Change of Heart

Chapter 74

**

Arriving at the park, I searched for Bryce. It was well past ten minutes. He'd probably been waiting for a while, and just gone home. Just before I decided to call it quits, I saw him sitting on one of the swings in the distance. Letting out a sigh of relief I ran straight over.

Lifting his head, he smiled at me signaling me to take a seat next to him. "Before you ask your question I've got one of my own."

Taking a seat on the swing, I nodded. "Shoot."

"How did you know my name?"

"A friend...told me."

Bryce nodded, looking away. "I see. So then, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"

My body began to tremble. How would I even ask something like this? "What you said, about Zeke...I couldn't help but noticed you seemed, afraid, of him." I noticed his body flinched as I said those words. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright." He frowned as he stared at the ground. "It's true, I am afraid of him. Despite being older, it's as if he's the one in charge."

"What happened to make you feel this way...if you don't mind me asking."

Bryce was quiet, too quiet. I began to regret asking him, but before I decided to tell him to forget I asked, he answered. "Three years ago, our parents took us on a trip to the beach. Zeke wasn't very happy about it, but I for one had a blast. We were there for three nights. On the final night, I stayed out later than I was supposed to, mainly because it was our last night."

He stopped again, gripping the swing tightly, causing his knuckles to turn white. "Bryce-" I started, but he continued.

"When I went back inside, both of my parents had been shredded to pieces, blood sprayed everywhere, and in the middle of it all, Zeke stood there with a bloody knife." My eyes shot wide open, and I practically flew out of the swing.

"Zeke...k-killed your...p-parents?"

"With a smile on his face too." He swallowed hard, and started up again. "I tried to call the police, but he threatened to kill me too. Now, I'm technically his prisoner. He forced me to take online classes rather than go to school as a way of keeping our little secret."

No way...that's seriously messed up. I can't believe that Zeke...I thought he was bad, but I never thought he was this bad! "Am I the first person you told this too?"

Nodding again, he answered. "Yes. You're also the only one to actually ever reach out to me. Of course, I only know very few people because of Zeke, two to be exact. Meeting you was just an accident."

"Don't worry, I won't say a word about any of this to anyone, I promise. Not if its only going to make things worse for you."

"Thank you, Caden." Standing to his feet, he hugged me. "It makes me feel a bit better to finally be able to tell someone this..." His voice began to crack, and I could hear that he had started to cry. "I've held on to this for so long." Pulling away from me, he wiped his eyes. "Well, I should be going."

"Yea..." I was still dazed by his words. I never imagined that even Zeke was capable of that, but it just proves he really is as bad as I made him out to be. Since that first encounter, I knew there was a reason to hate him. I watched as Bryce walked away. For him to be alone for so long, having this burden on his shoulders all this time...it's sickening!

I thought about telling Jake, but i couldn't even tell him though I knew I could trust him. I promised Bryce I wouldn't say a word to anyone, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

**

Jake came up from behind me as I put away my books. "Hey, guess who's feeling better?"

"You were never sick."

"Hey, not so loud." He whispered slapping me on the back. "What if a teacher hears you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yea yea, whatever."

"So, did you talk to Bryce?" I nodded without a word. I frowned at the thought of his words. "What did he say?"

"Nothing that answered any of my questions, it's not worth repeating. Let's just get to class." Shutting my locker, I turned around and was instantly shoved against the wall, by, you guessed it, Zeke. He pinned me up against the wall by my shoulders, and put his face right against mine. "What's this about Bryce? Talking to my brother behind my back?"

Hearing him say his name really pissed me off. Kicking him off me, I followed with a punch straight to his face. I gave him an answer as I fixed my shirt. "He happened to run me over with a bike, that's all." He groaned angrily, standing back up. I managed to knock a couple teeth out of him, but that was it.

Jake pushed me to the side. "Let's go before this gets real nasty!" Zeke didn't follow us, but I knew he'd come after me again. It was only a matter of time and after hearing what he had done, it made me terrified just thinking about what else he was capable of.