#river:drabble

[ofviolentdeath]

30 Days of Drabbles::Day 6

Character(s)::River and Peri Word Count::640

                                                                  ~*~

"I've been following you."

Peri turned, facing her youngest sister and crossing her arms, waiting for the girl to continue. There were no good outcomes to that statement, not when Peri was sneaking around more than usual, taking bigger risks than she should be.

Hanging around Ryland had been fine until he had gone on the run, but she hadn't met up with him in a while, so she was fairly certain he was in the clear. She had, however, made a few stops to see Stone and Riley, as well as Dawn and Ria, recently. She and Queenie had also fessed up to who and what they really were and it hadn't stopped them from seeing one another.

"Last time I checked, you were the one that still needed a babysitter, Riv, not me."

The younger hunter leered, taking a certain delight in seeing her sister squirm before she tossed a small stack of photos at her.

Peri barely glanced at them, catching just enough to know she needed to keep her expression as neutral as possible. If River realized it was Stone in those pictures and where their brother was staying, all hell would break loose and that wasn't something she was willing to risk.

"So? You have pictures of me and some dude at a diner. How do you know he wasn't a witness to something?" she asked, managing to sound bored and unimpressed despite the way her stomach twisted.

"Funny, the waitress could have sworn you called him Stone. That's not a very common name," the younger blonde growled, rage flaring her nostrils as she clenched her hands into fists at her sides. "How long have you known he was alive, Peregrin?"

"Just because a name's not common doesn't mean there aren't two people with the same damn name, River. Jesus, when did you get so fucking paranoid?" Deflecting wasn't the best way out of this, but felt better than admitting the truth. It was definitely safer.

"Do you really think dad's going to believe that load of shit? How long have you known?"

The younger girl was unraveling at the seams, feeling like her entire world had been ripped out from below her feet. Her older brother had been her entire world until his death and if Peri had known he wasn't gone, how could she possibly forgive her?

"You cannot tell dad, River. I only found out a couple of months ago. Dad will kill him, or worse, make us do it," Peri pleaded, dropping the act as the panic set in. "You can't fucking tell anyone."

"Fucking watch me."

The hurt, the betrayal, that feeling of loss she had tried to bury had all come rushing back and she hated it. She hated Peri for lying, even if it had only been a couple of months, and she wasn't even sure how much she believed that. She hated Stone for letting her believe he was dead too. Caught up in her own emotion, River hadn't considered why it would be dangerous for their father to find out he was alive.

Peri's hand darted out and gripped River's arm almost hard enough to bruise, expression pleading. "River. He got fucking bit. You can't fucking tell anyone he's alive."

"Then it sounds like he should have been put down," she spat, wrenching her arm free and swinging at her sister. What she hadn't expected was for Peri to swing back with the force that she had.

By the time River had come to, she was alone and tucked in the back of her own van, all of the photos on her phone deleted and the backups she had of the physical ones were gone as well, replaced with a note from her sister that simply read "You can't prove shit." in her sister's slanted handwriting.

[ofviolentdeath]

Characters::River and Greg Word Count::369 Content Warning::Child abuse Dead.

The word rang in River’s ears as she sat there in stunned silence. Peri and Neb were already up and moving, like they hadn’t just been told their brother was dead. Some comments floated by her, questions about whether or not the wolf that had attacked him was dead too, if there were more, where was the body.

Where was the body. 

A sharp keening sound escaped the young girl, tears stinging at her eyes as she tried to breathe past the sudden pain blooming in her chest, threatening to crush her under its weight. 

Crying is weakness and we are not weak. Hardins do not fucking cry. 

Teeth sank into her lower lip as she tried to keep the tears from spilling over. If she cried, daddy would beat her. And, with Stone gone, there was no one to protect her anymore. Her sisters wouldn’t cross their father, her mother would never cross that line either. 

For the first time in her young life, River was utterly and completely alone. 

“Are you sure?” The words surprised even her and it took a moment for her to realize she had said them, not anyone else. 

The looks on the faces of her older sisters and parents ranged from shock to down right rage as he father’s hand knotted in her shirt, roughly yanking her to her feet. 

“You dare to question me, girl?” he snarled, the smell of cheap beer and cigarettes clinging to his breath. She knew there was no love in the man, no gentleness, and she struggled to get out of his grasp before he could hurt her.

“Y-you said th-there w-wa-was no body,” she stammered, face going ghost white in her fear. How could he know for sure if there was no body? Maybe, just maybe, her brother was alive and being held for ransom. 

But River never got an answer. Her body hit the ground hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs and she barely had time to curl into a ball before she was taking a boot to the ribs. Two sharp kicks, a loud snap, and everything went black. 

That was the day she learned to never ask questions.