Dream On

Chapter Nineteen

DISCLAIMER: Whatever happens in this chapter, I put it there for a reason. Please just note that I wrote about Juuls in here because I saw an ad about Juuls killing teenagers, and I wanted to do my part. For any of you who are struggling with drugs, alcohol, etc, I would encourage you to reach out to someone else and talk about it, especially if you are trying to quit. Please note that this chapter may be a small trigger to people who are using Juul.

~~~

I put my genius plan into action the next day, when I was finally released from the hell hole that was supposed to heal you. I didn't understand why they had kept me in that stupid white area for a week and a half when I wasn't even the one who got shot. They should have saved Lucas and taken my life instead, I thought bleakly.

"Bye honey!" a nurse said a little too enthusiastically. I waved goodbye and practically ran out of that hospital.

Well, I would have ran out if Isaac and Jake hadn't insisted on me sitting in a wheelchair until we got to the car. Geez, overprotective asses.

It's okay, I still loved them.

When we got back home, I noticed both of them exchanging weird glances. Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I coughed loudly to get their attention before the questioning began. "What's going on," I stated rather than asking. "Y'all are acting weirder than me, and that's saying something."

"Forget about it," Isaac muttered, rubbing his temples and exhaling loudly. "It's not important."

I narrowed my eyes and gave them The Look.

Jake was the first one to give in. "Fine, fine," he grumbled sullenly. "You win."

Isaac sighed in defeat. "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first?" he asked, propping his elbows up on the island.

"Bad news," I replied, shrugging when Jake gave me a weirded out look. "Better to get it over with quickly than put it aside for later, am I right?"

"Alright, they're actually both bad news," Isaac confessed a little guiltily. "Just one is way worse than the other."

Huffing in annoyance, I flicked my fingers in a little "gimme" motion. "Spill the beans," I prompted, tilting my head.

Jake started to speak. "Well, the good-ish news is that Mom isn't going to go back to Hong Kong for a long time, or anywhere, for that matter. The bad news is..." his voice trailed off and he looked pleadingly at Isaac for support.

My brother sighed and took over. "The bad news is, Mom and Nick are getting married," he finished bluntly. "And the whole thing about Lucas being confirmed as deceased."

I froze in shock. "Mom's getting married? Again?" I snorted after the shock faded away. "Wow, I should have seen that one coming."

Isaac nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I look forward to them every year," he muttered sarcastically, running his fingers through his hair. Jake snorted in amusement, though he was clearly no happier than we were.

"Wait, they didn't try to put Lucas on life support then?" I questioned.

Jake shook his head sadly, his eyes filling with grief. "It was too late to save him," he murmured, bowing his head. "Plus, suicides don't really matter to the doctors, since it's not considered 'honorable,'" he added bitterly.

"Back to the topic at hand," I cut him off from his pity party, not wanting to listen to more about Lucas. "Mom and Nick literally just met like, two weeks ago. They're just getting married now?"