Chapter Text
ᴊᴜɴᴇ ɴɪɴᴛʜ
２００６
The house is quiet. Only a singular person occupying the house this moment. To outsiders, it would look almost... vacant.
A solitary light shines through a top level window, barely seen as the sunset begins. There is not a single word uttered, in this house it is silent.
A girl is curled up on a full bed, with a black quilt pulled up over her knees. Slowly flipping through a book called, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘢𝘳.
She seems engrossed in it, not once looking up from it. It is the mesial of June, when the temperature is so sultry, that no one can be outside for more then five minutes during the daytime.
The sun is setting, fading into rays of aubergine and honey. The small speaker sitting on the bedside table is emitting heavy metal at a low volume.
There are no neighbors asking to borrow an egg, no barking dogs, no noisy junk cars driving by. It's almost peaceful, serene even.
Until it's not. A rapid knocking at her window breaks the peaceful haze, causing a heavy sigh and an eye roll.
She ponders for a moment, if she simply ignores it, maybe it will cease. But not to be.
"Nat! I know you're in there, I can hear Kittie playing!"
She remains silent, playing a fool's card. The knocking continues, just as rapidly as moments ago.
"Nat! C'mon, I brought food!"
Her ears perk up at the words, and as if one cue, her stomach growls. Sighing, she stumbles out of bed, throwing on an oversized tee over her tank top.
She strolls over to the window, yanking the curtains apart to reveal... Ronnie. True to his word, his bag partially unzipped, allowing a glimpse of countless snack bags. He taps his fingers, waiting for her to unlock the window.
She stares at him for a moment, before relenting, unlocking the window and pushing it up, so he can crawl inside.
Ronnie grins, knowing she would give in. He climbs through the window, like he's done so many times before. They weren't best friends, not at first.
But, then Kale came into the picture, and Ronnie quickly learned the twins were a package deal. Being friends with Kale, you would eventually be friends with Natalie too.
Natalie shuffles back over to her bed, sitting down with a gusty breath. Ronnie slumps down next to her, kicking his shoes off in front of the bed.
"What d'ya got this time, Ronnie?" Natalie prodded, grinning at him. Ronnie always brings the same things, things that he knows are her favorite snacks.
He pulls out various snacks, her eyes gleaming brighter with each new one. She snatches a bag of mini twix, tossing a few to him from across the bed.
He catches them with ease, settling next to her, so close that their shoulders are touching.
They don't register the close contact, because it's always been this way, since they were kids.
Natalie puts on a horror vhs, nightmare on elm street. They've both seen this a thousand times, but he doesn't care, because she loves it.
They sit in comfortable silence, until Ronnie realizes how cold is in her bedroom. She seems to notice this, wordlessly offering him the other half of the quilt.
He accepts it, relishing in the warm of their combined body heat. At this point their knees are touching, and Ronnie is on the verge of falling asleep. Then the phone rings.
Natalie shoots up, at the shrill ringing echoing throughout the house. Ronnie is still half asleep, looking at her with bleary eyes.
"I'll be right back, ok? I have to answer the phone."
Ronnie lifts her head to mumble. "Ok." Before slumping back down into the pillow. Natalie smiles fondly at him, ruffling his hair quickly before heading downstairs.
She reaches the phone just in time to answer it, on the second to last ring.
"Hello?"
"𝘏𝘪, 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘔𝘳𝘴. 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘵?"
"No, but I'm her daughter, I can pass a message on."
"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸?"
"Working? Like some people do."
"𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴?"
"Natalie Brecht."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
"No problem."
"𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴."
"Inform me of what?"
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳."
"What kind of accident?"
"𝘈 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳."
"Are... Are they okay?"
"𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘨."
"And my father?"
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵."
Natalie freezes, clutching the phone. Her heart feels as if it's stopped beating, the blood draining from her face.
She chokes out a harsh statement.
"What?"
"𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺."
"Oh."
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘮𝘢'𝘢𝘮. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘥."
"I can- Um, I can come down soon, I just have to get Ronald."
"𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯. 𝘔𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦."
"Wait!"
"𝘠𝘦𝘴?"
"When he died, did he suffer?"
"𝘕𝘰. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵."
"I'm glad he didn't suffer, at least."
"𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰. 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦."
"Bye."
The line goes dead, and she nearly drops the phone, sliding down against the ground cupboards. She hasn't fully grasped the situation.
Upstairs, Ronnie has woken up, aware that Natalie is no longer in the room. He vaguely recalls her going downstairs to answer a phone around three pm. He checks the time, and it's almost five past six.
He sluggishly walks downstairs, looking for any signs of her. He finally spots her in the kitchen. She looks as if she's been crying.
"Nat? What happened?"
Natalie looks at him, she looks exhausted, eyes red rimmed and puffy, nail marks from digging into her hands.
"My dad- Kale. They got into an accident."
Ronnie's eyes widen, absorbing the information before speaking.
"Are they alright?"
"Kale's fine."
"But... Dad's dead."
"Shit, Nat. I'm so sorry."
He pulls her up for a hug, she sags into the embrace, beginning to make muffled cries into his shirt. He places a gentle hand on her head, comforting her.
He makes gentle shushing noises, trying to calm her down, and eventually it seems to work.
"I have to go. We have to go."
"He's asking for both of us."
Ronnie nods, helping her up with a caressing hand. She stumbles momentarily, before straightening up. She rushes around to find her bag, her car keys and cell phone.
She quickly locates them, dragging Ronnie out by the hand to her car. Climbing into it, starting the ignition, he's slightly thrown off but how fast she's going.
He remains silent. They make it to the hospital in record time. Natalie hurriedly rushes in, asking the whereabouts of her brother.
They are directed to room 301, taking the elevator up. They reach Kale's room, and she stops short of the doorway, preparing herself for what's to come.
Kale lies there, staring blankly at the tiny hospital tv mounted on the wall. Natalie attempts to gain his attention.
"Hey, Kal."
Kale's eyes snap to her, then to Ronnie. Natalie rushes over to him, kneeling next to his beside.
"I'm so glad you're alright. I'm so grateful."
Natalie's eyes are gleaming with unshed tears threatening to spill. Kale looks at her, and all he feels is guilt.
"I'm so sorry, Nat. I'm so fucking sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing."
"But dad-"
Natalie cuts him off with a quiet shushing.
"I know, Kal. I know. But you are okay. And that is all that matters to me right now."
"He's dead because of me."
"No, Kale, he's not. What happened was shitty, but it's not your fault."
She strokes his bandaged knuckles gently, careful to avoid the more sensitive areas.
"Don't ever think that."
"You're my brother. I love you, and nothing could ever change that."