Hope (House of wax x reader)

ᴏɴᴇ

"Mm, check this out," your sister's friend said, showing you her phone screen.

"It's a place in Tribecca for three thousand dollars," you read.  "That's still too expensive."

"Yeah, all the money I have saved up won't even cover two months rent.  I'll have to work every second I'm not in class till graduation," your sister complained.

You were adopted.  Your sister had made you come with on this road trip with her and her friends for some 'bonding time.'  But the person she wanted you to bond with, your brother, was a complete asshole.  So, here you were sitting next to her friend Paige, looking at apartments.

"Carly, don't you even think about not going," Paige warned.

"I'm not," Carly replied.

"Good."

You three were sitting inside a diner.  Your brother and his friend Dalton were in the bathroom, most likely harassing your sister's boyfriend Wade, who had the displeasure of being in the same room as them.  Paige's boyfriend Blake was sitting outside in his car, plugging the address of a football stadium into his car's GPS.  It was apparently the biggest game of the season, so he, Dalton, and Wade wanted to see it in person.  So here you were.

"You know how proud of you I am," Paige said with a smile.

"It's just an internship," Carly argued.

"At InStyle magazine," you retorted.  "Or would you rather stay at the Waffle House as a waitress forever?"

"See, the kid gets it," Paige responded, putting a hand on your shoulder.

You were the youngest in the group.  While the people surrounding you for the next few days were all in college, you were only sixteen.  They didn't using your name, just kid.  You let them call you that, however.  You figured you would be nice and let them distract themselves from their fears of aging and knowing that they'd never be kids again by making you seem younger than you were to make themselves feel younger.

Almost like a lot of the author's old teachers... but I digress.

"No thanks," Carly replied quickly.

"Yeah," Paige nodded.

"Hey babe," Wade greeted.

He leaned over and kissed Carly on the forehead, Carly muttering a 'hey' back in response.  Wade sat down next to her, and began with his excuse.

"Sorry, there were these two drunk rednecks wrestling in the bathroom," he explained.

"There's no rednecks in New York," Paige said questioningly.

"No, there's not," Wade replied with a frown.

"I'm gonna go see what Blake's doing," Paige said, quickly standing up awkwardly.  "He seems to love that car more than me nowadays..."

She sighed and looked at the floor, then back up at your sister.

"I'm not trying to make this a big deal, you know I want to have a good time on our road trip this weekend.  But why on earth did your brother have to come with us?  You said your parents weren't gonna post his bail anymore."

That's why your sister wanted you to come with.  You were adopted after her biological brother was sent to jail.  Your parents viewed him as a failure, and wanted a do-over.  So, they went to an adoption agency, and here you sat.  Your brother resented you, and you couldn't help but empathize.  You would hate yourself too if you were in his position.  You were only meant to replace him.

"They didn't," you told Paige.

"And Blake invited him," Carly added.  "I guess Nick makes him feel more badass."

Carly exited the diner, so it was now just you, your sister, and Wade sitting at the table.

"There are rednecks in New York," you muttered.

"Oh yeah?  And how would you know that, kid," Wade asked.

Unlike everyone else here, Wade never used the nickname in a bad or demeaning way.  And Carly just called you by your actual name.

"I mean, I could technically be considered one," you answered.

You had been raised in bum fuck nowhere before CPS got involved.  If you went somewhere and had all your teeth, you were considered overdressed.  Your bio dad taught you how to hunt, and your mom taught you how to properly stitch stuff like quilts.  God, you missed them.

Back when things were good, you knew a lot of people who moved out to bigger cities, such as New York, to achieve their dreams.  Most notable was Roy.  He had wanted to be an artist, so he moved out to Philadelphia.  You had seen some comic books and animated TV series with his name on them as an artist, so you assumed he had made it.

"So you're a redneck?  How many animals have you shot," Wade interrogated jokingly.

"About eight bucks, and a possum one time by accident," you answered.

"Wait, I knew you were raised weird, but you know how to operate a firearm," Carly asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah.  They're easy to use, it's the aiming that's the hard part."

"Wait, but aren't rednecks... like... sexist, racist, homophobic... you know, the works," Wade questioned.

"That's just the crazy people.  Although, all groups of people have the crazy extremists," you replied.  "Most people are nice.  They'd go through Hell and back for you."

Wade looked at you skeptically, as if he were trying not to buy into an act.  Carly looked quite uncomfortable, not ready to accept you knew how to fire deadly weapons.  She didn't like wrapping her head around the thought of her baby sibling harming another living creature.

But you, you missed that honestly.  You missed spending hours with your dad, hiding in camouflage tents for hours, silently waiting for your prey.  Hell, the first twelve pointer you shot was made into taxidermy, the head being hung on the living room wall.  You were your parents' pride and joy, and they were happy with your excitement over the deer.

But then the fire happened.  Mr. Noel from down the road took you in until you were sent to a foster home, before you took permanent residence with Carly and her parents to hopefully cover up your brothers mistakes, and you could hopefully fill his role in the family.

And now you were stuck on a three day road trip with him, and you couldn't be more scared.  You understood Nick's resentment, but you were still upset that nothing you did seemed to make him like you.  And who knows what a criminal would be able to do to you in three days?  You might go home crippled, for all you knew.