Light A Way

50

It was sometime later again when Elsie's eyes opened to a dimmer lit cabin. Tilting her head slightly, she could spy dark skies and clouds outside the window. Night had seemingly arrived. And with the oncoming night, silence. There was nothing. No chatter, no bickering, no rustling of the newspaper Logan was so engrossed with. Nothing but peace and quiet. So why was it that she didn't actually feel peaceful? Considering the events prior to her sleeping she could very well understand the uneasiness. It seemed many things were left unresolved.

Sitting up slowly she looked about. Erik was stretched out on the sofa opposite, fast asleep it seemed. Logan seemed to be in his own little bubble down the end of the cabin. Charles sat looking out the window with a grim expression and a glass of something in his hand. Elsie managed to narrow her eyes and look at the bottle on the table in front of him. "Still drinking alone, hm?" Her voice seemed to snap him out of whatever daze he was in. 

He turned slightly in his seat to look up at her. She had managed to silently move to stand by his seat without him noticing. She looked at him sadly. He did look so utterly defeated, and broken. He looked at her with rather hollow eyes and still with that distant expression. Leaning down she took the glass from his hand, he didn't offer any resistance whatsoever to her doing so. With a sigh she pushed the glass and bottle away from his reach. Turning slowly she reached out and pushed some of his hair off of his face. 

Holding gently onto his face she smiled slowly. "I'm sorry." She whispered, his eyes widened as he reached up and removed her hand.

"You have nothing to apologise for."

"I think I do." Elsie said while patting the back of his hand which held hers. "Budge," he looked at her weirdly. She waved her other hand at him, in the end she rolled her eyes. He wasn't getting the message so she did it for him. 

Pushing him back and getting her hand free she managed to climb gently onto his lap, still with the blanket loosely wrapped around herself. She didn't need it, but it did bring a certain level of comfort. For a moment he sat rather rigid and unsure of what was happening, before relaxing and feeling her gently lean against him, her head came to rest on his shoulder while the rest of her curled up in his lap. Reaching down he managed to hold onto her. Burying his face in her hair, he shut his eyes and just enjoyed the moment before she spoke. Because she would, he knew her well enough to know that when she had something to say, she would rarely keep it bottled up. 

"I have no right to judge you for what actions you decided to take. Even if I do not agree with them...I am in no position to cast judgements." She paused and slowly moved to look up at him. "Remember we agreed that we could talk to each other about anything within reason?"

Charles looked down at her before nodding. Smoothing some of her hair back he nodded again, he remembered when he first said that to her. Never did he ever think she would recite it for such a moment. "It hurt constantly. The pain...all those voices, and so much...I couldn't take it. It got worse when you left." He whispered while distantly staring out of the window behind her. He frowned, saying she left was so much easier to say than admitting to letting her be taken. She clearly knew this but didn't bring it up. This was clearly hard enough as it was without her chipping in and nitpicking.

"Better to block it all out, hm? You know...things have a horrid way of coming back tenfold."

"I know."

"Are you prepared for when that happens?" Elsie asked curiously in a whisper while taking to absentmindedly playing with his shirt collar. The look he sent down at her was enough of an answer. No, he wasn't. Smiling suddenly she patted him gently on the chest before simply resting her hand above where the steady beat of his heart was coming from. "I'm here for you! If you need help, ask, and if you need to talk...then go right ahead. Don't shut me out, I think I once said to you that a mind is a lonely place...I could never imagine that for you, but right now...I believe you are lonely, if not...sad." Elsie said quietly while tilting her head to the side. Pressing his lips into a thin line, Charles merely nodded while bringing her closer to himself and squeezing his eyes shut. He tried to ignore the fact that her words really did strike hard, and that tears were collecting in the corners of his eyes. "So I am sorry for being rude earlier." Her voice was muffled because of the blanket and because her face was buried against his shoulder.