Dark Side |COMPLETED|

Part title

I was relieved once the session was over. He knew. Josh knew. I was and still am absolutely mortified... technically I still had a few minutes left. I didn't stay though, I couldn't. I let my emotions pull me under and that's why he knew. He knew because I couldn't keep myself in check. I never wanted to go into that room again. Ever. It was 12:14 A.M. and I was still thinking about today. Luckily neither Clare or Timothy were home. In truth I had no idea where they were, but I didn't care. They weren't my most favorite people in the world. I couldn't sleep, I tried, I really did, but I couldn't. My mind kept venturing back to earlier today, back to when Josh had asked and my reaction confirmed his question. Gosh why did I react? Idiot. No one was ever supposed to find out and no one would have if I could help it.
I had to get out of here, my mind had too many pointless questions. I stood from my room and left. I went to the park. I guess it's my thinking place now. No one was out, but I expected that. I leaned against a thick oak tree, watching the wind blow the grass. I let out a relaxed breath before putting my hands in my pockets. My hood was up. The moon was bright, the stars twinkled. I sighed, it was selfish of me to still wish for a better life. I'm out of the gang, not being beaten, can actually eat a proper meal, and yet- I still want life to be better. I didn't want to be with Clare and Timothy... I wanted to be with someone like Bethany and Henry. Nice, interactive, friendly people. People that care.
I just wanted to feel... needed. I felt like a ghost just going through life without much of one. I wondered how Skylar always looked happy with Axel. Maybe it was because she finally found the one. I know she didn't have much of a house and I know the police arrested the guy who had wanted money from her. She had been staying at his place, but she had to pay for it. Which is why I offered to steal some, he wasn't the nicest. I wondered where she could be now. She couldn't be far... I hope. She was the one person I completely trusted, the one I didn't have to have a wall up, she knew me and well. I was myself around her. Why was being content so hard? Why couldn't I feel like that? Feel happy, loved, worth it.
I shut my eyes and listened. The wind howled in the silent night, trees and bushes rattled. It was just me and nature. This gave me both a peaceful and alone feeling. Just me. That was until I heard the grass tussle behind me, I snapped around just in time to seize the wrist of a hooded stranger. The stranger was older than me, that I could tell. I put on my best glare, despite the moon being the only light around. The teen's lips curved into a twisted smirk. My hand was still firmly clasped around their wrist. "You don't by chance happen to be Ash Fault, do yah?" My jaw clenched, I knew that voice. I've listened to it since the day I was born, "what do you want?" I let go of his wrist, my glare intensified.
"Is that how you greet your big brother?" Grant's voice was slurred. Great, he was high. "I don't have a brother," was my expected reply. He nodded, "not anymore, but by blood yeah you do. Wanna help me out?" I frowned, my gut didn't have a good feeling about this. "Yah see, I've got this dilemma. I need you to follow me back to my place. It's a private thing and believe it or not ears are around." This only increased my dismay, "why the heck should I trust anything that comes out of your dirty mouth?" He huffed in annoyance, "cause A, I'm your brother." I turned my head to look up at the moon thinking this over. I glanced to his blue eyed gaze, desperation. I bit my lip, "fine." He put on a sloppy smile before walked into the shadows of now 1:19 A.M.. I followed, my stomach began to grow sick. My gut didn't trust this, but he was my brother. Suppressing a groan I went with him for a few miles.
"Grant, this is getting ridiculous. If I knew it was going to take this long I wouldn't have come." He slouched, "chill man, we're almost there." I was about to turn around when I heard crying. He better not have done anything. I shot him a skeptical look before I turned into a dark alleyway, a little body around nine or ten was sitting against a wall. He had black hair, his head rested on his knees, as the child wept. Grant shrugged as I looked back at him. Useless. I walked over softly to the boy, "hey, you okay?" His head shot up, his fearful eyes turned soft as he looked at me. "Shuang?" He wrapped his feeble arms around me in a tight embrace. It took me but a second to return the hug. "Why are you out here at this hour?"
The boy hiccuped, I gently rubbed my hand on his back. Poor kid. "J-Josh had called Momma t-hat you were m-m-missing," he broke into sobs. A deep pang of guilt formed in my stomach. I never answered when the house phone called and didn't come down when the doorbell was rang. Crap. "S-so I came to look for y-you-" I stopped him, "breathe with me okay?" I could feel the nod of his head. I took a deep intake of breath, pleased that Shuang did the same. I slowly exhaled and he did so with me. We did this a few more times before he broke away, looking at me with tired eyes. "Does Tonya know you're out?" He shook his head. I sighed, "how did you get here?" He frowned, "I just kept looking until I ran into a group of teenagers. They tried to grab me, but I got away. I tripped and fell earlier and my h-head hurts. So I waited here. Then he came up and I told him to look for you. To check the park."
I put a hand on the stressed boy's shoulder, "it's okay Shuang, we'll get you back. Do you feel like walking?" He went to stand, but instead shook his head. This is probably way past his bedtime, he was chased, hurt his head, and got lost no wonder he didn't feel up to walking. I placed my right hand on his back, my leg anchored around his legs. He gave me a dazed smile before I picked him up. Grant was standing awkwardly, "so uh- welcome." I rolled my eyes, "thanks, I guess." I traveled carefully with Shuang in my arms, it wasn't too long before he fell asleep. Once he did I spoke, "I know you enough to know that you're following." I listened to his defeated sigh. I found him beside me, but I kept walking. "So uh- how's it been? How's dad?" I nearly went off on him had I not been holding Shuang, I would have. "Well if you count being in jail good then yeah he's fine." I could sense the shock from my brother.
"Dad's in jail? Why?" This infuriated me to no end, but I kept my composure. My words sharp, "for freaking abusing a kid." He licked a rock along the roadside, "a kid? How come?" I shrugged, "don't know. Maybe it was a cope method for Mom's death." He nodded, "yeah, probably. Who do you stay with then?" I let out a stream of frustrated air, "a foster family." Grant rubbed the back of his neck, "how's that?" Shut up. Why do you care? Instead I ignored him. "That bad huh? You can uh- you can stay with me and my people." I forced myself to keep the shock from my face. Me? With him? Why would he ask that? He's never given a dime about me after he left when I was eight. "A, I know it's been awhile since I've talked to you and I know the last time we did it didn't end well," he started.
If this is an apology he's apologizing for the wrong thing, "I'm not mad about that anymore." He looked at me, "then why are you so mad?" I walked up to a door. Knocking on it, it was answered immediately. I saw a teary eyed Tonya, "Shuang! Oh my gosh, Ash! You're both okay," she let more tears pour, tears of relief. She took her son from me and kissed him on the forehead, "oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I forced a smile, "I really didn't do anything. I have to go, but it was nice seeing you Tonya." She looked up at me with a warm smile, "don't be too modest Ash, you do more than you realize. Visit tomorrow okay? Oh and who's this?" Grant went to answer but I cut him off, "just someone I ran into. No one important." She hid her dismay with my answer, good I didn't want a lecture. She reached out a hand and ruffled my brown hair, "are you going home?" I shook my head, "I'm sleeping over at someone else's house. Good Night, Tonya." She nodded, content with my answer.
She shut the door and I walked back out in the street. "She's not your foster mom?" I shook my head, "no, she's the adoptive mother of four." He nodded, the rest of the way back to the park was silent. He was thinking and I was thinking. Speaking wasn't needed nor wanted... at least by me. I leaned back against the tree I had been, "you're not sleeping over at someone's house are you?" Finally, something he understands. With a quick nod he licked his lips, "A, why are you still mad at me?" My anger began to rise up once again, only this time I didn't have to hold it back. I turned sharply to Grant, "you don't understand, you don't freaking understand anything! Our dad went to prison because of me. I sent him there." His eyes filled with fury, not connecting the dots.
He pushed me up against the tree, "He's our dad! How could you!?" I grunted at the force. I struggled in his grasp, my anxiety climbing higher and higher. "He's your dad, he's not my dad! He changed after Mom died, but you wouldn't know cause you left!" I managed to shove him off of me, but his tight grasp sent us both colliding on the ground. He rolled on top of me, "I left cause I couldn't stand to see what we had lost. To see how Mom's death affected everyone. I had to leave!" I yanked off his hood and pinned him to the ground. "You didn't have to leave. You could of stayed, you could of helped me. But you didn't you left, you didn't even think twice about how I would feel," I gritted my teeth as he pushed me back. It was his turn to pin me.
"It was better if I left, I would only bring you both down!" His hands were shaking, he yanked my shirt and pushed down on me. His anger spiraling out of control. I forced myself to keep the panic at bay, "no, you couldn't of. Dad would have done that all on his own. He became abusive." I fought back, but he was stronger than me. I tried to knee him in the sensitive spot, but his knees were on top of my legs. "To a kid! A, one freaking kid!" He fired back. I hit his chest, he was quick to trap my wrists with one of his hands. He was about to punch me with his free hand before he viewed my wrists closer, seeing the cuts. Stupid hoody sleeve. "Ash, what's this?" His voice was significantly calmer than it had been.
I tried to free my wrists, but he only grabbed them with the other hand. Leaving me with no other choice I answered, "cuts." His eyes widened, I felt his grip loosen slightly, "you did this?" I hesitantly nodded, "most, Mike did some." His eyes darted from my exposed wrists to my blue eyes. "Dad?" I kept his gaze as he finally realized the full picture, "Dad abused... you?" I didn't answer, but my eyes said it all. He dropped my wrists and moved himself off of me, sitting beside me. I let out a ragged breath, relieved at his distance. The panic faded from my thoughts as I silently congratulated myself on keeping control of it. "I- uh- I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left, I'm sorry I never made an effort to check up on you. I just have been thinking about you lately, ever since a brother and sister duo joined the gang. I ran into Shuang and I figured this was my shot. This was my chance to fix it, to fix everything. But, instead I stirred up crap. I'm sorry, A, for not being there." I didn't know what to say. I was frozen. Instead I let out a breathy sigh, "it's fine... sorry too. For never trying to find you and all." He gave off a weak smile, "some brothers we are." "Yeah."
I flinched as headlights lit up our figures, I stood quickly ready for anything. Grant was up in no time, a glare on his face. "My God, Ash you idiot!" My entire body relaxed at the sound of her. The sound I could go to sleep listening too, her voice was a safe place entirely. Grant noticed my change in posture and chilled down. Heather came running out from the passenger side before jumping into me. A smile lit up my features as I held her. Her black hair blocking out the headlights. "Shuang said you wouldn't be home and I knew it! I knew you lied, I swear I'm going to kill you one day!" She said, all while still hugging me. "There's the bonehead," I put Heather down to see Rio hop down from the driver's seat. "The heck are you driving?" He chuckled, as we shared a short hug, "got my license yesterday man." I almost couldn't hear what he said if I wasn't so focused on Heather's hand in mine.
"This is Grant, Grant this is Heather and Rio," I introduced. Heather raised a brow, "he's the brother? I thought you weren't talking to him?" I shrugged, "I guess I am now." Rio cracked a grin, "Ash's brother. That's cool, you actually friendly?" Grant smirked, "yeah dude, you ain't got nothing to worry about." Heather smiled at me, "Mom has already prepared a room for you." I frowned, "why? I can sleep over at the FH." She shook her head, "I told her too. I think they're actually going to move you to a different FH since yours isn't fit to be parents. Now why don't you come back with Rio and I?" A new foster home? But, wouldn't that be farther away from the Talons? I forced myself to focus on the topic at hand, "Grant doesn't have a place to stay, so I want going to take him over to Keystone's place."
"He can come too, Presley isn't home tonight so you can have her room. Don't worry, I've already asked and Grant can take the guest." I suppressed a chuckle at her planning, "okay." The four of us got in the car and Rio drove home.

A/N:

Notice how he calls his FH either FH or Their place and calls the Talon's house home🏡🔐