This is Our Design

Alsy

This request was put in by lunar_alcamest who wanted a hurt/comfort story featuring male partnering.

This story features Layson and Ress, a married couple who have just lost their daughter due to a hit and run accident. Read on as Ress and Lay offer comfort to one another in order to get past Alsy's death.

***

Time slowed down for me. The wind kissed my skin, wrapping its feather tail around my hand to pull me forward, on the edge of the curb.

She is just within reach! If I can just grab her hand-

A large beast pulls me back, I slam into its chest. Like a feral wild cat, I scratch and claw and scream madly. All I can see is a tunnel vision outlined in black moths, leading a trail all the way to Alsy, who is without guidance and just as curious as ever.

She stops, wondering where I have gone, her eyes growing as big as saucers because she never saw it coming.

All I see is red.

All I hear are screams.

And then, time speeds up.

"Call 911!" I scream, finally breaking free of Ress' grasp. I trip over my laces trying to get to her, a large lump plugged in my chest making it hard to breathe. All the cars have stopped now, a large barricade forming behind me. People talk hurridly on their phones, some snapping pictures and others racing toward me to help.

I snarl at anyone who tries to touch Alsy, keeping her blood soaked body in my arms. Maybe she is still conscious. Maybe I can wake her up!

But as I turn her little body around, a defeated whine escapes my lips.

Her head is bashed in, a large dent to the right of her head. Blood is spurting out profusely through every opening of her body, the neck twisted horribly and her spine limp.

Ress gasps next to me; he takes Alsy from my arms and sets her down gently, as though she were still alive and he was tucking her in bed. Suddenly all there is is darkness and something warm over my eyes; I can't see anything.

"Babe don't look. Don't look at her." Ress says.

But see, she has already burned images into my head.

***

We enter the apartment, a hollow grey room greeting us. Ress sets his keys on the glass table by the door, jingling like christmas bells. My eyes scan the apartment, covering every inch of carpet; books, crayons, and dolls litter the floor from our earlier tea party. Her mini table still seats Mr Bear and Sparkles the unicorn, each plushy nursing a plastic cup of tea.

I walk over to the table and sit on a chair. With blank eyes, my vision lands on Mr Bear. He stares at me, judging. It makes me angry, so I throw him across the living room.

"Layson!" Ress calls. I pant heavily, just tired all of a sudden. All I wanted was to go to the park today, with Alsy and Ress. We were supposed to have a family day since I've been busy with work! But now....

Ress catches me as I collapse to my knees, quaking with shivers and sobs. My chest and head hurts, an unbearable pain pressuring my eyes and lungs. I sniffle into his shoulder. My body feels too weak to return Ress' hug but I can feel that he's okay with that. He's always been so patient with me, always so accepting to the horrors of the world. He is the reason why I have chosen him as my partner, why I have trusted him with taking care of her. Why I have married him. "I know you're hurting right now, Lay. Just let it out." Ress shivers; I can feel his tears in my shirt and I know he is grieving just as much as I am and that scares me. Ress has always been my savior, the one I can lean on. Now I feel guilty for taking him for granted all these years.

"I'm sorry." I sob. For many things too. For not watching Alsy like I should have, for taking advantage of his kindness. Everything just comes back up like word vomit as I apologize over and over again for how I have sinned. My hands find themselves wrapped around Ress' chest eventually, because I want to return the comfort. He squeezes me tighter now, sticking to me like second skin.

"I love you so much baby. Don't apologize, it wasn't your fault. We didn't know-" Ress cries. His chest hiccups againts mine, our broken hearts syncing together.

Was it God? Was this God's work? Should I blame him for this? Or should I blame the man who hit her in the first place and didn't even stop to check on her?

I'll just blame whoever is the most convenient.

Me.

Without warning, Ress picks me up from the floor. I cling to him like a koala bear, silent and sniffling. The crying has stopped for now, but I know that Sorrow will come back later.

Soft, lavender scented sheets cushion against my back as I'm lowered onto the bed. Ress tells me to relax, he'll take care of me. But my muscles are knotted so furiously together that I find relaxing an impossoble task.

"Lay on your stomach babe." He coos. Ress wipes his face and nose with a tissue. He goes into our master bath quietly and I hear the cabinets opening then shutting. By the time he returns, I'm on my stomach as requested, head turned to the left to avoid looking at our family photo. Ress exhales and climbs on the matress on his knees.

I sigh as he lifts my shirt over my shoulders and head, warm oil being massaged into my back. We spend some time like that, Ress straddling my waist and I melting into the sheets; I can't stand the silence so I speak.

"I want her back." I whisper. My eyes droop every few seconds, sleep trying to take me under. Every time I close my eyes, Alsy's dead body burns my vision.

"I know. But wherever she is right now, she's happy." Ress digs into my shoulders; I wince every time he runs over a hard knott.

"How do you know?" My nose is burning again, I can feel tears stinging the white of my eyes.

"Because we gave her one last good memory today. Alsy was a good kid, she deserves to be happy on her way to Heaven. Not to mention her tea parties were the best. She should share them with other people." Ress gives a watery laugh. "And I know you might not believe in Heaven, but let's send her our faith anyway to send her to a beautiful second home."

I nob my head jerkily. I sniffle and hiccup beneath his fingers. Ress lifts himself from my waist and lay beside me. His green eyes are glazed over with fallen tears, his cheeks stained with a furious red and nose a pinkish color. I scoot closer to his body, and he wraps his large arms around my chest. Ress strokes my unruly black hair; the gel has thinned out and now every strand of hair lay wilted over my eyes. "My chest hurts." I whimper. Immediately, Ress places his palm over my sternum. He massages the area in slow circles.

"Layson?" He calls.

"Hm?" I croak.

"We're gonna be okay. I'll take care of you, I promise."

All I can do is nod.

End