𝐒𝐈𝐗 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑➳𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐍✔

THIRTEEN

trigger warning: drug use, violence, suicidal tendencies, and depression.

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flashback: nine years ago (ethan is 17)

ethan arrived back home from work, opening the front door and heading inside. he took of his coat and his shoes, putting them where they belonged.

well, they wouldn't be there for long.

later on in the night, he would be taking the exact same coat along with the shoes and driving over to his friend zach's house.

zach would usually have friends over and they'd snort cocaine, get drunk, and fuck girls.

going to zachs became an everynight thing for ethan and thank god, no one knew about it.

at least that's what he thought.

as it turns out, grayson had found out about ethan's drug habits and had even caught him stealing money from their mom's purse. he couldn't believe his own twin brother could do such a thing nor get involved with drugs.

grayson knew how hard his mom had worked to provide for them and seeing ethan take advantage of that made his blood boil.

he immediately told his mom and dad about ethan and tonight was the night they'd confront him.

so here they sat, waiting for ethan's arrival and eventually it came.

ethan heard voices in the kitchen and put on a fake smile before heading in.

"hey guys," a look of worry washed over ethan's face as everyone stopped talking. "is something wrong or?" lisa stepped forward, taking ethans hands into hers.

"honey we know," ethan pretended to be confused, furrowing his eyebrows and stating a "huh?"

sean sighed, placing his elbows on the table and putting his face into his hands. grayson sat there, never taking his eyes off ethan.

lisa spoke gently to ethan, "honey i know about the drugs and i wan-" ethan jerked his hands away from his mother and gave grayson the nastiest look you could give someone.

he made his way over to gray, who now had stood up, and got in his face.

"you fucking told her didn't you?!" ethan yelled. lisa tried pulling him back, but sean stopped her.

grayson didn't even know what to say, but managed to find something. "ethan i had no choice! you can't live your life like this!" ethan scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"you're my fucking brother! you're supposed to have my back!" grayson backed up, feeling his anger start to rise.

the anger rose and rose, before unexpectedly spurting out of grayson. "supposed to have your back?! what about mom?! dad?! they're busting asses off for a dumb kid who spends his nights being careless and high! you should be ashamed of yourself ethan because guess what? your actions have destroyed this family! i can't even look at you the same ever again and guess whose fault that is? not mine, not moms, not dads, it's yours!" those words felt like a sharp knife had stabbed ethan in the chest.

something in him snapped and he immediately punched grayson directly in the face with every bit of force he had.

grayson fell back and ethan started wailing on him, beating on his face nonstop.

sean bursted out of his seat, yanking ethan off grayson, who was already a bloody mess. lisa ran over to grayson, helping him up and taking him into the bathroom.

sean grabbed ethan by his collar and pushed him against the wall. "what the hell is wrong with you?! i did not raise my son to be a fucking idiot and look at you!" sean's face was beet red with anger and ethan couldn't do anything except cry.

his father let him go, but not before getting some more words in.

"and i want you out of this house! you are no longer welcome here, so go pack your shit and go!" ethan trudged up the stairs, softly whimpering as he headed into his bedroom.

ethan's whimpers turned into sobs as he got his gym bag and started putting clothes into it.

his vision was blurry from all the tears, but he still packed all his stuff up and was ready to leave.

ethan went downstairs, not seeing anyone around, so he put his shoes and his jacket back on and went out the door.

that night, ethan didn't go to zach's house.

instead, his legs took him to his girlfriend anna's house where luckily, her family took him in and let him stay there.

ethan was very thankful for the love and support he'd received from them so at 18, he went to rehab and eventually got clean.

with the paychecks from endless jobs and a bit of help from anna's parents, he and anna moved to la at twenty-two and found a nice, cheap apartment to stay at.

but being so new in a city like that and being unprepared, anna became very stressed and soon fell into a deep depression.

but anna started going to therapy and it was starting to help calm her down a bit but one day, she decided she couldn't take it anymore.

ethan was at work when he'd gotten a phone call that anna had intentionally crashed her car into a tree, killing her instantly.

his heart immediately shattered and from that day on, he wasn't the same.

it wasn't until he met arabella two years later that he finally began feeling a sense of happiness in him. she made ethan forget the sorrow and heartbreak over anna because he needed to get over her.

and he did.

but as for ethan and grayson, ethan never got over grayson's betrayal and never spoke to hum nor his parents ever since that night and he wanted it to stay that way.

grayson, on the other hand, missed his brother so much. he missed having his goofy twin by his side, always making his day better and always being there for him.

he didn't regret telling his parents, but just wished things had turned out way better.