Post by Dain Gavyns on May 23, 2007 8:05:07 GMT 1
(OOC: A little pre-amble here. This isn't a closed RP, per se, but I'd like for it to be serious RP only. I mean, Dain's at his apartment, so if you're not Ran Ling Xiao, you'd need a reason to be coming and visiting him. Anyway, without further ado, I bring you "The End of Emo")
There was little to do but lay in bed.
Life had simply wound itself into an entangled series of failures, of varying degrees and with varying impacts on Dain's life.
It all started when his sister had been kidnapped. He had failed to warn her of the dangers, leading her to come to Varron where she became easy prey for Marcus Lawson. Then, he failed in saving her, leaving her broken and comatose for months on end. After this, he even failed to protect her, leaving people like Trent Davis to prey on her while she was defenseless. And, to top it all off, when she finally came to, finally was able to be brought back home where she belonged...
Dain couldn't even explain to his parents what had really happened.
FLASHBACK[/u]
"What the hell are you doing back here, boy?!" His father's angry voice could be heard over the television. Lisa ran into her mother's arms, happy to see her after all this time, and Mrs. Gavyns hugged her daughter tight, but still spared the time to look up and give her son a cold glare.
"Are you alright, honey?" she asked, her eyes never leaving Dain, who returned the look, albeit not-so-harshly. The poor kid simply couldn't understand how such long-standing fear and hatred could be carried on in this way. He'd been gone for over a year, had left them to their peace, just as they'd wished, he'd even brought back his sister when she turned up missing from months ago...
And yet, they still hated him. For something long ago, for crimes he did not even commit.
He wanted to tell them, truly, he did. However, it was too far gone. Their distrust of him was so complete, they never would have believed him anyway. After all, no one takes the fall for a beating that serious. The student had ended up dying of brain damage, after all. People simply don't the rap for a murder like that.
Dain just shook his head, trying to find the words, trying to fight back, trying to do anything, but he could only shake his head.
"You don't... you don't know... what I did..."
"Mom," Lisa cried, finally breaking down, no longer feeling the need to remain strong. "It was... it was so horrible... they did such terrible things to me..."
"They?! Who the hell is THEY?!" Dain's father said, his glare directly on his estranged son.
"No, Daddy, Dain, he- he wasn'-"
"He wasn't there to save you, was he, Lisa? He was probably behind it all, wasn't he?!"
That was where Dain snapped. He had gone through hell and back, he had trained, practiced, and fought as hard as he could just to try and win her back from Marcus. He had thrown a man out a two-story window just for touching her while she laid in a coma. If there was anything Dain DIDN'T do over the course of that year, it was harm his sister.
"Yeah, you fuckin' windbag?! Is that what you fuckin' think?! I'm just some big scary fuckin' PSYCHO, is that right?!"
Dain's eyes were wild with fury, never had he been accused of something so blatantly wrong. There was no justice in such an ignorant assumption, and he could not let it stand. He took a few steps forward, in his father's direction. His father, conversely, took a few steps back, a bit of fear starting to show in his eyes. Dain saw that, and capitalized, an angry smile on his face.
"You do, don't you? I'm just some scary fuckin' psychopath, who's killed before, and he'll kill again! There's just no fuckin' tellin' who, when or why, right? You know what, Dad? You are so full of SHIT, it sickens me. You kicked me out of your own home, you even were such a little bitch that you sent me money each month, just to make sure I stayed where I was! You couldn't bear the thought of living in the same place as your son, your VERY OWN FUCKING FLESH AND BLOOD! And now I come back, and you accuse me of harming MY OWN FUCKING FLESH AND BLOOD?!"
Dain was seeing red, figuratively speaking, and his words were boring into his father's consciousness, one letter at a time.
"You're pathetic, old man... downright sad sack of fucking shit. You fucking raised me, you'd think you'd know me better. But I guess fucking not, huh? You'll believe whatever the fucking newspapers tell you. And since you don't get any New York State newspaper, you get the liberty of fucking MAKING UP whatever you want to believe happens up there, don't you? Tell me this, Dad... how many people do you think I've killed since I left for NY, huh? HOW FUCKING MANY!?"
Dain stared at his father, daring him to answer. After a long, tense period of silence, his father finally spoke, timidly and quietly.
"Umm.. I..."
"Be honest now, father dearest."
"...four?"
"FUCKING FOUR?!" Dain was outraged. He was likely the one at Varron Academy who hadn't taken a life of someone, yet here he was being accused of taking four. "You couldn't be farther from the truth, big guy. I... I fucking hate you."
Somehow, for some reason, those words drove his father into an equally headstrong rage.
"You hate me? You fucking hate me? Well that's GOOD, son, because the feeling is FUCKING mutual," he spoke, placing an emphasis on what had seemed to be Dain's favorite word since he got home. "I'm glad we sent you away, and given half the chance, I'd do it again! Hell, I WILL do it again, Dain! Get the FUCK out of here! Don't come back, don't you fucking come back EVER! And I swear to God, Jesus, Joseph and Mary that if you ever come back this way, if you DARE to get near us or our daughter again, boy, I will call the fucking cops on you. You are dead to me, Dain, even more so than you ever were before. Get... the FUCK... OUT!"
"FUCKING BE THAT WAY, YOU ASSHOLE!"
Dain turned on his heel and grabbed for the door, ready to throw it open with all he had. However, he paused, and felt the weight of what had all just transpired crash upon him. He blinked a few times, fighting back tears. He would never cry in his father's presence, not here, anyway. Gingerly, he opened the door, and made his way out, where Tyler was waiting.
END FLASHBACK[/u]
Dain blinked back a few tears, the mere remembrance of that day was enough to make them come these days. His parents, so caught up in their own little world where Dain was a murdering psychopath, could not even begin to find it in their hearts to forgive him for what he had 'done' before, even though he personally brought their only daughter back to them, after she had been gone. Even after he had nursed her back to health the best he could. No, in fact, they blamed HIM for her disappearance in the first place, only compounding the problem in the first place.
It was back then, as he left the Gavyns residence that day, that Dain realized the importance of parental approval.
He had gone a whole year without it in Varron, even if he thought they merely were wary of him, not hated him outright. Something that day, only a few months ago, however, had caused him to see differently. He had gone to his mother and father yearning for them to see the truth, to see him as he truly was, but they refused to, and saw him only as the opposite. The truth of it all hit Dain quite harshly:
They think of me as being no less a monster than, say, Kvist or Trent.
Dain was sure they'd seen on the news where Varron had been shut down. It had been a big deal nationwide. For all Dain knew, they probably thought he'd caused it. For all THEY knew, he was the craziest one in the town. Dain shook his head again, closing his eyes and resigning himself to try and fall asleep. It was the only way to get through this day.
His thoughts and attempts at slumber were halted, however, by the sound of his cell phone ringing. Reaching out to his nightstand, Dain grabbed the device and looked at it, blinking a few times in seeming surprise. Finally pressing the button to answer it, Dain brought the phone to his ear and, with a fairly liberal amount of shock, spoke.
"H-hello...?"
"Hey Dain... how are you...?"
"He-hey... Lisa. I've... well, I've been better. How'd Mom and Dad even let you call me?"
"Hahahaha! Let me? They don't even know I am! They blocked your number from the home phone and all of our cell phones, so we can't call you or receive calls from you. And, well, in that time, I... kinda forgot your number in the first place. Sorry."
Despite himself, Dain found a small smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah... no big. But how... how did you find it, then?"
"A friend of yours, actually," Lisa said with a little laugh.
"That explains it, then. I recognized the area code, but not the number."
"He'd heard about you, apparently, and never took your number off. By the way... he's right here. He wants to talk to you."
"Oh... alright. Put.. put him on, I guess..."
There was a shuffling as the phone changed hands, followed by a voice Dain hadn't heard in a long, LONG time.
"...hey Dain? It's me. Aaron."
Dain's eyes widened, and he couldn't even find the words for a moment. Aaron Barstow, Dain's best friend back home and the very one Dain found himself at Varron for in the first place, was talking to him for the first time in almost two years.
"Hey... Hey Aaron. Doing alright?"
"I'm doing well, Dain..." Aaron paused on the other line, this was clearly awkward for him. On the other line was the man that had saved Aaron from being screwed over for life. Dain, essentially, had ruined his own life, so that Aaron could go on living his normally. Aaron had not ever forgotten that, not once. He simply was so astounded by Dain's act of goodwill that he never could find an adequate way of repaying him.
"I... I just wanted to say thanks. For everything. I... I know it's been hard for you, and I wish it didn't had to have been. I'm so thankful that you did that, man, but I wish... I wish it hadn't been you. If I had been in my right mind, I wouldn't have let you do that. But I was scared, I didn't know what to do, and I ran... I'll never be able to forgive myself for that, man... Never."
"No... no Aaron," Dain consoled his friends, finding the words coming much easier than they had since he came to San Francisco. "You dont' have to be sorry for anything. I made the choice. You weren't in your right mind, but I was. I did what I did knowing what would've happened. Most importantly, I did it knowing what would've happened to YOU. Besides, it wasnt' all bad... I made a lot of new friends... I got myself a good job... even got a girlfriend."
"You WHAT?!," Aaron cried out in disbelief. "Who the hell is this? What'd you do with Dain?"
Dain let out a little laugh, again shocking himself. "No, no, it's true, I did."
"She's ugly, isn't she?"
"Hey, fuck off, big guy! No, she's... she's beautiful, man. I care for her a lot... might even love the girl..."
A distant, dreamy look came upon Dain's features for a bit, but he quickly shook it off.
"Daaamn, man, I never woulda guessed. So you doin' alright?"
"Ehh, man, lemme tell ya, I've... I've been better. You talk to Lisa at all about me?"
There was silence on the phone, silence that Dain took as an affirmation.
"Yeah... yeah I did," Aaron began after a while. "She said you took it pretty hard, what they said."
"...You don't even know the half of it, old buddy... But enough about me, how are you? Did you get into college yet?"
"Oh, Dain, you'd never believe it. I got some help, man, I got better. That whole thing that happened back then... it shouldn't ever happen again. Not only that, I got accepted to UT... sorta."
"...sorta?"
"Yeah, I mean, if I can finish up a year at UTSA with a high enough GPA, I get to transfer!"
"Goddamn Aaron, I'm proud of you, man! I'll bet you're pretty happy with that, eh?"
"You know it, Dain. And it's all thanks to you, man. It's all thanks to you."
Dain shook his head in disagreement, though clearly aware that Aaron, on the other end of the phone line, would not see it. "I don't know about all that, ma-"
"Fuck off, Dain. It's all because of you and you know it, so don't give me your 'it was your diligence and hard work' bullshit."
The two old friends shared a quick laugh, but Dain fell silent, not sure of what to say in response.
"Eeeh, fuck it, you're gonna be Mr. Humble all the way 'til the end, ain't ya?"
"Hey, you know me."
"That I do, man. That I do."
The two fell silent for a moment, both lost for things to say. Dain's thoughts wandered, and his mood began to fall yet again, but before it could sink too deeply, Aaron spoke up once more.
"Dain, me and Lisa have been talking. And we know you. You've been in hell ever since you got to San Francisco, haven't you?"
"How'd you-"
"I already said, we know you. Maybe better than you know you. Lisa told me all about what happened, man. You're a fucking hero. I know it, Lisa knows it, and I'll damn well bet that anyone up at 'Vera' or wherever you were knows it too."
Dain was silent for a moment. He wanted to believe it, but his modesty would never allow it. In fact, his modesty caused him to almost believe in what his parents had told him.
"No, mom and dad were right-"
"Mom and Dad don't know SHIT, Dain!" Dain was startled to hear the voice of his sister on the other end again, that passion in her voice that the Gavyns children were known for. "Mom and Dad, as you VERY well know, have a penchant for being closed-minded, pig-headed fucks sometimes!"
"Kinda strong language for the ones who brought us into this world, Lisa..."
"Yeah, but they deserve it, Dain! They don't know what happened in Varron. They'll never know. There's no WAY to know. But you know. You know. Despite what you might be thinking right now, hell, if I know you like I think I do, you've probably convinced yourself that they're right!"
Damn, she's good.
"They're not, Dain. And you know that."
Dain was silent. He could only take in what his sister had told him. Something about the fire in her words, the passion in which she spoke, it had really touched him. Aaron and she had gotten him to thinking, but it was two words in particular that wouldn't leave his mind.
You know.
You know.
You know.
I.... I know.
And with that, it had all became clear. No matter how modest and humble he was, Dain realized, at that point, that he couldn't go on the way he had anymore. He knew who he was. He had always known. The last time who he was had been challenged, he managed to hold his head high and ignore it... why couldn't he do the same now? A smile crossed his face, one he couldn't contain. An ear-to-ear grin that seemed like it wouldn't leave his face until sometime next week.
"....Dain? Dain?"
Apparently, Lisa had been saying his name for a good ten seconds or so, and he hadn't even heard it.
"Oh.. yeah... I'm here. Hey Lisa...?" He finally spoke, a little gingerly.
"Yeah Dain?"
"Thanks... thanks for calling. Thanks for everything."
"You're so welcome, bro. It's so damn good to hear from you again. I love you Dain."
"Love you too, Lisa. Tell Aaron I said 'bye'."
There was another muffling as the message was conveyed.
"He said, and I quote: 'You better fucking stay in touch, you piece of dog shit.'"
"Colorful. Tell him he's got my number."
Lisa laughed. "Bye Dain."
"Bye Lisa."
Dain hung up the cell phone, and quickly got out of bed. He looked at himself in the mirror, clad as he was in nothing but a pair of white boxer shorts with little red hearts all over them. There were a great many hours left in the day.
And there were so many better things to do than lay in bed.
There was little to do but lay in bed.
Life had simply wound itself into an entangled series of failures, of varying degrees and with varying impacts on Dain's life.
It all started when his sister had been kidnapped. He had failed to warn her of the dangers, leading her to come to Varron where she became easy prey for Marcus Lawson. Then, he failed in saving her, leaving her broken and comatose for months on end. After this, he even failed to protect her, leaving people like Trent Davis to prey on her while she was defenseless. And, to top it all off, when she finally came to, finally was able to be brought back home where she belonged...
Dain couldn't even explain to his parents what had really happened.
FLASHBACK[/u]
"What the hell are you doing back here, boy?!" His father's angry voice could be heard over the television. Lisa ran into her mother's arms, happy to see her after all this time, and Mrs. Gavyns hugged her daughter tight, but still spared the time to look up and give her son a cold glare.
"Are you alright, honey?" she asked, her eyes never leaving Dain, who returned the look, albeit not-so-harshly. The poor kid simply couldn't understand how such long-standing fear and hatred could be carried on in this way. He'd been gone for over a year, had left them to their peace, just as they'd wished, he'd even brought back his sister when she turned up missing from months ago...
And yet, they still hated him. For something long ago, for crimes he did not even commit.
He wanted to tell them, truly, he did. However, it was too far gone. Their distrust of him was so complete, they never would have believed him anyway. After all, no one takes the fall for a beating that serious. The student had ended up dying of brain damage, after all. People simply don't the rap for a murder like that.
Dain just shook his head, trying to find the words, trying to fight back, trying to do anything, but he could only shake his head.
"You don't... you don't know... what I did..."
"Mom," Lisa cried, finally breaking down, no longer feeling the need to remain strong. "It was... it was so horrible... they did such terrible things to me..."
"They?! Who the hell is THEY?!" Dain's father said, his glare directly on his estranged son.
"No, Daddy, Dain, he- he wasn'-"
"He wasn't there to save you, was he, Lisa? He was probably behind it all, wasn't he?!"
That was where Dain snapped. He had gone through hell and back, he had trained, practiced, and fought as hard as he could just to try and win her back from Marcus. He had thrown a man out a two-story window just for touching her while she laid in a coma. If there was anything Dain DIDN'T do over the course of that year, it was harm his sister.
"Yeah, you fuckin' windbag?! Is that what you fuckin' think?! I'm just some big scary fuckin' PSYCHO, is that right?!"
Dain's eyes were wild with fury, never had he been accused of something so blatantly wrong. There was no justice in such an ignorant assumption, and he could not let it stand. He took a few steps forward, in his father's direction. His father, conversely, took a few steps back, a bit of fear starting to show in his eyes. Dain saw that, and capitalized, an angry smile on his face.
"You do, don't you? I'm just some scary fuckin' psychopath, who's killed before, and he'll kill again! There's just no fuckin' tellin' who, when or why, right? You know what, Dad? You are so full of SHIT, it sickens me. You kicked me out of your own home, you even were such a little bitch that you sent me money each month, just to make sure I stayed where I was! You couldn't bear the thought of living in the same place as your son, your VERY OWN FUCKING FLESH AND BLOOD! And now I come back, and you accuse me of harming MY OWN FUCKING FLESH AND BLOOD?!"
Dain was seeing red, figuratively speaking, and his words were boring into his father's consciousness, one letter at a time.
"You're pathetic, old man... downright sad sack of fucking shit. You fucking raised me, you'd think you'd know me better. But I guess fucking not, huh? You'll believe whatever the fucking newspapers tell you. And since you don't get any New York State newspaper, you get the liberty of fucking MAKING UP whatever you want to believe happens up there, don't you? Tell me this, Dad... how many people do you think I've killed since I left for NY, huh? HOW FUCKING MANY!?"
Dain stared at his father, daring him to answer. After a long, tense period of silence, his father finally spoke, timidly and quietly.
"Umm.. I..."
"Be honest now, father dearest."
"...four?"
"FUCKING FOUR?!" Dain was outraged. He was likely the one at Varron Academy who hadn't taken a life of someone, yet here he was being accused of taking four. "You couldn't be farther from the truth, big guy. I... I fucking hate you."
Somehow, for some reason, those words drove his father into an equally headstrong rage.
"You hate me? You fucking hate me? Well that's GOOD, son, because the feeling is FUCKING mutual," he spoke, placing an emphasis on what had seemed to be Dain's favorite word since he got home. "I'm glad we sent you away, and given half the chance, I'd do it again! Hell, I WILL do it again, Dain! Get the FUCK out of here! Don't come back, don't you fucking come back EVER! And I swear to God, Jesus, Joseph and Mary that if you ever come back this way, if you DARE to get near us or our daughter again, boy, I will call the fucking cops on you. You are dead to me, Dain, even more so than you ever were before. Get... the FUCK... OUT!"
"FUCKING BE THAT WAY, YOU ASSHOLE!"
Dain turned on his heel and grabbed for the door, ready to throw it open with all he had. However, he paused, and felt the weight of what had all just transpired crash upon him. He blinked a few times, fighting back tears. He would never cry in his father's presence, not here, anyway. Gingerly, he opened the door, and made his way out, where Tyler was waiting.
END FLASHBACK[/u]
Dain blinked back a few tears, the mere remembrance of that day was enough to make them come these days. His parents, so caught up in their own little world where Dain was a murdering psychopath, could not even begin to find it in their hearts to forgive him for what he had 'done' before, even though he personally brought their only daughter back to them, after she had been gone. Even after he had nursed her back to health the best he could. No, in fact, they blamed HIM for her disappearance in the first place, only compounding the problem in the first place.
It was back then, as he left the Gavyns residence that day, that Dain realized the importance of parental approval.
He had gone a whole year without it in Varron, even if he thought they merely were wary of him, not hated him outright. Something that day, only a few months ago, however, had caused him to see differently. He had gone to his mother and father yearning for them to see the truth, to see him as he truly was, but they refused to, and saw him only as the opposite. The truth of it all hit Dain quite harshly:
They think of me as being no less a monster than, say, Kvist or Trent.
Dain was sure they'd seen on the news where Varron had been shut down. It had been a big deal nationwide. For all Dain knew, they probably thought he'd caused it. For all THEY knew, he was the craziest one in the town. Dain shook his head again, closing his eyes and resigning himself to try and fall asleep. It was the only way to get through this day.
His thoughts and attempts at slumber were halted, however, by the sound of his cell phone ringing. Reaching out to his nightstand, Dain grabbed the device and looked at it, blinking a few times in seeming surprise. Finally pressing the button to answer it, Dain brought the phone to his ear and, with a fairly liberal amount of shock, spoke.
"H-hello...?"
"Hey Dain... how are you...?"
"He-hey... Lisa. I've... well, I've been better. How'd Mom and Dad even let you call me?"
"Hahahaha! Let me? They don't even know I am! They blocked your number from the home phone and all of our cell phones, so we can't call you or receive calls from you. And, well, in that time, I... kinda forgot your number in the first place. Sorry."
Despite himself, Dain found a small smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah... no big. But how... how did you find it, then?"
"A friend of yours, actually," Lisa said with a little laugh.
"That explains it, then. I recognized the area code, but not the number."
"He'd heard about you, apparently, and never took your number off. By the way... he's right here. He wants to talk to you."
"Oh... alright. Put.. put him on, I guess..."
There was a shuffling as the phone changed hands, followed by a voice Dain hadn't heard in a long, LONG time.
"...hey Dain? It's me. Aaron."
Dain's eyes widened, and he couldn't even find the words for a moment. Aaron Barstow, Dain's best friend back home and the very one Dain found himself at Varron for in the first place, was talking to him for the first time in almost two years.
"Hey... Hey Aaron. Doing alright?"
"I'm doing well, Dain..." Aaron paused on the other line, this was clearly awkward for him. On the other line was the man that had saved Aaron from being screwed over for life. Dain, essentially, had ruined his own life, so that Aaron could go on living his normally. Aaron had not ever forgotten that, not once. He simply was so astounded by Dain's act of goodwill that he never could find an adequate way of repaying him.
"I... I just wanted to say thanks. For everything. I... I know it's been hard for you, and I wish it didn't had to have been. I'm so thankful that you did that, man, but I wish... I wish it hadn't been you. If I had been in my right mind, I wouldn't have let you do that. But I was scared, I didn't know what to do, and I ran... I'll never be able to forgive myself for that, man... Never."
"No... no Aaron," Dain consoled his friends, finding the words coming much easier than they had since he came to San Francisco. "You dont' have to be sorry for anything. I made the choice. You weren't in your right mind, but I was. I did what I did knowing what would've happened. Most importantly, I did it knowing what would've happened to YOU. Besides, it wasnt' all bad... I made a lot of new friends... I got myself a good job... even got a girlfriend."
"You WHAT?!," Aaron cried out in disbelief. "Who the hell is this? What'd you do with Dain?"
Dain let out a little laugh, again shocking himself. "No, no, it's true, I did."
"She's ugly, isn't she?"
"Hey, fuck off, big guy! No, she's... she's beautiful, man. I care for her a lot... might even love the girl..."
A distant, dreamy look came upon Dain's features for a bit, but he quickly shook it off.
"Daaamn, man, I never woulda guessed. So you doin' alright?"
"Ehh, man, lemme tell ya, I've... I've been better. You talk to Lisa at all about me?"
There was silence on the phone, silence that Dain took as an affirmation.
"Yeah... yeah I did," Aaron began after a while. "She said you took it pretty hard, what they said."
"...You don't even know the half of it, old buddy... But enough about me, how are you? Did you get into college yet?"
"Oh, Dain, you'd never believe it. I got some help, man, I got better. That whole thing that happened back then... it shouldn't ever happen again. Not only that, I got accepted to UT... sorta."
"...sorta?"
"Yeah, I mean, if I can finish up a year at UTSA with a high enough GPA, I get to transfer!"
"Goddamn Aaron, I'm proud of you, man! I'll bet you're pretty happy with that, eh?"
"You know it, Dain. And it's all thanks to you, man. It's all thanks to you."
Dain shook his head in disagreement, though clearly aware that Aaron, on the other end of the phone line, would not see it. "I don't know about all that, ma-"
"Fuck off, Dain. It's all because of you and you know it, so don't give me your 'it was your diligence and hard work' bullshit."
The two old friends shared a quick laugh, but Dain fell silent, not sure of what to say in response.
"Eeeh, fuck it, you're gonna be Mr. Humble all the way 'til the end, ain't ya?"
"Hey, you know me."
"That I do, man. That I do."
The two fell silent for a moment, both lost for things to say. Dain's thoughts wandered, and his mood began to fall yet again, but before it could sink too deeply, Aaron spoke up once more.
"Dain, me and Lisa have been talking. And we know you. You've been in hell ever since you got to San Francisco, haven't you?"
"How'd you-"
"I already said, we know you. Maybe better than you know you. Lisa told me all about what happened, man. You're a fucking hero. I know it, Lisa knows it, and I'll damn well bet that anyone up at 'Vera' or wherever you were knows it too."
Dain was silent for a moment. He wanted to believe it, but his modesty would never allow it. In fact, his modesty caused him to almost believe in what his parents had told him.
"No, mom and dad were right-"
"Mom and Dad don't know SHIT, Dain!" Dain was startled to hear the voice of his sister on the other end again, that passion in her voice that the Gavyns children were known for. "Mom and Dad, as you VERY well know, have a penchant for being closed-minded, pig-headed fucks sometimes!"
"Kinda strong language for the ones who brought us into this world, Lisa..."
"Yeah, but they deserve it, Dain! They don't know what happened in Varron. They'll never know. There's no WAY to know. But you know. You know. Despite what you might be thinking right now, hell, if I know you like I think I do, you've probably convinced yourself that they're right!"
Damn, she's good.
"They're not, Dain. And you know that."
Dain was silent. He could only take in what his sister had told him. Something about the fire in her words, the passion in which she spoke, it had really touched him. Aaron and she had gotten him to thinking, but it was two words in particular that wouldn't leave his mind.
You know.
You know.
You know.
I.... I know.
And with that, it had all became clear. No matter how modest and humble he was, Dain realized, at that point, that he couldn't go on the way he had anymore. He knew who he was. He had always known. The last time who he was had been challenged, he managed to hold his head high and ignore it... why couldn't he do the same now? A smile crossed his face, one he couldn't contain. An ear-to-ear grin that seemed like it wouldn't leave his face until sometime next week.
"....Dain? Dain?"
Apparently, Lisa had been saying his name for a good ten seconds or so, and he hadn't even heard it.
"Oh.. yeah... I'm here. Hey Lisa...?" He finally spoke, a little gingerly.
"Yeah Dain?"
"Thanks... thanks for calling. Thanks for everything."
"You're so welcome, bro. It's so damn good to hear from you again. I love you Dain."
"Love you too, Lisa. Tell Aaron I said 'bye'."
There was another muffling as the message was conveyed.
"He said, and I quote: 'You better fucking stay in touch, you piece of dog shit.'"
"Colorful. Tell him he's got my number."
Lisa laughed. "Bye Dain."
"Bye Lisa."
Dain hung up the cell phone, and quickly got out of bed. He looked at himself in the mirror, clad as he was in nothing but a pair of white boxer shorts with little red hearts all over them. There were a great many hours left in the day.
And there were so many better things to do than lay in bed.
