Beautifully Broken

| 16 |

"They put you to bed?"

A I R A

"The damn ambulance had great timing you know. Just as Xavy's hand went limp, there was a stretcher laid out next to him." I say with my voice dripping heavily with sarcasm.

"What happened to Ashton?" Aiden questioned.

"That son of a bitch fucking escaped. And now nowhere to be found."

We just sit in silence for sometime before I start talking again.

"Guess where my mom and dad had to pick my brother and me from." I ask Aiden.

"From the hospital." He says as he gives me a look saying 'from where else'.

"From the police station." I say smiling.

"What!?" He shouts smiling.

"I told you about the ambulance's perfect timing right? Well, Justin and I were so pissed at them that he threw a punch to the guy laying the stretcher. Soon the driver came out and I punched him. The nurse inside had called the cops and we were taken to the station. My parents had to free the both of us and then all of us headed to the hospital. Best part is neither my mom nor my dad were pissed at us. My dad actually told us that we should have punched them even harder. And just like that, that was the last time we were happy for a long time." I tell him with a small smile.

"What changed then? All you are back to normal now right? Or is it just an act?" He questions.

"A lot changed. But no, it's not an act. We all agreed to the fact that we owed it to Xavy to respect his last wish. At first it was difficult, but now we got used to it."

"What do you mean by 'a lot changed'?"

"Well... you know I street fight right. That got really bad. Both Justin and I had opted to that as a means of coping our brother's death. Xavy was a huge part of our life. And losing him was like losing a part of ouselves. Our parents had started working late hours, Jessy and I started partying and street fighting. All came to a stop when my parents caught us all bruised and drunk doing drugs in our backyard."

"You used to do drugs?" He yells.

"No! That was the first time we did. My parents had come early from their business trip and that's how we got caught. I still wonder how we would have been if our parents hadn't come early that night. My parents didn't yell at us or scold us. They helped us get cleaned and patched up and put us to bed, saying we were having a 'chat' tomorrow."

"They put you to bed!?" He asks chuckling.

"Yeah they did. Just like they used to while we were kids. They even kissed my forehead and I'm pretty sure they would have done the same thing to Justin too. As drunk and stoned I was, I remember everything." I relpy with a small hint of smile.

"So what happened the next day?"

"Then the next day, surprisingly both our parents apologized to us for their absence. They told us that they would be there for us from now and that we would help eachother out to overcome this. But what they didn't know was that while they were miserable, sad, and unhappy, I was also filled with immense guilt. But after that day's 'chat' we stopped partying and fighting. Or so everyone thought. My brother went back to college but I still sought out to fighting. I just wanted to feel something. Something other that guilt and sadness." I tell him looking everywhere but him.

"Where was Kiara when all of this happened?"

"I pushed everyone away including her. I told her so many mean things, called her names, I did everything I could to push her away. But she was so damn stubborn that she kept coming back. She fucking resorted to stalking me too when I didn't tell her where I kept going and appearing with bruises the next day."

"You didn't tell Kiara too that you street fight?" He asks confused.

"No I didn't. She found it out herself during one of the times she was stalking me. But she only confronted me when I came bruised the next time. She cried and asked me to quit doing this to myself. But she didn't understand. No one understood the amount of guilt I was feeling. Only if I had not been acting like a typical horny teenager, Xavy would have been alive today. But I had to be so idiotic and kiss that asshole."

"Hey look here. Xavier's death is not your fault. If Ashton wanted to kill your brother and missed this time, he would have done it someother time. So don't think your guilty of your brother's death. If anyone is to be blamed, it's him. Not you. Okay." He tells me whilst holding my face in his hands and looking directly into my eyes.

I felt so safe and at peace with him holding me that all I wanted to do was hug him tight and never let him go. And so that's what I did. I launched myself at him and hugged him so tight that I was scared he might disappear if I losen my grip even a little bit. I felt him get tensed at first, but then he hugged me just as tight and rubbed slow circles on my exposed back.

I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions. Emotions I never felt for anyone. Not even for Ashton. And that scared me.

I slowly pulled back from him and sat in the place I was sitting before. We sat in silence until when Aiden asked another question.

"That day at the graveyard, you said them and you were staring at two graves. It was not just Xavier who died that night right. Someone else had died that night too. Who was it?"

I thought he wouldn't have caught onto that. But I guess I was wrong. I just sigh and decided to tell him.

"Scarlett Dale."

"What? Ryder has a sister? Wait did you just say Scarlett Dale? Dale as in Ryder Dale and... Ashton Dale!? Holy shit! Those three are siblings?" He starts asking me questions without a seconds gap.

I let out a sigh again and answer him to put him out of his curious misery.

"Yeah. They are all siblings. Blood related."

"Holy fuck." Was his only reply as he waited for me to continue telling him. And here I thought I was more curious one.

*********
Author's note
Hope ya'll liked it.
Luv yous.