Chaos Walking Imagines

The Dark Disappears (part three) | Davy Prentiss Jr.

this was supposed to be up two days ago but i was delayed two days because of a two day trip to Kentucky so i'm sorry!!

//

In the midst of your silence, Davy's health began to decline.

You had completely stopped taking care of him. He had gone out to get his own food or water or ate and drank the scraps of your own. He fended for himself, giving himself doses of medicine, guessing on what worked and what didn't, running out of bandages and then using strips of blanket.

His thoughts consisted mostly of Todd, who he decided he would go find as soon as he was well enough. Problem was, he wasn't getting any better, and he wasn't even aware of it.

He was push himself a little more every day, be gone a little longer, come back with food but no appetite and with water but no strength to sip it from the bottle.

One night, he was on his bed, wrapped up but still shivering. His fever was back.

You, despite trying to hate him, got up and grabbed a cloth again. You dampened it and put it on his forehead, then gave his wound a once over and a couple doses of medicine.

He stirred, turning to look at you through half lidded eyes. When he felt the brush of your fingertips on his sweaty forehead, his eyes popped open and his Noise became loud.

I'm sorry, his Noise said. I am a screw up and I'm sorry. I never want to hurt you NEVER I AM SORRY-

And he gave you flashes of your face through his eyes, of the warmth that had started to grow in his chest every time he saw you, starting from the moment on the ground, when he had repeated your words in his Noise.

Todd was right, he thought sleepily, and you weren't sure what Todd was right about, but you assumed it had something to do with the way Davy was comparing you to that girl of Todd's (Viola?) in his mind.

I'm sorry, his Noise said. 

"Go to sleep," you said. 

Yer gonna leave me.

"I'm not."

Yer not?

"Davy, you are not your pa," you whispered. 

He whimpered. I think he shot me. I think my pa shot me. 

You felt your heart break, but you weren't surprised. "It's okay, Davy."

Why would he shoot me? And Todd-

"Are you gonna leave me?" you asked before you could stop yourself. "Are you gonna go find Todd?"

I dunno. You want me to stay with you?

"I dunno," you said. You pressed a hand to your cheek. "I don't know anything anymore."

You thought of your parents, of your aunt, of your siblings, all happy and together and normal until the army came and no one would fight. Your pa, who was probably the first to die, your aunt at his heels, your ma and siblings struggling to stay together. You thought of losing them, one by one, grief consuming you until you were completely alone and thrown into a life you had no desire to live. 

You thought of Davy, who wanted nothing more than to please his pa, and how he might have killed your own pa-

And the picture felt wrong. 

Wrong because you loved Davy and you loved your pa at the thought of them together - when your time with them felt like two separate lives - was impossible. 

If it was me, Davy's Noise said, I didn't know. I didn't think. I wish I had known you. I wish I wasn't me. 

You pulled your hand from your face. You couldn't really see him in the dark, so you placed a hand on his cheek, hurriedly moving to his forehead so it seemed like you were just trying to adjust the cloth. 

I don't know yer name.

"What?" 

Yer name, he thought. I don't know it. 

He didn't, you realized. You parted your lips as his Noise swelled with love for you-

Love. 

I love you and I don't know yer name. 

He loved you because you had taken care of him, saved him when he wasn't worth saving, when it was so out of your way. He loved you because you were the first person to ever really care for him. The first to show him a glimpse of kindness after his own best friend turned a rifle on him and threatened to shoot him-

"My name is ___," you said. 

And for the next several seconds, his Noise was just your name, filling the room and the whole forest with it. 

"I ain't gonna leave you," you decided. "But if you want to leave me to find Todd, that's all right." You smoothed the rag down across his skin. "Just sleep for right now, okay?"

Okay, his Noise whispered, and he was falling under again, eyes fluttering shut as your hand stroked his cheek soothingly.

As he slept, your name was in his Noise, softly and quietly, like a wisp in the breeze or a whisper in the dead of night. You were soft and subtle in his mind, but you were all of his mind.

And you felt your love for him grow.

                             ...

He was going to find Todd.

Or that's what you assumed, at least, as he began to pack up rations of supply in a pack he found in the shed. You couldn't help but feel heartbroken, but you couldn't let him know. He had a friend that he loved. You were not enough for him.

So in the light orange and dark blue of the dawn, you packed your rucksack with supplies and walked to the stream of water to fill a bottle. You dunked it into the surface and watched the clouds through the tall trees.

Somewhere behind you, you heard Davy's Noise. Then his footsteps as he stopped three feet behind you, his mind thinking your name and how your hair was catching the little bit of sunlight and how beautiful you were-

"I ain't leaving you," he said.

You turned your head, shock settling in. "What?"

"I ain't leaving you," he stated. There were tears in his eyes. "I can't. I love you."

You slowly stood up. "But Todd-"

"I love Todd, too, but that is different. He can handle himself out there 'cause he has his Viola. He won't ever need me when he has her. I don't know why you came along in my life but I know I ain't supposed to let you go. I have screwed up more than you know, ___, but I can't live even a minute of this stupid ruddy life without you."

You walked towards him, tears swimming in your eyes as you stopped, the toes of your boots touching his, and reached up, grabbing the back of his neck. You pushed him down so he embraced you, your chin digging into his shoulder, and you closed your eyes.

"I love you, Davy Prentiss," you said.

His hands touched your waist and he pulled you closer, his Noise thinking warmly, My ___, my ___-

And then the warm morning sun was shining down on you and Davy, and the dark disappeared.