," Thalia murmured wistfully.
"We haven't hung out in a long time," Romeo replied playfully as Thalia sighed, knowing that he was right. "I wanted to see you, kiddo...I missed you. Plus today's a crap day for both of us...think we could both use the company, don't you think?" Romeo continued as Thalia nodded thoughtfully though he couldn't see.
"This day is unlike no other."
"I'd drink to that," Romeo mumbled in response, "every day sucks without her...it's weird not to have to sneak out of my window and take my bike out to go meet her behind her school or in the middle of the night in the most random locations. She showed me LA like no one else ever has...she was different, she was special. I'd like to think...she's still out there somewhere, watching us chasing our own tails but you know, it's no coincidence that the last time you heard of her...was the last time I saw her. It's hard without her...seven years later and I'm still in love with someone who probably isn't even out there anymore. I mean...I hold onto this naive hope that she'll come back but Thals, if she was planning to come back for me, she would've by now."
"Do you think she's gone forever then?"
"I don't know what to think...so I just try not to. 'Course it never works out in my favour and they always tell you to look ahead in the future but...nothing ever feels like the past does. There is nothing more comforting than knowing exactly how things will unfold, I suppose that's why humans are so drawn to the past. I know...that she'd want us to just move on but it's easier said than done for both of us. I could hear the words from her lips and it won't change how hard it is," Romeo answered simply.
"Yeah, I get that. Seven years...has been so tragically long and yet so insanely short, it's just felt like...she just disappeared yesterday," Thalia mumbled quietly as Romeo nodded, keeping his eyes on the road as he continued to cruise down the road, Thalia's arms still wrapped around his waist. "The wound's...raw as ever, pain just as fresh as it's always been. You'd think you and I would be used to this stuff by now..."
"I don't think you can ever get used to this stuff," Romeo offered supportively, "I mean, more often than not, I find my mind wandering off to think about...what could've been. She wanted to elope...she kept talking about breaking out of societal constraints and she just wanted to get married, start anew. She wanted to take you too...find a way to adopt you, give you a chance at a better life."
"I can't believe she was planning this whole life...and I didn't even know about your existence," Thalia commented softly as Romeo chuckled, knowing how much Violet loved mysteries and becoming one was the next best thing if she couldn't solve one. "I didn't even know you were in her life till we met...heck, I didn't even know she had a boyfriend!"
"She loved mysteries, Thals."
"She basically was one," Thalia replied as Romeo nodded. "Do you think...that if she was still with us, you guys would've actually followed through...with your plans to elope? That we could be living totally different lives now if she was still here?" Thalia barely dared to ask, her voice wavering slightly, her eyes looking out into the distance as Romeo kept his eyes on the road, taking a shortcut on a dirt road towards the hills, Thalia never once questioning his decisions, trusting him with her life.
"Eh...maybe. She wanted to wait till you were twelve...she wanted you to be able to tell her if you wanted to go or not. She didn't wanna take your choice away, she said if you wanted to stay, she'd let you go if it made you happy. She just knew she didn't wanna stay. I told her things would work out over time...I'll never forget the look on her face when I said that. Haunts me till this day because it reminds me that I should've seen the goddamn signs and knew that something was wrong. Hate myself till this day for not knowing that she was worried about running out of time," Romeo muttered spitefully under his breath as Thalia squeezed the older boy's shoulder.
"It isn't your fault. I could've done better...s-should've done better. I was her sister...and I always knew something was wrong but I never had the balls to push her. I was terrified she would run away and shut me out completely, her leaving me alone was my greatest fear...and it came true anyway," Thalia sighed bitterly as Romeo steered the bike up a steep dirt path. "You know...I try to believe she's still out there but it's like...I know she's gone."
"I get that, believe me I do. I just wish there was something I could've done to stop it from happening. Kinda wish...really wish she was still here. When I first laid eyes on her...damn, Thalia...I just knew she was the one for me. Those green eyes of hers, the ones like yours...the kind that stare into your soul, they caught my eye the second she set foot in my parents' store. I miss her always...but it's okay. What's done is done, I just keep going 'cause she doesn't have the chance to, I j-just know she's gone. She'll live on in everything we do...you and me, we'll keep her alive," Romeo vowed as Thalia smiled faintly at him, knowing just from his tone how much Romeo loved her sister.
"She'd want you to move on and be happy, Romeo," Thalia suggested kindly as Romeo shook his head, knowing that there wasn't any girl quite like Violet out there. "You're likable, surely you can find another girl out there for you. I know that's what she'd want for you, you said it yourself. All Violet would've wanted for us is to move on. I'm trying to move on too...with Elias. Having someone to dote on...makes me feel a little closer to her," Thalia reminisced softly, eyes brimming with tears as she shook her head, regretting bringing it up in the first place.
"I'm sure she's proud of you for that. Better than me, eh? Sitting around here mourning my girlfriend who's been gone for seven years? I'm just a lovesick loser...but I embrace that. I'm cool with that, she was the best thing that could've ever happened to me. No point looking for someone else when I already had the best there ever was...and I let her slip right through my fingers," Romeo laughed dryly, shaking his head in dismay
"It gets better, bro...I promise. Takes time though...think you can stick around till then? I don't really wanna lose anyone else," Thalia replied as Romeo turned around to smile at her, his smile barely visible in the moonlight as the bike slowed, Romeo motioning for Thalia to dismount as Romeo hopped off as well, parking his motorbike by some trees as he sat down by the edge of the cliff, legs dangling off as Thalia followed him, sitting down beside him.
"You won't lose me, kid," Romeo replied reassuringly, "even if...you know, we move on and we go to different places, she'll always be a common thread that ties us together. Plus, you have my number...I have yours, we'll make it work. The best things in life never come easy, you always have to fight to see why they're the best."
"Why did Vi keep...so much hidden from me all these years?"
"You were a kid, Thals. Her life revolved around shielding you from the things no one was around to shield you from, she never wanted you to be exposed to...our reality. Smoking cigarettes, abuse and getting high...the darkness of the real world would break you, she knew that," Romeo chuckled emptily, taking a deep breath as he placed the cigarette he'd been lighting while talking in between his lips. "Want one?" He asked as Thalia sighed, shaking her head as he shrugged, blowing out a cloud of gray smoke as Thalia stared out at the view.
"Well, she didn't succeed. The real world fucked me over anyway."
"It was always going to. The real world is a shit hole...filled with misery, emptiness and darkness. It's hard to see the light when you're in a dark room with no windows. You want to believe it's there but with no proof, what do you have to cling onto? Everyone loses their minds, even Vi couldn't stop that," Romeo countered, "she was merely trying to delay the inevitable, soften the blow, make sure your heart wasn't too soft to take it yet."
"What did you find...that was so goddamn interesting...you asked me to leave my house for? Usually you and I just...mope all day on this date."
"If I'm being really honest, I don't even really know what it is. I was...cleaning out my apartment...finally gonna move out of it," Romeo explained as Thalia arched an eyebrow, surprised by Romeo's declaration. Romeo's apartment was where Violet stayed in the three months prior to her disappearance, she'd begged him to let her stay and like the loving boyfriend he was, he agreed in a heartbeat. "Yeah...I'm trying the move on thing now. It's...maybe seven years too late...but it's a start."
"Proud of you, man," Thalia said kindly as Romeo shot her a pained smile, "I'm glad you're...finding a new place."
"Yeah...can't really move on when I see her in every corner of the house. It was ours...anyway, I can't move on when I'm surrounded by memories of her. She was my world," Romeo mused as Thalia nodded, placing her hand on his shoulder in silent support. "I was cleaning out the stuff when I found a notebook I'd never seen before. Don't know how I've missed it all this while...maybe because I couldn't bring myself to look at her stuff but the second I opened it, I saw your name on the first page. It was addressed to you."
"What was it?"
"Didn't check to see. Didn't feel right...when it wasn't addressed to me. Vi valued privacy...so what if she's n-not with us anymore? Doesn't mean I don't live as she would want me to...right? It's yours to see when you're ready, that's all," Romeo said, opening the satchel to take out a black hardcover notebook with tabs sticking out of it and crumpled pages.
"You brought me all the way out here just to give me this?"
"You and I could both use the company...and the fresh air," Romeo replied with a smirk as Thalia nodded, grateful to have him by her side. She could see what Violet saw in him; sure, he was rough around the edges but he was sweet. His heart, though bruised, was open to love and he radiated genuine care for those close to him, Thalia was lucky enough to be one of them. "Read it when you're ready, you don't have to share it with me if you don't want to."
"No one knew her like you did, you deserve the answers just as much as I do," Thalia whispered as Romeo nodded, watching as Thalia tentatively flipped open the journal, helping by shining his phone's flashlight over the book that was propped up on Thalia's lap. "To my dearest Thalia. This is everything I couldn't say."
"We're already off to...a dark start," Romeo murmured, chuckling awkwardly as Thalia nodded grimly. "It's okay, Thals...I'm right here with you. We're in this together, Thals...you and me," Romeo vowed sincerely as Thalia nodded, thankful that she didn't have to do this alone. Thankful not only to have the chance at a new lead, but to have Romeo here with her to bear the burden with her.
"Okay...where do we start?"
"The first page, idiot."
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to my dearest thalia,
my baby sister, my absolute world. i wish there were better circumstances under which i could be writing but alas, that's not how life works. trust me when i say i wanted to tell you. i tried once. believe me. you won't remember any of this but take my word for it okay? i wouldn't ever lie to you unless it kept you safe, which i realized was wrong.
there is so much that you have yet to learn and i wish that you don't ever have to bear this load. of course, if this has gotten to you and you're reading this right now, then it's too late. i have failed. i messed up countless times and things have spiraled out of control. there is so much i regret, i never should've done this alone. i thought i was keeping you safe by shielding you from the evil of the world but in reality, i was just being cold because i didn't know what else to do.
i thought that after that night in the lab, it would be safest to shield you from the evil of the world so you would never be caught in the crossfire ever again. you have always seen the best in everyone, i wish for you to never lose that about yourself. i was (and still am) terrified that showing you how cruel the world could be would make you lose that beautiful heart of yours that makes everyone love you the second they lay eyes on you.
if i could go back in time, i would change that decision to keep you in the dark. i would tell you how much i loved you and share everything with you. admittedly, it's mainly for selfish reasons that i wish i shared it with you, perhaps the burden i carry wouldn't be as heavy if we'd shared it. perhaps things would've been easier and wouldn't have gotten this far.
i promised our mother (not elizabeth, our real mother) that i would do everything and anything i could to protect you. the day she gave you her bracelet in the hospital, i gave her my word that i would do absolutely everything to keep you safe. when she left, i knew i had to do everything i could to keep you safe. you were, still are and always will be the most important person in the whole world to me. you're my baby sister, you're the one person i would take a bullet for without blinking an eyelash.
i will never forget how i have been blessed with the chance to watch you grow from a little girl terrified of her own shadow to a beautiful, strong ten-year-old girl who would sacrifice herself for me. know that wherever i am, i am watching over you and i will always be proud of the person you've become. you are the strongest person i know.
if you've had to read this and all this new information really is new and foreign to you, then i guess i really have run out of time. it doesn't matter, you know that i love you. time spent with you has been the best time of my life. even if we spent a majority of our lives losing people, crying and screaming at the sky for screwing us over countless times, you are the one person who has kept me going. everything i do, i do so you can have a better future, a world that deserves you.
please know that i never meant to leave without saying goodbye. it would've just been too hard if i saw the look in your eyes. i want your last memory of me to be a happy one, not some twisted goodbye. i love you, thalia aster. don't ever forget that.
forever your guardian angel,
violet selene
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"That's...spooky, dude," Romeo mumbled as the two stared at the words on the paper. "What was she hiding?" Romeo barely dared to ask as he took a cigarette out of the packet he carried around in his pocket, lighting it up as he placed the cigarette between his pursed lips, nodding in her direction as Thalia forced herself to shake her head stiffly.
"I quit," she whispered quietly as Romeo shrugged, "I'm trying to quit."
"Suit yourself, kiddo," Romeo murmured, letting out a puff as the cloud of smoke caused Thalia to cough softly, "wonder what Violet is...w-was hiding."
"You don't know either?" Thalia asked as Romeo shook his head helplessly. "If even you didn't know...how the hell are we going to figure this out? What is she talking about? What lab? What happened to us, what can't I remember? What was h-happening? Romeo...t-this whole time, she knew...she knew her time was running out! How did she know?"
"Thals, you were a kid when it happened!" Romeo protested, trying to calm her down, "no one remembers exactly what happened to them when they were kids! Look...Violet loved secrets okay? She never told either of us...everything that was happening with her, we didn't know...and wishing we did doesn't change the fact that we still don't have all the missing pieces."
"We need answers, Romeo," Thalia stated firmly as Romeo nodded solemnly, "the guilt almost killed me when she first disappeared...like I knew I was at fault somehow. I c-can't do this again, dude! It really c-could be my fault, I know it's n-not making sense but I always knew her disappearance was tied to me! What if it's really my fault she's gone?"
"It's gonna be okay, Thals...we've done this so many times, we can keep going. It's not...and will never be your fault," Romeo promised her, pulling a folded handkerchief out of his pocket as he gently dabbed away the tears that trickled down Thalia's face. Seeing Thalia so cut up and broken reminded Romeo of Violet. In so many ways, Thalia resembled Violet; Violet's spirit shone through not only in Thalia's looks but also in her heart, her feelings, her actions.
"You don't know that," Thalia whispered painfully, finding herself choking on her words. The strangling sensation of something clogged in her throat returned, reminding her all too well of the first time her world came crashing to an end. Seeing Thalia so broken hurt Romeo as well, who couldn't do anything except dry the tears of the girl he saw as a younger sister, the one other person Violet spoke of with nothing but pure love and admiration. As cynical and pessimistic as the world had made Violet to be, the beautiful way she spoke of Thalia never changed.
"H-how do you think she'd feel if she heard you say these things? She adored you, Thalia...you were her world. I always knew...whenever we were together, she was always checking her phone, looking obsessively at the time...making sure she didn't miss any of your calls in case you needed her. Didn't you see...what she wrote about you? You're the person she would take a bullet for. Even if I was her boyfriend, she always made it clear that no matter what, you were going to be her priority because she loved you...the same way you love her," Romeo vowed as Thalia sniffled quietly.
"Whatever it is that happened to her...maybe this book has the answers to that. What I don't need the book to tell me is that it's not your fault, I know that with my everything. You would never hurt her," Romeo continued, speaking with such conviction that made Thalia peek over and look at him, his eyes meeting Thalia's teary ones as Thalia sniffled.
"I hate knowing that...she's gone. I know we don't have any confirmation but I just know...you know? I can just feel it...I just know she's gone. W-we've felt that way all this time and this book...she knew it was too late, she just knew. She's gone...isn't she?" Thalia whispered hoarsely, throat dry as Romeo nodded sympathetically, wrapping an arm around the shaking girl.
"She'll never truly be gone, not if we don't let go," Romeo offered quietly, "you can move on without leaving sometimes. She'll always be part of you, part of me...she's made us into the people we are today, that's what the people we love do for us; make us the best possible versions of ourselves we can become."
"You're moving out. Of your home with her."
"Home is where the heart is, kid...surely she taught you that," Romeo said with a dry chuckle as Thalia rolled her eyes playfully. "I'll always carry her...wherever I go. Wherever I am, that's where she'll be. That's where I'll belong."
"You were meant for each other," Thalia commented softly as Romeo shrugged. "The universe...sucks ass sometimes."
"Just believe that in a parallel universe, things work out the way they should've. There's a reason for everything anyway...we become better people through everything we go through. That's what you have to believe anyway...if you wanna keep going. Your answers...are right in front of you, just read 'em when you're ready," Romeo suggested Thalia nodded, well aware that the answers they'd spent years searching for now lay right before their eyes.
"If it's kinda private, I won't read with you. You can just tell me the stuff you want me to know about, just as long as you're okay with it. Just keep my flashlight, I need another cig," Romeo continued, standing up as he made a big deal of stretching his arms over his head, handing Thalia the flashlight as she looked at him in confusion. "Don't worry, I won't wander too far kid. And I'll come back. Don't fret. I'll come right back."
As she watched the older boy wander off, leaving a trail of cigarette smoke behind him, Thalia shook her head sadly, looking back down on the pages that were now stained with tears and had smudged ink tattooing the yellowed pages.
"That's what Violet said. And where is she now, Romeo? Where is she?"
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i don't even know where to start but um, here goes.
i've decided that i'll be writing this and keeping this as a diary of sorts to keep track of all the things i've discovered over the years. my old notes were too messy so i'm rewriting them now and hopefully, organizing them so we can get the answers we deserve. i don't really know why i want you to have this eventually but the truth always gets out so you might as well hear it from me since i don't know if there's anyone else left in the world you should trust.
PRIDE, the organization the soleils work for, is evil. i know it is. dad's schizophrenia? they caused it. matteo was never schizophrenic until the lovely geoffrey wilder bludgeoned our father, till he was nearly dead, with an aluminium bat six months after elizabeth died. he always knew something was fishy with elizabeth's death, that's why he tried to leave PRIDE and the price he paid was being left for dead. except PRIDE failed and instead left us with a schizophrenic father with amnesia. i know, just peachy.
i know it seems like we're jumping straight into the deep end but trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. i don't know exactly why PRIDE does what they do but seriously, they're not good people. i know they're your friends' parents but trust me, thals, i wouldn't lie to you. not anymore. nothing is as it seems.
being adopted by the soleils sent our lives spiraling out of control. i just had a gut feeling that something was wrong so i did some investigation. PRIDE is a mere cover-up for what it's really about. they do some...weird twisted sacrifices or something to people who went to leslie's church. the church you and i used to attend. can you believe that? we've been so close to murderers all along.
i hope to only have to give you this when you're eighteen, when you'll finally be a legal adult to run away and escape the grasp of PRIDE is something out of the ordinary. i've never heard of anything like it. it's crazy. PRIDE is pure insanity, the devil incarnate. i wish the car crash took my life too, then i wouldn't have to bear this weight.
admittedly, i've seen some really terrifying shit with my own eyes. i knew brian geparhart, did you know that? of course you didn't, you've probably never heard of him. he was a friend of romeo's- oh wait, i haven't told you who romeo is yet. he's the best. the sweetest, kindest boyfriend a girl could ever ask for, i think you'd really like him. i hope you guys get to meet one day, i just know the two most important people in my life will get along just fine.
the guilt of knowing what they did to brian, one of romeo's best friends, it's killing me, thals. i don't know how much longer i can do this for. they killed him, i swear on my goddamn life, they killed him. i don't know how they did it, i've never been school smart but victor stein's weird box thing killed him. i just know it did. his body, it's gone. brian, he's gone. romeo hasn't heard of him since the day i saw what i did. i know it wasn't a trick. i just know.
i can't look at romeo with his sunken cheeks and dark circles under his pained eyes without thinking of brian. how i could've done something, how maybe if i hadn't been such a coward, i could've made saved his life, spared romeo the pain that losing brian brought him. i am wrecked with guilt, thalia, absolutely ridden with it but i won't let this happen again. no, i will find out what happened and i will find their next victim i will not be a coward ever again.
i will find the next person and i will get them out and i will take PRIDE down one by one. i will destroy them, thalia, even if it costs me my life. i won't let the wrong people get away scot-free and let the good people pay for all the bad in the world. not anymore.
the night we spent in matteo's lab, i swear, i developed some...extraterrestrial powers that i've never had before. it's the stuff you see in movies, superhero movies like the incredibles. the living incarnation of violet parr, i guess that's who i am now. not quite. my powers are weird and you touched something when we were down there too. i'm convinced you are just like me. different creatures, yes, but it's why dad has you on those sleeping pills and the yorkes make you take those pain meds.
i tried one of yours and my powers stopped working, they've been inhibiting your powers all this while. they were scared you would overthrow them but now, you have the choice. i'm only telling you now so you have the ability to choose; whether you wish to continue suppressing them or whether you want to embrace what you've been given. either choice you make, it's the right one. you know you best.
stop falling for PRIDE's crap. stop taking those meds of yours, thals. i don't know about the sleeping ones but something's not right with them either. just promise me you trust me, promise me you'll try. it's okay. i'm with you. we're going to figure this out together.
with you till the end,
vi
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Unable to bring herself to read any more, Thalia closed the book, so close to throwing the book off the cliff but resisted the urge to, knowing that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if the book fell into the wrong hands and that it had so much more left to tell her. She fell silent, staring out at the horizon.
A sickly sensation overwhelmed the already petrified girl, who felt as though her whole life had been hidden from her.
It suddenly made sense, why she had those strange...eerily prophetic visions once she was off the special sleeping pills the Yorkes had gotten her. She'd accidentally broken a capsule and was one short of her monthly prescription, the Yorkes had yet to drop by to bring her more. Taking ordinary ones from a pharmacy...no wonder they had been so against that and promised to supply her with meds free of charge.
"I wish you were still here," she said softly, breaking the heavy silence that hung over her, "I wish you didn't have to go. If you're...listening, you were right. Romeo and I get along just fine...though we're missing something, someone. It would be so much better if you were here, everything would."
She felt a sudden warmth through her body as though Violet's spirit enveloped her in a tight embrace, trying to tell her everything would be okay. Though she found it hard to believe, she clung onto the childish hope that it would work out. She stood up, dusting herself off as she shone the torchlight on the floor, staggering through the dirt to find Romeo standing at the edge of another cliff, gray beanie keeping his long black hair in check as he too stared out emptily at the horizon.
"Hey," Thalia spoke up quietly as Romeo turned around, hands buried in the pockets of his black leather jacket, the cigarette clasped between his lips as he shot her a knowing look. "Thought you could...use the company, I know I could," Thalia mumbled with a light chuckle as Romeo nodded, motioning for her to walk over to his side as Thalia kept the notebook in her right hand, letting Romeo drape an arm over her.
"You get the answers you want?"
"Not all yet," Thalia admitted sheepishly, "but things are finally starting to make sense."
"So...she didn't just...leave because she was sick of me?"
"She could never have been," Thalia replied sweetly, hearing the palpable pain in Romeo's voice as he spoke, wanting to reassure the only other person who could've possibly loved Violet as much as she did. Despite his walls and tough exterior, Romeo's kryptonite had always been Violet. Since she first met him, Thalia always noticed how hard it was for him to look into her eyes because the intensity of her green eyes reminded him all too well of Violet. "She loved you. If she let you get close, she loved you."
"I wasn't even that close...were either of us? She had this...whole other life," Romeo countered dryly, "a life I wasn't in, a life you weren't in either. Maybe...you know, if I'd just seen the signs earlier, you and I...we could be living it up somewhere else right now with her. I'd like to think you would've come..and that you would've gotten along just fine with me even if we didn't have the bond of losing Violet to bring us together."
"You're the biggest jerk at times...but you're a good guy, Romeo," Thalia spoke sincerely as she leaned her head on Romeo's shoulder, "if you blame yourself for what happened to Violet, then I'm just as much to blame. All these things I c-can't remember...these really weird things that don't add up, maybe that's why I've always felt like there's been...something missing. Like I have amnesia or something."
"Nothing's impossible these days right?" Romeo offered as Thalia shrugged weakly. "Just...I know we have the answers now...so this book means the world to you...but promise me you won't lose yourself because of it?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"Vi loved the mysteries so much...look what she's become, just like 'em. I don't need to lose anyone else to shit I don't understand. I know this thing means the world to you, I know this is your connection to Violet, to your past but you're like her...in so many ways. These types of things...they overwhelm you and they eat away at you...I got a second chance to fix the mistakes I made the first time round with you...and I'd lose my shit completely if I lose you to this stuff too," Romeo proclaimed sincerely, holding onto Thalia's shoulder as Thalia turned to meet Romeo's eyes, seeing how intently he was staring at her.
"I just...maybe if I solve this...I'll finally get the closure. I'll finally get us our closure."
"Life's easier with closure...but life isn't easy," Romeo mumbled defeatedly, "I don't need closure to know that you're a good person and that...it's really not worth it for you to lose yourself to this. She's worth...absolutely everything but not this. She'd want you and me to move on, deep down...you and I both know that. You're a good person as is, she'd just want you to move on. Remember what you told me...about Elias?"
"That I thought he was a reincarnation of Violet? I was twelve, Romeo," Thalia said with an unimpressed scoff as Romeo chuckled. "I was grasping at every string to say that Violet was still with me. My therapist called it delusion...and denial," Thalia stated matter-of-factly as Romeo rolled his eyes, never having been one who supported Matteo's decision to send Thalia off to therapy after Violet's disappearance.
"No, stupid..about how Elias was your second chance. How you thought Violet sent him to you," Romeo corrected as Thalia nodded thoughtfully, thinking back to the first time she'd brought Elias to meet Romeo and she'd confessed that she'd seen Elias as her second chance of finding someone to love.
"How would Vi feel...knowing you were gonna squander this second chance? You're a good kid, you don't need to be Nancy Drew for me to tell you that. You have lost so many people from such a young age and you have braved every storm you have faced! You are barely eighteen years old and you have raised your brother since you were twelve! You've worked a job since you were twelve! Thalia, those are just a few of the so many reasons people have to be proud of you! You don't need to prove anything...I already know that you're an amazing soul," Romeo protested, hating to see the younger girl beat herself up for so many things that she couldn't have controlled.
"You...you really think I'm amazing?" Thalia whispered, eyes brimming with tears as Romeo smiled warmly at the girl, nodding adamantly.
"I don't just think...I know," Romeo crowed confidently as Thalia snickered, shaking her head as Romeo sighed. "I don't know lots of things...I'm not book-smart that's for sure...but I know a good egg when I see one. You're definitely one, Thalia Aster...and I didn't even need Violet to praise you to the high heavens to know that," Romeo said kindly as Thalia smiled shyly at the boy.
"You're pretty cool too, I guess," Thalia murmured as Romeo playfully punched her forearm, making her squeal as she nearly dropped Violet's precious diary off the cliff the two were now standing at the edge of. "Fuck off! Dipshit!" Thalia cursed, grabbing onto the journal tightly as Romeo collapsed with laughter, clearly amused by what he almost caused. "I swear...I fucking hate your guts."
"Violet used to say that," Romeo commented with a laugh, "and she loved me."
"Well...I don't. I'm...mildly fond of your dumb ass, I suppose," Thalia replied flippantly, the pair laughing as they stared out at the skyline. "Thanks for...driving all the way out in the middle of the goddamn night. It's...surprisingly relaxing to be here with you."
"Eh, you're a little sis, Thals...I'd do anything for you. 'Sides, if you're anything like Violet was, you'd love this view. And you do...just like I knew you would. After all, I did watch you turn from this timid eleven year old girl too scared to tell me her name to this badass eighteen year old who keeps cussing at me. Think I can say I know you pretty damn well, Soleil."
"I know you might need to sleep and shit but...d-do you think we could just...stay here for a bit? I don't think I'm getting any sleep tonight, I don't mind just...staying here and looking out at the view. Promise we'll get you back by...sunrise maybe?" Thalia asked warily, laughing softly as Romeo shrugged, content to be back in the spot he always came back to when he was hurting and searching for solace.
"Aw, come on! The sunrise is the best part!"
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a/n: hi! this chapter is just
kind of a filler one that's
meant to like give yall some
context of the story! hopefully
you guys like this chapter! really
hope you guys do, like & comment
if yw <3 thanks for the love so far :D
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