bloody bonds verseXsilent cryptographer

[Verse]

Cedrick Lancet was a boy in transformation.

His puberty had been something else. The girl next to him, who'd gone through hers long before him, could attest to that.

He had this other ore in him now, a marbling of violence, and whatever excuses he could find for it. Gruff little boys aren't a really a new thing, and he'd been sweet, once upon a time. But now, that he'd sprung in height, into this broad-shouldered though still long-limbed and slender male, there was something else in him too. Life offered other things than hiding in your older sister's bed and hanging on her every word. Those emotions changed.

His own change had not been welcome. Staying up late was one thing, father had said, but staying out, especially in Yareli, was down right dangerous. They had not brushed up against the criminal world of their big city, because they took care to spend their hard earned money on a secure place within it. Use to be, when their daughter was still crawling, that they didn't have to lock the door. And while the underbelly of society worried people who hadn't worried much in their lives, they still felt safe in their neighborhood.

But Cedrick didn't stay in their neighborhood. They'd heard from a friendly officer that their son, who used to come crying when a bush scraped him up, playing with his sister, was now hanging around the lower tier of the worst crime families. That was two interventions ago. Though they guarded their words, they'd poured their hearts into changing his direction. But it was hard to make any young man do anything. Even his darling, older sister didn't have that sway anymore. This rift had started around when he found the city night.

That's why this was happening. A family trip. Gone out to nowhere, as far as he was concerned. A place he'd loved once, they said. These days he wasn't so much into camping or the ocean or nature. He'd found some refuge in chemicals, both their distribution and their ingestion. He sat where he always did, behind dad, who was driving. His sister on her place beside him, behind mother. He was looking out the window. There'd been no houses for quite a while. Only trees and open fields. This trip did seem unusually long, and mom had stopped looking at their old map, which had been a poor replacement for their gps and phones loosing connection.

Cedrick, or Cid as they all called him, huffed at his reflection in the mirror. The vehicle was large, family sized, but it still somewhat strained to contain his new proportions. His black hair was tied back, and his features were almost gaunt in the thin skin of his youthful face, like the furnace inside him burnt through every calorie they put in.

"Next gasstation we should ask for directions home. It's been a great birthday, guys, but I have plans with some friend. Not that sitting and doing nothing hasn't been a hoot." he said with a little more edge than his sarcasm had held, lately.

"Listen, son..." Garret Lancet tried, from the driver's seat. "We're all worried..." But he didn't get to finish that. His son hammered his palm against the shoulder of his father's seat, which startled the grown man.

"NO! You listen! The point of this birthday is that I'm a fucking adult now. This is pretty much kidnapping." He threw an eye at his mother and then his sister. "So either take me home or let me get the FUCK out right here. I think I like my chances against the wild versus being fucking judged to death in this car."

There was a silence for all of them to think all the things that came with a venomous outburst like that. There might even be a part of that silence that suggested Cid was remorseful for what he'd said. And then the same teststerone had the father turn around. And just then, mother, Birgit, yelped at something that stepped out on the road. Garret turned back, and brought the wheel with him.

The car tried to listen to his command, but it was too contradictory to its velocity. It's wheels left the rubber marks it was making on the road, and the family sized vehicle made family sized summersaults toward the ditch.

 

[Silent Cryptographer]

If Cedrick was in transformation, Lily Lancet would have been his counterbalance.

A girl firmly entrenched in whom she was and whom she intended to be; Lily had set herself up from success from an early age. From early on it was a mix of gymnastics and extra curricular's like a steady diet. Each one meant to ensure that Lily kept as many doors to the good life open as possible, just like her parents had told her from day one. She'd made valedictorian like academic, all-state and lettered all by her first year in high school. The girl in many ways taking the role of the eldest prodigal child even if it was to the bane of her younger sibling at points. Always painted the brush to be the poster child who could do no wrong, when in fact, she certainly could and did so regularly. She could downright be moody, fickle and cold. It was that odd dichotomy that ruled over her life. She'd met the highest of standards required of her after sacrificing her time and happiness, and yet she still felt all but empty to the fact. As if for all the bright shining lights nothing could fill the void which hung about in the nooks and crannies of her soul.

Yet even if Lily's daily routine was a strain on her own happiness and mood, she'd like to think she truly tried to be there for her brother of all people. Cedrick had been someone who Lily had stood up for, comforted and tried to genuinely understand. This all for no reason other than the fact he was family, and much like the line from the old Disney movie she used to watch on repeat, 'Family never gets left behind.' There was some days Lily wished she could claw her time back to that happier placeholder in her life. When her brother wasn't some raging menace to society and shit wasn't expected of her. Once Pandora opened her box however, nothing could ever go back in she supposed. Change was inevitable, and yet Lily so desperately wanted to try and resist this one element of it. In the end she couldn't help but feel the sickening feeling in her gut which whispered that the only reason she cared was because it was going to ruin her white picket fenced in life. That was her pessimism talking. It wouldn't cease or shut up as of late.

Stress was deeply upon Lily even before her father and mother decided on this little road trip. Having just finished her applications for college and wrapping up high school, the girl had now settled into that nervous, stomaching churning period of waiting. Waiting to hear if she was actually good enough or not. Waiting to hear if everything she'd done would pay off. Waiting to see if she was worth anything at all. Perhaps she was being too hard on herself? She wasn't quite sure at this point. Now, she found herself in some rural bumfuck nowhere having to pay lip service to the little monster that was once her brother...that was also too mean. Lily didn't mean that even her own thoughts truly. How could she? No when she remembered what he was like before all of the fighting, drugs and gang culture that he seemed to dive headfirst into to escape life. She'd tried to steer him off things. Done what she could to offer outlets to him where she could. Even talked of spending time like they once did together, all curled up under that big fluffy blanket watching movies. That was about four interventions back. Now? She just didn't have the heart to fight on it.

Hope had been there at the start of things that maybe a little family camping trip would clear the air. Make up for time lost or something like that in Dad's mind at least. A father's desperate appeal to get his 'best bud' back. Words of encouragement had been water off the ducks back and the trip itself now served as a match one had chosen to wave in front of a powder keg. Lily knew her brother. Probably better than her parents at this point given she'd been the last to get shut out. Came damn near close to breaking through at one point she thought too...though maybe it had only been her imagination. No, this trip only picked at scabs of what had been. Reminding of the times that they'd once had now pissed away down the drain. It wasn't just her brother's fault though. They were all guilty all the same. Success had taken the status of close to godliness and thus, family had been left behind in the process. It was only a matter of time now before the final crack busted the dam and heaven help them when it happened. Dad had always been a temperamental sort, and now her brother was no different. Two locomotives barreling toward one another on the same track. One had to yield or there would be disaster.

Cedrick fired off the first shots of war. It was a half-assed thinly veiled jab. Taken right when the silence in the car grew too much for anyone to bear. They all knew it had to be coming Lily mused. If not him, then maybe it would be something that her mother stumbled into with a haphazard comment. She was good at doing that. Lily's emerald, green eyes glanced over towards Cedrick as soon as the words left his mouth, however. The girl using a warning look reserved mainly for when the two were children given out to her younger brother as if to serve as a silent warning to slow his roll. He was playing with fire. To dad's credit, the man took the heat like a champ. Her father at first seemed to try to play peacemaker for the whole situation. Tried to offer some middle ground in which talk was still an option. It wasn't going to work. The little voice was right this time. Lily decided in that moment before disaster to try and speak up, "Guys can we just drop this for now? Look, I think I might have seen the fluffiest cow ever back there..." Too little, too late.

Things went off like a bomb quick. Lily jumping just as much as her father did when Cedrick slammed his fist into the back of dad's seat. However, Lily would not just sit there quietly while Cid through his tirade at the adults. No, it probably would have been better if she did. Maybe then she would have been able to warn the others. Should've, Would've, Could've. The famous last mantra of most unfortunate events. Hers started off with an insult, she knew, how classy. "Well Cid if you wanna be treated like a fucking adult, maybe you should start by not throwing a fit like an utter man-child!" She snarled. "And pleeeeeeaaassse, you? Crybaby you? Survive in the wild? You're shitting me Ciddy." The girl adding insult to injury by dropping that stupid pet name she knew annoyed him. Before that could spiral into a further argument on the finer qualities of linguistics, a scream sounded from the front seat. The next thing Lily remembered? The truck cabin throwing them around like a set of clothes in a washing machine from hell. Her head bouncing off something in the cabin to send her into the abyss. By the time she'd wake up, she was hanging upside down in her seat. Arms dangling over her head like some football referee calling a touchdown as her head felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to it. How about a side of concussion, anyone?

 

[Verse]

There had been times like this too, when things were good. Even when the boy had been sweet, he'd still been male, and needed the odd telling to. Since he was always with his older sister, tailing her around, trying his own defective summersaults when she did judge-pleasing flips, or playing quietly on his phone in her room when she studied to ace those tests, Lily had to be the one checking him. And he listened. What else was he to do? She was his authority. More of a parent than their parents, mostly. And these bad things he felt, that he thought were foreign, were actually native to him, to his heart. He pushed them down because every time he let them surface Lily told him off. Then they must be bad. So he held them back. But bad things fester, unexpressed. He wasn't some shrink, and made a point out of not thinking much about it. But maybe it was all that which had eventually made breaking rules feel so good. And the freedom to do it, the realization that there wasn't really anything holding him back but him, was a bit like being a god in the city night. The strength in Lily's legs that let her do her gymnastics were present in him too. He used it for violence. And violence feels good, on the giving end.

But after her chiding comment, and he thought to retaliate with whatever verbal vomit he'd prepared behind his teeth, the moment itself interrupted him. He was left with their childhood and memories, rattling around in his head, spinning the opposite direction and making him sick, as the car vaulted. He saw bits of smiles that Lily had given him, he didn't even know what for, and he felt her soft pecks on his forehead and her thigh against both of his when he curled next to her under their blanket. His life had been mostly her, and the things he'd done lately, had been in her absence. Life had been hitting them long before the road and now the ditch was hitting their car. When it all came to a stop, courtesy of the treeline, he could taste blood in his entire mouth. But unlike anyone in this vehicle, he thrived in this state. It was a lot like being down from a couple of punches. If you couldn't take this much, then selling on Yarely inner city blocks wasn't for you. And that kind of thing was definitely for Cid Lancet.

Upside down, he looked around. The images of his family members were split because his eyes weren't right from the tumble. But it was enough information for him to get his bearings. Working through the concussion, on the side or not, was part of his bread and butter. They'd all hear his annoyed grunts, as though he was rejecting the cranial distress. His hand slapped his chest twice, looking for the belt. And then their heard his huffs and grunts when he fell down, having unmade his binds. "Fucking..." he muttered, slurring as he crawled over to his sister. He stood, best he could and shouldered her legs to her seat in the upside down car, to fixate her when he got her belt too. A last trace of affection had him put her down slowly on their ceiling turned floor, so he could get mom and dad.

They were all out because of his efforts soon, though scraped up from the glass and whatever hurts they'd earned from the SUV that was now a banged up washing machine. Stubborn, he refused to sit, and leaned his forearm and then his forehead against one of the wheels. His shirt was ripped and his hair was mostly undone from its tie. He looked back at them, and the anger in his eyes was mostly applied strength so he wouldn't fall down. They got to look at the boy who haunted abandoned buildings and the bad dreams of those who were late with their payment on products he peddled. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb and spit the rest out. It was pink. He looked around and seemed to be getting his balance back. "The fuck are we, anyway?" he muttered and tried his legs by letting go of the tire. It worked, somewhat.

 

[Silent Cryptographer]

Lily's consciousness was hit with a slight note of pain as she was pulled down from her seat. The girl's weight being somewhat light as her brother braced to recieve her from her suspended cradle. Yet rather than her own condition, Lily croaked out in a hoarse tone for another's. "Cid....are you hurt. Please tell me....you're okay." She murmured dreamily. Musing over the matter that she felt like her head away adrift at sea. It mattered little for the level of deep shit they'd seem to find herself in. The dragging motion before coming to a rest leaving the girl a bit disoriented and having to pick up the pieces. Shapes of her parents materializing into view as she'd look over to her brother. His form taken to full out punting the tire to vent whatever anger remained. A plaintive look of confusion on her face as she'd try to sit up. Unsteady and shakey as she did so.

As to the question of where they were, Cid had been quite right when he'd noted they'd ended up far from civilization. Cornfields and some sprinkling of trees making up the majority of what one could see at a glance. The area still very green front the hard rains the few nights before. Large rain fences typically blocking off most plots of land aside from the one the truck had plowed through. It's hulking wreck now resting at a clump of trees which gathered over it in a near funeral pall. Smoke rising up from the deep recesses of the vehicle as the family was left scattered outside it. A note of a chill whispered through the air as the wind rattled leaves around them and the caw of large black crows which sheltered in the trees didn't make matters any more soothing.

From the road, as if by some miracle however came the shape of a red pickup truck. It's model being far older than the family's own. Almost like it had crawled out of the seventies car catalog to ride the roads again. The radio notes of some new age gospel music drifting from the cab as it did. Lily whom had neither the senses about her or her own bearing could still make the thing out. Waving her hands idly as she'd let out a choked cry of joy. "Look Cid! Look...!" She'd manage before a unsettling of her stomach made her have to settle down. Still, whatever the case, the vehicle would eventually pull off the road near them. The engine cutting as one of the door opened up. The figure stepping from the vehicle seeming to be a rather interesting individual though not out of place in this area.

He was a broad shouldered man, standing taller than their own father with a well kept beard and what looked to be old fashioned work overalls on. His dark brown hair cut neatly to an extent but clearly had become messy over the day of work as a thin layer of sweat covered his brow. His arms like oak trees as he shut the door and his boots crunched in the gravel beneath his feel. The black and red checkered shirt under his overalls seeming to stick to his skin. From the other side of the vehicle, a younger boy would hop out. His attire rather old fashioned in the sense he'd be more formally dressed before this car ride with his father. The two giving off slight vibes of almost Amish culture though they seemed to embrace technology. For a moment the boy looked like he was about to say something, only to in turn be shushed by his father.

"I saw the wreck off a ways while splitting wood. I'm here to help friends." He'd say in a level but commanding tone. His eyes flicking from Cid to Lily and then to their parents in the grass. A large hand moving to give his son a gentle nudge as he'd gesture back to the truck. "Go ahead and get some supplies from the first aid kit under the seat, Johnnie. Daddy's gonna see what he can salvage for these nice folk." With that the man turned back forward as he'd walk towards the family vehicle and the family themselves. Lily seeming unsure at first though brightening up as she seemed to think they were actually being rescued rather than robbed. A brief sort of "Thank you sir..." Escaping her lips only to be answered with a nod from the man's head. The figure stoic as he looked over everything though he did seem to keep an eye on the two as he did so. Something which would not change even as the boy brought the first aid kit over to him. The little boy then peering meekly from behind his father at Lily in the grass. A strange sort of fixation lingering in his eyes.

The man patted the child on the head before taking the first aid kit under arm. Gesturing to their lisence plate as he did so. "Long way from home ain't it? What are y'all doing in these parts. Also what are your names. Don't wanna spend my time just calling you boy or girl." He'd remark dryly. The figure seeming to at least offer a small comforting smile to the group as he'd look over at the truck. "From what I can see y'all have been banged up something fierce, though don't you worry none at all. Rest and the Lord will heal most of that. Sadly, y'alls truck ain't in any condition to go anywhere as obviously seen." He if allowed to do so would make the rounds to their unconscious parents. Working on patching them up as Lily would finally find wobbly footing to stand on. A hand brushing her dark locks away from her face as the man worked. Finally turning back towards Cid of all people.

"Seeing as your Pa here is gonna be sleeping this one off, that makes you man of the house." He'd address firmly. For the first time, probably in a long time someone would have addresses Cid like an adult with keys to the kingdom. "Can take y'all in to town tomorrow after the harvest, but there ain't a hospital in sight for miles around. You'll have to find someone to take you that far. Or you can come stay with my family for a couple of days until you can arrange a ride out of here." He'd say gesturing right up the road. "None of y'all are critical condition, so a bit of care and comfort might go a ways. Besides we have our own little shared homestead you there won't be a lack of food for you all as my guests."

 

[Verse]

It was almost sweet, carrying her. She had always lorded over him, whether he was at peace with it or not. It was strange, having her depending on him like this. Something awakened in him when he had her legs, her thighs, folded over him like that. It was pleasant but the thought of it wasn't. Fantasies that had been born when he'd had the hormonal blood for it but before he could think that it was bad blossomed among all the other things he was feeling in this disarray. There were dark thoughts too, when he put her down, and he had enough strength left to do something elicit. Why were these things in his concussed head? He'd have to blame it on that, he supposed. He had to get his family out. As primal as the nights at home had made him, he responded in this way to the situation. There was something good coming out of the bad that he'd done.

The Lancet boy made his company with the tire, and centered himself about the time when the new vehicle came around. He'd not even thought the most desperate things yet. It felt convenient and like the driver owed them something. Fellow man, all that. Even if Cid himself had certainly gone against that 'thy brother' notion, lately. His youth strung his logic out. It was no news to the family here that he'd become selfish. Right now it shouldn't matter much. Perhaps everyone here thought the person with the functional transportation should lend some of it to them, who had failed in their own track. He looked at his sister when she came a live. She was pretty, busted up but injected with hope. He staggered away from the comfort of the upturned rubber wheel, and walked toward the red truck. It did look beautiful, because it symbolized the salvation that its radio preached.

While the two that the new car produced came with a friendly spirit, the boy who belonged to the Lancet family made sure to put himself between the strangers and the hurt flesh he'd come from. He was slightly hunched from the mere effort of still standing, but his gait also suggested there might be enough spring in him to throw him at them if he thought they were a threat. The man, the father, was large enough to have become a problem even when Cedrick was at his best. This was a precarious situation. He had only his adrenaline to trust. But he'd be foolish not to see what they wanted, and his demeanor, while the threat was already subtle, softened further at the offer. He made a point out of looking from the elder to the junior. Junior, Johnnie, proved to be a potential problem by where his eyes lingered, even as the father took care of business with the wreck. It was hard for Cid to decide where he should be.

The two would notice how Cid ended up next to his sister, helping her up without looking at her. The young city male did disarm somewhat when the man addressed him. He too looked at his parents. They'd been limp when he carried them, but their breaths had been even. He agreed to the man's assessment, and he nodded to the parts that made sense to him. "What's your own name?" he offered. Though flat, he didn't but a threat into the question. 'Daddy' would receive a verbal list of four once that had been given. It gave the recent Lancet adult pause enough to look around, though. "Suppose we'll take you up on that offer." He was right. He had to make the decisions here. He was more convinced of that even if technically Lily was his own elder. In present company, it just felt right to take the reins.

After some heartbreaking fiddling with the remains of their own car, they ended up on the bed of the red truck. Without a sound, Cid made a point out of neither of them riding inside. He had his mother and father in his lap, their legs spread out before him while he held their heads on his things, and in the motor sounds and ruckus of the wind, he leaned into Lily beside him. "You gotta stay close to me, Sis." he said. There was no forgiveness in his voice for talk-back, and it was a new feeling for the younger brother. "I think I know what to do, but you have to let me talk." He half expected her to argue, but whatever she said, he wouldn't let it interfere with what he'd now decided. He looked over his shoulder to see what was in the direction they were headed. This seemed like such a foreign world, even if it had just been one long car ride away from their beloved civilization. He felt a strange kinship to the precarious but calm nature of this place. His heart rate did raise somewhat when they reached their destination, and they turned into what was obviously a farm and a home.