Lonely Little Brother | Book One

Chapter Four: His Secret.

Henderson and I haven't been able to talk to each other for a week now, and it's so hard. He's the first friend I made after coming to stay with Ferron. Ferron's house is huge, so also he runs his business there. Ferron has been training me himself, but he's been off. Every time I wander off, or deviate from my normal routine, he panics. His demeanor switches from calm, to anxious and defensive. I went to the bathroom last night, and he followed me. He waited outside until I was done, and held my hand on our way back to bed. It's honestly getting quite concerning how he's acting, so I intend to confront him. He's punching his punching bag in the smaller personal gym, seemingly angry. "Hey, Fer," I mumble. He quickly whips his head around, and smiles at me. "Hey, Nico. What's up?" He smiles, then stretches his arms. His abs start flexing, and I drool subconsciously. "U-um, I need to talk to you," I stutter, and he starts beaming. "I need to talk to you to! But you first, Nico," he chuckles. I nod, and smile back at him. "Um, is there something you're hiding from me? I don't want to fight, but I want to communicate with you." He smiles lovingly, and pats my head. "There is still a few things you need to know before I tell you, okay? I don't want you to be afraid," he whispers. I look at him, almost bombarded. "I'm not afraid. Why would I be afraid?" I question. He sighs, and turns around. "C'mon, we'll talk about this after we get back," he says, then grabs my hand. I put my head down, and nod slowly. 

He walks us to the side door to the four car garage, turning around to smile at me. "We're gonna get some more gear for you to practice on. Sound good?" I gasp, and nod quickly. He chuckles, and drags me along to a red sedan. "This looks almost out of place here, don't you think?" I ask. When he showed me his house, I imagined expensive looking cars, and flashy exteriors. Why did he have such cheap cars such as a sedan, when the rest of his house was as impressive as the white house? His smile drops, and glides his finger along the hood of the car. "This was my mother's car. When she married my father, she saw all his wealth. She came from a very poor family, yet she did not want all his money. She truly kept him humble. She always told me that no matter what status someone was, that they mattered," his eyes glimmer as he thinks of her. But as he takes a breath, the sparkle disappears. "This is the last thing I have of her." My eyes start to water, and I latch myself onto Ferron. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm sure she's watching you from above, and she is so proud of you," I soothe. His eyes flash with something I can't quite decipher, and he grips the back of my shirt. His hand trembles, and I hold onto him tighter. "Thank you," he mumbles. I slowly let go, and open the passenger door. "C'mon let's go shopping. I wanna see that new gear!" I beam. He nods, and gets in the driver's seat. 

-AT THE MALL- 

We arrive at the mall, and my feet hits the ground in mere seconds. "Hey, slow down! Nico, we are not in a hurry!" Ferron shouts, and starts running after me. He wraps one arm around my waist, promptly stopping me. I start whining, and he let's go. He gives me a stern look, "no running off." I pout, but nod. We walk inside the double doors, and lights start burning my eyes. The beautiful white Christmas lights illuminate the whole building, and a thirteen-foot tall tree stands proudly in the center of the shopping area. Incoherent noises leak from my mouth, and I start jumping around. I drag Ferron left and right, making fifteen laps around the entire mall. Ferron's breath is labored, but my body doesn't allow me to slow down. We walk inside a shoe store, and Ferron starts talking with an employee about what kind of shoes I need. I walk around the store aimlessly, hoping to find a pair of shoes I like. They had a few arcade machines outside the store, so I quickly walk outside to the machines. I search my pockets for some quarters, but find none. Groaning, I look through the glass of the store to see Ferron still talking to the employee. I sigh, but a hand graces my shoulder. I jump in surprise, and the voice chuckles. "Hey man, need some quarters?" The voice asks. I go to say no, but I turn around to see Kyle. His face contorts into a face of surprise, and Miles walks over. "Nico? Hey," Miles mumbles awkwardly. I turn to walk away, but Kyle grabs my arm. "Where have you been?" Kyle gawks. My face drops into a frown, and clicks his tongue. "Do you care?" I hiss. 

Kyle and Miles look taken aback, but Kyle quickly regains face. "Mom and dad came home for the first time in a while. They didn't see you there, and mom was mad. She started searching your room, and completely demolished it. After she accepted that you weren't there, she locked herself in your room. She hasn't left it in two days. Please, come home," he pleads, and Miles eyes look red. It's so hard to say no. "Why didn't she care before? She didn't notice when Hunter would hit me, or when you would make fun of me! Hell, they locked me out! To this day, I still don't understand WHY!" I shout. Kyle's face goes pale, seemingly remembering something. "Oh," is all he says. "Nico, who's this?" Ferron's loud voice stops my train of thought. Kyle's face turns to stone, and his voice is cold. "Who the fuck are you?" He growls. I snatch my hand from Kyle's, and turn towards Ferron. "Someone who cares," I mumble. "Look Nico, I know you hate us. I would hate us too, but MOM needs you. You love her, right? You need to come home, and see her!" I snap my head around, and groan. "I gave her so many chances to love me, Kyle. I gave ALL OF YOU SO MANY CHANCES! AND WHAT HAPPENED, HM? YOU SPIT IN MY FACE!" I scream. At this point, people start looking in out direction, as I cause a scene. "It's our fault that they treated you like that! If you want anyone to blame, blame US. But do NOT blame mom! She was only responding to what we told her!" He shouted back. ..what..? "What're you talking about..?" I whisper. "We told mom and dad that you wanted them to get a divorce. We hated you so much for being the youngest, that we wanted you gone. You were different, and we hated that. We thought they would push you away, or put you up for adoption. We thought maybe for once we would get the attention, so we made you look bad. Don't blame them, please," Kyle explains. My brain goes blank, so I do the only thing I can think of. "Fuck you."

SLAP. 

I whack the back of my hand across Kyle's cheek, knocking him onto the floor. "KYLE!" Miles shouts. I start running in a random direction, just wanting to be left alone. I exit the mall, and start speeding down the street. Tears flow heavily from my tear ducts, blocking my vision. I hold in my sobs just barely, hoping to find somewhere to release them. People stare at me, but I can't even see them. An empty alleyway catches my attention, and I run into it. I stop, realizing where I am. This is where I first met Ferron. 

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