#( the fam has no clue what rosa's been doing all these years )

[the-soldicr]

@ninetyscnds​ said here:

“I-I — I don’t kn-know what you mean–”

Rosa was gone, had left in the dead of night and Luke was left in the motel room with nothing but the ghosting presence of her in the room. She must have left in a hurry, because some of her clothes was still here, and now some guy was in the motel room having scared Luke awake. As the room was looked through, the guy clearly angry, Luke huddled in the corner, eyes darting over to the table full of their supplies and tools laid out. Was that what he meant?

“Sh-she’s not here, man,” he tried, fear rendering him stiff as a board. With jagged motions, he slowly tried to reach his hand over to grab the rest of their H, trying to hide it from view in case the intruder wanted to steal it.

“-n-not here, I-I-I don’t know where she went, okay? Can’t h-help you- j-just, leave me alone-”

James didn’t want to believe it.

He’d go through Hell and back a million times over. He’d let himself be BAIT,  GLADLY  submit himself in time and time again as a prisoner of war beneath his the enemy’s raised weapons if it would mean  n e v e r  having to enter that dim, grimy motel room in a broken attempt to  d r a g  his baby sister back from the depths of WHATEVER HELL she had found herself living in these days. IT WAS  H I S  FUCKING FAULT, all the pain she felt. He knew that.

But... she wasn’t fucking there. They’d been certain, so  C E R T A I N  that was where the youngest of the Hauleys could be found. They had tracked down aliases, credit cards, following the little breadcrumbs the little runaway had accidentally dropped through the years all alone, hospitals that had marked her name down before she could dash from there, too.  Jails that kept her OVERNIGHT.    Always on the run.   Like father,  like daughter.                                    ( Not that any of them were stupid enough to say that to her face. )

You’ve gotta find her, James. You have to make sure she’s still doing OK on her own. And he’d MEANT to. He’d  P R O M I S E D  them all that he’d get her and bring her back safe.                                                                                                            She’d been FOUND.

Only, the  LAST THING  the soldier had expected to find cornered in the room he’d FORCED HIMSELF INTO was the sad and lowly drug user guarding his stash all alone, caught like a deer in headlights. It seemed their little Rosa was doing so much worse than ANY of them had previously thought.

James stopped, shoulders hunched. He shook his head vehemently in denial, taken aback by the state of the cheapest room the broke addicts could afford, at Luke’s words. She was too fucking smart for this kind of thing. It wasn’t her. It couldn’t have been HER. A case of a mistaken identity. 

Dad had FUCKED UP. He just had to have. There was no way that it was his little sister this petrified  c r i m i n a l  was rambling on about. Rosa had wanted to be an actress growing up, obsessed with plastic jewels and fashion, walking around in Mom’s clunky heels as a little girl. She’d NEVER find herself in here. Not in A MILLION YEARS, let alone in the five since he’d seen her last.

“ I don’t - ” He started, exasperated as he shined his FLASHLIGHT at her frightened lover. There was NO DENYING the status of addiction in squinted red eyes and chapped lips beneath the strength of the lumens. Hollowed out eyes stick out THAT MUCH MORE.                         “ It’s--- Rosa Hauley, you-  y o u  don’t  know her, do you? ”  James BEGGED, his voice  s h a k i n g .  He didn’t want to believe it.                                                           SHE WAS TOO GOOD FOR  T H I S ,  FOR  H I M .                       “I swear to FUCKING GOD she BETTER NOT be who you’re talking about.”

ANGER flared up behind brown eyes--- but the longer he stood there in front of him with his flashlight raised, the longer his accusatory words HUNG IN THE AIR, he knew it was useless. Shoulders dropped, confidence STRIPPED off of him. The room was under her alias. She was only fifteen when she chose the streets over the rather empty Hauley house.

        “ Please... Just... come on, man, just tell me                                             you’re NOT talking about my little fuckin’ sister... ”

#ninetyscnds #( whoops didnt mean to make this as angsty as it became ) #( just a whole lot of unexpected ouch ) #( the fam has no clue what rosa's been doing all these years ) #( they've seen some shit via paper trails but had no idea it was this bad ) #( and like - james feels so guilty for mom he cant help but feel like subsequent shit for rosa ) #( i'm lowkey excited. ) #( also i apologize for how bad his characterization may be i made him up at 14ish bc of a canon chara i adored so im tryin to salvage him ) #( lmaooo ) #( he hasn't been touched since like 2012 other than by mentioning he exists so im doin my best ) #threads. #( tbh just a guilty daddy's boy who does what he's told and tries to keep the family at least on speaking terms ) #( PERPETUALLY STRESSED ) #( dealing with thomas is a full time fucking job ) #( james: ANGERY but actually just s a d. ) #( hope its ok )