Broken Souls (Souls #1)

Chapter 13 - Matthews

My mind is still reeling with the information I received yesterday from Nico. Just a few minutes had passed after I left the lunch room on Friday and then I got a text. It said: Hayden is just Destiny's brother.

I stopped in the middle of the hallway after I read the text and stared at it for a few seconds. People didn't bother with me, they just walked around my still body as if I were just a column that was part of the school. The way Hayden and Destiny acted together makes it seem like that they are an item, but I know that Nico wouldn't just tell me this unless he is sure that it was the truth. Nico may be a lot of things - and I mean a lot of things - but he is defiantly not a liar. But just in case, I text him asking where he heard this and he texts back saying that they themselves told him it.

Then there, standing in the middle of the hallway I grinned wide, pocketed my phone and made a plan that second that by the end of the school year I was going to make her mine.

...

Flames begin to eat the car and I scream at it as if it can hear me. I know the words I yell at it are useless, but I do it anyway. Hot salty tears stream down my burning face and flow into a deep gash on my cheek - stinging it. I try to run to the car but strong arms hold me back. I turn to look at the man who is fighting to hold me back as much as I am fighting against him. I come face to face with his chest, covered in the icky yellow firefighter uniform and slap my palms against it. I tilt my head up to look at his face. The tears haven't stopped running out of my red rimmed eyes and I don't bother to wipe them away.

"LET ME GO!" I scream. My throat is raw from screaming non-stop and my voice sounds scratchy. "I need to save her!"

I struggle against his strong arms, kicking and screaming. My slapping has turned to punching.

I stop resisting for a moment and look down at his hand. Without a second thought I clamp my mouth down on his hand and bite him hard. He yanks his hand out of my mouth with a distressed cry bubbling out of his mouth and I bolt for it.

"He got away! Keep him away from the car," the firefighter yells as he runs to catch up with me while nursing his bitten hand.

I don't get far.

Another man grabs me, even stronger than the first and lifts me up in his arms. I fight against him with all my might as I watch the car. The flames have been doused by the water the firemen were directing at it and the heap of metal on the street looks nothing like it had in the beginning.

And neither does the body which is pulled out of it.

Loud banging makes me jerk awake and a startled gasp escapes my lips. I lie on my back in my bed and wait until my breathing and heart rate returns to normal. The whole time I lie there I run the words, it was just a dream, over and over again in my head. Beside me my digital clock reads ten past seven. The banging starts up again and I roll out of my bed, grumbling to myself, and make my way downstairs. I know who it is already before I even open the door. I just wish to myself as I make my way to the front door that he didn't bring his 'other half' with him. I swing the door open and eat up the sigh that wants to spill out. Yes, he did bring her. Unfortunately.

"Why didn't you just open the door using your house key?" I ask.

He throws me his key chain and pushes past me, his clothes reeking of beer.

"There're too many damn keys on there that it woulda took me forever."

I stab a finger in his direction and ask, "Have you been drinking? Are you drunk?" I can never tell straight off the bat if he is or isn't. His words sound slurred even when he's sober.

"Nope."

"Are you sure 'cause you reek of it."

He picks up the collar of his shirt and sniffs it. Then exclaims, "Aye, boy. You're right." He drops the cloth pinched between his fingers and says, "But, I assure you I'm not drunk."

"So you have been drinking! I just asked you and you said no!"

"I did? Huh. Can't remember." He deposits himself on the couch and continues to talk. "Anyway, why do you even care? I've seen you come in this house drunker than a-"

"You drove here! I don't drive whenever I'm impaired. It's dangerous!"

"Honey, listen to your Father," says Lizzie, who is still standing by the open. Her words may sound sweeter than sugar but there is bitterness underlining it. And that bitterness only makes an appearance whenever she speaks to me.

I whirl to face her and spit out, "Don't you dare tell me what to do. You are not my mother!"

A smug look washes over her face and she shoves her left hand near my face and sneers, "Oh, but I am going to be, pretty boy."

My gaze drops to her ring finger on her bony hand and I eye a diamond ring on the finger. My stomach flip flops and I turn to my Dad and curl my hands into fists. I'm on the cusp of losing it.

"Seriously? Her? You're going to marry her?" My voice raises after each word.

My father says nothing. He just reaches for the remote control, turns on the television and flips through the channels. This always happens. Whenever he wants to avoid a conversation he uses the television as an excuse to be too busy.

He wasn't always like this though. He used to be different. But, that was before my Mom passed away.

I toss his key chain on the side table and grab mine. With my keys in a painful grip I storm over to the door. I make sure to shoulder Lizzie on my way out and hiss at her without breaking my stride, "I will never call you mother."

I grab my phone off of the table at the entrance to our house, slam the door when I exit - not even caring in the least that I am still in my pyjamas, unlock the car, start it up and back out of the driveway.

I need to be somewhere where I can just forget that my life has turned into a nightmare.

And I know just where to go.