Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 74: Downward Spiral

EIGHT YEARS LATER...


Orion frowned at the sight of his reflection in the mirror as he gingerly brought a hand up toward his face. Even the thought of touching the now tender, swollen area round his eye made him cringe and he let out a sigh of relief that at the very least he had slipped into the bathroom early in the morning, while everyone was likely just waking up and getting dressed, before someone got the chance to notice it. Makeup always did a good job of covering bruises...

What caused it happened last night, just like nearly every other time. Tiffany would never openly abuse him in front of other people, and he knew he'd be as good as dead if he ever let anyone know what she was doing. So he never did. No matter how much he was hurt, whether it was mentally, physically or emotionally, he took the burden to bear on his own. He had done it for so long that perhaps he couldn't even imagine finding help anymore, and he never even thought of the possibility he'd someday get a second chance... in his mind, he would live and die the same broken, abused man he'd been his whole life.

"Alright," he muttered to himself, "just cover it up and fake a smile like you always do. You'll be fine..."

The only person he had to talk to was always himself. He was always so distant from everyone and everything around him; to live in his own world was the only way he could feel alive. But was he really alive anymore? Was this experience truly living, or was he simply just existing? He'd endured so much for the sake of Rocket and Meteor. He'd taken the pain with a smile on his face and a heaviness in his heart. Now that they were older and soon going off to college, what would he do? Would he be able to finally be free of his endless nightmare? Or was he in too deep to ever wake up?

In this moment, these were only a few of the swarm of thoughts running through his mind, and they were interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door slowly creaking open. "...Orion?"


"S-Sorry to intrude, but I saw you come in here looking really upset, and the door wasn't locked or anything, so I thought I'd check on you. Are you--" Amelia froze in her tracks when she entered the bathroom and he finally turned to look at her. "...oh my gosh... y-your eye...! What happened?"


Orion stared in shocked silence. For only a second, the truth formed on the tip of his tongue. No matter how long he'd spent lying, he never enjoyed it. "...I-I... it's not as bad as it looks, It's stupid, really... I... I smacked myself in the face... with a door, and..."

"You should be more careful..." she gingerly approached him.


Amelia tried to take a closer look, and he couldn't even bring himself to let his eyes meet hers. She could almost feel the exhaustion radiating off of him, the emptiness he was feeling... for once, his cheerful facade wasn't there. She gently placed her hands on his slouched shoulders and spoke soothingly. "Are you really sure you're okay? It looks like it must hurt..."

For the first time, a horrible feeling began to fill her gut. She'd only ever assumed that everything was fine with Orion. He was involved with his sons as much as he could be, he was an expert at seeming happy, he seemed at least on decent terms with Tiffany although she could tell their relationship wasn't the best... but every once in a while, if Amelia struggled to sleep until late enough hours of the night, she could sometimes hear the distant sound of arguments from their room, though she couldn't make out what was happening. They never seemed to last long. It wasn't all that unfamiliar to her, anyway. Her parents did it. Tiffany's parents did too, when they lived here... it was all the more reason for her to brush off the subtle signs. The arguments that seemed occasional and short at most, the clear tension between them the next day, the redness in his eyes that let her know he'd spent the rest of the night crying... Tiffany had a temper, that much she knew, and Orion seemed so docile and sensitive... surely they weren't the best match to begin with. But they were no different than any other mismatched couple going through their usual spats, right? She didn't want to stick her nose in their business, but she always offered support where she could, and she'd even sometimes ask Orion if something was going on, but the answer was always the same: "Everything's fine." Her only option was hoping they'd figure out what was best for them on their own...

But today, the thought finally crossed her mind. The possibility that she was wrong, and that what she assumed were simply signs of a rocky relationship were something far more sinister. The feeling was only growing stronger that this suspicion could have truth to it...

"It does," Orion admitted quietly. "You're... you're right, I should be more careful..."


"I thought so... you know it's okay to admit that you're hurt, right?" Amelia began cautiously, "I just want to help you."

He nodded silently in response. She could feel him trembling ever-so-slightly underneath her hands, so she tried her best to give him a reassuring smile. "I'll go get you an ice pack. That will help, okay?"

"Okay..."

As she turned to go to the kitchen, a hundred thoughts raced through her mind. 'Something just isn't right...'



Dear Diary,

I can't believe Rocket and I are going off to college next month. Time really flies, doesn't it? Honestly, I guess I'm really grateful that we're moving into a dorm. Mom says that dad's just a complete wreck all the time, and that their marriage is only getting worse... I can't help feeling guilty. She says if there were never kids involved, she wouldn't feel trapped. So now that we're leaving, she and dad can split up I guess, and she'll finally be happy? As for dad... he doesn't deserve happiness. Not with everything mom says he does. He can rot for all I care. But sometimes I wish things were different. He still keeps up his act, all these years later. If I was a fool, I'd think he really does love me... but mom wouldn't lie to us.

Meteor paused, trying to collect his thoughts for what to write next, but it was impossible to concentrate with the racket behind him. "Do you mind?"


"Mind what?" Rocket grinned, already knowing the likely answer. His eyes were glued to the TV screen and his fingers smashed the buttons on his controller with an intense determination. 

"Do you mind not being annoying? I'm trying to write something." Meteor sighed. "Like... I don't know, make less noise."


"I can't make less noise! I'm finally about to beat this boss!" Rocket cried, grasping his controller even more tightly. 

"You'll never beat that boss," Meteor retorted coldly. "You're just bad at that game."

"What!? I am not--" Rocket cut himself off. "No! No, no, no no no...!"

"Dead again?"

"Shut up."


Meteor rolled his eyes irritably and went back to writing.

Anyway, I'm really hoping I don't have to share a dorm room with Rocket. I'd rather room with anyone else. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother, but he drives me nuts sometimes. Especially right now.


"I fail to see how you don't realize these statistics are unacceptable." President Boucher spoke slowly, stressing over every word. "Do you fail to realize how much of a threat these supernaturals pose? You're rather celebratory about the fact you finally managed to eliminate one so far this year. One."


"Listen, The Triple A is a relatively small operation. It's not like you have a whole army hunting down supernaturals. Progress is slow... we can't seem to locate hardly any of them."

"Yes, Maddox, I'm well aware of your failures." She narrowed her eyes in response. 

"You can't blame us for that. They're elusive, and it's not like we get any formal training. You select government workers and toss them into this program and expect them to become skilled assassins overnight! You're lucky we're picking off a few here and there when we're far outmatched by their power. They're as likely to kill us as we are to kill them."


"He's right, you know," the girl beside of him chimed in. "We mean no disrespect, but how can you expect such a small-scale operation with a handful of inexperienced people running it to exterminate a population of dangerous creatures far more vast than you likely think? We're doing everything we can. We took that anti-aging serum to become immortal like you. We're training to become better at our job. We're just as determined as you are to protect the world and wipe out this threat. You're acting like we're not doing enough, but what more can we do?"


The President furrowed her eyebrows and stood from her chair, staring at them sternly for a few silent moments. "Perhaps you're right," she finally said. "I'm underestimating the severity of the issue at hand. Stand down for now, don't worry about the amount of people you're eliminating... instead, I will expand the numbers of  The Triple A immensely and ensure that you get the proper training and resources as soon as possible. It may take some time, but I will make this organization powerful. And when I do... you strike."



Vance rubbed the back of his neck and let out a heavy, stressed sigh. Being the lead field agent for The Arcane was often a stressful job, but today was particularly rough. He'd gotten the news that a new recruit -- someone he was supposed to be responsible for training to know how to defend themselves -- had been killed by a member of The Triple A. To say he felt responsible for their death was an understatement. His fellow colleagues had no shortage of complaints about him, and he was starting to wonder if perhaps they had a point -- maybe he wasn't as good of a guy as he thought he'd become. At the very least, he must be an irresponsible and reckless one to have taken a fellow supernatural under his wing, only to fail them like this...

But maybe he couldn't expect himself to be a good guy. When there was no one he truly cared about, and no one who truly cared for him... how was he supposed to succeed at it? Maybe he was the same worthless person he was before.


The times that he felt the way he was feeling tonight were rare, but in his darkest moments he always found a sense of reassurance telling him that he hadn't failed, that he was loved, that everything would be okay... perhaps it would sound strange if he told anyone this, but he often couldn't shake the feeling that these things were whispered by a soft, familiar voice...


...and maybe they were.

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