My Understandings [ON HOLD/EDITING]

My Understandings: Part 18

Getting Austin out of jail was probably the easiest thing I've ever done. The simple explanation that my dad is a psychopath and abuses me followed by the video on my laptop got Austin out in seconds. A man left with Austin, not as tall but looked similar.

"I'll see you at home. Stay out of trouble ok?" I hear the man say as he starts to walk down the hall. Austin nods and looks over to me and Alan then grabs the man by the shoulders.

"Dad. Come meet my friends." Says Austin with his perfect smile. The man looks over to us and gives us a small awkward wave as thy approach. Austin never seemed to talk about his dad. I didn't know much about him, only that his mother had passed from a heart condition before he moved here.

"Hello." He says with a small smile. He reaches out his hand and we both shake it. "I believe I've met you before. Alan is it?" He asks. Alan nods and takes a small step back.

"Yup. I've been over before. But you were only there for about an hour." Austin's dad nods and looks at him with confusion.

"Oh yeah. I remember you." He says. Alan smiles and nods and Austin faces his dad towards me. "Ah now who's this young lady?" He asks. I blush a little and look at the floor.

"This is Edith." Says Austin with a smile. His dad looks at me with a bit of a confused loom on his face. It seems as if he snaps back into reality and looks at me.

"I knew I've seen you before. I worked with your dad before he went all.... Or was he always like that?" I laugh a little and nod. I feel bad for this guy. Working with my dad? I can only imagine the amount of outbreaks he had there. No wonder his only friends were from prison.

"Nice to meet you guys. But I have to go soon for work so I hope to see you all again." He says with a small nod. He waves goodbye to us and gives Austin a hug. "Stay safe bud." Austin laughs and says goodbye.

"You're dad is nice." I blurt out. Austin nods and we all begin to walk towards the door.

"Thanks guys. I really-" Austin gets cut off.

"Hey! Isn't your dad the one were looking for?" A cop shouts at us from behind his desk. I turn around and nod as I begin to walk over to him. "Well we called the hospital and he's gone and no one knows where he is. So... Be careful kids. Stay indoors." My stomach sinks and I begin to feel sick.

"Thanks officer." Austin replies quickly. We all speed walk out the door and out to the car. I sit in the back seat alone, to think about how much I hate my life. I can't stand always being afraid. I just really want to move away... I have enough money. I don't see any point in staying here. My dad is going to kill me anyway.

We get to Alan's house quickly and run up to his bedroom. I plop down on his bed and bury my face in the pillows, Austin sits next to me and Alan sits on his desk chair. This can't be happening to me there's just no reason it should be. At any moment my dad could just walk up to me and kill me. Then that's it. Game over.

"Alan!" I hear Alan's mom shout from downstairs, I look up at Alan. He looks up at us and then at his stairs.

"This might take awhile...." He says getting up. Austin nods and leans against the wall next to me. I sigh and bury my face back into the pillows. Why is this happening? My dad is surely going to try to kill me, and he's going to succeed this time. Or he's going to kill someone close to me....

I can't even imagine the image of Kat back in that lonely, cold hospital bed. Her body laying there lifelessly . I don't even think I could picture anyone else there. Tino, Phil, Aaron.... The thought of Austin or Alan causes a tear to escape my eyes. What if he kills my mom that I've never met? I can't handle these thoughts. Why do I think like this?

I let go and let my tears flow. I let out a quiet sob and I feel a hand start to rub my back. The fact that he doesn't say anything, that he just sits there and comforts me makes me feel just a little bit better. I sit there and cry for about 5 minutes with Austin rubbing my back. I think I would have cried even longer if he wasn't there...

"What's wrong?" I hear him mumble. I take a final sniff and wipe my eyes clear of tears. I lean up on the wall and rest my head on Austins shoulder. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

"I just hate my life... So much." I let out another tear and I feel his arm wrap around me.

"Don't say that. You have so many people who care about you..." I lean forward and turn to him with more tears rolling down down my cheeks.

"Like who? My mom? She's not here. My dad? Hell no. I put Kat in danger an-" Austin cups my cheek and looks me dead in the eyes. It catches me off guard.

"I care." He whispers. I widen my eyes at this statement and feel the butterflies in my stomach. I knew he somewhat cared about me but we had never been close. He had been growing closer to me ever since the summer began but I never expected anything to happen. I always thought my stupid feelings for him would fade and be nothing more than a memory but this was a whole new world for me. I look towards to floor and feel Austin wiping away my tears.

"Austin... Why do you care so much? I'm such a... weird person."  I look back up at him and he looks me in the eyes.

"Do you realize that I don't care if you're weird? Haven't you noticed that I'm not the most normal person myself? You're the only person who I feel like I can maybe relate with..." He says.

"I just... don't get it." I mumble.

"I think that at some point if you just realize that you aren't the only strange one you can be happy, and I want you to be happy. So please realized that you are not alone. And you never will be." He grabs my hand. "I'll always stick around for you. I know we were never that close but... I don't know. I feel like we could be close or something..."

My heart skips a beat and I look up to see him smiling at the ground. For once I feel like someone other than Alan actually cared about me. But not in a brother/sister way. This was something different that I can't ever remember feeling before. One last tear runs down my cheek and Austin wipes it away, but keep his hand on my cheek. His hands were warm, heating up my face and my hand. He squeezes my hand tighter and looks up at me with a smile. He looks to the ground and starts to lean my direction.

Oh my god. Is this happening? No, this is all a dream. I look up to see him getting closer to me. Nope, not a dream, this is real. I feel his forehead rest against mine and I can feel myself blushing. 

I can't remember the last time I had kissed someone. Sure I had relationships after Alan but for the past year or so I had been alone. I have a problem with letting people get close... Maybe that's why I've been so alone.

I get one final look in the eyes from Austin before I flutter my eyes closed. And that was it. Our lips crashed together and I expected it to be over in a second but it lasts longer than I thought it would. It's a pretty innocent kiss to be honest. I feel him wrap his arms around me, pulling my closer. He loosens his grip and I lean back and our kiss is over.

It wasn't what I ever expected. I used to dream about finally getting the nerve to tell him that I like him and kiss him, but this was a million times better. He looks up at me and smiles.

"I've been holding that in for awhile..." He says with a laugh. He bites his lip and squeezes my hand.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that..." I look down at the floor and Austin lets go of my hand. We sit back against the wall and wait for Alan to return. I feel important to someone. I feel like I matter to someone and it's the best feeling I could ever imagine.

I hear Alan bounding up the stairs, quicker than he usually does. He bursts through the door. "Guys!" We both look up and I can see the look of fear on his face.

"What?" I ask sitting up. Oh what now. Now what's going to ruin my happiness?

"Kat, Phil, Tino, Aaron, and Devon are.... missing..."