Disturbed

Chapter Twenty-One :

Brantley shakes his head and begins to pace around the room. He laughs and continues to dismiss the fact, he sits on the chair from across the bed. Putting his hands around his neck, he sighs and looks up at Asher,

Brantley : Rodolfo?
Asher : Yes.
Brantley : Who's your mom?
Asher : Hazel Duo
Brantley : Okay so we don't have the same mom.
Asher : No, your mom is Valerie?
Brantley : Yeah. It doesn't make sense because you're one year younger than me.
Asher : Which means-
Brantley : Which means dad was cheating on my mom with your mom. Sorry.
Asher : No it's fine. I grew up as the only child. I always wanted a brother, guess I got one now.

Asher chuckles as Brantley smiles and rolls his eyes laughing,

Brantley : Classic Rudy. Cheating on both wives and having two families.
Asher : He was absent for the first eight years of my life when I was little.
Brantley : Yeah, he um. He was with my mom and I. That's when I was around nine, that he left us and I'm assuming to go be with you guys.
Asher : Sounds about right.

Brantley smiles and hugs Asher tight. Asher begins to cry softly as his heart starts to beat fast, arms getting shaky, and adrenaline rushing through his veins. Brantley sits back on the corner of the bed and calls Ruby and O'Shay back inside.

Ruby : What's up?
Asher : He knows. I told him.
O'Shay : Oh...
Brantley : Wait, you guys knew?!
Ruby : Yeah, it's a long story. We just wanted to wait to tell you.
Brantley : So everyone knows?
O'Shay : Yeah.
Brantley : I should be pissed at y'all but I'm so happy because I got a brother!

Asher smiles as he holds Brantley's hand. Brantley smiles as he notices a nurse coming back inside the room and asks everyone to wait in the waiting room. They nod and wait, as Brantley walks back to Toby's room. While waiting for a nurse to discharge him, Toby anxiously awaited Brantley to come in. Brantley slowly turns the knob and knocks softly as he enters and looks up at Toby,

Toby : You know?
Brantley : He told me. Everything.
Toby : I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you before.
Brantley : It's okay. I'm not really mad. You guys were just really protecting me.
Toby : Your dad.
Brantley : I know, crazy.
Toby : I saw your dad that day you came over to spend a night. When my parents were inviting someone for my dads business job.
Brantley : Wait what?
Toby : I was spying and saw my mom and your dad kissing.
Brantley : Eww gross!
Toby : I know.

Brantley shakes his head and softly laughs as Toby sits up and watches Brantley smile. They both hug as Toby slowly leans in, and notices Brantley staring right into his eyes. Toby pulls away and kisses Brantley on his forehead.

Toby : I'm sorry.
Brantley : It's okay, don't worry. I just want to get home. These past days have been crazy.
Toby : Do you really think we could of died out there?
Brantley : Probably. You basically saved us.
Toby : Let's not forget you kicking Caleb out and leaving him.
Brantley : Not my proudest moment.

They both smile as hours pass by. The day reaches to evening as everyone from the group were discharged. Asher and Brantley both smile at each other, while Ruby and Tyler help Piper stand up from a wheelchair. O'Shay and Toby look at the two brothers and smile. As they walk out of the hospital, they hear an ambulance in the distance, the sirens growing louder, and seeing the ambulance pulling up the hospital. The group move aside as they see an EMT get off the rig with a patient rolling inside. Brantley's eyes widened as he sees from the side view, that the patient they were rolling in was Caleb.

Toby : Whoa.
Asher : Sh-Should we go back and see if he's okay?
Piper : He seemed pretty badly hurt.
Tyler : You think that freak got him?
O'Shay : Brantley? You okay?

Brantley softly nods and smiles. He clears his throat and turns back around, facing the group. He laughs softly and replies,

Brantley : Oh yeah I'm fine. Fuck Caleb. He will be just fine.

Everyone else looks at him surprised and smiles softly. Asher tugs Brantley's shirt softly as he whispers to him,

Asher : Do you think the police will do something?
Brantley : I hope so.
Asher : Me too. I hope they get that freak.
Tyler : I pretty much ran over him, remember?
Asher : Oh yeah, but we don't know if he died.
Brantley : Well, we already filed that police report. They said they will get back to us with an update.
Asher : Hey, did you wanna come over? It will be so much fun, seeing our dad.
Brantley : Ash, I am excited to have you as my brother. But if there's one thing you should know, I don't want to see Rodolfo. He made his choice in the past, that's on him. Please respect that.

Asher nods as he hugs Brantley. Everyone else looks at them both and smile. Brantley notices Asher looking up at him as he sighs and groans.

Brantley : I'll go later, just give me the address.
Toby : You sure?
Brantley : Eh maybe. I'm not making no promises.
Asher : Yay! I'm so excited!
Tyler : Hey guys, we should all head back home and meet up later.
Brantley : Agreed. I'll call you guys later.

Everyone nods as they all go their separate ways. The sun begins to set as Brantley was three blocks away from his house. Listening to the wind grow stronger, he covers his arms to warm himself up. Beginning to hum an acoustic cover to his favorite song, Brantley hears footsteps in the distance behind him. Leafs being crunched as they were being stepped on, he slowly turns around and sees man in the distance. His heart begins to beat faster and faster by the second. He turns back around and continues to speed walk, and alerts himself once again as he hears the footsteps growing louder. Once again turning around, Brantley sees the familiar cloak and an axe in one hand.

Brantley : Wh-What are y-you doing here? W-We killed y-you. Stay away! Help me!

Brantley then runs towards his neighborhood as he turns and notices, he outruns the figured man. He turns back again as he realizes he lost the freak. He then sees his house and runs inside his house, and sees Valerie sitting down on the couch watching television. Breathing heavily, Brantley grabs a glass of water as Valerie watches him, worried.

Valerie : Welcome back. You good? How was your trip? You look like you seen a ghost.