The Disbanders

Chapter 19: The Fight

Chuck shoves Will over, having him almost land in the freezing water.

"Whoa Chuck, what's going on?", asks Will. "What are you doing?" Chuck is starting to lose it. I've never seen him this angry and upset before. He's always had a calm and kind-hearted mannerism. This isn't Chuck. If anything, this anger comes from his father.

"You killed my father!", yells Chuck. Hayden tries to intervene, but Chuck moves past him. In Hayden's less-abled condition, there's not much he can do to physically intervene.

"What are you talking about?", asks Will. "Where did this come from?"

"It came from this!", yells Chuck. He shows Will the drivers' license. Will doesn't know what to say. He connects the dots pretty quickly and doesn't question the facts. He's overwhelmed by Chuck's reaction. Will looks over at us with a scared and concerned look on his face.

As Will is looking away from him, Chuck grabs Will by the shirt and punches him directly in the eye. We all rush over to see him as Hayden is more successful at pulling Chuck back. He frees himself from Hayden's tight grasp as Will stares at him, holding a hand over his eye. "You killed him. You killed my father!"    

This all feels like a frozen moment in time. I can hardly believe what I'm seeing. I'm watching as Chuck, the one who was sturdy and stable through everything else, isn't himself.

Will gets up off the ground, still with a hand over his eye, which I can imagine has already started to bruise. At this point, Chuck has sunk into the ground, practically screaming into the snow. His voice cracks as he starts to cry. Hayden tries to pull him off the ground.

Eventually, Chuck is lifted up, but he immediately flings himself away.

"You stay away from me, you bastard!", he hollers, before storming off inside the house and slamming the front door behind him. Alexa looks at all of us, worried, before she runs off after him in silence.

"Oh my god, what was that?", asks Evie. Her eyes start to well up. "Will, are you okay?" Will sighs.

"My eye is fine. That's not what I'm worried about, though," he replies. Evie looks down timidly.

"I didn't mean for this to happen. This is all my fault. If I had gotten rid of it, none of this would've happened, and-" Hayden shushes Evie and hugs her. "I'm sorry," she says.

"It's not your fault," I tell her. "We should've known better not to hide it, or yet, to have hidden it better."

The rest of us make our way inside. The house is shockingly quiet.

"I'm surprised that Chuck let her in," sighs Hayden, puffing loudly. We quickly head to my and Will's room, as I begin to treat his eye. Will takes a few sharp breaths as I touch it.

"Ow," he mutters.

"Sorry," I tell him. "Turn to the side." Will does so as I start to put some ointment from the first-aid kit on his bruise. Hayden sits on the bed and puffs outwards.

"This is a disaster," he says. "How are we going to fix this?"

"I don't know," replies Evie, "but we need Chuck and Will to work it out." Hayden nods, but remains quiet, as something new has come on his mind.

"You didn't punch back," he says out of the blue. Will turns his head.

"What?", answers Will.

"I meant....you didn't punch Chuck back. If a kid at my old school swung a fist at me, he'd be getting pummelled to the ground." Hayden pauses, upon realizing what he just said. He shakes his head with regret. "I'm just surprised you didn't, that's all." Evie and I look over at each other. This is where it's most painfully obvious to Hayden and Will's differences. Hayden's a fighter, whereas Will's a lover, as well as a keeper of peace.