Riverside

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Dad went with River to the high school he went to in order to talk to the principal about how he could take online courses. It took a while, but when they got home, River told me everything was settle and starting in September, he was going to finish his senior year of high school online.

He was actually excited about it. He didn't want to let those bullies and rumors that he previously allowed to control his life to win. He wanted to show them that he was in charge of his own life.

I was really proud of him. He wasn't going to let anything that happened to him control him.

I was currently working on my valedictorian speech when someone knocked softly on my bedroom door. "Come in!" I said.

The door carefully opened and I turned to see River walk in. "Hey...." he said in a soft voice. "Can....can we talk?"

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

River nodded. "Yeah. I just....really need someone to talk to."

I turned back to my laptop and saved the document before closing the laptop. I then stood up from the computer desk and looked at River. "We can go to the backyard," I suggested. "On the porch swing."

"Okay," he said, so we headed downstairs and put our shoes on before going to the backyard. We both sat down on the porch swing and River was silent for a bit, just staring at his hands.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I just....I've been thinking about my little brother lately. I miss him, Arden. I miss him so much."

My heart broke a tiny bit seeing the tears starting to stain his eyes, so I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him. "I'm so sorry, River," I said.

"He was only four," River said. "He didn't deserve what happened. He had his whole life in front of him. His first day of kindergarten. Making friends. Graduating elementary school, middle school, and high school. Getting his first girlfriend. Getting married. He can't experience all of that and I won't be able to watch my little brother grow up because someone took that away. I didn't even get to go to the funeral because I was in prison."

Hearing River cry was the most heartbreaking thing ever. He never did anything to harm anyone, and he had lost so much. His parents, his brother, his reputation. He was a target of so many rumors and bullies, and he didn't do anything that could have caused their anger.

He needed something to help him move on, but I had no idea what.

"Sorry for being so emotional," River said, wiping his tears away.

"Don't say that," I said. "It's fine to let everything go. Don't keep your emotions stuck inside of you."

"Sorry, I learned to do that after being bullied and abused by my dad," he said. "I'm not used to having someone care about me like you do. Thank you, Arden. For being here for me. I don't know what I would do without you."

"You're welcome," I said. "Do you want to take your mind off of things? I was in the middle of working on my speech, but I can put that one hold. We can watch something on Netflix. I know a really great movie that has to do with music and dancing."

"I think anything would work," River said. "Except murder mysteries."

"Then thankfully it's not a murder mystery movie," I said. "It's a really great movie. I think you'll like it."

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Lol, shortest chapter ever. cx 

I'm sorry for the late update. I forgot I post this on Mondays now that I finished it on Radish and by the time I did remember, my wifi was done for two and a half hours. :/

So, there's one chapter lefttttttttt. :O