209-Dizzy

Brickstone Order

I did my best to ignore the rising anxiety in my chest as I led both the boys up to my room, getting closer and closer to the book that had controlled my life all these years.

As we made our way up the stairs, I began to dry heave badly. Even my stomach wanted to purge the memories.

I felt Ashton at my side in an instant, as he scooped up my hair into his hand, lifting it in case I puked.

"You're really worked up, huh?" He asked softly. I watched Luke run a few paces ahead of us, and when he returned he was holding a trash can.

I gave him a nod of thanks, taking the bin into my hands and opening the bedroom door. One of the boys clicked on the light behind us, and I sat down crisscross on the floor, gesturing for them to join me.

They both obliged and sat across from me, waiting.

"I think..." I paused, debating on if I really wanted to do this to myself. "I think all the boys need to be in here."

"I'll go wake them up." Luke said with no hesitation as he left the room.

I slowly crawled over to the closet and pulled out the bag from earlier, along with the journal that I'd hidden underneath.

"Ashton." I said firmly, after going back to my spot on the floor. "I owe you an apology."

His head shot up, seeming surprised, as he looked to me. "For what, Alice?"

"You were right.." I shrugged, trying to will back my tears. "It was best that I didn't have access to this bag in the hospital. I never should've trusted my parents."

He nodded, but stayed silent, not boasting his victory or anything...

"Do you accept my apology?" I asked, wanting confirmation that he wasn't angry with me, I'd been so rude to him these last few hours.

He shook his head no, causing the nauseous feeling to return, and I immediately grabbed onto the trash can.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, love." He said, as I snapped my gaze up to his eyes. "I don't blame you for anything." His tone was sincere and calm as he spoke.

I never understood how these four men had the ability to be so damn kind... to a total stranger nevertheless.

Soon, Luke and two other, very groggy guys entered the room, all of them sitting on the floor in front of me.

"Fuck yeah... family meeting." Michael cheered quietly, trying to ease the tension in the room, and in turn I broke a smile.

Calum on the other hand, looked like he was going to fall back to sleep in about two seconds, so I grabbed the stuff in front of me, and began to get this shit show on the road.

"So, I want to start off by saying that I love you guys, and I'm very grateful for everything you've done for me over this little time that I've known you."

"We love you too." Luke piped in, almost simultaneously.

"I feel like.. you guys deserve to know what exactly you're getting yourselves into.." I began, taking in a sharp breath.

"As I told Ashton back at our very first session together, I'm from Bellows." They all nodded, signaling that they were following. "For those of you who haven't been down there, it's an itty bitty small town a few miles down the road from Wentser. It consists of a population that's about 3,000 people and just like you hear in all the story's, everyone knows everyone else... but, for a different reason."

I take a breath, in between explaining and pull out the small journal in front of me, turning it toward them so they can see the writing on the front of it.

"Bellows is a cover up town name for the organization that actually works and lives inside of it, called brickstone order."

I look up, carefully gauging each of the guys faces, which all seem to be in deep concentration.

"Everyone that knows of the orders exsistance and is apart of it, is born from a family within it. The only way in is birth and the only way out is death." I shudder as I speak as I'm acknowledging the truth of the situation.

The only way out is death.

"It started as an anti-government protest, a few people moved out there hoping to live off the grid and out of societies reach, but over the last few years it's grown... into something much worse."