We sat in silence for a while. I was in deep thought, trying to find each piece to the puzzle. While Zack just messed around with his bandages for awhile. Eventually, Zack's small attention span got to him, and he decided to leave. I moved to my couch/bed, and kept thinking about this. I was really in the dark here. I had no idea what to make of it, I sat there lost in my thoughts most of the day. I was wondering if more gang members would show up now. Or if whatever was messing with us was manipulating the whole thing. I ended up with more questions than answers as the day went on. Soon Lux came home and I decided to take a break from over thinking. As I got up to say hi, she screamed. I had almost completely forgotten about my wounds...

"Stryder! What happened to your face!" she shrieked.

She ran over to me, dropping her backpack. I could see the worry and concern in her eyes as she looked me over. She reminded me so much of Mom. I remember when Mom used to clean my scrapes and bruises, she would always tell me I was a wild child. I smiled a little thinking about it.

“My bad, sis..” I said softly

“What happened!” she demanded.

I explained to her what happened with the gang and Zack, minus the molotov fire and the angel. I told her we beat them up and they ran off basically. Needless to say, Lux wasn't pleased. She looked me over and fixed me up some more. She was going to college to be a doctor, so she knew a thing or two about how to fix me up the right way (apparently I had done a crappy job.)

"Lucky I wasn't there. I'd bust a cap in the-"

"We can take care of ourselves, Lux."

"I know, I know, but they're messing with my boys! I got my pistol under my bed, Stryder. Remember that."

Before I could reply, we were both stopped by uncontrollable laughter coming from behind us. We both turned to see our dad, surprisingly looking pretty sober. My dad was tall and a bit chubby. There was barely any hair left on his head, and he had the look of a man who had just woken up from a nap. For the first time in awhile, I saw him laughing and smiling. It kind of put me at ease to see him smiling. It had been so long.

"Oh, look at the old cursed child getting into fights again," he chimed cheerfully.

"Shut it Dad. You're drunk!" Lux fired back at him.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Still taking up for that kid? All he's done is cause issues for us. What one thing has he done for this house? I pay the damn bills around here."

"I said shut up! You're drunk," Lux yelled again.

"I'm perfectly sober. Don't make up lies so that cursed boy will feel better. He's destined to ruin lives. He's nothing but dead weight and it's about time someone told him the truth. That's why Serena's dead! Because of him!"

I couldn't take it anymore. It felt like there was a fire building up inside me, growing more wild with each word that came out of his mouth. I was done holding back the flames within me. I wanted to let it out.

"I don't need you to believe in me, all right! I know I'm useless! I know I'm good for nothing! And I know I killed Mom that night! But-but!" I could barely keep talking. My heart was racing and my hands were in fists, trying to keep my shaking body still, but I managed to push the words out. "But I will make it up to her!"

All he did was laugh at me again, even harder than before. "Boy, you're trash, always have been and always will be."

Before I could even process what he said, Lux ran up and punched my dad in the face. He stumbled back and fell against the counter. Lux stared at Dad and he stared back at her, rubbing his face in disbelief, leaning against the sink. We all just stood there in silence. I could see the shock and confusion in her eyes as she looked down at her fist. I wanted to say something, anything, but the words just wouldn't come out.

"You see, what’d I tell you. You always start trouble." He groaned as he turned away to walk to his room.

I stayed still, letting his words really hit me. He was right. He was always right about me. I was cursed.

"I'm, I'm sorry," I said.

I tried to hold back my tears as I ran to our window. Before Lux could question me, I climbed through our window and got onto our fire escape, and ran down the stairs. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't care either. I just needed to get away. I kept running and running until I couldn't run anymore, and found myself in some type of park. I didn't even notice, but the clouds were filling the sky. It was gonna rain, and I was too tired to go anywhere else.

I felt so weak on the inside, like I was crumbling away piece by piece.

"Everything is my fault," I said to myself softly.

I was the reason Dad started drinking. I was the reason Lux couldn't enjoy her college years. I was the reason Alexis couldn't be happy with Zack. I was the reason everyone's lives were miserable. All I wanted was to see people smile. I should just disappear. If I wasn't around, everyone could be so much happier.