Abandoned

ABANDONED Part 1: Side A

He stood there staring at the beautiful little sunflowers carved on the front door. Stalling for a moment. Scared of going in just like he was when he first came here. Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob and walked in. "Welcome home Yuno. Welcome brother" Tony's voice echoed, a memory nothing more. He remembered every detail of the first time he saw the manor. The smell of newly painted walls, freshly watered grass and the biggest smile on Tony and Mr Lang's faces when he walked in. They said this was home, his home. He almost didn't believe it. It was so overwhelming, surreal. Everything about this house felt a little too big and a little too shiny. It made him feel so small. He remembered feeling so excited when Mr Lang and Tony dragged him to the top floor to a shelve where a picture of the four of them was. He remembered thinking to himself look I've made it. No matter what happens this is proof that it had happened that this had been his home.

Over the next few months more pictures of them popped up all over the house. Memories frozen in time, existing even when those moment had long gone. Existing when the people in it were long gone, well almost all. They made this place go from being the "Clean Manor" to a true home for all of them. A place where they found comfort and safety. It was truly a glorious place always full of laughter and warmth. Now his home was cold and empty a shell of its former glory. No longer were the boys sitting at the dining table planning for heists or by the fire place where they would sit around telling stories was no longer lit and there were no one causing power outages with their kettle.

As he walked in his footsteps echoed in the empty house. Memories flooded his brain. The first time he did a job with him. I have a hundred percent success rate he had told Mr Lang. I mean he had hacked one bank but he had done it successfully so technically he was telling the truth. He remembered how sceptical all three of them had been when they picked him up from the prison and how that changed when he hacked the bank. They cheered and they laughed. In that moment he went from being a bad employee who was fired multiple times to taking his first step towards becoming part of their family. "You have a permanent position at Roosters Rest as the head janitor" Mr Lang had promised excitedly. He had nearly puked that day because he was so nervous. He had gotten lucky that day. That day changed everything. It set him on a journey most people would only dream of having.

It gave him Ray Romanov a cracked shot, a motorbike escape specialist and a real chad amongst the women who would go around proudly telling everyone that Yuno was his helmet twin, his brother. Choosing him over everyone. "You are my brother of course I would choose you" he had said proudly to him, Bunny and Nancy as he picked him over them. "I love you Yuno" Tony aka DuckerZ, the driver of the year, would say to him all the time. Crying as he ran around Paleto after him demanding him to say it back. "Why don't you say it? Why don't you love me" Tony would yell dramatically. Mr Lang the richest and one of the most powerful man in all of Los Santos would spoil him every chance he got. "I bought you house! I am cheap too. I don't spend my money on anyone else" Mr Lang had cried when he had talked about how he thought Randy was in love with him because he spent money on him even though he never spent money on anyone. His jealousy had made him laugh. He looked at a photo on the wall next to him Mickey was in this one. Mickey came in late but he just fit in like he always belonged. He turned to look at the driveway. He remembered finding a broken Mickey there after CG dumped him from a plane at the manor. They sat there talking for hours. That night changed their relationship forever. It changed his family forever. "All I know Yuno is that you're my friend" Mickey said firmly to Yuno that night. He left CG because he didn't want to hurt him but, in the end, he couldn't really keep him safe none of them could.

As he walked through the house, he stopped to look at the statue they had taken from the Casino as a souvenir. It was fitting that it was here in this empty house. A symbol of the end everything. He saw this coming. Long before anyone else realised it. He knew once they would finish robbing the casino that it would all come to an end. They were criminals, bank busters and what good was a city where there was nothing left for them to rob. Every challenge that had come their way had been conquered. There was nothing more left. Sure, they could rob the same thing again and again but it had lost its charm.

The thing about his fam .... The cleanbois was that they didn't rob things because they needed the money. Most of the times they lost money. Instead, they did it for that rush of adrenaline you get when you do what others thought was impossible. It's why they did their over the top plans. Why him and Mickey would jump off mount chiliad on BMX bikes or why he would rob the jewellery store with Mr Lang on a moped without a hostage or any backup. They did it for the thrill of it. But the truth was that no matter what plan they came up with or what place they robbed nothing could ever live up to the high of the first time they robbed the casino. NOTHING. And in a situation like that there was only thing left to do. Move on. He understood that. It was why he would try to bring it up every chance he got. But everyone seemed so unbothered by it. He had dismissed their seemingly lack of a plan as a need for a break. They were still pretty high off the casino heist. Or so he had thought.

Two days. They had said they were going for ONLY TWO DAYS when they left. A quick trip to celebrate Tony's birthday they had said. Pictures of Tony, Mr Lang, Ray, Mickey, Harry and Marty popped all over his timeline. Pictures of them clubbing, gambling and just having a good time. But he knew all that was a cover. The hushed conversations that ended when he came into the room before they left, the blueprints that he had seen in the basement of the Roosters Rest and the fact that before they left, they gave him gifts. The LFA, cash, mats, whatever he wanted they were willing to give to him. What he thought was love was guilt all along. A severance package of sorts. Tears pricked his eyes as he walked up the stairs.

Those two days turned into weeks and that into months. It wasn't like he didn't know exactly where they were but he did not follow them. He didn't want to cling on to them. Be a burden to them. No, they wouldn't do think of us like that the voices in his head said. They insisted that there had to be a reason an explanation for it all. "NO, THEY LEFT WITHOUT ME, TO DO BIGGER BETTER THINGS THEY DONT NEED ME ANYMORE" he yelled. "We need you Yuno we can't do it without you" Mr Lang's teary voice echoed in his mind. "LIES" he cried as tears fell freely down his face. "You are someone unreplaceable" Ray's voice said firmly. "LIARRRRRRR YOU REPLACED ME YOU LEFT ME BEHIND YOU ALL DID" he cried. "I'd rather fail a bank with you than succeed with anyone else" Mickey's voice echoed. "THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND WAS I NOT GOOD ENOUGH ANYMORE WAS I BURDEN?" He cried falling down. "Was I not enough" he cried over and over again. Pain that he had suppressing for weeks boiled up to the surface. To be told one day that he was loved and to be tossed aside the next. It hurt so bad that he felt like he would die but he didn't.

Their voices constantly tormenting him. Every memory of Ray saying Love you Habibi or I love you brother was like a stab in his chest. Every time he remembered Mickey yelling that's my fucking boy or call him his NVL twin was like his heart was being pierced with a thousand needles over and over again. Tony's begging Yuno to tell him that he loved him made him back feel like he was drowning in the ocean. "TELL ME YOU LOVE ME, WHAT IF YOU DIE?" Tony had cried. "I love you I love all of you" he said softly under his breath. He felt like he was dying but he was somehow still alive. What hurt the most was when Mr Lang's voice would say to him "I fucking love you Yuno you're one of my greatest friends." That felt like being shot again and again only to be brought back to life at pillbox only to be shot again. They had vowed to protect him. He could still hear Ray say "If they lay even a single finger on Yuno I'll kill every single person involved." "Empty promises" Yuno scoffed. "We are brothers for life" Mr Lang had said to him. "LIAR YOU ARE A LIAR MR LANG. WHAT KIND OF PERSON ABANDONS SOMEONE THEY CALL THEIR BROTHER. YOU JUST SAID ALL OF THAT BECAUSE YOU NEEDED ME" He yelled crying as he clutched his chest. It hurt. It hurt so much.

"There is only one problem I can't do this plan without Yuno" Mickey had said to the boys. He didn't know Yuno could hear him but he still said it. It made him feel loved once. But now it hurt him. They hurt him more than any bullet hurt and the worst part of it was that they didn't even seem to care. He wiped the tears off his face and went up to his room. He picked the bag he had packed and grabbed his helmet that was resting on his bedside. As he slowly made his way down, he looked around the house one last time. A hundred other memories flooded his mind. Happy, sad, angry but always full of love. The love they had for him, if it was ever even real, now haunts him, torments him. He couldn't stand being here. It was torture. This house, this city all of it he couldn't take it anymore. As he walked pass the casino trophy he paused. Their last true heist together. "Goodbye" he whispered as he walked out. Leaving behind his helmet next to it.