Ugly Duckling (ManXMan)

Chapter 2

Finally finished typing this up! Yay! And If you're reading Alastair, Tate Showed up in the lastest chapter! You should check it out after this but for now, enjoy!

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"Where've you been all day?" My father questioned as I stepped foot into the house. I shut the thin wooden door closed putting the latch over it. My eyes went up to him, the bottle in his hand as he laid back on what one would call a chair. The dirtied beard running over his upper lip and chin. His clothes dirtied and torn. Though he smelt like shit, since he scooped shit for a living, the alcohol reeked.

"I was at the pond-"

"Again at the pond!?" He shouted sitting up. My brothers creeping from the cramped room and out the kitchen to see what was going on. Though they already knew they sat back and snickered. "If you're going to go out and have fun you might as well never come back! This is a working family, you could have helped Wyatt and Grayson in the barn if you were just going to decide to play!"

I bit my tongue as he yelled. He moved around in his seat in anger before Wyatt moved over.

"I told him to leave dad." He lied quickly. Father's face snapping up at him. "There wasn't enough food in the house, so I asked him to go get me a couple of things. He brought them back around noon so I figured he did enough."

My fathers face softened some but the anger never left. His face tensed, jaw lock, eyes narrowed with a glare at me.

"When was this?" Brody asked coming out the hall. "I could have sworn he didn't do anything today." He laughed.

"He did. Other than you just sitting around eating everyone's food thinking its a job." Wyatt snapped on my behalf.

"Whose food did I eat? Other than mines, there's nothing left to eat."

"Yeah we're out of eggs dad. The chickens haven't laid anything in two days. Almost three." Colton butted in. Soon enough I was forgotten. And it was just how I liked it to be. With them on father's brain he didn't have a reason to yell at me. I headed to our room, the boys following behind me.

"H-hey You can't sleep in here." Kai grinned trying to pull me from the room. Ryker nodded doing the same.

"Why not?" I questioned. "My pallets here." I opened the door finding Kelvin, Ethan, Mason, Noah, and Gage laying down in the cramped room. The sheets spread out on the floor and pillows where everyone was suppose to sleep. There was only one bed and it was big enough for only three if they piled together.

"Cause you left so we gave your spot to Brody and tonight we already planned to sleep comfortable. With one gone we can actually stretch." Ryker snickered.

"You can't do that," I informed quickly but was easily turned down by them all.

Kelvin older than me and already claimed the bed for tonight sided against me. When didn't he? "Yes we can. Thought you were going to sleep outside like last time. So Go to the barn and sleep."

I growled biting my tongue. This again. I snatched up my pillow and a thin torn sheet heading to the barn. Though the hay was soft keeping me from the ground, with the thin threads they poked through at my skin.

I laid there the entire night tossing and turning, my nails scraping at my skin at the horrid itch. I barely got an hour of sleep before the noises woke me. Something rustled outside in the barn, but that wasn't anything new. The animals were probably still up like before. But if that was the case why did I feel paranoid?

The horses slightly going wild at something. Its whine causing the other two to whine as I could hear them fight against parts of their stable.

My body shifted on the hay, my eyes searching through the dark for whatever this was causing the horses to go nuts. I would have thought it was rats, since they did tend to get scared of rats often but I saw something shift in the shadows. The moonlight invaded the barn between the cracks and spaces of wood. Some figure scurrying around before it hurried past the barn doors, slipping out as the door was shut once again.