Twenty Øne Reasons to Live

Chapter Twenty-Twø

Tyler's Point of View

Josh and I stood in bewilderment as we watched two policemen take Rider into custody. They seemed to know him by name, which honestly by now doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

I mean, I am not one to give up on people, and I believe that nobody is "too far gone" out of redemption's reach, but Rider is just one bad apple. How did Kirsten ever get involved with someone like him? Maybe he wasn't always like this. A while back, he was just a sweet little newborn baby, freshly thrown into a world overcome by sin and darkness.

Josh's face was pale and he looked ill. He was worried for Kit, no doubt. As was I, mostly because of her deep connection with Rider, but she also hung up on Josh upon hearing the news. We were both scared of what she might do now. But I guess right now we just have to have a little faith in her.

The policemen tugged Rider up to us, holding him by the arms, and he gave us some pretty nasty looks. They asked if we knew him, and we both nodded. "Well, sort of," Josh added.

I took a small step forward and whispered, "Hey you alright bud?"
Then he spit on my shoe, and the men shoved him into the back of a cop car while telling him enough was enough.

"Oookay, then..." I said, turning towards Josh who chuckled a little.

"You think he'll be bailed out?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't think he's older than eighteen, so yeah."

"Wait, who's going to bail him out?"

"His Mom or Dad, I guess?"

"Brian..." Josh said, clearly more to himself than to me. "Oh no. Let's go!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to our bus saying, "Call Kirsten, call Kirsten!"

We jumped on, and started moving when I clicked on her contact, but was sent straight to voicemail, and we sighed.

"Who's Brian?" I asked.

"I don't know but when I told Kit someone else found him before we did, she told me to tell 'Brian' not to touch Rider, so I can only guess that's his Dad."

"Why would you guess that?"

"Because his dad abused him growing up."

I frowned. "That explains a lot."

He nodded. "Still, Kit doesn't deserve getting beaten up for that..."

Thinking about everything, I spoke up, "Well, you know Josh, you and me don't exactly know everything about Kirsten. Do you think it's possible she did something horrible to him and this is his twisted way of getting back at her?"

From the moment I finished, I knew that I had made a mistake. Josh was red in the face, staring at me like I had just shot a kitten or something. It was just a thought. Maybe Kirsten wasn't completely innocent in this, I mean, what if she isn't who we think she is? All I'm saying is that it's possible. That's it. Maybe not likely, but it's most definitely possible.

"She has never done anything to deserve what he does to her. I can't believe you'd even suggest that. Kirsten is the victim of that little devil's sick mind, she did nothing!"

"Josh-"

"She didn't do anything, Tyler! Shut the heck up, okay?!"

I swallowed, composed myself, and then nodded. "Okay. Subject dropped." He began to tear up, and I saw his adams apple bob, fighting it off. "Josh, does she still remind you of me?"

"So much," he choked out.

"But you know I'm fine, right?" he didn't respond. He didn't look at me. "Right?"