Priceless

[cellar.]

(ahhh, I'll edit this post later, as it's pretty rushy. sorry about that.)




‘Maybe this isn’t such a great idea…’

Levi thought, nervously stepping into the decrepit building. He swore that whole thing was on the verge of collapsing – bricks crumbling, plaster cracking – and couldn’t imagine anyone living in some depressing place like this. Nevertheless, he took in a deep breath and walked in anyways.

‘Suck it up, Levi,’

he told himself,

‘Just do it.’





Weeks had passed in an excruciatingly slow pace. The month of August was finally around the corner, and summer was beginning to cool down slowly and surely. Plenty of time had elapsed, yet still nothing was back to normal. If anything, things had only gotten more hectic, more on edge, more unbearable. He went to see Ephraim every day – which also meant that he had to see his parents every day. The minute he treaded into old territory, the tension in the O’Flaherty household was practically buzzing, reaching a near hysteria. A façade of familial politeness was all the kept the whole thing from erupting into chaos.


And Levi would try to talk to Eph during those visits, but it only made things harder for the both of them. Sometimes he’d get a soft, halting line or two from his brother. On other days, he would receive inexplicable frustration and mood swings from him.

(And there were things that the both of them kept away from each other, lock-and-key.)

So he stopped trying to make conversation. He had never been good at that anyways.


“Um, I’m looking for Annabelle McHerren?” Levi tentatively asked a teenage boy who was sitting and smoking on the floor in what he guessed was supposed to be the lobby of the apartment. The kid blew a few smoke rings, eyeing him carefully before answering. It was weird. Levi never thought he’d be judged for looking too put-together, too nice, too rich.


“Second floor, man. Unit B1.”


It was kind of a last-ditch effort on his part to make Ephraim a little happier. He had asked Levi about her a few times before, always considering her name very carefully as he said it. Levi knew that there were still aspects where his memory faltered into blank spaces. There were certain things that his brother could not recall…And Anna was something only partly remembered…something

important but indefinable.

Maybe Eph’s frustration wasn’t so inexplicable after all.


Trying to avoid all the people hanging out in the hallways, Levi finally arrived in front of her door.


Without giving himself the privilege of hesitation, he knocked.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

(( It's not nearly as rushed as you'd think. Sure it's missing details here and there, but I'm not worried about it! I would rather get a reply out and have you do another than edit that one. ))


At first, Anna wasn't sure she'd even heard it correctly. Someone was at her apartment door, knocking? Great. It was probably the landlord who came up routinely to yell at her about noise, mess, and rent. Though of course, she hardly made noise, never left mess outside of her apartment, and paid rent on time everytime. For some reason people found it easy to yell at her, to push her down when she was hurt and keep going. "I'm coming!" She called after debating on whether or not to even get out of bed to answer it. He'd just be back later if she didn't talk to him now, and she didn't feel like having to deal with him that night. It was a pain in to get out of bed, not in the way that annoyed her but in a way that physically hurt. It'd been days since she'd been out of bed and she wasn't out of bed for more than a few hours. Standing still, Anna waited for the room to stop hurling before she attempted to go to the door.


She coughed loudly into the crook of her arm, and glanced over to the mirror to make sure there wasn't blood on her face. There wasn't, but she noticed the dull look on her face and circles under her eyes and cringed. If she didn't look shitty before, she was definitely pulling it off now. It took a while for her to actually get to the door, even though she'd told the person behind it she was coming. When she finally got there, she felt herself feeling nervous, worried that someone was going to see her like this. Even if it were her landlord who couldn't care less about her physical appearance. Her looking like trash didn't affect the apartment so it was no consequence to him.


"I just put the rent in your mail--" Annabelle had started to say as she opened the door. But was stopped mid sentence when she realized who was actually standing at her door looking painfully awkward and uncomfortable to be there. Her mouth hung open slightly, the shock that she was feeling stopped her from forming any words to greet him. All Anna could bring herself to do for a long moment was stand there and stare at him. In a million years, Annabelle would never have guessed that Levi would make his way up to her apartment. Her must have needed something, or he might have fallen and hit his head. Then, her expression turned from shock to confusion as she leaned into the door frame to support her weight. She was weak and standing even that long was too much of an effort for her. "Is everything okay?" She finally asked, her voice soft and raspy. While she leaned, she quickly grabbed the door handle and pulled the door as close to her as she could without having to move, this way the door would block most of the view of her shit hole living space. She looked like garbage, she didn't want to have Levi judging her for her garbage apartment too.

 

[cellar.]

A muffled voice came from the other side of the door, answering his knock. Still, it took a few more moments before Levi heard the sound of footsteps followed by the quiet click of a lock being turned. Those brief seconds, however, were enough to make him question (again) how sane he was for doing this. If anybody saw him fraternizing with McHerren's disowned

apparently-falsely-rumoured-to-be-druggie

daughter...certainly nothing good was going to come out of that. And plus, he was a hundred percent ready to admit that it was shitty of him to be asking her for favors, when he was the one that had screamed to be left alone. Doubt was beginning to sprout – once again – if this had been a conceivable idea at all.


The door swung open, and he was met with a whirlwind of a girl.




“I just put the rent in your mail –”


Anna trailed off when her eyes met his, jaw dropping to form a perfect expression of disbelief. Just the same, Levi was pretty surprised at her appearance too – for different reasons though. It might’ve been awhile since they last saw each other, but she seemed like a ghost of a person from weeks ago – thinner, paler, sicker. There was something intrinsically tired about the way she was holding herself up against the door frame, something easily breakable. Purple shadows were forming underneath her eyes, and her hair was a matted tangle around her shoulders.

A flickering flame.


Neither of them said anything, simply staring at each other in some odd mixture of surprise and disbelief and awkwardness. Then finally –

"Is everything okay?"


“Um…No actually,” Levi responded slowly, still staring at her. “Ephraim…uh, he’s not…Hey are you alright?” He asked instead. She looked she was on the verge of passing out, leaning against the door frame just to stay upright. Maybe this had been a bad time to have randomly dropped by. “...You kind of look awful.” And it was a rather backhanded way to express concern – half insult, half care, the only sort that came naturally to him.


"Um, can I come in?" Levi asked as politely as could manage.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

It wasn't entirely shocking when she realized that Lievi hadn't come just to see her. She'd asked the question and though she'd known that answer, had hoped for another one. Something was wrong with Ephraim, and though it sent a pang of pain through her, she had told herself that she wasn't going to get mixed up in this families business any longer. "Can I come in?" Levi had asked and frowned. Knowing him he wouldn't take no for an answer, and he'd probably seen enough of her apartment that there wasn't a reason to keep him from coming it. If he already saw the mess and still wanted in she wasn't going to stop him.


"Are you okay?...You look awful."





She pushed herself off of the door frame which took more energy than she thought it would have, and the soft grunting sound she'd made proved that. "My, don't you have a way with words," She said and rolled her eyes. However Anna was smiling, clearly not having been offended by what he said. She was perfectly aware of just how crappy she looked, and she turned back toward her one room apartment and frowned. There were several bloody rags by her bed, and a few crimson stains her her blankets. If she weren't standing up right and talking, someone would have probably guessed she were murdered in her sleep or something.


"Sorry about the mess," Anna grimaced at the clutter and walked over to her pile of rags, scooping them up quickly and throwing them into a near by waste basket. "I wasn't expecting guests..." It was never something she would have expected, never had anyone come looking for her. It was like people wanted to put themselves in this part of the city by choice let alone stay for any amount of time. Leaning over, she almost fell off balance but grabbed the corner of a rickety bed side table to steady herself. With the free hand she plucked a hair tie off of the floor and stood up again, slowly so there wouldn't be too much of a head rush.


Annabelle plopped down on her bed and threw back the covers so that the stains and aftermath of long nights were hidden. "There's a chair over there," She gestured to a small lounge chair, the stuffing falling out. Before saying anything else, however, she tied her hair back into a bun and it only showed the hallow of her cheeks all the more. Her tired expression worsening, "Somethings up with Ephraim?" She asked, her voice tired and husky.

 

[cellar.]

She opened the door, but by the time he had walked all the way into the apartment unit, Levi was beginning to feel sorry that he had. Everything looked like it was on the verge of collapse. Between the chipped paint and peeling wallpaper, cracks littered the walls and made winding roads all the way up towards the ceiling. Well, this only managed to heighten his sense of apprehension. His eyes traveled back down in time to see Anna scoop up a pile of…

something

and throw it into the trash bin. Whatever it was, it had been spotted with a spray of red...

(Blood? Maybe it was just some kind of juice??)

As stunned as he was, Levi managed to hold his tongue his time.




“Sorry about the mess…”


“No…It’s okay,” He heard himself say quietly, staring after her. For a second, she looked like she was about to faint again. Levi moved forward by instinct, but the reflexive gesture proved to be unnecessary as Anna grabbed onto the bed and pulled herself upright. He stood nervously in the middle of the room, unsure of what he was trying to do exactly by being here. Finally, he walked over to the lounge chair that Anna had gestured towards, sitting down tentatively. Maybe the conversation would be a little less discomfited if they were both safely sitting.


“Um. It’s not that something’s up with him…It’s just that he’s still…adjusting.” Two months after the accident, and

adjusting

was still the vague, sugar-coated word to be used. But it was the truth in a way; nothing significant had happened to Ephraim the whole time – no major incidents, no outstanding tragedies. It was just this constant back-and-forth fight of trying to coax back the brother he had before. Three days of an agonizing wait, and an infinite number of days ahead.

Adjusting.


They were all trying to adjust.


“And…Well, he can’t really

remember

what happened in the last few weeks preceding the accident, and it’s really bothering him. I don’t know. I just thought it might help if you go see him. Maybe.”

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Annabelle couldn't help but frown, it wasn't fun hearing that your only friend was struggling. But, as much as she wanted to go to him and try to help, she wondered if that would only make things worse. She looked down at her hands, shaking and the skin greyed, "I don't know that I'd be much help," She said honestly, knowing quite well that wasn't really was Levi had come to hear. He wouldn't have been coming to her if he didn't think it was a last resort. But in all honesty, she wasn't really sure if she could help and if she went and wasn't able to do anything....it'll only upset everyone further.


"I've got a lot I'm dealing with right now," She said and sighed. There wasn't much energy left in her, and she worried that if she made it to the hospital she wasn't ever going to leave it. "Besides, I don't want to complicate things for him further, adding another person into the mix might be the last thing Ephraim needs..." She was trying hard to keep the emotion out of her voice, not wanting to give anything away. Not only was she frightened for Ephraim but she was frightened for herself.


Annabelle pushed herself back to her feet, and went over to a tiny makeshift kitchen where she managed to find a kettle, and fill it with water, and set it down on a hot plate. It was clear that even the small action of making tea was almost too much for her, she swayed on her feet again, but leaned against the wall to conceal the weakness. Her eyes were glassy when she looked back over to Levi who looked more than uncomfortable to be there. She wanted to help, but wondered if it would only cause more damage than good. "What would I even say to him....?" The fear for both of them sounded clear in her voice now, vulnerable and weak. She shut her eyes then, and her eyebrows knitted together right now pain was waving over her and she was doing everything in her power to fight it.

 

[cellar.]

This was clearly a bad time.

It had also, he realized, been a pretty bad idea to spring up on her with a surprise visit, and her words only confirmed his thoughts. Annabelle looked like she was about three seconds away from falling into unconsciousness – movements looking unsteady and trembling and strained. Just watching her, he was perched on the edge of his seat, waiting to react to anything that was to happen. The last time at the hospital…Well, he didn’t remember the incident too much fondness, considering that she had almost swayed right off the roof.


She did have a point. Maybe adding another person into the problem would make thing worse, confuse Ephraim only more. But although he couldn’t imagine what his brother could possibly be thinking, it wasn’t hard to tell that whatever they were doing now – it wasn’t working. Two days, two months: nobody even knew what happened that night. People didn’t swerve off the road for no reason.

He had been intoxicated

, they said. But when they broke that piece of information to Eph

(and ever so gently, they did)

, he looked up with a blank-eyed stare and answered “W-why…would I…do that?”


Nobody knew. Maybe Eph did. Maybe, buried somewhere in there.


Anna began filling a kettle with water in what was supposed to be a kitchen. It was plain enough to see that she struggling to keep standing, leaning against the wall for support. After a long pause, she turned back towards him. Her eyes looked watery. Her voice suggested the same.

"What would I even say to him....?"

And

oh god

, if only Levi knew the answer to that. If there was some miraculous word to fix it all, he’d happily say it

and wave his magical fucking wand while at it.


“I just think,” he admitted quietly, “That he’s sick of our parents, he’s sick of Priscilla, he’s sick of me.”


A change in scenery. It could be something disastrous, but what was there to lose anymore?

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

The tea kettle squealed to life after a long pause, Anna had to think this over. She'd told herself that she wasn't going to get involved, ruining their lives any longer but this time was different right? Ephraim was her friend, and she wanted to help anyway that she could but, if things went wrong it would only be more cause for Levi and his family to loathe her existence. After somehow managing to pour a cup of hot water and stick a tea bag into it, she moved to pick it up and walk it over to Levi. "I can try to hel--" She swayed on her feet again, this time losing herself and sending burning hot liquid down on top of her.


Anna couldn't help but cry out in pain, but quickly stifled it and sat up. The room was spinning, but she wasn't going to make a big deal about the blisters that were almost instantaneously forming onto the skin of her arm. "Sorry..." She apologized and gripped onto a chair near by that looked like it might have once belonged to someone's dining set. "...Let me try that again," She forced a laugh trying to make light of the pain. If anything, it would hurt more if she hadn't had Levi there to cover up for. Trying to act like you were fine when you weren't gave Annabelle time to divert her mind and not focus on the issue at hand.


When she did manage to get to her feet however, she didn't move, gripping the chair. It was pretty much the only thing keeping her standing, and she stared down at the mug on the floor. It hadn't broken, but if she were to bend down to get it, she worried that she wasn't ever going to be able to get up. It would have been extremely embarrassing to try and do something so common and end up not being able to do it. So she just awkwardly stood and stared at it unsure of what exactly she should do.

 

[cellar.]

She didn’t reply to his comment, only turning her back towards him as the kettle began to whistle out a shrill note.




‘Uh-huh.



So that’s it,’

Levi thought bitterly. It seemed like she had zero intention of being tangled up into more of his family fuckery.

Well, he couldn’t argue against that.

Nobody in the entire world would willingly agree to take on more problems along with their own. Despite not giving a verbal answer, her physical expression was indication enough. He was ready to leave. There wasn't a point to staying here any longer where he clearly had no reason to be. After pouring a cup of the steaming water, Annabelle finally looked over at him and began to speak.


Her words, however, were completely lost to the subsequent events.


She was walking to him very slowly, unsteadily – and the moment before it happened – Levi was sure that Anna was going to lose her balance this time.

And she did fall

, sending a spray of hot tea across the floor as the cup clattered loudly against the ground. A cry left from her lips, which then quickly turned into some half-strangled laugh. The sound was enough to jostle him out of his shock, and Levi stood up at once. Still, she managed to get up from her seat, clinging onto a chair for support.


This visit was turning out to be more disastrous than he had even imagined. Levi carefully picked up the chipped cup and set it on the table, looking around for paper towels or something to clean up the mess. What his eyes got caught on instead – was Anna’s arm. Momentarily forgetting what he was doing, he instinctively reached forwards and held her by the wrist, pulling her arm out towards him. The skin was scorched red, tiny blisters already forming before his eyes, and “Oh

fuck

.”


“Fuck,” he repeated again, “Do you have any bandages or anything? Cold compress? Medication?” The bombardment of questions came out of his mouth before he had a chance to think them through. On second thought maybe having her meander around the apartment for medical supplies wasn’t the greatest idea ever. “–Wait, no, just sit down. Tell me what you need and I’ll go get it.”

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

All that Anna could bring herself to do was stand there for a long moment. She was in sort of a shocked state, and only when Levi started blurting out word after word did she look up and speak. There was a surprising expression on her face, he was concerned about her and that wasn't something he'd expected to come from him. "First AID....uhm, I think there is some in the bathroom," She pointed with her injured hand and made a face when the blistered skin throbbed from the action. It was clear that it was causing her pain but she was refusing to say much about it. "I'm okay, I can take care of it later..." She suggested and turned slowly to face Levi who was now storming off to the bathroom.


She'd been trying to tell him that she was going to try and help Ephraim, but she'd been a clutz and fallen. It seemed that anytime Levi was around she did something stupid and upsetting. What the hell was wrong with her? Frowning she waited for Levi to come back, and when he did she apologized again. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with me," She said and shook her head as though she was disappointed in herself. Of course, she was disappointed in herself, but that wasn't something Anna ever hid about herself.


"About Ephraim...." Annabelle started, trying to keep the whole conversation off of her illness and her injury, "I can do the best I can...though I think it's a bad idea, I'd like to help." She said and moved to sit down into the chair that she'd been using to hold herself up. If she fell again, she probably wasn't going to let herself get back up. It'd be completely stupid of her and she was sure that Levi would storm out because she's such an annoying idiot.


"I'm not even sure that me showing up will spark anything for him...I don't really know much more than you seem to know," She wasn't with him when he'd crashed, obviously. And it had been weeks since she'd seen him, and even then when she finally did run into him he was in a hospital bed, out cold.


((Sorry for the stupid post, I wasn't sure what to write...please help spice this up. haha))

 

[cellar.]

"I don't know what the hell is wrong with me."


“Well that’s great, eh. That makes two of us,” Levi grumbled. He set down the box of stuff he had found in the bathroom, pushing it in Anna’s direction. Either these accidents happened a whole lot to her, or he just had some freaky voodoo affect on her health. It seemed like every time he was around; she was falling or crashing or running into something. Nevertheless, she

was sick

, and he didn’t believe that she needed to apologize for that. It wasn’t something she could control anyways…


“It’s fine. Just fix up your arm,” he replied.


She moved and sat down in the chair, beginning to change the topic. The minor distraction was now over, and they had shifted back seamlessly onto Ephraim. He sighed, leaning against the wall with a weary glance at the door. In all truth, he didn’t want to think about what

would

happen to Eph or what

had

happened to him. But what was more powerful than his feeling of unease, was that he didn’t think he could keep up with optimistic pretenses much longer. Every time he stepped into the O’ Flaherty abode, it was like stepping into fucking Disneyland. Nobody wanted to admit that

nothing

was fine.


“It’s really not about sparking anything or whatever,” Levi answered. “Unless you’re a miraculous hypnotist, I didn’t come here expecting you to wheedle all the answers out his mind, or perform some fairy magic to cure him.” He paused, looking down at his feet. How was he going to explain this to somebody who didn’t even remotely understand? Anna was something very secretive Eph had kept to himself. A surreptitious friendship…So this wasn’t about being supportive, this wasn’t about having different people around him. Levi could’ve made the same request to any one of Ephraim’s millions of friends, but that wasn’t the point.


The point was for him to have a breath of air.

To breathe.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Anna frowned and opened the box full of gauze, wipes, and bainaids. She wiped the wound and winced as the antiseptic stung, though it was cleaning out any dirt that might have ended up there after her fall. She did most of this in silence and wrapped it almost expertly as though this was something that had happened to he broke. Falling and getting hurt wasn't exactly something that she was a stranger to and she didn't mind having to take care of her own wounds. It was nice to be there with someone for a change even if he was only there to ask a favor of her.


"I don't know that I'm up to it today, but I could come by tomorrow if you want," for the first time all visit, Annabelle looked Levi in the face and gave him an honest but soft smile. She wasn't upset that he wanted her to come, in fact it did help her focus less on the fact that this was something she told herself she want going to do. It was the exact opposite actually but Levi had come to her and asked her to do so, it wasn't as though she'd barged in on them.


She found herself staring some so she turned away and looked around her apartment, "Ugh..." She sighed and her shoulders drooped, "I'm really sorry about the mess... I don't really have much storage space to put things away so it only end up looking more trashy... If that's even possible." Anna laughed at herself and shook her head, her cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment. Had she been expecting someone she hod have figured out what to do it's everything to make it look neater, but this is the longest she'd been out of bed in a while and she hadn't been expecting Levi of all people to show up at her door.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[cellar.]

“Okay, that’s fine, um…” Levi started. “Eph is with our parents right now…so I suppose I’ll have to illegally steal him after physio and bring him to my place.”

Great, more highly dubious actions.

But these were

necessary

dubious actions, seeing that it would be some sort of miracle if their parents ended up being welcoming and hospitable towards Anna. Still, this wasn’t the most ideal arrangement in his mind. The last time she’d been in his apartment, it had been one huge disaster of hung-over Levi and semi-unconscious Anna.




‘Yep. Wonderful things always happen when we’re together,’

he thought sarcastically.




"I'm really sorry about the mess...”




“Don’t worry about it,” he quickly answered. Actually, he was pretty gung-ho on being neat. He liked to keep all his things pristine and organized – to the delight (and to the annoyance) of many people. Looking around Anna’s apartment made his skin crawl with the desire to nuke the whole thing and

clean it up

. Right now, he was desperately biting down on the need to voice any of these opinions. After all, she had just agreed to do him a huge favour, and it wouldn’t fly well if he started insulting her cleanliness standards.


“Well…so…” He started to dig for other things to say, but simply came up with a bunch of small-talk and lame conversation starters. That was only to be expected. He didn’t know Anna very well outside of their surprise encounters – hell, he didn’t know Anna very well,

period

. Thinking about his next words, he ran his fingers through his hair, brushing the dark strands back. The lingering silence was left hanging in the air. After a few more minutes of the uncomfortable

non-conversation

, Levi stood up.


“Um, I need to get going…I’ll see you around then?”

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Anna searched for something, anything to say, but no words would reach her. There wasn't much that she could say that would keep Levi's interest. He hadn't come to hear her talk about anything, he'd wanted her help and she'd given it to him. It wasn't as though people hung around in disgusting places like her apartment anyway. She was surprised that he even wanted to come in and sit down when he saw the looks of the place. SHe remembered very little of his apartment's layout, but she did however remember just how clean it had been. Of course, she had to wonder if he cleaned it himself or paid someone to do it. Shaking her head free of the thought, she looked up as Levi pushed to his feet.


"Oh, sure," She said, trying not to let out any sort of disappointment in her voice. He hadn't been there long, but she was sure he'd been dying to leave a long time ago. Had it not been for her being clumsy...and well, ill, Levi would have left long before this point. He had nothing left to say to her, and she didn't dare say much of anything else back to him. If he wanted to leave, she wasn't going to stop him from doing so. Of course she would have liked him to stay. In fact she wanted to know Levi better, because the way they continued to leave things was not normally how she worked. When Anna wanted to be close to someone she wanted to know them as well as she could, jut like she'd done with Ephraim. Of course, that was easier said than done when it came to someone like Levi, hot headed and stubborn.


"Thanks for stopping by," She said weakly, forcing a smile and walking behind him to the door. She bit back her tongue, because even if she had invited him to stay what in the world would she do to entertain him? Her place was falling apart, she was starving so there wasn't food for him to eat, and well...her place and apparently herself weren't all that exciting. Unless you counted her dying and something exciting, most people would have found her more depressing than anything.


"What time should I be ready tomorrow?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in a questioning manner. It was going to kill her to have to get ready and look presentable due to the effort that it caused, but she'd do it for Ephraim. If helping him feel better meant her having to push herself and get through the pain then she would most definitely do it.

 

[cellar.]

Levi O’Flaherty was not one for taking hints, and this was no exception. He was about as sociable as a cactus in the middle of the Sahara Desert. He came to talk to Anna to get something done, and once that business was done, he was finished with words. There was some societal pressure that they were supposed to say a little more, get to know each other or something – but he was better at swearing than he was at forming basic conversational sentences to people that were still strangers to him. Hallmark of an introvert:

the hell was small-talk to him?




"Thanks for stopping by."

She walked him to the door.

"What time should I be ready tomorrow?"





“I’ll come pick you up at four-thirty,” he answered after a moment of thought. Anna certainly didn’t seem like she was well enough to make a trek across the city. He did feel somewhat guilty about the whole thing. She was clearly sick, and yet he was basically dragging her all the way towards the east end…

Whatever.

It wasn’t like he was making her do this. That only meant he had to plan his time as strategically as possible. Pick up Eph after work, to his apartment, then circle back around to Anna’s,

and finally

drop them both off before seven-thirty.

Jeez.





He grasped the door handle, pulling it open. “Well, um, thanks again…I think he’ll really appreciate it,” Levi said. With one last glance, he stepped out. The dim lights flickered incessantly in the hallway. He made it to the staircase, where the paint and rust were chipping off the railings and right onto his hands. Finally, he climbed back down to the first floor, ready to get to his car and call it a day. The kid from the lobby was still lounging around, chain-smoking a pack like he was eating candy. The haze of nicotine made Levi wrinkle his nose in disgust.


“For christ's sake. Don’t fucking smoke

inside

a building,” Levi said this time as he passed.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Anna didn't sleep well all night, but managed to pull herself out of bed and get ready. It was two-thirty by the time she'd done so. Showered, dressed, and she added a bit of make-up to cover up for the fact that she was lacking in color. The last thing she needed was for Ephraim to be worried about her, he did know she was dying and that came with a constant worry, she just didn't need to add to it. Frowning in a cracked mirror, Anna looked herself over. This was about as good as it got with her, though she had to admit she looked better than she had the day before when Levi had shown. On her arm were fresh bandages that she'd changed after her shower, and she wore a pretty little white dress with a white ribbon in her hair.


It wouldn't be long before Levi was there to get her now, so she gathered up a purse with tissues, water, and such. You know, just the average things that any dying girl would need. Then she found her key, walked out into the hallway and locked the door behind her. It wasn't as though there was anything to take out of that apartment, but she didn't want one of her neighbors rifling through her clothes and trying to start a yard sale with them. It wouldn't have been the first time, but she surely hoped that it wouldn't happen again. So, Anna continued to lock the door when she left to avoid it.


Quietly, she walked down to the stoop the led into the building. It was cracked, lop sided, and weeds had sprung to life inside the cracks that were there. The whole building itself looked like it might collapse any minute. That if you sneezed near the apartment building, it would come down quicker than rain. Sometimes, Anna wondered what it was that held this building together, and how in the world it hadn't fallen to bits already. It wasn't as though the people who lived there tried to do anything special with it. Her eyebrows knitted together in thought and she looked out to the street, there weren't any cars...as per usual, and she knew as soon as Levi would get there, the rumors would start flying again. People on her side of town didn't get into nice expensive cars unless they were being kidnapped or a prostitute. Clearly, she wasn't kidnapped as she'd come back again and again, so to her neighbors there was really only one explanation.


She wondered now, how Ephraim was doing. Was he just as nervous as she was? Did he worry that this wasn't going to help? Was Levi worried. Anna sat there and waited, wondering about all of these different things, trying to get some answers to help calm her down. But it was to no prevail so she forced herself to sing a song in her head and try to forget all about it. Her ride would be there soon.

 

[cellar.]

Amidst the curious questions of

where are we going

and

why didn't you make a left back there

, he managed to drop off a very suspicious Ephraim to his home without much incident. At age twenty-three, Levi still had to bypass parental supervision with a few hastily made-up excuses.

Jesus.

They were literally just going to go to his apartment. The wildest thing that was going to happen was probably the elevator ride up to the fifteenth floor. Hell, if

Priscilla

had wanted to cart Eph to Six Flags, he was sure his parents would've given consent without so much as a bat of an eyelash.


Well, there was no point of stomping his foot and accusing his parents of playing favourites at this age. The plan was already well underway, and that's what mattered the most. With a huff, he diverted his attention back on the road, focusing on driving to Anna's place. The whole hassle was making him later than expected,

and damn

, what a headache he was getting from running circles around town. Although admittedly, it wasn't like he had anything better to do. Watching tons of television while trying to get drunk off of mildly alcoholic drinks certainly didn't amount to anything substantial.


After a little while, he pulled up in front of the dilapidated building. Anna was already sitting up on the front steps when he arrived. Her white dress stood out in contrast to the rusting structure behind her – a mix-mash of crumbling plaster, rotting wood, and moss-covered bricks. She looked nicer, healthier than she had yesterday. Maybe it was the fact that he was seeing her outside; in the midst of sunlight and fresh air and all that. It definitely set a better mood than the decaying insides of a collapsing building.


"Shit, totally sorry about being late," Levi said. "Had to basically ninja Eph out today." He waited for her to strap on the seatbelt before stepping on the gas pedal. There obviously wasn't enough time for him to recount Ephraim's life story, but he didn't want this to end up in disaster. "Um, I guess I should probably tell you a few things first," he started. "Basically, don't be surprised if there's things he doesn't remember. Don't be surprised if he doesn't even say anything. Just...give him space."


There was a high possibility that he was out of his mind. There was a even greater chance that Eph just wanted to be left the hell alone, and he was only creating more of a problem for the kid. And in part, this wasn't about helping Eph – this was about making up for all the lost years.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Anna waved a hand in dismissal of his apology, he was late but it wasn't as though she'd been waiting outside in the dark, cold, or rain. In fact sitting outside had helped her feel somewhat better even if it took her ages to get there. Actually, now that she was thinking about it just getting ready to be picked up used up all the energy she had and she very much wanted to go back to her bed. As shitty as her apartment was, her bed was familiar and comfortable. She kept he gaze out the window as they drove but she didn't focus on much of anything since she already knew where they were headed.


"I'm not too worried about it, I figure anything could happen really..." She admitted, shrugged slightly. It wasn't as though she thought she was some sort of miracle worker. If Ephraim remembered, he remembered but if he didn't...well she couldn't exactly force him to do anything otherwise. Of course it might have been upsetting to have her only friend struggling to remember who she was, but she wasn't going to get upset. He'd gotten hurt and it wasn't as though he was forgetting things on purpose. There wasn't much you could blame Ephraim for right now, especially when you had no idea what had happened when he'd gotten hurt.


Annabelle glanced over at Levi and smiled, before poking her gaze back out the window. "You look nice today," she pointed out, less of a compliment and more of a fact. It hadn't been anything but a simple sentence and she hadn't meant much by it, really she was just trying to be nice. After that though, she didn't say anything else until they got to Levi's apartment. Even then, it was a simple 'thanks for the ride' as she walked in before him. She'd been there once, but the building was something of a dream and so she remembered just how to get there. When they'd finally made it to the apartment Anna waited for Levi to unlock the front door and she walked in after him. Eph was sitting in the living room, watching something or rather blankly staring at, something on the TV. "Hi, Ephraim..." Anna smiled warmly and genuinely but she made no move to get close to him. In fact she just stood there, glancing around the apartment not exactly sure what to do with herself. There was no way of telling how Ephraim was going to react to her being the, and she worried that he might be rather angry.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[cellar.]

Nodding, he said nothing more and went back to their now-typical silence. Anna seemed to be prepared and handling all the information pretty well. It was much better than he could’ve done anyways. Maybe it was because she had already spent a few hours with Ephraim – albeit he was barely-conscious by the end of the visit – or maybe she was just used to living through a magnitude of possibilities. He lived through constants, but judging by everything he knew about her, she lived through roads of instability.


“You look nice today,” Anna said suddenly.


Levi glanced down briefly at himself. Really, he wasn’t wearing anything new. Blue button-down and black pants – he literally dressed the same kind of way for work for the past year. There was no need for her to lie…and then he realized that Anna had never seen him on work days. They had always met when he was in his pajamas, or a t-shirt, or something. Damn, his brain was already thinking up a few snazzy comebacks for the comment. Nevertheless, Levi managed to shut himself up. He accept the compliment less-than-gracefully and muttered, “Yeah, you too.”





At least he was alone now.


The television was flipped on as the only source of company; the digital figures moved across the screen in a flurry of motion and voices. He tuned in and out of the show that was broadcasting, trading his attention between that and his own thoughts. In the past few months, he had far too much time to think, but not enough time to think by himself. Summer was barely felt in rooms of air-conditioning and fluorescent lights. It was drawing to a close and the heat of August was faltering to a cooler breeze. Right now, the sky was still blue out and in his greatest fantasies; he’d be going for a run outside.

Muscle and skin, metal and fabric.

He would have to get used to not-actually-his-leg first. Baby steps.


Mostly though, he was thinking about he was hungry and how if Levi could hurry up and come back with something to eat. He had no clue what his brother was up to. He never had much of a clue anyways. They were both walking around glass, because that’s what they did –

siblings through and through.

However, just as he was finishing the acidic thought, he heard a voice call his name. By reflex, he turned, and by reflex, he couldn’t quite keep the surprise from his face. Ephraim looked at Anna and then looked at Levi, his expression changing from confusion to questioning.


“Hey…Anna,” He said. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to see her. She was a friend, and that’s what he knew to be true. But it was the absolute pressure of knowing that fact that began to unsettle him. He didn’t want to disappoint. Not now, not ever. “H-how…What are you…doing here?”

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Anna forced a smile, it hadn't occurred to her that Levi wouldn't tell Ephraim that she was coming. But the look on his face when he saw her told her quickly that he had no idea about her visit. This only made things worse for her, considering this made it a lot harder for her to judge Ephraim's emotions and tone of speech. Annabelle had begun frowning slightly, but she quickly replaced it with a warm smile for her friend, "Levi wanted me to come over, since I hadn't gotten to see you lately," She mostly lied. Of course Levi had invited her, but it wasn't for the reason she'd given him.


She walked over and sat down on the couch adjacent to Ephraim's seat. He was watching her, trying to figure something out it seemed but she didn't dare ask him what that was. Quickly she shot a glance at Levi, probing some sort of talking point or anything to lift the awkwardness that was touchable form the room. There wasn't much of her to say to Ephraim, since the only knew thing going on her life was that she'd gotten worse. She knew very well that she couldn't ask him about how he was doing, that would have been a stupid thing to ask him. He wasn't okay, whether he would have said so or not and she wasn't going to force him into any sort of pretence.


"I-uh- I don't know if you remember, " Anna started, making a sour face at the sentence, "But I'm still playing, and I made a little bit of money...I bet you're hungry," She guessed, having figured he ate meals at normal times, and it was just now getting close to the next. She didn't have enough for all three of them of course, but she'd spend on the two brothers because she was grateful to have them in her life (even if one of them didn't like her). Without word she pushed her hand into the pocket of her dress and pulled out the bill she'd folded up neatly. There were two twenty dollar bills, which was considered a good day for her. Anna hadn't eaten in a few days, since she'd been in bed, and so the money had only sat there being unspent.


"You still like chinese, right?" Anna teased, this wasn't something that they were strangers to. Poking fun light heartedly at one another was something they always had done when they spent time together. But she wondered now if acting too normal would put him under pressure to do the same and she bit her lip to keep from frowning. This wasn't going to be easy, and it certainly wasn't going to be comfortable for any of them. She just hoped for the life of her that coming to visit him didn't make things worse for Ephriam, because that was exactly what she was afraid of.


((You're welcome to do a time skip now if you want! ))

 

[cellar.]

‘Ha. That’s hilarious,’

Ephraim thought,

‘And yeah – my name’s Susan.’


The last time they were all in the same room together, it had ended in an utter catastrophe of rage and tears. He had

begged

Levi to stay, to not be angry – but all of that proved to be futile. They went in cycles and circles; this was what they were always meant to be like. This was only a repetition of what he had long gotten accustomed to.

Or so he thought.

The bitter edge of his feelings lingered still. He had slowly been suffocated for weeks and weeks, and the burning poison in his muscles were now making itself known in his head. His reaction was near arbitrary – Ephraim knew that. He wasn’t himself. But he wouldn’t ever be. Not anymore.


And yet, here was Annabelle. And here was Levi not completely flipping his shit at the sight of her. And here she was sitting on the couch, very much in his brother’s apartment. Eph shifted his gaze away from Levi. He had a couple of suspicions that were brewing tide-high, but he could save those interrogations for later. Right now, he had to focus on looking somewhat

normal

and

alright

. For the sake of everybody in the room, he had to make a proper effort to sit up and talk.

He was not going to be a disappointment.


To his surprise, her words were exceedingly gentle. It wasn’t exactly the sort of glass-stepping, lightly-treading sort of thing he was used to either. These words spoken were those that were laced with carefulness, but nevertheless it was something unexpected. Ephraim did remember; the sound of strummed guitar strings vibrated in his memory, and intrinsically, he knew that they had spent long hours over music. He nodded hesitantly, trying to conjure up a smile from a bit of counterfeit contentment that was wearing thin.

Oh god

, he didn’t even know what sort of expression was on his face at the moment. The problem was he had no idea what to do with himself around people.




"You still like Chinese, right?"


“I got it,” Levi interjected, “I can sort out dinner. You guys just…sit here.”


Eph leaned on an elbow, brushing back his blond hair with a hand. He surveyed Anna for a few seconds before speaking, wondering how to best begin this whole conversation thing. One thing was for certain, and that was he didn’t want to talk about himself.


People had done enough of that already.


“How…are you?” He asked.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

Anna made a face when Levi intercepted, this was the opposite of what she'd wanted him to do though she really hadn't expected any less. But when Ephraim asked her a question, her expression changed from mild irritation at Levi and turned into shock and horror, but she buried it quickly not sure if either of them would have noticed or not. Great, Anna thought, How do I explain this? She looked to Levi for a moment and then around the apartment trying to find the best way to answer him. If she gave him a simple and short answer, she knew that he'd know she wasn't telling the truth. Nervously she shifted and bit her lip, "Well..." She started glancing at Ephraim before looking down at her hands that were folded neatly in her lap.


"I won't lie," She offered and shook her head to clear her wild mind. "I'm not great..." It wasn't a lie, but she didn't go into it any further, if he wanted to know more he would ask. This visit wasn't about her, it was about Ephraim, and trying to make him feel some what human again. She knew how it had been when she'd first learned about Good Pasture. It wasn't something that she'd been able to fathom at her age, everything was dull and blurred for months. She didn't want to eat, sleep, or do much of anything and she had felt like the ghost of the person she'd been before that. It was just as bad as what Ephraim was going through, but a auto accident was much more...shocking when you had no idea anything was going to happen.


"But enough about me," Annabelle waved her hand in dismissal and smiled at him, sweet and genuine. "I can't imagine you're doing all that great, so I wont ask." She said lightly, trying to add some softness to the nerves in the room. It was clear Eph was worried, and it was even more obvious that Levi was stressed. He cared for his brother so much, and he wanted something, anything to make his brother feel more at home again. Even if that one thing might be a girl who annoyed him to absolutely no end. He'd been willing to come to her and ask for her help for his own brother's sake. "However, I will ask if there is anything you'd like to do..." Her voice trailed off in the open ended question. Maybe he didn't want her there, maybe he wanted to go home, she didn't know but if he wanted her gone and that would make him happy she would leave.

 

[cellar.]

He watched as her features changed into an expression of hesitation, of dread. Quickly, her gaze drifted off from his eyes, wandering around the apartment to look for an answer. It was an easy question, pretty open-ended, and relatively harmless – basic small-talk, actually. All Eph had wanted was to change the topic, drag the attention away from him as far as possible. However, judging by Anna’s reaction, she was probably doing less-than-well. Something terrible must’ve happened…Even before she gave her nervously succinct answer, he had already figured it out and was sorry that he’d even asked.


Recoiling slightly into the sofa, he looked down at his hands – suddenly ashamed for his unawareness. Maybe he should’ve noticed sooner: the rings around her eyes and the hollows of her cheeks. Did Levi know about this? And what was she doing all the way here anyways? Just to see him?

Oh, he wasn’t worth it.

If she didn’t want to say anything else, he wouldn’t prod. After all, Ephraim was all too familiar with people trying to pry into his head. He glanced up again when Anna piped up again, her voice deceivingly cheerful. Surprisingly, she was smiling lightly.


They playing some game of tennis here, shooting back-and-forth questions in an attempt to avoid talking about themselves. Was there anything he wanted to do? He searched through his head. Oh, there were things that he wanted to do for sure.

But he wasn’t going to do them any time soon.

It was useless trying to think about the things that couldn’t happen. Slowly, he shook his head and then shrugged.


Momentarily his eyes flickered towards the television screen, and then back to Anna.


“We…can watch…” Probably not the random show he had flipped to, “…a movie.” There was a stack of DVDs underneath the T.V. That would probably keep them occupied until…until what exactly? He still wasn’t exactly sure why Anna had chosen to come see him. At this point, he didn’t want to be

her problem

, a liability, someone that she had to begrudgingly pick herself up to visit.

 

[Jelly x Filled x Donut]

"I wouldn't have an idea of what to watch, since...I don't watch movies much," She laughed, waving a hand dismissively to keep the comment light. It was only the truth, considering she hadn't ever owned a TV and the last time she'd seen one, some stupid childrens show had been on it. Actually, if she were to guess the last movie she'd seen it probably would have some Cinderella bullshit or something. Frowning slightly, she shook her head and wiped the look from her face. It was odd to her, to think that mentioning a movie on the TV was something normal for someone like Levi or Ephraim, but for her it was a far away strange concept.


"But if you'd rather just veg out, we don't have to do anything, not even talk," She said and smiled honestly for the first time. She understood what it was like to be bombarded with questions, it usually came with the territory of telling someone you had a killing disease. If he wanted not to talk, and just to stare a the wall, she would do the same. "It's a pain to have to act like you're okay when you're not...." She murmured, and finally looked directly up at Ephraim's face. It was probably the first most honest thing she'd said since she'd gotten there, she related and he wanted him to know. Of course the two situations weren't exactly the same, and there were things she'd never understand about those, but there were other things that she did understand and she wanted him to know that he wasn't completely alone.


Then she looked around the room, it was much the same as she remembered it. The last time she'd been in the room she'd stormed out, the first time she'd felt bitter about her death. Something in her had snapped and she'd yelled at Levi about her dying. Anna shook the thought away and examined the room some more. It probably was irritating for Ephraim for her to be here, he probably felt pressured to act as though he hadn't forgotten a thing about their friendship, as though he was perfectly alright with how things had ended up. But she knew what that felt like, and that was the last thing Annabelle wanted to make Ephraim do.

 

[cellar.]

“Oh…” Eph said softly, realizing what she meant. He trailed off and looked back down at his lap, entangling his fingers into the folds of the blanket around his waist. Despite Anna’s light-hearted manner towards the whole situation, he couldn’t hope to match her mood. But he

needed

to be alright; that’s who he was supposed to be – Ephraim O’Flaherty, that pretty nice kid who served as a magnificent background prop to any situation – because

god forbid

that he’d have emotions other than being smiley and happy and polite.

(No, no, no, no, fuck his feelings. Those weren’t allowed.)

He was sculpted upon expectations, and there was no way he could break down his own foundations.


“It's a pain to have to act like you're okay when you're not....”


As he looked up, their eyes inadvertently met. He could feel his cheeks warm with colour. It was pretty much like Anna had just heard the reverberating thoughts in his head. Was he that easy to read? Or did she understand something that he didn’t? Ephraim blinked and glanced away again. He’d rather do nothing – which he had been doing a lot in the past few months. It was mostly just sitting around, thinking, trying to remember the disjointed series of events leading up to that night…There was just something he couldn’t put a finger on. A memory lay just out of the realm of consciousness, and he could not piece together the reasons why.

He had left something more than just blood on the open road.

The cool metal of the prosthesis burned against his skin.


“H-here,” he finally said. He handed Anna the television remote, “Find something you like.”


To be honest, the thought of sitting in awkward silence with another person only made him feel apprehensive. The air was already heavy with all the things left unsaid. It would be much easier for the both of them to pretend to be focused on something trivial. If they weren't going to talk at all, the T.V. was going to sufficiently fill up any lengthy pauses. As a second thought, Ephraim lifted a corner of his blanket. “If…you’re cold,” he offered to her. She had come to see

him

, not a goddamn vegetable. If he couldn’t be semi-normal, he could at least be a friend.