Octavius grumbled grumpily as he was awakened by the sound of the phone ringing. He rolled over and glanced at the clock beside his bed. It read 1:37 A.M. He cursed silently as he reached over and took the phone off of its base.
“Hello?” He wiped sleep from his eyes lazily as he slowly sat up. However, the sound of crying on the other end made him move a bit quicker. “Hello? Who is this?”
“I-is this Vinyl’s house?” A female voice was trying to talk through loud sobs.
“Yes,” Octavius replied, now wide-awake. “This is her boyfriend Octavius. Who is this?”
“It’s Flutters,” she said. “V-Vinyl said to call if I n-needed her.” She sniffled loudly. “I-I need her.” Suddenly, a man’s voice cut into the background, yelling at her. She started to cry harder. “P-please hurry.”
“Ok, but where am I going?” Octavius swung his legs off the edge of the bed, looking for his shoes. Vinyl stirred beside him but did not wake up.
Flutters told him the address, and once he had on his shoes and had grabbed his keys, he was on his way to see what was going on.
As Octavius pulled up in the driveway to the house, he could hear shouting and crying and things breaking. He stepped out of his car, quietly closing the door behind him. Cautiously he approached the steps, walking up onto the porch and knocking on the wooden door before him. He heard things go quiet inside, followed by rapid whispering. Before he could become too impatient, though, the door swung open, and the sight of a pink haired woman wearing a long yellow shirt and some loose green pants greeted him. She smiled at him.
“Hello,” she said sweetly, placing a fake smile on her face. “What can I do for you?”
Octavius was dumbfounded momentarily before he found his voice. “Um, are you Flutters?”
The woman nodded quickly. “Yes, I am,” she answered. “And you are?”
“I’m Octavius,” he replied. “You just called me?”
“Oh yes, that,” Flutters waved a hand dismissively. “It was nothing. Just a little disagreement is all.” Octavius noticed the woman’s eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying a lot recently. He also saw what appeared to be a bruise on her throat.
Octavius sighed and shook his head before looking into the woman’s eyes once more. “Listen, Flutters,” he started quietly, dropping his voice to a low murmur. “I get what’s going on. I’m here to help you, like you asked.” He extended a hand towards her, and felt his heart break a little when she flinched away. “I can’t help you if you don’t let me.” He offered her his hand once more. “Come with me. At least for the night. I have a spare bed that you can stay in, and you won’t have to cry anymore.”
Flutters looked conflicted. One the one hand, she seemed like she wanted more than anything to say yes, to take his hand and leave; alternatively, she also seemed very hesitant to trust him, like she thought she would be better to stay.
“Just for the night,” Octavius said again. “I’ll bring you back first thing in the morning.”
Flutters looked around nervously, as if she were afraid someone might be listening to them. Finally, she nodded slowly and took Octavius’ outstretched hand. He smiled kindly at her as he gently led her to the car that was waiting in the driveway. He helped her into the passenger seat, then he got into the drivers seat.
As he started to back out of the driveway, the woman finally broke down beside him, tears running down her long face as she squeezed her eyes shut. She sobbed quietly, hugging herself tight. Octavius cast a glance over to her before looking back at the road.
Octavius opened his mouth as if to say something, but he couldn’t find the words. He wanted to say anything, to try to cheer her up, but nothing seemed appropriate. He barely knew her, yet here she was in his car about to be in his house.
“I’m sorry,” Flutters muttered, causing Octavius to look at her quizzically. “I b-barely know you, yet here I am asking you t-to help me.” She laughed quietly. “This h-has to be weird.”
Octavius smiled. “No, not really,” he said. “About three years ago I started staying with two women I hardly knew, and that seemed to work out ok. I was new in town and I ‘needed some friends’, as Vinyl had said. So she took me to meet her friend Dash, and one thing led to another, and I ended up staying with Dash for a while. Eventually, after Vinyl and I had gotten together, we moved to our own place outside of town. We’ve been there about a year and a half.”
Flutters was listening intently to Octavius’ story, but he seemed done talking, so she went back to looking out of the windshield. Finally Octavius spoke again. “So what about you, Flutters? Care to tell me about yourself?”
Flutters looked shyly down at her hands folded in her lap. “Oh, um,” she said softly. “I-I’ve lived here for my whole life. I work at the animal shelter on Main Street; I have for about four years now. I always liked taking care of animals when I was little, so even though I don’t get paid a whole lot, I still enjoy it there.”
“Sounds like you’re living the dream,” Octavius grinned, before turning serious again. “So what happened with the idiot who did that to you, then?” He gestured at her neck, which Flutters instinctively covered.
“I-I’d rather not talk about that,” she mumbled, a fresh batch of tears welling behind her eyes.
Octavius looked at her, mentally kicking himself for making her sad again. “Then we won’t,” he said sweetly. “Besides, we’re here.” He pulled into his driveway, putting the car in park and shutting off the headlights. He got out and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door for Flutters. She giggled quietly as she stepped out of the car, Octavius shutting the door behind her. “Follow me,” he said as he led her to his door, unlocking it and stepping inside. He was surprised to see Vinyl sitting on the couch in the living room.
“Hey, sweetie,” she greeted him with a smile as she stood up carefully, walking towards the two that had just entered the house. “I see you met my new acquaintance?”
Octavius nodded. “She called and said she needed help. Apparently you said she could. So I went and picked her up.”
Vinyl grinned. “Good boy,” she praised him as she patted his head, making him grimace. “Now, for you,” she said as she turned her attention to Flutters.
“Oh, I won’t be any trouble,” she quickly insisted. “I’ll just stay on the couch and –“
Vinyl shook her head. “We have an extra room upstairs.” She pointed over her shoulder to the stairs. “It’s all yours for as long as you need it.”
Flutters looked from Vinyl to Octavius, smiling warmly before pulling the couple into a tight hug. “Thank you,” she muttered as she held them close. She pulled back, a couple of tears on her face. “I’ll be on my way to bed then.” With that, she disappeared up the stairs.