Room for Improvement - Devour fic - PG13

[tigriswolf]

Title: Room for Improvement
Fandom: Devour
Disclaimer:  Not my characters. Just for fun.
Warnings: spoilers for movie
Pairings: Jake/Marisol
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 330
Point of view: third

 

In his memory, she tastes like blood. 

-

Five years in the hospital. Hundreds of pounds of drugs. Words hurled and retracted.

Jake Grey woke up from one nightmare into another, and couldn’t say which was worse.

-

Mom and Dad visit weekly. They speak of what he misses in the outside world. They say they love him. They miss him. They want him home.

The doctors say he is steadily improving.

Jake never asks about Connie or Dakota. His parents never offer the information. What that means, he doesn’t know. Doesn’t really want to.

-

Two lifetimes of memories war inside him. One includes the Devil and murder and blood towards the end. The other has him in and out of hospitals since the age of five.

Jake takes the pills and talks to the shrinks and swiftly remembers how easy it is to lie. 

-

No, I don’t want to hurt myself.

No, I don’t wonder about death.

No, I don’t want to hurt anyone else.

No, I don’t remember my hallucinations.

No… I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to the Devil.

Yes, I think I’m better.

Yes… I think I’m ready to return to the world.

-

Twenty-six and free for the first time in five years.

They tell him he lost his mind. Thought the Devil told him to kill, but luckily he was caught in time.

Life is hard. No one denies it. Stronger men have broken with less cause.

He misses Connie. Dakota.

Marisol.

-

Jake refuses to answer the phone. His doctor tells Mom it’ll pass and not to worry. Dad tells him they understand.

Jake doesn’t tell them they don’t have a clue.

-

Sometimes, Marisol speaks in his dreams. Whispers that he’s forgiven. Gently kisses his forehead and softly touches his cheek.

I have forever, darling, she says. And you are my son. So do you.

When she presses her lips to his, she tastes like blood.