Chapter Text
The hostel was quiet, it had been that way for days - ever since...Gert.
Karolina settled on the stairs, drawing her knees to her chest as she found her gaze fixed to what was left of the bloodstain on the hall floor. She'd come down in the night a couple times and found Molly on her hands and knees, eyes glowing yellow as she scrubbed at the mark with everything she had. The blonde never wanted to interrupt, the church might have been a lie but it did teach her that grief does funny things to a person. Besides, each morning the youngster would act like it never happened, just got on with the day and tried to ignore the Gert sized void like the rest of them.
"I heard you get up" Nico's voice was a warm comfort in Karolina's ear as the girl settled beside her, placing a hand atop her knee "You alright?"
"I don't even know what that is anymore" she admitted with a shake of her head "I wanna help Molly, Chase too but it's like...like-"
"Like they haven't even acknowledged Gert's gone?"
Both girls looked up to see Alex stood off to the side, forearms resting on the bannister as he watched them sadly.
"It's the first stage of grief you guys" Karolina explained quietly "Denial? You know? They think they can get on with their lives without her but trust me...one day soon they're both gonna lose it in a big way."
"And we have to be there when they do" Nico finished grimly.
Chase had barely left his room. He kept the door locked and he just sat in there with Lace surrounded by all of Gert's stuff. Sure he came out for meals, but even then he kept talking to a minimum and avoided eye contact at all costs. He couldn't take the looks of pity from the others, and he knew full well if he saw Molly he couldn't take it.
"I can open it up if you want? Let you go for a run or something?" he placed an uneasy hand on Lace who let out a soft whine but didn't try to move and so Chase looked away from the door and closed his eyes. "I miss her too girl."
An eerie silence followed, slowly eating its way into Chase's brain, his thoughts, until he flung himself out of the chair and began pacing, dipping to grab one of the Fistigons as he went. Alex had the tablet downstairs, and the boy looked reluctantly at the closed doors, grip tightening on the gauntlet as he took several steps closer before glancing over his shoulder to Lace.
"I'll leave it open behind me, I'm just going downstairs to work on these for a while okay?"
He was met with the same low whine of acknowledgement, and with a sigh he slipped from the room, bracing himself for the awkward small-talk.
Molly was in the kitchen making herself some lunch and since Alex had taken a trip out for food, she had a decent selection for a change.
The girl buttered bread and then smeared it with strawberry jam, buttering another slice and adding chocolate spread before pushing them together till the contents oozed out onto the plate. With a hum of approval, the girl clambered onto the counter to reach the top cupboards, edging along on her knees until she found what she was looking for.
Pickles - Gert's favourite.
Unscrewing the jar, Molly was hit with the familiar stench that so often flooded their childhood kitchen and it took her moment to compose herself as she fished several of the pickles out and dropped them atop the ready-made sandwich before placing the jar back and hopping off the side.
"Gert would go nuts if she knew I was eating her pickles" the youngster smiled to herself, lifting the sandwich to her lips and taking a large, sloppy bite that left jam smeared on her chin.
She heard hurried footsteps on the stairs and slowly backed up to the doorway, just catching sight of Chase as he took off toward the garage. The sight of her sister's boyfriend made an ache in Molly's stomach - but it also felt good to see him, like she was closer to Gert that way. Clumsily shoving the ingredients back into their rightful homes, Molly grabbed her sandwich from its plate and took off after Chase.
"Need any help?"
Chase looked up with a start at the sound of Molly's voice and the sight of her in the garage doorway made his heart thud a little quicker. Truth is they hadn't spoken, not really, not since Gert...He felt guilty, felt like he should be protecting the girl now her sister was gone but if he was being honest, being around Molly made it hurt more.
"I got it" he said, voice coming out as a rasp "What're you, uh...doing?"
The youngster shrugged, walking further in and pulling herself up onto the bonnet of the Roll's "Mainly experimenting in the kitchen, Alex found some real good chocolate spread in town on his last trip-" she held up the sandwich "Wanna try?"
Chase at least had the courtesy to look over, his forehead creasing at the pure mess in her hand "Are those...pickles?"
"Oh, yeah, I found them in the cupboard, they remind me of Gert so-"
"Fair enough" he cut her off and turned back to his work, expertly twirling a screwdriver in his fingers "You know I-"
"I know you don't wanna talk about her" Molly said bluntly "At least...not with me, right?"
Chase sighed, dropping the screwdriver in defeat and reluctantly spinning on his stool to face her. "It's not like that Molls, I just...I guess it feels like if I don't talk about it then it's not real you know? Like she's just out for a walk or upstairs taking a nap?"
"I get it" the girl agreed, dropping what was left of her sandwich onto the car beside her and wiping her hands on her jeans "Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I forget, and it's nice, it's really really nice to forget but then it all comes flooding back and it feels like I'm drowning without her here."
Molly could feel her body heaving with ragged breaths as she tried to keep her emotions in check, and having Chase stare at her with those sad eyes wasn't helping. Before she knew it the boy was stood in front of her, his hands resting on her shoulders to try and calm her down.
"Then let's just forget, okay? For a little while we can just stay in here and...forget?"
"Does that mean you'll let me help you work?" the girl asked in a small voice.
"Sure Molls, I'd like that."