My Haunted Life Without You

Chapter 2

"Deal." A smirk crept onto his mouth watering face, which made my heart skip a beat. How can a man I barely know affect me so much? Suddenly, Paul stepped into view, starting to shake,"PIPER! Why did you have to make that deal? Maybe I don't want to go to school. I'm tired of everyone making decisions for me, like give me a break, I can handle my own! And I say no to this deal, we can find someone else to cook for us that won't force me to do things I don't want to do." Here we go, now I have to deal with Paul's tantrum. They have gotten much worse since his birthday, I can barely handle him. I was about to chip in, when Sam got closer to him. "Don't talk to her like that, do you understand me? You will do what she says because I say so." Maybe having this Sam guy around would be beneficial, no more back talking would be nice.
       His shaking didn't stop, it was only getting worse. I was panicking, what the heck was happening to him. It looked like he was having a seizure standing up, but the look of hatred on his face made me realize that was not the case. "Jared take Paul outside to calm down. Paul when you come back I want you to apologize to your sister." Jared nodded firmly, pushing a shaking Paul out the door quickly. I heard an ear-splitting crack a few seconds later. "Oh my goodness, what was that? Is he ok?" Fear took over, pulling me towards the door, but Sam intercepted me. He put a hand on my shoulder, sending an electric shock throughout my body. We both jumped back for a second, not knowing what was happening. Then, Sam regained his composure, "Paul is fine, he is just releasing his anger. You know what will make him feel better? Some home cooked food. So why don't you go cook for him with the food we have and I'll go check on Paul. I promise he is going to be fine." I am not one to trust, but something about him put me at ease. Deep down I knew he would never hurt me or lie to me. This feeling scared me, I had never felt as safe as I do with him. Not even with Paul.
I peered into the kitchen, noticing it was a royal mess, completely full of empty takeout containers and rotting food from failed cooking attempts. This needed to be cleaned up, but first I needed to prepare some food. I looked in the cabinets and fridge, noticing how bare it was. Shopping was another top priority. I found some spaghetti and tomato sauce in the cabinets. Grabbing the only clean pan I could find I boiled some water. While I waited for it to boil, I went around the kitchen cleaning up the trash and scrapping the dirty dishes with moldy food. An hour later, the boys finally came back, looking shocked at the newly cleaned kitchen.
"I better never see this mess again. That was super disgusting. How do you guys live in that filth?!" They stared at me, completely shocked at my outburst. "We are sorry for the mess, it will never happen again. I know that did not make our deal easy." He looked genuinely sorry, making me feel slightly guilty. I had to be strong though. These boys were in desperate need of female guidance. "Good. Now go eat before the food gets cold." They nodded in unison, grabbing a plate of spaghetti with a butt load of tomato sauce. Goodness these boys can eat. During dinner, we all made small talk and Paul proceeded to apologize for his behavior earlier. He was going to comply because he knows I want what is best for him. I liked this submissive side of Paul, Sam really is having an impact on him. Everyone said he was a bad influence, but from what I've observed he is actually quite a positive influence on my younger brother.

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Everyday was the same, I woke up at dawn to get ready for school. I then drove to Sam's house in the morning to prepare breakfast and lunch for the boys. The boys and I would leave for school, except for Sam who graduated two years ago. We would attend school and leave at dismal to Sam's house, where I helped with homework and made dinner. The boys would go attend to their protector duties after dinner, leaving Sam and I alone. Each night we would talk for hours, before I caved, knowing I required sleep to take care of these boys. Every night we seemed to get closer, which truly shocked me. No guy has ever cared to get to know me other then my best friend Embry. Embry was one of the only guys in the advanced classes, so we practically grew up together and almost always had the same schedule. He was extremely intelligent, unbeknownst to his friends Jacob and Quil. Embry and I were both fairly quiet individuals, with many similarities. We both had a parent walk out on us. We both enjoyed school, knowing it could get us out of this place, away from our bad childhood memories.
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"So you are telling me that you spend your mornings and evenings with Sam's cult!" Kim screeched. I sighed, closing my locker, knowing what she wanted to know. "They are not druggies, they spend their days and nights helping out the elders and people of the reservation. And no Jared does not have a girlfriend as far as I am aware of." She blushed profusely at the mention of Jared's name. Kim has had a crush on my little brother's best friend since her and I have been friends. She constantly asked about him, but never acted on her feelings. I had been trying to get her to confront him for some time; however, none of my attempts have worked this far.
"You know I could use some help cooking for these rowdy boys. How about you meet me tomorrow in the morning and I can take you to school? She looked ecstatic and terrified at this offer, "I don't know...I have never spoken to him before. What if I mess up? No I don't think that's a good idea." I frowned, I knew they would hit it off if they were introduced. "He isn't going to be there tomorrow. His mom is making him breakfast because he has a doctor's appointment in the morning. I could really use help from my best friend..." I completely lied about him not being there, but I just couldn't sit back and watch her wonder. A little white lie didn't kill anyone. She reluctantly agreed due to the best friend card I used.
That next morning, I got up earlier to pick her up from her house. When I arrived, she was sitting on the steps to her house, looking a bit anxious. I reassured her everything was going to be fine, she would barely have to interact with them, which was also a white lie. We turned into Sam's driveway, only to be greeted with Paul and Jared running towards my car. She was about to scold me for lying to her, when I quickly parked the car and ran to the door. "What's got you in such a-" Jared stopped mid sentence as Kim exited my car, both looking into each other's eyes.