Pumpkin Pie 8
Author: Casey
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy universe, Pre-NIEE: Real World AU
Challenges: Pumpkin Pie 8 (body), Papaya 16 (what would I do without you?), Green Tea 1 (daybreak)
Toppings & Extras: Whipped Cream (Vlad’s 18, Sorin 16, Ani 12), Chopped Nuts (RWAU), Sprinkles (Vlad)
Word Count: 1,010
Rating: PG-13 (Warning: implied child abuse)
Summary: “What happened?” “It was an accident.”
Notes: Spring 2008. Kay’s comment on the other Ani, Sorin & Vlad piece got me thinking. This is what came of it. I’ll get Pumpkin Pie 7 up soon. Vlad is rather less insane in the RWAU.
“What happened?”
“It was an accident,” Ani said faintly, hugging herself. She had said the same thing four times since Vlad had gotten home from college a few minutes before.
“Sorin?”
His brother tore his eyes - one of them almost swollen shut - away from the floor for a brief moment. “You weren’t here,” he said dully.
Vlad stepped forward and took his brother by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him. “What happened, Sorin?”
“It was an accident,” he said, as if working to convince himself of it.
“It’s me, Sorin, it doesn’t matter if it was or not. We’ll get through this. What happened?” He didn’t like that it had taken him almost four hours to get home after getting the frantic phone call from Ani, even driving like a maniac. “C’mon.” He kept one hand on Sorin’s shoulder and put his other arm around Ani’s too thin shoulders. “Let’s go in the other room, have some tea and we’ll talk, okay?”
Both of them let themselves be led into the kitchen and seated at the table, moving like zombies. Vlad moved to turn on the teapot and then paused as he realized the stove top was already on. Cautiously, he turned it off and glanced back at his siblings, only now noticing how Ani cradled one arm to her chest. There had been other things occupying his attention until then. His anger flared briefly but he fought it down, taking deep breaths. His counselor at college had been helping him deal more productively with his sometimes irrational flares of anger - a direct legacy from Edward no doubt. Vlad knew he should get her to a doctor - they could do that now - but he needed to plan first. To know how to approach the upcoming future. He filled the kettle and placed it on the smaller burner, grabbing mugs as well.
He didn’t bother to try and get through to the pair until the tea was poured and placed in front of them. Then he sat down across from them at the kitchen table. “What happened?” he asked for the fifth or sixth time.
For a moment, Sorin made eye contact before he directed his eyes somewhere over Vlad’s shoulder. “I got in a fender bender on the way home from school,” he started slowly, as if speaking through a fog. “When we got home, he was already home and had already been drinking. Something at work. So I didn’t tell him. But, while we were doing homework, he went out to the garage for a new bottle and saw the dent.” He now slowly drew his left hand out from under the table and unfurled it from the tightly clenched fist. Vlad winced. It was bright red and, in points, blistering, some of those already popped and oozing. It had to hurt like hell enough without Sorin’s clenching. Ani took one look at it and looked away, pulling her own arm closer to her.
“Both of you?”
“He waited until dinnertime. Sent us both to our rooms without dinner after.” He fell silent for a moment, gaze still directed past him. “I thought he’d gone to bed, so I snuck down.” That was a common enough occurrence. If the three had missed meals as often as Edward had ordered, Ani, at least, probably would have wasted away to nothing.
“And he hadn’t.”
“No,” Sorin said, one of the first times he had directly responded to something Vlad said, which he took to be a good sign. “He went straight after Ani. I went to try and get him to stop, but he was out of control.”
“He trying to throw Sorin down the stairs,” Ani said suddenly, staring avidly at the tabletop. It was better than just repeating herself like a broken record, though, so an improvement there as well. That had to be when Ani called him, past hysterical.
“So what happened?” How come he’s lying dead at the bottom of the stairs and Sorin isn’t?
“He was drunk,” Sorin said needlessly. “We both ended up falling.” His younger brother swallowed hard. “I managed to get on top.”
Vlad stared at him for a minute. “Are you hurt?”
Sorin thought about that for far longer than Vlad liked. “Dunno,” he said finally. That answer was even worse - he had to be a giant mass of bruise if nothing else but the fact he couldn’t tell said so much.
“It was an accident,” Ani said again.
He glanced between his two younger siblings and wondered if there was something they weren’t telling him. He didn’t detect any lie on their faces, though, just continued shock. He took a deep breath. As much as he didn’t like it - he loved college - he was eighteen, which meant he could legally take custody of both of them, even as the expense of his own education. Edward certainly had enough money for him to be able to pay to get the other two through, especially with the help of any potential federal aid. Maybe once Ani was through, he could go back. “Yes, it was an accident,” he told them as gently as he could before standing, reaching for the phone.
“What are you doing?” Sorin asked, an edge of panic to his voice.
“Calling 911. You two both need medical attention and he can’t stay there. People will notice when he doesn’t come to work and since it was an accident, we’ll be fine.” He hesitated a moment, wondering how the pause before calling would look. Then he decided there was nothing for it and he would deal with it as it came. His school was his alibi - he had told them when he left so after they determined time of death, they would know he was nowhere nearby.
Sorin wrapped his good hand around the mug and nodded silently, looking as vulnerable as Vlad could ever remember. Vlad picked up the phone and punched in the three buttons he had always known he should use, but never had before.
Story: Nothing is Ever Easy universe, Pre-NIEE: Real World AU
Challenges: Pumpkin Pie 8 (body), Papaya 16 (what would I do without you?), Green Tea 1 (daybreak)
Toppings & Extras: Whipped Cream (Vlad’s 18, Sorin 16, Ani 12), Chopped Nuts (RWAU), Sprinkles (Vlad)
Word Count: 1,010
Rating: PG-13 (Warning: implied child abuse)
Summary: “What happened?” “It was an accident.”
Notes: Spring 2008. Kay’s comment on the other Ani, Sorin & Vlad piece got me thinking. This is what came of it. I’ll get Pumpkin Pie 7 up soon. Vlad is rather less insane in the RWAU.
“What happened?”
“It was an accident,” Ani said faintly, hugging herself. She had said the same thing four times since Vlad had gotten home from college a few minutes before.
“Sorin?”
His brother tore his eyes - one of them almost swollen shut - away from the floor for a brief moment. “You weren’t here,” he said dully.
Vlad stepped forward and took his brother by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him. “What happened, Sorin?”
“It was an accident,” he said, as if working to convince himself of it.
“It’s me, Sorin, it doesn’t matter if it was or not. We’ll get through this. What happened?” He didn’t like that it had taken him almost four hours to get home after getting the frantic phone call from Ani, even driving like a maniac. “C’mon.” He kept one hand on Sorin’s shoulder and put his other arm around Ani’s too thin shoulders. “Let’s go in the other room, have some tea and we’ll talk, okay?”
Both of them let themselves be led into the kitchen and seated at the table, moving like zombies. Vlad moved to turn on the teapot and then paused as he realized the stove top was already on. Cautiously, he turned it off and glanced back at his siblings, only now noticing how Ani cradled one arm to her chest. There had been other things occupying his attention until then. His anger flared briefly but he fought it down, taking deep breaths. His counselor at college had been helping him deal more productively with his sometimes irrational flares of anger - a direct legacy from Edward no doubt. Vlad knew he should get her to a doctor - they could do that now - but he needed to plan first. To know how to approach the upcoming future. He filled the kettle and placed it on the smaller burner, grabbing mugs as well.
He didn’t bother to try and get through to the pair until the tea was poured and placed in front of them. Then he sat down across from them at the kitchen table. “What happened?” he asked for the fifth or sixth time.
For a moment, Sorin made eye contact before he directed his eyes somewhere over Vlad’s shoulder. “I got in a fender bender on the way home from school,” he started slowly, as if speaking through a fog. “When we got home, he was already home and had already been drinking. Something at work. So I didn’t tell him. But, while we were doing homework, he went out to the garage for a new bottle and saw the dent.” He now slowly drew his left hand out from under the table and unfurled it from the tightly clenched fist. Vlad winced. It was bright red and, in points, blistering, some of those already popped and oozing. It had to hurt like hell enough without Sorin’s clenching. Ani took one look at it and looked away, pulling her own arm closer to her.
“Both of you?”
“He waited until dinnertime. Sent us both to our rooms without dinner after.” He fell silent for a moment, gaze still directed past him. “I thought he’d gone to bed, so I snuck down.” That was a common enough occurrence. If the three had missed meals as often as Edward had ordered, Ani, at least, probably would have wasted away to nothing.
“And he hadn’t.”
“No,” Sorin said, one of the first times he had directly responded to something Vlad said, which he took to be a good sign. “He went straight after Ani. I went to try and get him to stop, but he was out of control.”
“He trying to throw Sorin down the stairs,” Ani said suddenly, staring avidly at the tabletop. It was better than just repeating herself like a broken record, though, so an improvement there as well. That had to be when Ani called him, past hysterical.
“So what happened?” How come he’s lying dead at the bottom of the stairs and Sorin isn’t?
“He was drunk,” Sorin said needlessly. “We both ended up falling.” His younger brother swallowed hard. “I managed to get on top.”
Vlad stared at him for a minute. “Are you hurt?”
Sorin thought about that for far longer than Vlad liked. “Dunno,” he said finally. That answer was even worse - he had to be a giant mass of bruise if nothing else but the fact he couldn’t tell said so much.
“It was an accident,” Ani said again.
He glanced between his two younger siblings and wondered if there was something they weren’t telling him. He didn’t detect any lie on their faces, though, just continued shock. He took a deep breath. As much as he didn’t like it - he loved college - he was eighteen, which meant he could legally take custody of both of them, even as the expense of his own education. Edward certainly had enough money for him to be able to pay to get the other two through, especially with the help of any potential federal aid. Maybe once Ani was through, he could go back. “Yes, it was an accident,” he told them as gently as he could before standing, reaching for the phone.
“What are you doing?” Sorin asked, an edge of panic to his voice.
“Calling 911. You two both need medical attention and he can’t stay there. People will notice when he doesn’t come to work and since it was an accident, we’ll be fine.” He hesitated a moment, wondering how the pause before calling would look. Then he decided there was nothing for it and he would deal with it as it came. His school was his alibi - he had told them when he left so after they determined time of death, they would know he was nowhere nearby.
Sorin wrapped his good hand around the mug and nodded silently, looking as vulnerable as Vlad could ever remember. Vlad picked up the phone and punched in the three buttons he had always known he should use, but never had before.