Poison Tree

𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

~

*two days later*

"Dyl?" Jay knocked on the bathroom door, pretty much right away, the door opened slowly, "ready" she sighed. He smiled weakly, "you sure about this? Because I can call it off if you're not up to it..." he folded his arms. She slowly shook her head, "no, I need to prove this really happened..." she tucked her hair behind her ears.  Jay nodded, "alright, just know we all believe you. No matter what happens in there, okay?" He squeezed her arms.  She slowly nodded, not really knowing if she should believe him or not. 

~

                 "I'm ready, can we just get this over with?" Dylan folded her arms as jay and the unit surrounded her, all of them patiently stood outside of the abandoned warehouse. Hank looked over at hank, both of them didn't like how wrong this felt; making a kid relive the worst night of her life seems selfish... Jay sighed, "okay, let's go" he nodded and looked down at his sister.  The unit wandered inside as Dylan was left to follow suit, "hey, please take it easy in there. This isn't gonna be any easier for you, I don't want this making anything worse" jay grabbed Dylan's arm gently.  She turned and paused as she looked up at her brother, "I don't think it can get any worse" she shook her head.  Jay watched in defeat as his sister slowly turned and followed hailey into the building.  He just wants to protect her...

                   "Alright Dylan, this is all you. Don't stress and just take your time" hank squeezed her shoulder as the team found themselves stood in the same big empty room which was once a cruel game layout.  Dylan took a deep breath and opened her eyes, oh gosh how the memories hurt...

                 Dylan wandered around the room in silence as her brain began replaying new memories she didn't even know she had.  Jay slowly followed her as she left the team in suspense.  She suddenly stopped in front of a wall, scanning every inch of it.  Her brain began working faster as the cogs started turning, "Eric chambers..." she spat out.  Hank looked at jay in confusion, "who's that, dyl?" Jay stopped behind her.  Dylan rubbed her forehead, "the newspapers, they mentioned Eric chambers, it's on the wall, uhhh, 2569" she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Hank shook his head in confusion, "does that mean something?" He stepped closer to inspect the wall.

Dylan thought about it, "I don't know, but that was in the newspapers we had..." she shrugged and moved along, "this was where Jackie had her baby, I remember the crack in the floor..." she pointed to the floor. Jay shot the team a sad smile, jackies still in a coma... Jay placed a reassuring hand on his sisters shoulder as she paced the room slowly, "you good?" He whispered.  She turned around with a somewhat brave face, "yeah" she replied shakily.  Hank nodded, "what about outside? Anything that could help us out there?" He opposed. Dylan rubbed the back of her neck, "yeah, maybe" she smiled weakly.

Dylan lead the team over to the door she presumably left through but hesitated to open the door when something caught her eye, "i smashed the camera, the glass... it's right there, that's from the camera" she stepped to the side and crouched down, but let her hands away from it. Hank looked down to see the small fragments of glass all over the floor, "get it bagged" the older man ordered. Kim knelt down and bagged the glass before Dylan used her gloved hand to open the door, "I went right, but I can't remember anything around the side of there" Dylan shook her head. Hank nodded, "it's alright, you're doing really well" he smiled supportively as jay kept close to her.

                Jay went to guide her away from the building since he didn't want her anywhere near it anymore, but something must've struck her like a bus since she bolted back inside the building, "dyl!" Jay called after her.  The team ran back into the building to see Dylan scanning the walls on the left side of the room, "what're you doing, dyl?" Jay jogged up to her.  Dylan shook her head, "when I punched through the wall, I hit the concrete behind it, I broke the brick but the key was still in the wall..." she spoke rapidly, jay nodded, "And you think you might have something?" He looked at hank in confusion.  Dylan nodded, "the key was in the wall, if I can find it the print should still be here..." she began dusting the walls away, "gimme your flashlight... please" she held her hand out to her brother. 

                   She rushed to dust the wall down before her eyes spotted it, "look, see..." she pointed to the key shaped indentation on the wall, "I told you this really happened..." she turned around to face jay.  He nodded and pulled her in for a tight hug, "we know it happened Dylan, it's okay. We're gonna end this real soon, you did so so good" he planted a gentle kiss onto her hair.  She let out a sigh of relief, "and the numbers on the wall were all over the newspapers, it might mean something I don't know" she added through her mumbled speech, her face still buried in her brothers shirt. Hank nodded, "we'll gather up the evidence, get her home jay" he waved him off as the rest of the unit began doing their jobs again.

~

At around 9:35pm, Dylan found herself sat on the couch as Will held her arm which was rested on his leg, jay was still working the case so Will was on big brother duties. Dylan had her eyes glued onto the wall as Will exchanged glares between his sister and the TV, "you alright?" He ran his thumb over her arm. She looked over in his direction with a partially lost expression, "hm?" She hummed in question. Will nodded, "you alright?" He repeated. She nodded positively, "mmhmm" she sighed weakly. He pulled her in for a hug and rested his chin on her head, "I'm so proud of you" he spoke quietly. She smiled weakly and leaned into the hug, she just wants this to end...

~

                     Around 2 hours later, at roughly 11:40pm, jay strolled through the front door with somewhat of a satisfactory expression across his face, "what?" Will sat up.  Jay nodded, "we got him" he smiled weakly.  The red head sat up, "what? You have Ricky?" He stood up quickly.  Jay nodded and took his jacket off, "he's in lock up..." he sighed heavily.  Will rubbed the back of his neck, "for good?" He furrowed his brows.  Jay nodded, "for good... Hank pushed for the court to discuss the case without witnesses, he told them about jackies condition and Dylan being in a bad mental situation, and the judge agreed. Dylan's okay, and she will be for as long as she's with us" he smiled in relief. Will smiled, "when are you telling Dylan? She went to bed an hour ago..." he nodded happily.

"Doubt she'll actually be asleep, not after today..." jay sighed and kicked his boots off before making a quick trip up the stairs. Will smiled sadly and nodded before following his brother up the stairs. Jay slowly pushed Dylan's bedroom door open to see her sat in the windowsill, in the dark. "Hey..." he spoke quietly. She shot her head in his direction as he flicked the light on, he wandered closer and took a seat in the windowsill too. "We got him, honey. He's going to jail for a long long time..." jay nodded. Dylan's face dropped from all kinds of expressions, "what? You found him? Does everyone know I didn't make it up?" She sat up straight.

"We have proof it happened dyl, everyone knows you're telling the truth" he nodded. She let out a huge sigh of relief but couldn't stop the tears, for some reason she feels even heavier with all this now, probably because people might give her pity; she doesn't want that. Jay held her close as she sobbed her tiny heart to the ground, Will sat down on the edge of the bed and just thought about what has actually happened over the past few weeks... Life's crazy sometimes. "It's okay, it's over..." jay ran his hand over her hair as she held on tightly.