HIDDEN (Hide Or Die)

Chapter 40

KYLE'S P.O.V.

One of the most active aspects of myself that I rarely considered to be a good thing was my ears. Whether I liked it or not, they always picked up on everything. Whatever it was, I definitely heard it, even if it was as ridiculous as a pin dropping in the middle of a highway.

As a result, I always unintentionally eavesdropped and ended up hearing things I didn't need to know or would have been better off not knowing. It had constantly been a tug between a blessing and a curse, and so, as I looked down at my cute boyish blue-haired friend sleeping quietly wrapped up in my arms and wings, I couldn't yet again tell which was which.

"My...my...parents...disowned me."

I honestly had no intention of listening. I never wanted to invade their privacy. So I tried really hard to block them out, but with such a small space between us and me being unable to leave the room because, let's face it, no matter where I hid in that house, I would still have heard them, it was truly difficult to build any barrier strong enough to save me from the inevitability of being a forever certified eavesdropper, but that sad knowledge didn't stop me from trying, and dare I say I was slowly succeeding until those stammered-out words crashed down my weak defenses like a determined bulldozer and knocked the wind out of my lungs.

And just when I thought nothing could get any worse, he added:

"That's why they didn't show up when your parents tried to get them to visit me, why I've been living on the streets for the past seven months, and why my mother didn't say anything or lend a helping hand when she saw Julian and his friends drag me off into the woods that horrible day that my little silver of hope in life came to an end."

It was the final blow that completely shattered my heart.

Just the mere thought of something so cruel happening to a boy so kind, sweet, and cheerful made my soul tremble with a rage so strong that my demon demanded to be set free, and I wasn't planning on holding him back. After what I'd heard, there was nothing in the universe that could stop me from ensuring that his parents, especially his mother, felt genuine pain, the kind that never went away.

For the love of God, what kind of imbeciles disowned a gem like Albert?! It was truly unbelievable.

I never liked Julian since the first time I set my eyes on him. I had no idea what Albert saw in him to begin with but I knew one thing for certain that he did turn into a huge problem to Albert in the long run; and judging by the sweet boy's current state, it was undoubtedly clear that I was unfortunately right. And although I couldn't tell what Albert meant when he said Julian 'dragged him into the woods,' something about the tone of his voice and the way his eyes clouded made my skin crawl with fear. Something told me that if I ever found out what Julian did, I would definitely go insane and nothing and no one would be strong enough to stop my rampage. That thought alone terrified me.

Gosh, I wanted to scream, throw caution to the wind, and haunt down every single person who had hurt him. I wanted to wake him up and demand to know what Julian had done to him, and I wanted to be the judge, prosecutor, and executioner of each offender. Finally, I wanted to wrap him in bubble wrap and never expose him to harm again.

I could never fully explain how I was feeling at that moment but if I had to describe it in one word, it would have been "territorial."

I always thought that kind of feeling was reserved only for Andrew and Ma, but as I stared at Albert I could feel it rising and falling in me like strong waves upon the shore. The feeling was so intense that I suddenly felt like crying my heart out.

I wanted to take his pain away and most of all I wanted to see him smile as brightly as the first time we met.

I had so many questions. I wanted to know everything. What did he mean when he said Matthew's parents were attempting to get his parents to visit him? Why did he need to be visited? Why were Matthew's parents the ones asking? And how did he end up with Matthew and his parents in the first place? My head hurt just thinking about the scenarios that had led up to that point, and I had a gut feeling that when I found out, it would be something more terrifying than a curse.