they ask 'do you love her to death?'
i said, 'speak of her over my grave and watch how she brings me back to life'
Laurel was never meant to be in the games,
all she wanted was to keep her sister safe.
the only way she could do that was to die.
...
When Treech was a little boy he had truly believed his mother, Brooke Brody, was a miracle worker. That she was a real angel sent from god. Now at the grown age of 16, he knows it's true.
When the Peacekeepers exited the train, they had carried Laurel behind them on a stretcher. Though they had covered her with a sheet, the sight was horrific. Were they really going to take her to her family like that? Trench couldn't let it happen, it's his job, he'd promised Laurel he would be the one to take her home and he was determined to do just that.
"Let me take her." He had demanded, pulling the sheet off the girl before the peacekeepers could argue. Though it took very little convincing, it was just another job taken off their list. And so he carried her slowly, back to his house in her arms, his mother and father on either side.
"Are you sure you don't want to take her straight to her house?" his mother had asked, gnawing at the quicks of her nails. Treech knows what she's thinking, he looks insane. He'd dragged Laurel's body around with him since she'd fallen and still, he wasn't ready to let go.
"I will." Treech sighed, "I just want a little more time."
When they reached his home, Brooke had insisted he leave her in the dining room when he went to greet his brothers, "I'll wait here with her." She had insisted.
When Treech had stepped out into the family's small backyard, he was once again overcome with the terrible sting of tears in his eyes. In front of him were four boys; Huck, Adler, Aaron, and Ridge, too caught up in their game of wrestling to see him.
"Yes!" The eldest, Huck yelled standing from his place on top of Aaron, dancing around him, "I'm the champ! I'm the champ!" He sang tauntingly.
"Not for much longer!" Treech yelled from his place in the doorway, taking a step toward the boys.
His brother's faces all swung around so fast Treech worried they might snap their necks, "Treech!" The youngest, Ridge, bellows and they all take off towards him.
Their bodies hit Treech with so much force he's thrown off balance, "Your back." Screams Aaron, clawing at his shirt when he tries to push the pack from atop him.
"Yeah." Treech laughs, struggling against their weight, "But I won't be for much longer if you don't get off."
The boys don't move, holding tightly onto him. Huck starts crying softly whipping over his face forcefully, "I'm so glad you're back." Adler and Aaron follow sobbing loudly into his shirt.
Treech hadn't realized how deeply the boys would understand what he'd been through, the danger he'd been in. Sure, he knew the eldest three were of reaping age, they know what happens if your name gets called. But he had subconsciously hoped they wouldn't worry.
"I'm back." He mumbled wrapping his arms around the pile and breathing deeply.
By the time they had finished with their reunion all five boys were covered head to toe in dirt, Treech's capital clothes thoroughly ruined by his home. Treech sternly instructed Huck to stay outside until their Ma called them back in, and made his way inside, preparing for this moment of joy to be stamped back down.
As Treech reaches the door leading to his living room, loud shouting is echoing through the wood. It's his mother barking orders at her husband. "A tube I need a tube!" She screams, "The feeding ones, they're under the floorboard!"
Threech bursts through the door, "What's wrong?"
"She's breathing." His mother whips around to face him, "Laurel's breathing."
"What?" He rushes to the girl's side placing a hand against her chest, unable to feel any movement, "No she's not."
His mother fixes him with a sure stare, "Are you a medic?"
"No." Treech stutters out, watching Brook take a long plastic tube from his father's hands.
"I am." She grunts. Slowly, with incredibly steady hands, his mother pushes the tube up Laurel's nose.
"What are you doing?" He yells, attempting to bat her hands away.
"Bently." Brooke sends her husband a look over her shoulder, ignoring Treech completely, "The liquids that were with the tubing."
The man is gone and back in an instant. Brooke snatches up the clean bags from his hands and attaches them to the tubes, "Hold this." She passes it to Treech, "Up high."
Choosing to trust her, he lifts it and watches the clear liquid run down into Laurel's face.
"Good boy." His mother breathes taking a step back, "Huck!" she then bellows, calling for her second eldest son.
He appears in the doorway in an instant, muddy feet scuffing the carpet. The boy's eyes grow wide when he spots Laurel atop their dining room table, "Where does her family live?" Treech's mother has turned back to him.
"Uh... I don't know." He stutters out.
"You don't know?"
He's such an idiot. Treech decides, how was he meant to take Laurel home when he doesn't even know where her home is? "She worked at the fabric store." Is the only thing he can manage to conjure.
Before he can say anything else his mother has turned away again, "Run to the fabric shop in town, Huck." Treech doesn't know if he's ever seen his mother take charge like this, "Run, you understand? You go to the counter and ask for her address, then bring her parents here."
The boy is still standing dumbfounded, "Do you hear me, Huck?" Brooke questions seriously.
"Yeah." He stutters, still stuck in place.
"Huck!" Brooke yells, "Go!"
The boy takes off out the door.
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