MIKEY BUCKLEY
Kanima
Posts: 119
Age:
40
Occupation:
Line Cook
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Broken isn’t the same as unfixable
Last seen May 7, 2024 13:34:00 GMT
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Post by MIKEY BUCKLEY on Apr 30, 2024 19:24:42 GMT
If you listened closer at night you could hear the sound of other men crying in their cell. Most of the time it was drowned out by the constant yelling and screaming that started as soon as the doors closed to sunrise. The screams weren’t the only thing that kept Mikey awake though. It was the awful feeling of despair which settled inside his stomach from the moment he was sentenced. When you’re lying in bed at night with no distractions it is easy to let your mind wander to the years you have ahead of you. Mikey didn’t sleep for a solid week when he arrived in prison. Eventually one night exhaustion took over and he passed out until the morning. For twenty years that was the only full night sleep he had. Most evenings he managed to squeeze a few hours out here and there. Life hadn’t been much different on the outside either, until he met Mab. Those three night sleeps were stretching into five or sometimes six hours with her by his side. It didn’t keep the nightmares at bay though. They were becoming more infrequent as time drew on, but every few months he would be hit by one. Usually they would involve his brother and something bad would happen to him. Mikey would be stuck on the sidelines, watching everything unfold, unable to do anything to save his brother. But recently his nightmares had changed. They didn’t involve Chase. It was just random people he’d never seen before. Mikey was swinging his claws at them until they dropped dead. He’d peer down as his scaly hands, before looking at the shredded body on the floor and leaving. Since their little friendly dinner date a few weeks ago Mikey had been spending the majority of his time at Mab’s place. He’d yet to tell Chase that he and Mab were no longer just friends, but it was pretty damn obvious. He was holding back for now as they were still testing the water. Everything that was happening with Mab was new territory for Mikey. He’d never actually dated someone. Shit with Gianna was different. They were just kids with hormones. It lasted all of five seconds before Mikey went and got banged up. No girl in their right mind would wait around for someone for twenty years. Whatever feelings he was having towards Mab were foreign too. Feelings he’d never felt before for another person, just the type you’d read about in romance books. Where you look at someone and realise you have found your person. It was too early to be making assumptions like that about Mab, but she meant something to him. When he looked at her he felt like all his problems just melted away. No matter how fucked up things get it would be fine because he had her. Mikey’s eyes shot open as he started to catch his breath again. They slowly adjusted the darkness as he realised he was in Mab’s bedroom, not tearing to shreds. For the first time he recognised the person he killed. It was a member of the Agnellis family. It was hard for him to shake the feeling these nightmares were actually reality. He could feel the warmth of Mab’s body pressed against his back, her arm draped lightly across his waist. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to drift off to sleep again. Within a few minutes though he was hit with another violent image in his mind. The Agnellis man was pleading for his life as Mikey dragged his claws down the man’s chest, rendering him paralysed. This time Mikey jumped out of bed, taking deep breaths. “I… I gotta get some water.” He muttered horsley to Mab as he rushed from the bedroom. He hunched over the kitchen sink, splashing water on his face. It was just a dream. It had to be. He heard the door creak open from behind him. He turned to face Mab, “Hey. Sorry if I woke you… go back to bed. I’ll be through in a minute. Just had a… a bad dream.” There was no way he was going to fall back asleep again, but he was happy to slip into the space next to Mab and hold her while she drifted off to sleep. MAB CARMELLO
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MAB CARMELLO
Witch
Posts: 72
Age:
34
Occupation:
Unemployed
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mikey Buckley
Played by:
Ange
Last seen May 7, 2024 9:24:06 GMT
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Post by MAB CARMELLO on May 5, 2024 20:00:51 GMT
They’d been here before. Mikey coming over to her place after work, slipping into her bed at night. There’d been that invisible line between them. Thin as air and unacknowledged, but enough of a divide to keep them from reaching across it except in sleep. Sitting at either end of the couch to watch movies, sharing dinner at her kitchen table – ordered in as often as not. A routine she’d settled into the same way she did into Mikey’s side when sleep had finally stripped restraint away from the two of them. When she’d broken with it, smashing through the cracks in the walls that had hidden so much of what had happened in Mikey’s life before he’d come to Mystic Falls with that kiss, she’d thought that all they’d had was gone. Thank fuck she’d been wrong.
Pushing aside all that she should’ve been doing – so sure that it was different this time to how it had been with Joseph – Mab had allowed herself to fall back into the new version of that routine. The walls down, the debris from them washed away in the rain. The terrain left behind looking so different from her altered perspective. She was no more certain had to traverse it than he was, but there was no reservations in reaching for his hand to do it together now.
Slipping into bed earlier, she’d scooted close, her arm slipping around Mikey’s waist, her head finding that spot against his shoulder. Falling asleep, lulled by the soft beat of his heart. It had been too quiet those months he hadn’t been there. Her ears straining to catch something she hadn’t realised she was missing. The sheets too cool when she’d woken up, trying to curl into someone who hadn’t been there. In the back of her mind she’d thought maybe it was Joseph she was looking for, but the second Mikey had been back there, Mab had felt those pieces of her life clicking back into their right places. She’d do anything to keep them there now. Fight whatever nightmares came their way, tear down her own walls and rebuild them in the pattern of someone she’d always wanted to be, the person Mikey deserved.
Too deep in sleep, she didn’t catch the change in his heartbeat or feel the shift of his body. Unconsciously her body knew something was amiss, some small sound of complaint whispering past her lips as Mikey slipped from her grip. Mab shifted as he got out of bed, rolling into the spot he’d been in as though she was chasing his warmth. A moment later she was awake, his hoarse words breaking through. All those times he’d slept there, she’d never known him to be the restless sort during the night.
For more than a year after Joseph had died she’d been continually been choking on her nightmares. Waking up from them, running down the stairs like she could stop her great-grandmother from getting to him this time. The street would be empty when she threw the door open, but the old bitch would be standing there on the stairs when she turned back, as though she knew exactly what was going through her head. Out on the road again the dreams had slowly started to melt away, as though that house and the crone in it had always been the source of them. Sleep with Mikey there beside her had been settled, the dreams held at bay, for her at least.
Mab slipped out from under the covers as she heard the sink start running in the kitchen. Maybe he was just getting water, but he’d seemed on edge as he’d left the room, some hint of it left hanging in the air as she padded out after him. She pushed open the kitchen door, lingering for a moment there on the threshold. Eyes still heavy with sleep studied his face. ”It’s OK,” she assured him softly. Slowly, she drew away from the door, bare feet slipping over the cool tile. One arm slipped around his waist, the other cupped his cheek. ”You can always wake me up.”
Worry drew her mouth into a flat line, her thumb tracing lightly over his cheekbone, as though she could erase the stamp the bad dream had put on him. Like a mother with a small child, trying to chase the dreams away with a gentle touch. ”You wanna tell me about it? Sometimes it helps getting them off your chest. I’m a pretty decent listener, you know.” Voicing your problems didn’t always have them popping like balloons, but the weight could be lifted off of them. She’d never thought she’d admit to how she felt about letting Joseph go. The wound had been too raw, the guilt too heavy. Mikey had pushed though and ever since she hadn’t felt the burden over not bringing him back lift. If she could do the same for the man who helped her see a different way through, the man she’d come to care about so much, she’d listen for years.
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