tw: death mention
mention of lincoln @endlessreruns and zoë @ambercast
luke always read the paper, especially as school started nearing it was his way of keeping up with ‘town gossip’ so he could understand what his students were talking about most days. that and he just genuinely enjoyed reading the articles that were written since it gave him something to do while drinking his morning coffee.
the memorial section was never an easy read, some names were familiar and some faces were too but todays quick glance at that section made him stop in his tracks and almost drop his mug.
was he dreaming? he had to have been. there was no way that was real when they’d just made plans to see each other again tomorrow. luke was finally gaining enough courage to potentially tell lincoln how he felt about the man or at least hint at it.
lady noticed something was wrong almost immediately, she’d become essentially his therapy dog since the storm first showed up and she got good at recognizing when luke needed her and right now was one of those moments. she was nudging his leg with his head trying to trick him into putting the paper down to pet her but his eyes were glued to the page. he didn’t want to believe it was true, he had to know if this was some sick joke that someone at the paper decided to pull or if he was about to never see his best friend ever again.
he headed for the commune, the place he knew he’d get his answer and purposely left lady at home so she couldn’t make him wonder anywhere else in town. luke knew the rules, he would visit lincoln at his workshop a handful of times until the murders started happening and the rules became more strict. usually with food in hand ready to make sure the man was actually eating instead of burying himself in whatever project he had at that time.
that’s why when he arrived at the commune he started by knocking on the door and asking for sunflower, mentioning he wanted to ask about lincoln. that’s when she told him, in a more private setting of course and confirmed that lincoln had in fact passed away. luke didn’t know what to say, all he could give was a quick thanks and he was gone just as fast as he’d arrived.
he felt breathless but in the worst way possible, like he’d just been told the most earth shattering news and for him it was. except he wasn’t showing it. his face was blank, emotionless… in a way he looked calm. he didn’t feel calm though, on the inside he felt like he could scream or cry. luke wasn’t sure where his feet were taking him but it sure wasn’t back home.
the house was familiar, not super but just enough to remember the last he was here. it was after a date with zoë, one where he walked her home to make sure she’d gotten home safe and before dusk. knocking on her door he waited for an answer to see if she’d even open it and when she did all he could do was look at her in silence for a few seconds.
luke knew this was wrong, he’d be using her and while he wanted to hate himself for this he couldn’t bring himself to care. he wanted to forget so when he finally spoke all he asked was, “can we do-over?”
she agreed. whatever her reasoning was he didn’t need to know just how she didn’t need to know his and he didn’t go inside until he was invited, closing the door behind him. the rest would be kept between the two of them and the four walls of her bedroom until the next time he’d needed a distraction from the pain.
