Eighteen Going on Dead

Chapter Twenty-Four: Hard Truth

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"They killers are finally caught... This afternoon a survivor name Zaire Holmes managed to escape from the gasp of a strange man and his partner John Watson... Yea, John Watson, our lovable Sheriff has turn on us by slaughtering our children. The great betrayal in Ladin Town, an heartbreaking experience that we must learn from; never trust a 'nice' smile. I now stand outside the home of Ms. Holmes..."

Gabriel was the one to turn off he television, not that it made a difference considering I could hear Tracy from the front yard. Five more reports from other towns were parked in front of our yard to get the most exciting story since the 50's massacre near town. The flashing cameras was enough to light up the inside of the house and give me a seizure. "I'll sleep on the couch." He voiced while adjusting his shirt that he found, it was mine that I stole from him a while back.

I was clean, the blood was no longer staining my skin but I can still feel it. The warm droplets, the cold pool around my feet and the thin coat on my fingers; a clear reminder that I murdered someone, I was no better than Miller or John. I pulled my knees to my chest and stared at the blank screen, "How are you okay? How can you keep calm after..."

"Because I know if I break down, it won't make my life easier." Gabriel interrupted with a stern look upon his face, a flash of rage went through his eyes- costing the sorrow and betrayal for his father. "What can I do now but move on? See my future the best way I can without my parents... without anyone."

"You're wrong, you have Aunt Joyce and I. I'm not pleased for what I've done, for what Aunt Joyce had to do. We could of took this to court, you'll still have a father."

"No," Gabriel sat down slowly, his jaw ticked multiple times before we made eye contact; all his pain hit me at once, twist my heat and made my chest cave in. "I don't claim him as my father anymore. What he done to those girls during the years, my own mother; I can never ever think of him as my caregiver, not even the man who was apart of my creation. Fuck him."

I nod my head in understanding, this was not like my own father. Yeah, I can never forgive him for killing my mother, to take both of their lives and leave me as a orphan; but his mind was scrambled, he was a bomb waiting to blow. John, he made his choice to ruin his child's life. "The condo is Seattle, the one my father left over to me. I'm planning on selling it, I can give it to you; let you pay twenty dollars a month."

"No, I can't."

"Why not? It'll put a foot across the line for you. Until we graduate you can stay here, I'm sure Aunt Joyce will clear out the basement for you. It use to be an art studio when Aunt Joyce was going through her artsy stage. Then after graduating, when I have to leave for school, you'll move into the condo; it's beautiful." I stated.

Gabriel didn't speak for a while as he thought, or at least which into his coat pocket to take out a think eggnog hue envelope with an GeorgeTown symbol on it. I knew the symbol from looking over their website for a million of times, a very diverse school that's about twenty minutes away from Howard. "I applied two weeks ago, thinking what the hell would I do with my life. Even though my grades are trash, I still got a accepted. I planned to tell you at the dance but with this, I thought I'll at least shine a light on something good instead of saving it for another time."

It brought tears to my eyes, if it were a better time I would be jumping for joy, unfortunately I did not have the energy and my happiness was drained. "Oh my god." I mumbled before leaning on his shoulder. "Did you do this for me? Or you're actually happy?"

"Hopefully I'll be happy, I'm doing more with my life other than having a plan to be a mechanic. I'm going to be undecided though."

"Computer science, that'll be good for you." I said before kissing his cheek softly.

The front door opened with a bunch of news reporters trying to barge in behind Aunt Joyce, luckily she was too fast for them. The room grew completely silent as Gabriel and I waited for the news; she wasn't behind bars for sure, nor were her gun and badge gone- did they let her go?

She stood in the middle of the room, looking at us both with weary eyes before confessing. "The agents are going to investigate the case a little more but I'm not fired and you're not going to jail, it's self-defense."

I've never been so relieved in my life, the twist in my heart no longer tortured me but that loose feeling in my gut formed. "That's out of the way, now on to the next chapter."

"Right, of course with the investigation I would have to be on two week suspension. You two would have to stay out of school for a week until... well at least when the reporters died down."

"Understandable." Gabriel voiced.

Aunt Joyce still couldn't look at him straight in the eye, she was still guilty and obviously still hurt for killing the man she trusted and love. "You can sleep on the couch. I'm sure you're home won't be available to you so we can go over tomorrow, pack your stuff and lug it over here. I'm going to be upstairs for the meantime, you two get some rest." She walked upstairs, leaving us to the small relief of good news.

Gabriel placed his hand on top of mine, "The next chapter, funny."

I interlocked our fingers, giving them a nice squeeze before caressing his cheek. "Yeah, it's going to be tough but we'll make it." Gabriel leaned over and kissed me, his tender lips made the loose feeling in my gut disappear, the load reporters outside vanish, and the time easier than before.