OBLIVION [SEQUEL TO SATELLITE HEART: BARLEY LIGHTFOOT x READER]

chapter eight

Barley blinked and he was back in the present year, right in his doorway, the door wide open behind him, Ian at his side. The sounds of the street and the sounds of the television inside were all he could hear. He looked at his brother. "Did it work?" 

"I don't know," Ian said. He turned around. The snowy yard outside looked the same as it had this morning. Christmas decorations were still up. "Where's ___?" 

Barley raised his eyebrows in alarm. He wasn't sure; he spun around slowly, looking for his wife. He was just about to call out your name when he heard it. 

"Boys, are you going to help your dad take out all of this trash or not?" 

And all of the alarm vanished in that moment.

That voice wasn't their Mom's. It was their Dad's. 

They stared in the direction of the voice with wide eyes. This wasn't real, Barley decided. This wasn't happening. He needed to wake up before this became too good and it hurt too bad---

"Hello?" their father called out. "Where are my sons at?" And there he was, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, holding up two trash bags full of torn wrapping paper. "Earth to Barley and Ian... what's up with you two?" 

Ian grabbed his brother's shoulder and fell against him. His eyes were full of tears. A gasp of choked surprise left his mouth. "D-Dad." 

"Dad," Barley echoed, and his feet were moving, his eyes leaking tears, and he was throwing his arms around his Dad and holding him so tightly and it was real and it was happening and he could smell him and feel him and hear his laugh. 

And Ian was there, finally feeling the touch of his dad knowing him in this way. Outside of the pictures he wasn't a part of, outside of the voice recordings, journals, letters. He was in the story now. He was in the narrative of his father's life; he was here and his dad was here. They were here.

"I can't believe you're really here!" Ian gasped. 

Wilden chuckled. "In my kitchen?" 

"No, I mean---" Ian looked up at his dad and laughed, his head shaking slowly. "I-I don't know what I'm talking about. I-I love you, Dad." 

Wilden looked confused, but he smiled. "I love you too, son." He glanced at Barley. "What about you, Barley? Are you gonna be all weird on me too?" 

"I haven't decided," Barley laughed, wiping tears away with the back of his hand. "I-I love you." 

"I love you." He squeezed both of his son's shoulders and nodded once, his eyes shifting from one to the other. "But enough being weird. We need to take that trash out before you mother has us all taking out the trash for the next week." 

"Hey!" Laurel walked into the kitchen, looking the exact same as she had before. "I heard that." 

Ian looked from his Dad to his Mom, unable to comprehend that both of his parents were in a room together. Barley wiped his hand across his nose. 

"Whoa, what'd I miss? What's with the water works?" She walked over to Wilden, who put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. 

"Oh, you know how our boys are," Wilden said, smiling at his sons. 

Barley blinked hard. Seeing his parents being affectionate again stirred memories that he couldn't believe he was remembering currently. It was as if they'd never been torn apart. His mother's tears, her journey as a single mother --- it never existed. They were together. They always had been together. 

Stupidly, he blurted, "Wait, where's Colt?" 

"Colt?" Laurel asked, her eyebrows furrowed. 

Wilden chuckled. "Colt... Colt Bronco? The chief?"

Ian looked at him and smacked his shoulder. "Barley," he said through clenched teeth. 

Barley sheepishly rubbed his arm and looked at his parents with an awkward smile. Wilden just kept laughing. "I mean, I don't remember inviting him over, and I don't think you got in anymore trouble, did you, Barley?" 

"Not that I know of," he said, shaking his head. 

"I didn't think so. You're twenty-four now, son. I think the days of getting in trouble are behind you. Now you know I always agreed with your choices, so long as you were protecting history, not getting on the chief's nerves on purpose." 

"N-No, I haven't done anything. I mean... it's kinda hard to get on his nerves nowadays." 

"That's true," he said. He looked at his wife. "You haven't lived in this town in a while. I'm sure the chief is the only one that doesn't miss you hanging around here."

Laurel laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh man, was that guy mad at you constantly! It didn't matter if you were protesting the removal of a fountain or --- or role playing in the park with your friends! You were always in trouble." She shook her head. "Oh well. At least he sees that you're grown up now. But why were you asking about him?"

"N-No reason," Barley said. "Just wondered." 

"That's an odd thing to wonder," Laurel said. "Well come on, silly boys. Take the trash out and I'll cut the pie. We can watch those silly Christmas movies. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Christmas yet!"

"Me either, honey," Wilden said, laughing. "Alright boys, you heard your mother. You might be adults now but you're not too old to help out. Come on, each of you take a bag." 

They boys slowly moved to take the bags from their father's hands. He pushed them gently towards the back door, but they were still looking back at Wilden even as they moved. 

"Oh, what are you two doing?" Laurel laughed. "You're looking at your dad like he's a ghost or something!" 

Ian glanced at Barley. "You have no idea, Mom." He shook his head and opened the back door. 

It took Barley six steps out the door to realize something wasn't right. His heart dropped and he whipped around, dropping the bag of garbage. It spilled all over the driveway. "What the heck, Barley?" Ian asked, lifting his foot as a can rolled past him. "What's wrong?" 

Barley pointed at the picture on the fridge. It was of Ian graduating, the last "big thing" to happen in the family. Well --- the last big thing prior to your pregnancy announcement. Laurel had just put the ultrasound picture up on the fridge yesterday afternoon, right before dinner. Ian shook his head, not understanding, but Barley just choked out, "Where are they?"

"Oh." Ian's eyes widened. "Oh no."