Ghost

10

The street is quiet, but my mind is racing. I just escaped out the window of my new 'room'. 

Why would father do this? Did Luca know? What will my brothers say? 

I don't know how I got here so fast but I'm rushing to the base and into my office where I see Rom pacing up and down the room. Joe is sitting with his head in his hands, Oliver and Diego are fighting about something with the triplets and Thomas and Noah are sitting in the corner of the room whispering silently to each other. 

As I burst through the door, all heads turn my way. I can only imagine how I look, sweaty and bruised, with all the times I tripped on the run here. I just couldn't focus. 

"Where were you!" Oliver yells. Then I do something I never thought I'd do in front of them. 
I flinch. 

Their worried expressions turn into ones of horror. 

I can't breathe. I need air. 
I stumble towards the wall and drop to the floor, trying to get oxygen into my lungs. 

Someone starts yelling, but I can barely hear them. My ears are ringing, and my vision is starting to blur. 

I jump back when I feel something touch my shoulder. Diego has a defeated look on his face as he pulls his arm back, taking a few steps back. 

I force myself to calm my breathing and get up. 

I push myself to my chair and drain all emotion from my face. 

"There is a reason the Russians are here," I say. 
"Avery, what was -" I snap my head to Jake. "Did I ask you a question?" 

"Uh.. no?" 
"Then don't interrupt me!" 

"What's the problem, boss?" Joe speaks up. I slap the crumpled paper Elio gave me onto the table, and Rom grabs it. "Fuck!" 

"They know who I am," I state. "They know what he did. They know everything." Deep breaths. Stay calm. 

"You have to live with them?!" Joe yells. My brothers move closer and Oliver grabs the paper out of Roms' hand. 

"Dad put you under their custody? He would never do that?" Noah asks. 

I start to laugh. My fists clench harder. I might have gone crazy at this point. "He would never do that..." I chuckle " He would never do that?!" My voice booms across the room leaving everyone silent. 

"He would never do that to you! But he has done much worse to me and even beyond the grave he still finds a way to make me suffer!" 

Alex steps forward "What do you mean?" 
"I mean he's a terrible person and I'm glad I killed him." Oh shit. Oh shitshitshitshitshit. 

The silence is suffocating. Their faces are drowned with horror as they take in the news. Joe and Rom come up and stand by my side, giving me a little reassurance. If my brothers leave, I will still have them. I will always have them. 

"Why did you do that?" Thomas whispers. Tears threatening to fall from his eyes. 

The look of betrayal on their faces is killing me. 

I take a deep breath, sucking in as much oxygen as possibly possible. "Because he was a criminal and a gigantic asshole of a father. You don't know him. Not like I do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to do." With that, I rush out of the suffocating room not knowing where to go. 

I stop in front of a big metal door, full of dents and rust from all the past trauma it had to witness. 

I step over the threshold and look around. I haven't been here in a long time but still, nothing has changed. The old wooden table is still broken, its missing pieces scattered across the room, along with all the shelves, books, clocks, and other things that I put in here.