One Road

Chapter 18

I'm frozen in the doorway.

I don't quite know if he's changed or not. His face is the same - the grey-blue eyes, the thin lipped mouth. Maybe he has more wrinkles. Or maybe I just want to think that something looks different - that something looks worse - just so I can feel satisfied. No such feeling comes.

He has a long sleeved, button-up grey shirt on, rolled up to his elbows, and smart black trousers. His shoes are unnecessarily shiny, like he used a half a tin of shoe shiner on each, and his greying brown hair is ridiculously perfect as it's slicked back neatly. He hasn't gained weight or anything that makes him look morbid and different - it seems he wasn't the one who ate his feelings in this family after he left.

It takes me a moment to notice that my mother's hand is hovering on my arm nervously. I brush it away as I turn and walk out of the door with James following closely behind. His hand lands protectively on my back, ushering me out of the living room with gentle nudges that I don't really need.

"Briana, James, come back here you two!" Our mother calls after us. Of course she's the one who calls after us, not like our "father" is going to try and stop us.

I feel James pause from behind me, causing me to turn around and glare at him as we make it outside of the house.

"We're not staying." I hiss through my teeth, death glaring at him.

"He's here. For the first time in years he's hear Bri. Don't you at least want to hear him out?" James asks quietly without quite meeting my eyes.

"No." I hiss again. "You said it yourself James, for the first time in years. He's coming now after we've grown up. Now that we don't need him any more."

My brother runs a hand through his messy brown hair nervously. It's the same kind of gesture he does when he sees Jess, except now he's got an expression of worry instead of nervous giddiness - or nervous stupidity in some cases.

I raise an eyebrow at him, forcing his eyes to meet my dagger like ones. "If we go now," I say slowly. "We can still drive away and pretend nothing happened. I can go and stay with Jess and you can crash at one of your friends' for the night."

"Couldn't we both stay at Jess' house?" He asks innocently. "He has a brother in the year below you who I could stay with."

My eyes burn into his. "That poor kid looks up to you like mad. You can't confuse him by staying in his room when all you want to do is bang his sister - my best friend . Which I will not allow, by the way."

"Well-" James starts. But before he can finish the door opens behind me and Edward steps out, causing James and I to freeze.

"I see you kids aren't keen to see your old dad." He says, smiling though his eyes remain cold.

"We're not kids, though of course you wouldn't know that since you weren't here." I state coldly. "And if you happen to see our dad, we'd love to know, because I can't see him here anywhere."

James stands strong beside me - eyes boring into our father's and lips set tight.

"I thought you'd be more happy to see me." Edward raises his eyebrow slightly as though he's surprised.

"Well, see; maybe we would be if you had been here for us, or if you were different, but you're not. You're one of those dead beat dads that everyone can live without and actually has to. To be perfectly honest, we could easily forget you because we don't need you. And because you're you - a selfish, gutless little man - you've come here now to try and crawl back into our lives when we are fine without you because, as I said before: We. Don't. Need. You." James spits out. His face is full of a mixture of distaste and disgust which I'm sure is probably mirrored in my own face.

"I've come here to do no such thing." He replies coolly.

Hatred and rage boils in my blood. "Right, you're not crawling back to us because you don't care. Or maybe it's because you're too damn proud. Probably both." I meet his eyes with every ounce of hatred I can possibly muster. "But you know what, I really don't care."

Edward smiles emotionlessly. "Please." He scoffs. "If you didn't care you wouldn't be running away now. If you didn't care you wouldn't be here wasting your time and energy on telling me how much you don't care, when it's quite obvious that you do. If you don't care so much then you should prove it instead of wasting your time throwing a tantrum like a little baby."

Finally, James does what I've been wanting to do for a very long time. What we've both quite obviously been wanting to do. He swings his fist and smashes it into our dad's face with enough force to slam him down on to the floor.

His nose is bloody, obviously broken, and one of his teeth seems to have come out and dropped on to the ground with some drops of blood. Edward tries to stand up but can't manage it as he holds one of his hands up to his face in extreme agony. Just then our mother comes through the front door and gasps, letting out a shriek.

"Is that enough proof?" James quietly says to our estranged father, voice full of spite and hatred.

She stares at both of us in shock as James grabs my arm and pulls me away towards the car, grip tight upon me. He clumsily hands me the key before getting into the passenger's seat. Once I've pulled away from the driveway and we're out of view from the house, James slams his hands on the front of the glove compartment with his eyes scrunched up in pain.

"Fuck, fuck, fucking shit." He mutters under his breath. "That hurt a hell of a lot more than I thought it would."

"If it's anything," I reply, for once smiling at my brother with pride. "I think it hurt him a lot more than it hurt you."

After a while of driving in silence I pull over and fish my phone out from my bag, searching for comfort with the one person I know I can.

Me: Can we come and stay at your house for a while?

Jess: Yes, of course. Who's the we?

Me: James and I. He can stay in your brother's room if that's okay with him.

Jess: Of course it'll be okay with him, you know how he idolizes your brother.

Me: Are you sure it's okay for us to stay over?

Jess: It's always okay for you to stay over. This place is welcome to you (both of you) any time, even if I'm not here. Plus Mum and Dad love seeing you Bri, you know that.

I smile tiredly as I read the message from my sweet best friend.

Me: Thanks babs.

Jess: What happened at your Mum's anyway?

Me: Let's just say that we got living proof that Scenario 6 isn't true.

Jess: You poor baby. Come right over.

I put my phone away in my pocket and glance over at James who is massaging his sore and already bruising knuckles. "Re-belt yourself in, I'm going to drive again now."

He glances at me as he buckles up and I start to drive down the street. "Where are we going?"

"To one of the best places on Earth, and our new sanctuary."

"Jess's house?"

"Jess's house."