A Price Worth Paying

Chapter Forty-three. Sang's Story.

SANG'S STORY

"In a strange way Marie's mother brought about my life with my grandparents. Although considering everything else, she basically took it away too." Sang said trying hard not to cry.

"You need to know what happened after that last Summer with my grandparents, don't you guys." Sang said looking into their eyes.

"Only if you want to tell us, Sang. We're not pressuring you into talking about it." Luke said softly, wiping a gentle finger down Sang's cheek.

Kota hugged her closer and rested his head on hers. "If you want to start and then stop we understand. None of us want you hurt by talking about this to us."

"Well you probably should know." Sang said shakily. "You need to know what you're really taking on here and if you want to." Sang quickly put her hand over Victor's mouth before he protested and just shook her head at Luke and Kota. "You should have that right. You need the truth."

"If the rest of the guys come in and hear that's fine," She whispered, lips quivering. "But if I start don't interrupt, just let me get it out. Because I'm only saying this once. Okay?"

"Only if you're totally sure you want to do this, Princess." Victor swallowed deeply looking at her.

Sang nodded, took a deep breath and started. " I need to tell you what happened in the Spring first. I'd been in my room doing school work that Mr Jackson had given me, and my pen ran out. I knew there were plenty in the drawer of my father's desk so I went to get one. I wasn't supposed to go near his work desk, but I needed a pen."

"It was in the early hours so everyone was asleep. It was a good time to get one. Anyway, when I opened it, I was a bit careless and pulled the drawer too hard. There was a gun at the back of the drawer that slid forward. I have no idea why my father had one. I know lots of people do, but I nearly had a heart attack. So I grabbed a pen and bolted."

"It bothered me for days. So I got on the Internet in the library at school and researched all I could, but I still didn't like it being there. So I borrowed a few tools from my father's tool box one night, took the gun and snuck down into the basement when everyone was asleep and took the firing pin out of it. I reloaded it, took it out into the woods behind the house and made sure I'd done the job properly. I went back home, made sure it was loaded again and put it back."

"You know what though? I didn't even think to tell Grammy or Grampa. I fixed the problem and whenever I went home to them I always pushed Illinois right out of my mind. It didn't exist. Until the last day of Summer and it fell into a conversation we were having. They were so upset. They decided to apply through the legal system for custody." Sang shrugged sadly.

"Then Grammy died and Grampa ended up in the hospital." Sang shivered. "You see they'd been out and were with some people from work at an old fashioned coffee shop they loved. Grammy had just sat down when a man at the traffic lights was speeding up and he had a massive heart attack. His car went straight through the window. Grammy was gone and Grampa ended up in hospital with punctured lungs, a broken arm and other things." Sang's voice broke a little.

"Grampa insisted dad take me to him so he did. He wasn't real happy about it but I wanted to see Grampa and say goodbye to Grammy. Anyway, about seven or eight weeks later Grampa was getting better when he suddenly got pneumonia."

Sang swallowed and reached for Luke's hand. "He was gone a week later. I knew nothing about him even having pneumonia until Mr D rang and told my father he was gone. I said I would be ready in five minutes and he told me to forget it. He was driving over and I couldn't go, it wasn't necessary and I was to go to bed."