All Night Long (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Time: 4:03

Bailey

"What is that?"

The lights shut off. Right on cue.

"He's here," someone whispers.

"EVERYBODY STAY IN POSITION."

The lights flicker as the generator kicks on, then promptly dies.

"He is here," I whisper, "He's coming."

Phoenix

"What the hell?" Red dropped an open binder in front of me. I didn't need to read it.

"I told you what happened," I said, immediately closing it, "Don't let your dad see that."

"You told me he killed the guy who killed you yeah —you didn't say he's a mother fucking case study on five different mental illnesses, revenge, and why seeing a therapist is important prior to tearing somebody's still beating heart from their body," Red growled, opening it again.

I sighed.

"Is that what you do? Just protect him?"

"From himself yeah, someone has to," I said, closing it, "Look, there's no good way to say it all right I didn't---I didn't think you'd find out like that."

"They think he's dead. They said another boy from school killed him and set him on fire? Is that how he got those burns?"

"Yeah it is," I said, "I'm sorry we didn't tell you we don't---talk about it. For obvious reasons, as you can appreciate."

"No I can't! I asked you both what happened and how you died and where you'd been—,"

"We didn't lie to you. I just wasn't graphic; can you blame me?"

"Yes!! I can!"

"Okay you want to know how I died? I was shot yeah, gunshot, to my back, because I was running away. And I ran two fucking miles trying to get home and I knocked on my parents door and they weren't there and we'd had a fight so they'd turned off my phone so I couldn't call 911 so I bled out in the street drowning in my own blood realizing I was dying. All I thought of was that I needed to stay alive to say goodbye to him and I couldn't even do that. And the only number they could find on my phone was his so they called his house and when they said I was in critical condition which meant dead, he tried to kill himself the only reason it didn't work was your Aunt Brianna stopped him. There. Do you want to know more? Because it was the longest night of all our lives and maybe you deserve to know it I don't know but that was hell for us and we don't like living it again," I growled. My anger finally calmed his own rage.

"No. I'm sorry. I understand it isn't something you want to talk about, but can you understand that there is a big---fucking---difference between 'killed the person who killed you in revenge' and 'hunted a fifteen year old for sport, murdered him with a spear no one knows how he got, pulled out said fifteen year old's heart, based off of eyewitness accounts, ate it, and then dragged said fifteen year old around the city tied to the back of his motorcycle before fighting another sixteen year old who according to eyewitnesses was probably the sun'. Do you not see how those two things are very, very different?" Red asked, as calmly as he could, "And it was really shocking and weird to sit through a lecture on insanity and why americans shouldn't have automatic weapons and have my actual father's picture put up as case evidence? We have to write a bloody paper on it!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't—know that they'd do that," I said, feeling guilty, then, "It's just—we don't talk about it either he can't—,"

"I know you got saved by whatever a witch— but dad—,"