Alley [Interactive]

Ending One: Chapter Two

'People have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn't.' - Christopher Paolini

It's been relentless. Sebastian and I have been on every magazine and online news website for two weeks. Thankfully they haven't brought much else into the articles. They focus on Sebastian, his drug use and virtual disappearance. No one has seen him, heard from him, since the videos came out. I assume he is camping out completely in his office since his businesses have, if anything, done better. Any publicity is good publicity, I guess.

I feel the effects of the publicity too. We've been busier than ever before, and there is a crowd outside of people wanting to come in. In an attempt to get rid of the cameras, I started working again, to give them nothing to speculate about. I do get questions about Sebastian by customers but I just laugh and move onto the next customer, there are plenty to move on to, so why not?

No matter how well things are going, I still stay with Gabriel most nights. I have stayed at everyone else's places but it's at Gabriel's where I feel most at home, and I get the best night's sleep there. Plus, I get to spend time with Roary, and he tends to like me even more than Gabriel most days.

Today however, I spend at my place, cleaning it since it was a little messed up when I first got back and every time I came back it's just got worse. Putting Adrian's sheets away makes something inside me feel better. It's like closing the eternal pot of sadness within me and I feel stable, stable enough to properly move on again.

"Ali?" Santino asks, popping his head in the door. I smile and walk out of the bedroom to greet him.

"Hey Santi." I smile happily at him. "What's up?" I ask, leaning back on my couch.

"There's an article you need to see." He says seriously and sadly at the same time. "You should sit down." He adds.

"Is it about Sebastian? Has he showed his face?" I ask, sliding my hips and flopping down onto the couch.

"No." He says, sitting with me. "It's about Adrian." He says, passing me his phone.

I take the phone in my hands timidly and look at the screen, slowly reading the small words on the screen, scrolling to the end of the article, looking at the pictures they found too. Tears form in my eyes and I sigh, wiping them away. I'm so tired of crying.

"At least it isn't that bad." I say, my voice not much louder than a whisper.

"No, but I thought you needed to see it." He says. I nod quickly and sit back, looking at the ceiling to think.

"I need to make a statement. I can't have anyone changing it into something it's not. I won't let them say anything bad about Adrian. I can't be silent about Adrian. He doesn't have a voice anymore to defend himself." I say seriously.

"Okay, I'll get the guys to come around if you want to start now." He says.

"Yeah, I'll be in the bedroom." I mumble, walking to lie on my bed for a moment, staring at the ceiling as I think about what to write. Adrian's personal business is so personal and should be private, but I have to explain his death so no one gets the wrong idea. He deserves to be remembered properly.

I make bullet points of what to include, what not to include, but not much comes to mind for either. My mind is stuck and it stays like that until Gabriel walks in, sitting with me, putting his hand on my leg with a sigh.

"What do you have so far?" He asks.

"Basically nothing." I say, showing him the two basic bullet points I have. "I can't think of what to say. I have nothing to retaliate to so all I can do is confirm and add fuel to the fire. I don't want to make Adrian's private life public, but I don't want it to continue or have anyone take what has already been published and twist it to making Adrian anything but a good brother." I say clearly.