if these wings could fly for the rest of our lives
Abigail was hardly oblivious to that glimpse of desperation to escape as her boyfriend all but dragged her down the stairs of his childhood home. His sibling had made it strikingly clear that they were not welcomed here and though Arlo had warned her there was a strong possibility they would not be well received, she hadn't quite expected the very extent his family went through to ensure he knew that he was dead. As if he could forget! It was cruel, as far as she was concerned and though Abigail wished she could console him, though she wished she could step in and defend him....now was not the time. What if...what if there was still the chance to mend that bridge? Not to mention she was altogether certain any words they might say now would probably land on deaf ears. She hated this, really. She hated to see her boyfriend like this. A soft sigh left her lips and yet, for the moment, at least, she hardly voiced a word of those thoughts that plagued her mind. Her own gaze softened as Arlo abruptly turned at the base of those stairs, offering a hastily worded apology that she certainly did not deserve. She shook her head quite purposefully, refusing to hear any of it. None of this was his fault! None of it!

That grin that crossed his features was hardly the sort of authentic simper she was used to. In fact, the very sadness within it, the glassy look to his eyes, it made her heart hurt. Her hand gingerly tucked into his own, that gentle squeeze prompted a soft smile upon her features, even if it hardly could erase that grief that fluttered around within her. Her hazel eyes slowly followed Arlo as the pair turned towards that basement filled with boxes. Slowly, Abigail approached the nearest collection, her thoughts still clouded with the night's events even as she leaned down to pick through the first of those few boxes. The first her hands settled on seemed to be mostly old clothes, and though it was intriguing, it was certainly not what they were looking for. She scooted the box of clothes to the side, only to move onto the next, a soft sound of surprise on her lips as she pulled open the lid to reveal the multitude of CD's and notebooks. That simple sound upon her lips seemed to draw Arlo's attention, the man declaring they had found exactly what they had been looking for. Success!!!

Her hazel eyes turned towards the cover of the CD in her hand, eying the faces of the young men that stared up at her. It was easy to locate Arlo in the picture, the boy still wearing a goofy grin on his features. A small grin crept across her features as Arlo pointed at that faint shadowing. Even now, Arlo still sounded so proud of that little bit of manliness when he had been a mere boy. She watched as Arlo began to shift through those notebooks and loose leaf papers, clearly hunting for those pages that had prompted this visit in the first place. She gave him those other bits of papers she had found, only for Arlo to pause in near mid-gesture. That sudden insistence that they needed to hurry, however, caused that worry to flourish within the girl all over again. With how bad his sister had been, she couldn't begin to imagine what to expect with his parents! The girl quickly threw everything she could get her hands on that looked remotely important into Arlo's box before she declared herself ready. Arlo quickly hefted that box from her arms. Those bright hazel eyes glanced over the remaining boxes before she plucked one of clothes up and into her arms. That baffled since to Arlo's voice briefly saw the girl pause. Her head shook from side to side. "No...I know we can't take everything but I thought maybe you might want some of your other stuff..." She commented, almost uncertain now that she has said it out loud. Maybe he just wanted to forget about this part of his life? What if that box in her arms contained some reminder of a memory that made him super sad?! She didn't want that!!

Thankfully, Arlo didn't seem that bothered by the idea, at least, not enough to make her put down that box in her hands. Instead, the man gestured towards the stairs before leading the way upwards. Abigail tentatively voiced her own concern of account holder parents when they only had one front door just as Arlo reached the top, holding the basement door open for her. "Okay..." She uttered hesitantly in response to Arlo's plan, unsure if it would really work out quite as he planned. The pair hardly got any further than a few mere steps before the front door was pushed open. Abigail collided with her boyfriend as Arlo pivoted abruptly in place, the girl quickly made an effort to regain her balance before her attention turned towards the elderly couple at the front door. The silence was quite near permeating as the small group stared at one another with a glimpse akin to disbelief and apprehension. Uh oh. It was Arlo, it seemed, who found his voice first, making an effort to introduce the were-panda to his family. Those introductions hardly even finished before Arlo's mother burst into hysterical tears. Oh dear! They hadn't done anything to warrant that kind of reaction, had they?!

That sudden shriek that left the woman's lips made Abigail step backward, the loud sound almost painful to her sensitive ears. Arlo's family had a thing for screaming, didn't they? She wasn't prepared for this and the box in her arms was getting kinda heavy. What sort of things did he have in here?! Her eyes widened as Arlo's father quite near blatantly told the vampire to stay away from their family - particularly for what he was. As if he had somehow just made the decision to become a vampire! Abigail nibbled on her bottom lip, her own heart beating far faster as the young woman stood before Arlo's yelling father. She had never done that well with screaming, even as a child she had required little more than a stern word before bursting into tears at disappointing her elders. This was quite a huge leap forward and yet, a part of the girl was almost afraid by that shouting. The man's sudden gesturing towards her only caused the girl to whence. Any further action he might have taken with those sudden forward movements, however, was abruptly caught off as that distinct sound reverberated upon Arlo's lips. It was a sound she'd only heard him make once before, one that sounded more like a very mean kitty than her sweet, goofy boyfriend. Her hazel eyes turned upwards towards him, "Arlo....I - " She started in a soft whisper though the sentence was quickly cut off as Arlo's father turned to threatening.

She was hardly inattentive, even despite the girl's own awe at his parent's callousness and discomfort at being in the middle of that peculiar situation. She had caught onto those words, and the notion that their fall out had occurred far before Arlo had been turned. It was....curious though now was certainly not the time to ask what it meant. What she hadn't expected, however, was for Arlo's father to threaten to call the HUNTERS on them! As if they had ATTACKED them or something! They didn't deserve that. Her lips parted, as if intending to argue that death sentence only for Arlo to cut her off with a resolute 'Fine'. Her hazel eyes turned towards him, almost unsure of what to do now as he purposefully strode forward, that box in hand only to pass his own family with little more than a singular glance. It took Abigail a moment before the young woman moved to follow suit. "Sorry." She muttered softly as she passed Arlo's parents, even if they seemed more content to merely glare at her. She could hardly help that soft sigh of relief that left her lips the moment they stepped out into the night air. That home had been quite near suffocating with all the tension! It was getting to be too much.

Abigail trailed behind Arlo, her box carefully slid in the back seat of the car next to Arlo's own. She hardly expected those keys to be thrust at her the moment her box was secure. A small frown crossed her features as she reached up for them, only for Arlo to instruct her to the start the car. "Arlo, I -" The man turned to leave well before she could even finish the sentence. A soft sigh left her lips as the young woman continued in a mutter to herself, "...don't think that's a good idea." She made her way around the vehicle, opening the driver's side door. She slid inside, that seat, placing the keys into the ignition as the car rumbled to life. Her attention turned to the center navigation, her finger's deftly moved across the screen to pull up the location of their hotel once again. It was that sudden scream that caused her gaze to shift abruptly towards the door of that home, right as the woman on the navigation began instructing Abigail to go forward 500 feet and then take a right. Someone definitely would have heard that sound. That anxiety rose up within her, the young woman's heart beat faster as she watched Arlo march down those steps with something bundled in his arms.

It was only once Arlo had settled in the passenger seat that Abigail closed the driver's side door, her gaze still trained upon the man at her side as he stared straight ahead, his voice so....empty of that usual enthusiasm. "Um....okay..." She muttered, trying to refocus all those awful emotions that swirled around in her. She could still feel her heart fluttering in her chest as she put her hands on the wheel, shifting breaks to guide the car forward and follow the directions of what now sounded like a painfully cheery GPS. She hardly anticipated that apple that was thrust towards her as she let the vehicle pause in front of a stop light. The fruit took her entirely by surprise, amplified only by the cracking of his voice around that one singular word. It hardly took her long to put together the pieces of what he had gone back into that house for, much less that conversation that had preoccupied their trip over. "Arlo!" That singular word was a half sob from her lips, that he would go back just for her was clearly too much for the girl to handle, those tears freely pouring down her cheeks as she took the offered apple. So much for this trip being a wonderful vacation. And she had tried so hard too.