The Darkness That Consumes Us

Chapter 16

    TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER DEALS WITH TOPICS SUCH AS DRUG ABUSE, SEVERE FAMILY ISSUES SUCH AS NEGLECT, ABUSE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND RAPE.

    As Alex hurriedly made his way over to us, I knew we were about to get scolded. But I couldn't get that damn memory out of my head, it weighed heavily on my heart and caused a pit in my stomach to form.

     Finally reaching us, his fists were clenched, jaw set, and gave us both a scathing look. It seemed as if he was contemplating beating our asses right here, or waiting till we got home, much like a father would with his misbehaving children.

    "I'm not even going to ask you what you're doing here since it's pretty fucking obvious," he said in a calm voice.

    "What I will ask you though is why you thought this was a good idea after I told you all the dangers surrounding a place like this, and how in the fuck you even found it?"

    "Funny story..." Nate said with caution, most likely realizing this was the calm before the storm.

    "Funny story?" Alex said incredulously.

   "Funny story? FUNNY FUCKING STORY?!" he roared, drawing the attention of the people around us.

    He snatched both our arms and practically dragged us somewhere off in the back. From the looks of the room we were now in, it was used as a locker room. It had two rows of lockers, a couple of showers, and was cleaner than I thought it would be.

    Looking up, I saw Alex looking at me. There was so much anger swirling in his eyes, but I couldn't quite focus on it. All I could see was a 15-year-old version of the man before me, having a screaming match with a woman who used to mean everything to him. That memory fighting its way to the front of my mind.

    "Answer the goddamn questions..." he demanded, eyes switching from mine to Nates.

    I remained silent, too consumed in my emotional turmoil to properly form words at this point. Forcing Nate to take the lead, something that rarely happens.

    "We just wanted to see what you do, when you found out that we street race you got to know a different side of us. You got to know the reckless and wild side of both of us. Now you know every part of us, why won't you let us do the same?"

     After Nate said that, there was a beat of silence that seemed to suffocate us. Alex seemed to be giving it though but quickly snapped out of it and narrowed his eyes at us.

    "I get you two want to act like you're grown-ups but you're not. You have no idea what goes on here. You could have been seriously hurt. You don't yet know how fucked up and cruel the world-"

     He did not just...

    "I'm going to stop you right there..." said Nate with a calm and even tone.

    "Don't know how fucked up and cruel the world is?" I looked down at the floor and laughed incredulously. I knew if I looked up now, I would do and say something that I wouldn't be able to take back.

     "You mean the world that let a mother run off and abandon her son in a broken home with a father that can't love anymore? The world where a little boy felt so alone and sad that he made it his mission to make others happy because he never wanted someone to feel the way he did?" Nate said looking Alex dead in the eye, face stoic as if he detached himself from his own pain.

     "You mean the world that was so fucked up that there was a war, men and women sent off to fight it while they left their families behind? The world that snatched our father away from us and in doing so also our mother? The world where children have no parents and men hit women? The world that let my best friend get treated that way by a man who didn't deserve her until she finally crumbled?" I said while taking slow steps towards Alex.