The Truth Is.

Chapter 10

ACE

          Nobody ever tells you what to do when bad shit happens. When you're sitting in a dark room, your crying sister beside you, what do you do? Anger is wrong, pity makes them feel worse. Being numb makes you distant, nothing's worse than being nothing for them.

What do you do when your sister is raped?

After confessing, Paige broke down. Her shoulders heaved with ever broken cry. And it ached, her heart hurt, and my world crumbled.

My little sister,

The same one I'd spent my life protecting,

Was raped.

My arms burned, my chest burned, and my head was nothing but goddamn heat.

She wasn't raped. There was no way in hell I'd failed and she was raped.

I looked up, and she was sobbing. My words flew past her, at this point she was somewhere, somewhere no one should ever be.

Her hands ghosted across her arms, and tenderly touched her neck.

I was a failure, again. No matter how strong I get, I'll always be a failure.

For once in my life, I didn't know what to do. I--didn't----fucking---know.

"I don't know what you want me to do." My voice was weak and disgusting. What the fuck was I doing?! She was just raped!

She shook her head. "There's nothing to do, but move on."

"Like hell!" The fire came raging back, tugging on the chords controlling my limbs. I didn't fight it. I threw myself into rage, and fuck was I boiling.

"Who?" I demanded, "Who the fuck though he could get away with this sick shit?"

She flinched back, and I mentally pounded myself.

Why couldn't I control it? I was either weak, or fucking wild.

"N-no."

Ain't no way i heard her right. "What did you say?"

"I said no, you ain't hurting him."

Weight after weight, pressure was building. I needed to hurt him. And she wanted me to let some sick Fuck-o go? I couldn't, it wasn't in my goddamn blood. "Rotasu, cut the crap I'm killing this shit-head."

Too harsh. I knew it the moment I spoke.

Her wide eyes met mine, and she scoffed. Her eyes burned me, the heat had memories bordering on the egde, but I fucking deserved it.

"Cut the crap?" She quoted. Her hands violently wiped tears from her eyes. Crimson tears dripped from her fingertips, and trailed down her cheek.

She wasn't trying to hurt herself. Her hands were ghosts, attacking whatever had been there.

I flinched.

"You're right." She stood. "I'm being over dramatic."

She tried to leave and I caught her wrist. Her body jerked away from me, and marched into her room. The door slammed, and locked.

The moment it locked, I lost my shit; One moment I was standing in our living room, the next I was by my truck, a tire Iron in hand, beating the shit out of it. The metal screamed, and clanged.

What the fuck do I do?

Metal warped. I beat it until the rust broke, until the hinges twisted, until the screaming in my chest would finally stop. It never stopped.

What the fuck do I do?

"Ace, what the fuck man?"

I ignored them. The tires busted, air screamed as it left the tires.

What the fuck do I do?

He tried to wedge the iron from my hands, I didn't relent.

"Man, settle down."

What the fuck do I do?

Two-pick's body heaved with exhaustion. His eyes still squinted from sleep. He ran a hand through his untamed hair, and glared.

"What the hell is this all about?" Clove stepped out, neater than Two-pick. He hadn't slept, the insomnia shone from behind his eyes. He looked at me, the house, and then back to me. "It didn't go too good then?"

"You think?"

WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO?

The tire iron slipped through my loose grip, and landed in Two-picks hands. They seemed relieved. How the fuck could any be relieved right now? Everything I'd ever done was pointless. This house, this car, my goddamn self. What was the point of it all when things still happened. When people were still dicks?

Speaking of dicks, I was gonna chop that fuckers off if it was the last thing I did. Sick Fucks like him didn't deserve them.

"Ace." Clove pushed his glasses up. "What happened?"

I looked over my shoulder at him. I didn't want to know what my face said, how my emotions had betrayed me. I glared away the blur starting in my eyes.

"What the fuck do you want me to say? Everything's fine and dandy Clove, we're getting ready to dress up and have a tea party n' shit!"

"Don't be a dick."

Two-pick handed the iron off to Clove, and faced me. "Just be honest man, we ain't got nothing else."

He sounded defeated, just like I looked.

"She was raped." The words didn't sound like the were mine. Some emotionless robot had taken over, and now maneuvered through my body. "Some fuck raped her at the party."

Shock the same as mine filled their features. Clove wasn't an angry guy, if anything he always kept his cool. Now his face was wide, mouth dropping and eyebrows stretchin' like a horse. Then it hardened in a way I hardly saw.

Rotasu wasn't only my sister. The Dawson twins were our brothers, and like brothers they hurt just the same.

"What're we gonna do?" Clove rubbed his face.

Two-pick had a knee-jerk reaction. Whenever the stress was too much, he'd whip out a pack and smoke until he couldn't breathe. He was supposed to be bad-ass, but there's nothing bad-ass about killing yourself.

I accept a smoke when he offered it.

Inhale.

The buzz in my mind settled to a dull cloud. The heat filled my lungs, burning and scorching them. Everything built up, everything burned,

Exhale.

Numb, all I felt was numb.

The Dawsons looked as lost as I had. They were watching me, waiting for the same revelation I pretended to have. My answer was simple, "We kill him."