A/N: Happy Easter Homedaaawgs.
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I think since this whole thing began, I had run out of things to be shocked about. I didn’t know if people had a certain point where they no longer feel stunned when something happens. A quota for the day maybe that once you use up you don’t feel anything anymore, you just feel empty.
I looked at Miss Vines and the smile she had on her face was not the one that I had seen since this whole thing started. It wasn’t that of a scared, lost woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was the smile of a woman who was exactly where she wanted to be.
“What?” My voice was hoarse, and all I could do was blink in the hope that the more I did it the scene in front of me would crumble away and reality would set back in.
The thing is though; this had been our reality for a while now.
Miss Vines let out a laugh “I guess the plan really worked if your deer in the headlights faces are anything to go by.”
Bradley joined in on her laughter, placing a hand in front of his mouth and shaking his head.
“Roger was your father?” Alex’s voice was hollow.
“Yes.” Her eyes were planted on Alex, and the amount of hatred glowing in them surpassed even Bradley’s. “The man you watched die was my father.”
I was struggling to breathe. I looked at the ground in front of me as a hundred images rushed through my mind. It was almost like flashbacks, flashbacks of the night and every conversation that I ever had with the art teacher.
“How…how is that possible? We knew Roger; he never had a daughter…” Archie was shaking his head, trying to wrap his head around the whole thing.
I didn’t actually meet my father until I was 21…
Her words replayed in my head. The conversation we had back in the hall when I confided in her about what was happening with my parents and the affair.
“Oh my god…” It clicked. Everything clicked.
“He didn’t have a daughter, not until I showed up at his front door. My mother never actually told him she was expecting me when she left.” Miss Vines explained.
My mother met my father when he was married…
“He was still with Bradley’s mum. He cheated on her…” I found myself speaking as the entire conversation replayed in my head, not understanding how something like this slipped straight past me. She had told me. She had told me the entire story.
“Yeah, wasn’t too happy when I found out that bit, even though I wasn’t technically alive yet. Then again, everyone here pretty much knows how it feels to find out your parents are slipping it to someone else.” Bradley said, looking between the brothers, myself and even Kevin. We all had experience with adultering parents.
If I wasn’t about to slip into a shock induced coma, I would have laughed at the idea that the people in this hallway all had something in common.
“How did none of us know?” Archie was still shaking his head, refusing to believe any of this. I think he was trying to rake his memory back to when Roger was alive, at any hint that the man we spent the majority of our time with had another child. How could we be around this man for so long and have no idea?
Then again, we had no idea about what he was doing to Alex. It’s amazing what people can hide if they try hard enough. It’s amazing what is right in front of our eyes clearer than day but we are too blind to see.
“I knew. He took me to meet my new sister one day. Only saw her couple of times, something got in the way of him taking me anymore than that.” Bradley informed us, glaring at Alex as he said that last bit.
It wasn’t the most legitimate relationship from what I hear. He was married, even had a kid with this other woman.
“Your father was a paramedic…” Alex’s voice chimed in as he too was putting all the pieces together in his head. My eyes widened at this, not understanding how this woman could have basically handed us every bit of information we needed and yet we still had not put the pieces together until now.
Roger used to be a paramedic. He quit as soon as his wife died so he could look after Bradley. Miss Vines had told us when she was helping with Jaden’s leg that she knew what to do because her father, a paramedic, had taught her.
“Yeah, you guys are pretty slow. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of lying I had to do. I told you the entire story and none of you bothered to put it together?” Miss Vines laughed as she looked between all of us “You were all so busy wrapped up in your own problems everything else just washed over your heads.”
She moved her flat hand over her head with a whistle, and Bradley laughed.
“You were there the entire time. You were telling us what to do.” I thought back to everything that had happened, how somehow Miss Vines had always been there steering us in the direction she wanted. The direction she and Melt Face wanted.
She grinned “All it took was some nicely placed suggestions by the scared little teacher and all of you were easier to manipulate that a love-struck teenager.”
She had told us to split up. Gavin had said it was a bad idea and yet it was Miss Vines who had suggested it. When Aubree came up on the laptop before Bradley killed her, she was the one who stopped us from looking for her.
“You didn’t try and help the Principal. You were helping him.” I gestured my head towards Bradley.
“You really believed I had used a laptop to hit him around the head?” She let out a laugh “What do you think those things are made of? Steel?”
It was undamaged when Archie and I found it in the Principal’s office, it was back on the desk like someone had picked it up and placed it there for us. Apparently, it had never moved from the spot on the desk. I thought back to when we heard the Principal die over the speakers, I thought back to her screaming and pleading for help.
I also thought back to Melt Face’s laugh as she did. He was laughing because he knew she was faking it.
“I mean little Kevin was wired up the entire time, but that was just an insurance policy so I could hear what happened once I snatched her and went ahead with the hangman game.” Bradley’s smug little grin could not be wiped off of his face. He wanted us to know every last detail; he wanted us to know how he had been one step ahead of us the entire time “I told you you’d be surprised if I honestly told you how long I had been listening to you guys.”
Archie shook his head, scrunching his face in confusion as he looked over at Miss Vines and Bradley. The siblings.
“I don’t get it. Why now? How? I mean how did you know this year of all years would be the one where teachers crashed the riot?” Archie’s questions were rightly asked.
Miss Vines ran her tongue across her bottom lip, taking a step forward as she leaned her torso over and placed her hands on her knees, like she was speaking to a child.
“Why do you think I got a job at this school?” She asked, her voice patronising as she spoke to Archie “It wasn’t a coincidence that I ended up at this school out of all schools. I wanted to be here. I waited, and when I knew that Alex would be released, I decided that this year was the last Riot this town ever saw.”
“You really should have got the drama teacher job though Hailey.” Bradley chuckled as he ran a hand over his eyes. Miss Vines smiled and nodded.
“Tell me about it, my performance the last forty eight hours has been Oscar worthy.” Her smirk grew, before she pouted and placed a hand over her heart “The terrified helpless teacher who was dragged here against her own will by her boss. The woman who stood a little behind Mr Cook because the students scared her so much.” She grimaced in disgust, before shaking her head “You think I was dragged here by Peter Gregory? I was the one who suggested he crash the fucking Riot.”
“This whole thing was your idea?” Alex stared over at the blonde woman.
“This entire thing. I had been keeping an eye on you, and when I found out you tried to off yourself I was so angry, mostly because that was too easy for you. You needed to suffer, which is exactly why I decided we needed to do something and soon. I finally managed to track Bradley down, which wasn’t easy with the amount of Foster homes they shoved him in throughout the years.”
“Wait, how did you know?” Archie cut in and looked at her in confusion “Why were you keeping an eye on Alex, how could you have possibly known that it was him who killed your father? Bradley was the one who saw.”
“I told her.” Bradley answered for her. He was still sitting on the stairs, his elbow on his knee as he smiled over “When social services came and took me, I told them I had a sister I could go with. They set up a visit, and I told her. I said I had a dream where my friend sat and watched my dad die.” Bradley chuckled with a shake of his head, clearly laughing at the naïve little boy he used to be “That was the last time I saw her until I was eighteen and was officially no longer social services problem. She tracked me down two years ago, and we decided we were going to screw your life up just as you had screwed ours.”
His stare was directed on Alex, and his smile had an edge to it. I had never seen so much collective hatred in two people as I saw from Miss Vines and Bradley at that moment.
“You think all of this was done at the spur of the moment?” Miss Vines raised her arms and gestured around “This was two years of planning. We didn’t just want to kill him. We wanted to break him. We wanted everyone he loved to know exactly what kind of person he was, and we wanted the last miserable hours of his life to be the worst he has every experience in his slimy, twenty years of being alive.”
She spat every single one of her words through gritted teeth.
Alex cocked his head, looking at the woman “How exactly has this affected your life so much?”
Miss Vines looked startled at the question. Her head moved back and she blinked a few times “What?”
“I mean him, I get it. He saw the whole thing, he found his dad and he had a shitty life because of it.” Alex pointed at Bradley behind her, but then he slowly circled his finger until it was in her direction “But why you? You only knew him for a while. Why do you care so much?”
“Because he was my father! He was the only father I had that actually gave a shit!” She screamed her reply back at him, I think furious that Alex would even ask such a question. She pointed the knife in her hand to herself “I never got a chance to get to know him because of you, you little psychopath!”
To my surprise, what filled the hallway next was the sound of Alex’s faint laughter.
“You’re the one waving the knife around sweetheart.” His shoulders shook as he looked over her.
This infuriated her to the point where I thought the blood vessels would pop from her eyes. I think she was just about to fly forward when Bradley got to his feet and wrapped an arm around her stomach, pulling her back.
“YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING! HE WAS STILL MY FATHER!” She was screaming and fighting Bradley’s grip from her “HE WAS GOOD TO ME! IN TWO YEARS HE WAS A BETTER FATHER THAN YOURS EVER WAS!”
Her chest was rising up and down heavily as she stopped struggling against Bradley. With her teeth gritted, she delivered the final blow to Alex.
“You have to live with the fact that even your own father didn’t believe your bullshit story. You told him, and he still fed you to the wolves and called you a liar.” Each of her words was a hiss “I knew my father for two years and I knew that he would protect me from anything. Can’t say the same about yours though can we?”
Alex was no longer laughing. He had shut his eyes halfway through Miss Vine’s verbal attack, and we all knew the words were true but I don’t think they were any easier to hear.
Your parents should protect you from all evil, not leave it to babysit.
“You’re Robin.” To my utter shock, Archie had something else to add to this conversation all together. Alex had opened his eyes and along with me, we both looked at Archie with a puzzled expression at the input. Archie looked from Miss Vines to Kevin “Not you.”
Miss Vines laughed, getting out of her brother’s hold “Of course he’s not Robin. If we are really going to give him a character, he would be the guy who makes Batman’s equipment. What’s his name?” Miss Vines turned to Bradley, who held his finger up like something excited him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black device. He lifted the device against his mouth as he spoke into it.
“Lucious Fox.” The voice changer thing he had been using all night made his voice come like Morgan Freeman's, and he burst out laughing before he turned and slapped Kevin’s shoulder “Seriously this things amazing man, probably the best thing you got us.”
Of course she was Robin. She was the one who was leading us exactly where they wanted. She was the one who suggested we make certain decisions, like not running out to try and save Aubree or splitting up. She was Robin all along; Kevin was just the guy with the handy gear.
“You’re the girl.” I had no idea I had come to that conclusion until I found my mouth moving and those words coming out. I looked at Kevin “She’s the girl you came to the Riot for.”
Kevin looked down; the guilt and shame that was clear in his eyes being the confirmation I needed.
“It’s amazing what a boy will do to impress a girl.” Miss Vines smirked proudly, turning to Kevin and giving him a wink. Judging from his reaction, impressing her was redundant. This was way beyond that.
“You groomed him to do this?” Archie shook his head, looking at Miss Vines in disgust.
“Groomed?” She scoffed “Please the horny little fucker thought he hit the jackpot when I started to pay attention to him.”
“He’s fifteen years old.” Archie growled at her. Kevin was in the year below us, making him a minor. Miss Vines was in her late twenties.
“I wanted it.” To my surprise, Kevin actually spoke. He finally looked up off the floor and towards us “It wasn’t grooming. I had been ignored the majority of my life then the first bit of attention I get is from my hot teacher? Who wouldn’t have wanted that?”
Archie cocked his head “Yeah I can’t argue with that.” I glared at him, and he shrugged and held his hands up “What? Tell me a guy who hasn’t dreamed about banging a teacher.”
“Your porn fantasies aren't really appropriate right now are they?” I growled at him, not believing we were having this conversation now of all times. He rolled his eyes and turned back to Kevin. He gave him a quick nod, the silent gesture for ‘I get you’ but trying to be sly so I wouldn’t fly at him again.
“It’s not just that. It wasn’t just sex…” Kevin looked at the ground again, I guess embarrassed of whatever was about to come out of his mouth next “I loved her.”
“Oh my god…” I gagged, shaking my head in disgust.
Miss Vines spread a big smile over her face, looking at me with a smug expression before turning to Kevin.
“And you honey.” It was clear to anyone who heard her that she was brushing him off. She didn’t love him. He was a pawn for their plan. He was useful and she used him.
“He’s fifteen years old.” Alex repeated Archie’s words, looking directly at Miss Vines. He shook his head in disgust “Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Miss Vines face fell at his words, and everyone knew exactly what he meant by that. I guess she really was Roger’s daughter.
“Here he goes again with that shit…” Bradley sighed in frustration “Ever going to drop the ‘my uncle touched me’ story or is that one you’re sticking with?”
“You know it’s not a story.” Alex’s stare was directly at Bradley.
“Do I f*ck; you’re a lying little scumbag.”
Alex stepped forward, ignoring Archie who tried to grab him and stop him from walking closer to them. He was halfway between us and them, his eye unblinking as he stared at Bradley with so much determination. Like he knew something we didn’t, just like Bradley was looking at him earlier before Alex told us all the truth.
“Your father had been abusing me since I was five years old. He did it every time I was at your house; he did it while you played in the garden with Archie and Summer and were oblivious to the whole thing. He did it when you all slept peacefully in the next room. He had a choice between four children that were regularly in his house, and he decided I was the lucky one who got the special treatment.” Every word that came out of Alex’s mouth was done for impact. He was saying all of this to get a reaction out of Bradley, to make it sink into his skull that everything Alex has said was the whole truth and nothing but. As he said the words, he didn’t flinch, he didn’t stutter. It was like he was stone; everything that remotely made him human was gone right now because no one would be able to recite these things -especially when it happened to them- this calmly.
Alex was gone right now, and I had no idea who was in front of us.
“I don’t know why he chose me. I mean it would make more sense to sneak into the girl’s room right?” I flinched as he mentioned me, and I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought of the same thing. Alex shrugged “Who knows, maybe his preference was little boys. I don’t doubt for a minute he loved you, but I am just trying to tell you that your father was a sick, disgusting man who preyed on children. He was evil, and he deserved to die a much worse death than what he got.”
Bradley had come forward, his entire face tight as his teeth gritted together so hard they must have been close to shattering. His fists were clenched at the words, and his posture was stiff. He was almost leaning forward, like a lion waiting to attack.
“You’re a fucking liar.” He hissed.
“Am I?” Alex cocked his head.
“Yes, you are. You’re a lying little animal who wants to make himself feel better about what he did.”
“You know that’s not true. You know that everything I just said was the truth.” Alex shook his head and told him calmly, like he was building up to something.
“The only thing I know is that you’re a liar Alex!”
“Oh yeah?” A smile was on Alex’s lips. It was coming.
“Yes!”
“Then that night you opened your door and saw me push your father down the stairs, why was I on my knees Bradley?”
There is was. The final blow. Alex’s final attack and the exact reason why he had that smile on his face.
Bradley said nothing. He just clenched his jaw so hard his lips were almost trembling. He never broke the eye contact from Alex, who just looked back at him calmly. Not with a smug expression, he just looked calm. Almost happy because he knew from looking at Bradley’s reaction, he had him.
“When I pushed your father down the stairs, I was still on my knees.” Alex repeated the words slowly, making sure every syllable stuck “Why was I on my knees if my story is bullshit as you say?”
I could see Bradley’s Adams apple bobbing up and down on his neck, and to my surprise he still had not said anything.
Alex took one more step, leaning forward a fraction so Bradley knew he was speaking to him and only him.
“That crash you just heard in your head, that sinking feeling you’re getting right around here…” Alex gestured his hand around his stomach “…Is exactly what it feels like when the fog clears and your father falls head first off of that pedestal mate. Believe me, I say that from experience.”
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