Overdose

48. The Executioner

Going back to Elbridge proved to be a bad idea. Rachel had made me think about the things I had done, the things I was trying to forget. I knew that it would never happen, being able to forget the things I did in The Facility, but I was trying my hardest to not think about it.

My mother didn't look at me differently. I knew that Yvonne had told her about me and what went on, but she still saw me as the same person I was before I got taken. She talked to me as if I had never left.

Nathaniel was, surprisingly, seeming to make some friends. I don't know what he was up to, but the way that he was able to talk to people seemed...unnatural. When he was with me, he was cold and quiet. Also, he was quite sadistic. The conversation about my parents wasn't brought up, but that warned me enough to be careful what I said around him.

Yvonne, once again, was avoiding me. The last time she had stopped talking to me was when I asked her to join staff.

I had been spending a lot of time with my brother, learning about everything that had happened while I was in The Facility. He had told me about a girlfriend he had gotten after dad died, Bethany, and how they had broken up because she didn't like that he smoked. For two months after our dad died, Mom didn't talk to anybody. Not even him. He said that every time he said my name, she cried. He told me that Kieran stuck with him, how he didn't know where he would be without him. He told me that he was mad at me for a while, mad that I left him.

I felt guilty listening to him talk. He had every right to be mad at me.

"What did you do while in The Facility?" He asked. Before I said anything, he stopped me. "Besides all the...you know...torturing."

Hearing Tristan say it hurt a lot more than hearing Rachel say it.

"Well, I learned how to fight." It was the only slightly positive thing I could think to say.

"Oh, cool." Tristan said after a moment of silence. He shifted uncomfortably on the couch, looking at anything but me. "That sounds...fun."

"It wasn't." I snapped. Tristan leaned back, raising his hands.

"No need to get mad. I was just trying to keep our conversation going." He stood up. "Well, I think I'm gonna go to Kieran's house."

"And smoke?" I asked. It slightly annoyed me, seeing my brother waste his time with drugs. He had so much potential.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"You shouldn't be wasting your time with drugs when you could do something important."

Tristan scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."

"Look, you're my brother, and I just don't want to see you throw your life away."

"Well I didn't want to see you end yours!" He yelled. He grabbed his keys and slammed the door behind him.

I heard a noise behind me, and turned around to see Nathaniel standing there. His right cane had hit the wall he was leaning on. His right hand lightly holding the cane while his left smoothed out his shirt.

"Do you need something?" He shook his head.

"I couldn't imagine having a sibling who talked to me like that. Some people just don't understand when someone else is trying to help them." He slowly walked to the couch across from me and sat down.

"Do not talk about my brother."

"I am simply just stating my opinion. Unless that is not allowed." Nathaniel crossed his left leg over his left, and set his cane against the couch.