Chapter Text
1982, October
It was past sunset, colors of blue and purple painting the sky, when Dallas finally got the news he knew he would get.
The clock ticked slowly past seven in the doctor's office. Each tick made Dallas feel closer to puking, or screaming, or beating the shit out of everyone in the room; or, perhaps all three. But, he was closest to crying, and had only the energy to hold back the tears, until the doctor returned with the news that broke him.
Dallas was completely, eerily silent as the man in the lab coat dragged on, forcing himself to look down at his feet. He looked like his father. A crooked snarl came to Dallas's lips, just for a second, before it disappeared. He pressed a hand to his belly instead, feeling ill. His eyes stung and the world blurred, his doctor's voice melting in with the light raindrops hitting the window.
When he staggered out of the office, holding the note where he'd written down the numbers his doctor parroted to him, Dallas flinched at the brightness of the street lights. The office was always kept eerily dark. As his eyes adjusted, Dallas noticed, again, the light, gentle serein falling from an endless, cloudless sky. The drops hit his cheeks, easy, gentle.
He was drowning, drowning, over and over and over, river water cycling through his lungs like a filter--
Under the lamppost, Dallas Genoard wept.