[right][sub][color=lightgray]TIMESTAMP: Tuesday, July 20th, 2021 || Afternoon
A [@Venus] & [@BrutalBx] Collab
Featuring  [color=C81935]Caitlin Cleary[/color] & [color=bf755c]John O’Hara[/color][/color][/sub][/right]

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Time.

All we ever really chase is time.

John O’Hara looked at time not as something to strive for but as something to fight and keep fighting until the wheels fell off. Time was the enemy. Time held all the cards and one could only play the hand they were dealt. [i]“No luck but what we make.”[/i] It was a saying passed down from O’Hara to O’Hara over generations. John wondered if time and luck were twins and if they were conspiring against him for something he had done in a previous life.

He had left early that morning to meet the sister that had left him behind and try to make peace with the lost nephew he didn’t know about. John couldn’t say he was happy with the way everything went but he could at least say it was a start. There were a lot of mixed feelings going on and even after they shared a breakfast like their father used to make, he couldn’t be sure which of his feelings would win out. It was then he heard the radio and the interview given by the neighbour girl and everything changed. He drove home, back to Scott Street and an army of squad cars were surrounding his home. Lizette was in the doorway of the house, being held tightly by her sister Famke. Russell was in the back of an ambulance being put into handcuffs and Jamie, his Jamie, his little girl was being carted away in the back of a car. Clay Costigan was beat to shit in his driveway and was being tended to by EMT’s. When John raced inside, Lizzie told him everything. Jamie was the one sending out the new letters, some way of trying to honour David. She had sliced Russ open and Russ himself had assaulted Clay. 

Coach didn’t know what to think, so he just got back in his car and drove. For miles he drove and back again until he found himself parked outside Camp Eden or at least the remnants of it. He went back there from time to time, to reflect on the life he had led. Many of those times he wondered if people would’ve been better off if the Hangman had succeeded that night? If he hadn't fought back and just accepted his fate, what would be different? His mind pondered the idea of a life where Charlie’s bullets went two inches to the left and tore out his guts. It was here in these thoughts that he replayed the voice on the radio, a voice he had heard all her life. Caitlin. It was her voice that said things about David, things he didn’t know. Caitlin owned her truth and fought the battle against judgement and prejudice. She finally revealed what happened with David. All she needed was time and luck.

Coach’s car pulled up outside the cemetery and he climbed out with a face full of melancholy. He placed his hands in his pockets as he strode through the overgrowth of grass towards the O’Hara plot where those in his family were buried. As he rounded the old tree, he noted a familiar shock of red hair sitting cross-legged in front of his late son’s gravestone, running her hand over the smooth, cold headstone.

[color=bf755c]“Caitlin.”[/color]

When she heard her name being called, Cece looked up, and found herself staring at the patriarch of the O’Hara family. Immediately, her eyes filled with tears once more. She quickly stood up and took a step back, giving John his space in case he was upset and didn't want to be anywhere near her presence. 

[color=C81935]"Uncle John… I'm so sorry I never told you…"[/color] Cece apologized in a shaky voice. The amount of crying she'd done had left beautiful face all blotchy, with her eyes swollen and bloodshot, and her small nose tinted red.

For the last five years, she had hidden the truth from the man in front of her and his wife, terrified of receiving their wrath if they considered her to be the culprit behind their son's tragic death. Today, circumstances had forced her hand, and she had finally mustered up the courage to reveal those truths she kept so close to the vest to the entire town. After showing such vulnerability, Cece's spirit was exhausted. David's grave had always been a place where she could find solace and comfort, so she had politely asked to be driven there after the interview. She hadn't expected to face one of the people who had been affected by secrets so soon, but Caitlin had since known that fate's timing was anything but perfect.

The thought was tearing away at the inside of his stomach, ripping it to shreds. The idea that all these people that he cared so deeply about, his friends and family, were all so deeply entangled in the Edenridge web that the thread was strangling them, forcing their silence. John looked down at the woman before him, a young woman now that he had known since her birth. Like Atlas she carried around the weight of the world, in this specific case the weight of his twin children's world. Caitlin looked tired, worn down but there was still light in her eyes, despite how puffy they looked from obvious tears. With his hands on his hips, Coach moved his eyes from Caitlin to David’s gravestone and back again. 

[color=bf755c]“How you doing, kiddo?”[/color]

Throughout her life, John had asked Caitlin this question a million times. Before she and David got involved, she answered according to however she was feeling, always making sure to not say too much to avoid questions or reveal anything that could find its way back to her parents. When she and his son were dating, her answers would always be an emphatic reply followed by the brightest of smiles. She was with the love of her life: how could she be doing anything less than amazing? After Davey's passing, every answer she gave to his inquiry felt like deceit. On the surface, she was fine. She was getting good grades, going to school dances, going off to college… But underneath, Cece carried a deep, overwhelming feeling of heartbreak, sadness, grief, guilt and shame that she couldn't tell anyone about. Today was the first time she could finally look Coach in the eyes and answer his question with nothing but the raw, honest truth.

[color=C81935]"I'm… I'm not doing okay…"[/color] she croaked, succumbing to tears once again as she closed the distance between them, wrapped her arms around the man and buried her face in his shoulder.

John brought his arms up and embraced Caitlin into his chest. With one hand on the back of her head and the other encompassing her upper back and shoulders, he held her tightly. He didn’t blame her. How could he? She was just a girl, a girl in love. Did he think that David should’ve known better? Not really. We loved who we loved. John was only a boy himself when he fell in love with Lizette. Everyone thought it was fate that the star football and basketball player would wind up with the daughter of the man who owned the hockey team. John remembered the amount of sheer work he had to put in to get her family's approval, to break down the walls of ice that they placed up around them. He empathised with the girl in his arms, she can’t have had it easy through all this.

[color=bf755c]“Me either.”[/color] He responded as he placed his lips to the top of her head. John really wanted to be with Jamie right now but he couldn’t. She was being evaluated by professionals and he had no doubt in his mind that they would find her unstable. He felt a failure because he never could understand his daughter and her feelings. David could. David had such a warmth to him, such a grace. He certainly didn’t get that from John. It was likely those things that brought Caitlin to love him. [color=bf755c]“But we’ll get through this. For him.”[/color]

The Cleary girl nodded,  soaking in the comfort of John's presence. She didn't know whether she would ever be able to get through what happened, but now she had reasons to try.

Eventually, Caitlin gently pulled away from the embrace. [color=C81935]"I really did love him,"[/color] she told Coach, the truth in her words shining through her blue-green eyes locked on his-- in that O'Hara blue shade she'd grown to love so much because of his son. [color=C81935]"I loved him with all of my heart; I had for years, even before we got together. He was my everything. He never hurt me or did anything like what they said he did to me-- [i]ever[/i]. Everything that ever happened between us I was okay with. The only thing he ever did wrong was fall in love with me."[/color] She finished, the self-loathing she always kept under lock and key ringing out in her last sentence.

Coach sniffled lightly as he tried to stave off any tears that were trying to form in his eyes. He clicked his tongue before pushing the brim of his Celtics hat up a touch. [color=bf755c]“Let me tell you something.”[/color] John moved a little past CeCe to his son's grave, it had been freshly cleaned from the latest vandalism that had been done to it. [color=bf755c]“Couple of years ago, before everything, I was in my office at school and who came to see me? Charlie Decker.”[/color] Coach’s O’Hara blues fell upon the gravestone of the school shooter just over in the distance. The real tragedy was how many of these kids were dying for their secrets. [color=bf755c]“He told me he had some concerns about David and a student. Of course I didn’t want to hear it and pushed him on. Davey was a flirt, sure. But he was never inappropriate.”[/color]

Placing his fingers atop the cold white marble where David’s name was etched, John sniffled again. [color=bf755c]“Fast forward, the day after they pulled David out of the water. I had to take Clay home because that poor boy was the one that got called to identify the body. I ended up at Mr Beauregard’s house and after about five bourbons and no food he told me that someone had come to him with the same concerns Charlie brought to me and that he raised them with Principal Payne.”[/color] The older man coughed, choking back and restraining his emotions.

The revelation that Charlie Decker had been the one to discover and expose her secret relationship stirred mixed feelings inside of Caitlin. Her compassionate side understood her classmate's reasoning. He believed someone was in distress, so he tried to do the right thing by bringing what he'd seen to the attention of school authorities in hopes that the girl could be 'saved'. She couldn't imagine the guilt he had felt after seeing the consequences of his actions. The other part of her, however, was full of a violent rage. Charlie voicing concerns to someone else instead of directly asking David about what he had seen had been the spark that lit the fire that ultimately ended her lover's life. His imcorrecf assumptions had ruined lives. It was because of Charlie that David was no longer with her. He was the reason she was staring at Davey's grave right now with her heart shattered in a million pieces since the day he'd been gone instead of living the life they had always dreamt of.

In a way, Caitlin was glad that she'd received this news now and not while the wound was still fresh or while Charlie was still alive. She couldn't begin to put into words what her pain, grief and rage would've made her capable of doing then.

[color=bf755c]“Had I just listened to Charlie, maybe David would’ve opened up to me. I can’t say I would’ve been happy but…I would’ve tried to…”[/color] John couldn’t stop it as the water began to fill his eyes and his voice broke. [color=bf755c]“I would’ve tried…”[/color]

Cece vehemently shook her head and wrapped her arms around Coach again, this time to provide him the solace he so desperately needed. [color=C81935]"You didn't do anything wrong, Uncle John. Please don't take his silence personally. It wasn't that he didn't trust you, or because of anything you did. Davey was just protecting me. He was protecting me the whole time. It's why he didn't say anything when they asked him who he was seeing back at the station. He didn't want the town to crucify me like they did him."[/color]

John should’ve known. It had always been the case that anyone born on Scott Street suffered a different kind of prejudice. They were expected to be perfect, to be extraordinary. One fault, one chip on the armour and they would be attacked and exposed. It was why he had protected Jamie so ferociously, she had more than one gap in her wall. David, he never saw them. He pushed him too hard, too much. It was never worth losing him. Now John knew, he knew just how much his lost son was never lost at all. He found meaning and she was now wrapped up in Coach’s arms. [color=bf755c]“Thank you for loving him, kiddo.”[/color]

The young woman nodded and offered the man a shaky half-smile. [color=C81935]"I would do it all over again in an instant."[/color]

Pulling a sheet of paper from his back pocket, John leaned against David’s grave. [color=bf755c]“I found this on my windshield the morning we found Davey. I never had the heart to open it after he died. I have a feeling-- no, [i]I know[/i] this one is for you.”[/color] John perched himself lightly on the headstone before unfolding the page and beginning to read it aloud.

[indent][indent][color=BFA65C][i]“Hey Dad,

By the time you read this I’ll likely be out of dodge. I want you to know this isn’t me running away. I mean, it is, but not in the way you think. I didn’t do what they said I did. Truth be told, all I’ve done is fall in love. I didn’t expect to, I didn’t plan on it, I just did. And even with everything going on now, I wouldn’t change it. 

When I was growing up, I’d look up at you and Mom and the way your eyes met across the breakfast table, and I would know that even after all these years together, you’re still just as much in love as you were when you met at fourteen. That’s crazy, Dad. You’ve loved her for nearly forty years. I always wanted that and I genuinely think I’ve found it. Found [u]her[/u]. That’s why when you get this, we’ll be married. I even got some work lined up on an oil rig. It’ll take me away for a bit but the money is good and when I get back, we can rent a house. I won’t be too far away. Maybe Pinehurst, or I hear that Blue Hill place is nice. 

Dad, you have and always will be my hero in everything you do. You inspire and you push people to be their best selves. I think leaving is the only way for me to do that. While I’m gone, I need you to do something for me: take care of Jamie. I know you’ve never fully understood her condition but I know you try. I know you do. Don’t let her get caught up in her impulses. Just remind her to take a breath and think and she’ll be fine. 

Maybe burn this letter when you're done, just in case the fuzz comes looking for me. You always say, there’s no luck but what we make for ourselves. I think I’m finally starting to understand that. Tell Mom I love her. And Jamie. And don’t you dare let Sawyer anywhere near my records. I know Aunt Famke will sell those in a second to make money.

Game's over. The final buzzer has sounded, and number twenty three has left the court.

I love you , Dad.

Your Son,
David Johnathan O’Hara”[/i][/color][/indent][/indent]

Caitlin's sobs could be heard as Coach read her the last letter her first love had ever written. Here was the physical confirmation that David had loved her with the same fierceness as she had loved him. The memories of their  time together soon replayed in her head like a highlight reel. Their first kiss. The first time he'd told her he loved her. The night he had asked her to be his girlfriend. Stealing minutes from life's clock for a kiss, a hug, a loving word.  Sneaking around town to spend time in their own little world: outlining their goals, dreaming about the life they would build together, planning their future and basking in the love of each other's presence. Every 'I love you'. Every kiss. Every hug. Every caress. Every plan. Every promise. Her entire world as she knew it… All gone in the blink of an eye.

And yet there was one last secret left to reveal before Caitlin's soul could be truly set free.

[color=C81935]"We were running away together that night,"[/color] she tearfully explained to Coach: a confession she had never made to anyone before, and the reason behind the guilt that crushed her. [color=C81935]"We were going to take advantage of everyone being busy celebrating the new year to skip town and elope. He was supposed to pick me up that night, but he never showed up. I thought he had changed his mind. I tried calling him time and time again, but it went straight to voicemail. I eventually fell asleep with the phone next to my ear, waiting for the call or the text telling me it was time to go. Next thing I know, I'm being woken up by my parents telling me that he-- that he was gone--"[/color] Cece's voice broke as she succumbed to the pain in her aching heart again. [color=C81935]"That's why I say it was my fault he died. He was cutting through the lake to get to me."[/color]

[color=bf755c]“Honey…”[/color] Coach choked out the words, his voice shaking and his hands trembling. He was trying to use his rational brain to work out what best to say. The day had been a whirlwind of emotion and he was absolutely drained save for his grief, something he shared deeply with the girl that he was standing with. [color=bf755c]“It wouldn’t have mattered if David was coming to you, coming home or anywhere. Crossing a frozen lake is never a good idea.”[/color] John couldn’t help but think of the lake as an allegory to Eden itself. When looked upon, it would’ve looked sturdy, solid and safe. But the reality of it was that one crack was enough to unleash the hell beneath.

Taking off his hat, John sank down until he was sitting in front of his son's grave. [color=bf755c]“I don’t know what will happen next. But whatever it is, I want you to know that you won’t be going through it alone, kiddo. David is with you and for as much use as I’ll be, I’ll be with you too. I can’t promise I’ll always be perfect, I can’t promise I’ll always understand but I’ll always try.”[/color]

Eyes sparkling with gratitude, Cece nodded her head. [color=C81935]"I'll be right here with you too, Uncle John,"[/color] she sniffed, taking a seat next to Coach, wrapping her arms around the one of his nearest to her, and resting her head on his shoulder. His support and reassurance that she wasn't to blame finally lifted the weight crushing her chest, and she felt like she could finally breathe again. [color=C81935]"None of us will ever be perfect, but all we can ever do is try."[/color]

Maybe now that everything was said and done, Caitlin could start to heal from her immense loss. With her newfound peace and the support from those around her, maybe she could finally start living a life that her David would be proud of.

What better way to honor him than that?

David stood watching his father and the love of his life as they sat in remembrance. His hands sat in the pockets of his signature denim jacket and his chestnut curls hung over his smiling face. The spirit of the fallen elite looked towards his father's nearby parked car and as he did [url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=neWyQlhRJMs]music[/url] began to pour out of the open window. Returning his piercing blue gaze to the family at his grave, he watched as Caitlin rested her beautiful head on his father's arm. And although still hurting, she finally seemed at peace. 

[color=BFA65C]“See you around, kiddo.”[/color]

David turned his back and walked off, gracefully fading away like a memory…[/indent][/indent][/color]