I'll Keep This Secret For You

Epilogue

Burying Steve on the day of the funeral was definitely the hardest thing I've seen my family go through. Once he was gone, he was gone. It was final. There was no turning back. We were never going to see him again and we knew it too, felt it. We always knew the risks and potential consequences of this life that dad and Steve lead but you just never think that anything will actually ever really badly go wrong, especially not in your home town.

But Steve's death has taught us all so much, that's for sure.

It brought me back down to earth very, very quickly. I realised that I needed to stop behaving like a brat and not waste a moment with my family because they could be taken away from me at any moment. Looking back I can't believe how awful I was being for my parents and rude to everyone around me. My parents were only trying to do what was best for me each and every day while having to deal with their own crap and I just continuously threw it back in their faces. I'm so lucky that they didn't kick me out or anything like that. I really do and I really did love them, I just started taking it for granted.

They really needed me after Steve died, especially for those first few months so that they had some time to do deal with their grief. So I got my act together and started behaving like the son that they deserved.

Getting away from the crowd that I'd gotten myself involved in wasn't that easy. They kept trying to peer pressure me into doing things with them that I didn't actually want to do. For so long I thought they were the coolest guys and the best friends I could ask for in the world but in hind site I realise that they were just taking advantage of me to be their little bitch boy and do everything for them that they couldn't be bothered to take care of themselves or run the risk of getting themselves in trouble.

I was such an idiot and i will never forgive myself for the fact that I nearly got Petra wrapped up in it all too. I've had a few slip ups over the years and done some stupid things still. But the last straw was when they had me steal dads motorbike and take it for a ride because they thought I was too pussy to actually do it.

I was fifteen. I had no license. I took Petra with me. It had been raining that day so the roads were greasy. We didn't wear helmets. Unsurprisingly we spun out and lost control on a corner. But thankfully we both walked away with nothing but some serious road rash and a sprained wrist on Petra's part. Not great but it really could have been a lot worse when you think about it. A car saw the whole thing happen and stopped to help us straight away and drove us back into town. The worst thing about the whole situation was the angry parents I had to deal with; both mine and Petra's. I guess you could say that I definitely lost some brownie points with her parents to say the least and it took a long time to earn their respect back.

I don't know what in the world I was thinking. I was so stupid, all because of a dumb dare to prove that I wasn't a pussy. I put Petra's life in danger because of my pride and I will never forgive myself for that. Needless to say I have not spoken to those boys ever since that day.

The truth is I just wanted to be like my dad. He's so cool. All the others get powers like him except for Isla a I. Sure they're too young to go on missions or anything yet, but it just left me feeling so useless. Though now I realise that there are other ways just as important that I can make a difference in the world. When I leave school, I want to join the police force or maybe be a firefighter.

We have a pretty amazing life. The things our family get to do, no one else can say that they get to do that stuff or see that sort of stuff. Sure, it has its down moments, but isn't that all part of life? We really are very lucky to be gifted with what we've got.