School was a dull symphony of loud chatter that blended together into unintelligible droning. Not like Mitch cared much for what others were saying as he spent the day lost in his own mind trying to sort his thoughts. His body was still feeling heavy from the lack of sleep along with the lack of an energy drink as his stock had run dry.

There was so much information to take in, and very little time to process it all. Jasper had refused to elaborate on his last statement in the argument and the rest of the car ride was just an awkward and quite angry silence.

Taking his seat in class, he stared blankly at the board as he let his mind wander. Drowsiness overtook him mostly at the moment, but he couldn't stop thinking about those words that echoed through his mind “You aren't as useful as I am to them.”

“Is a therapist really that useful?” he thought, but that could only be followed by “But what did he even mean by that.”

Class would pass in what felt like the blink of an eye, thinking far too much on things he can't even hope to get answers on right now.

Over lunch he had gotten a text, Jasper saying to come to the manor after school as he usually would. “Not even a ‘sorry’...” he mumbled as he read the message. Checking on the group once he was done with Jasper's message, finding they had been posting non stop through the night, a few messages tagged him specifically with messages such as “@Mitch Where are you!?” and “@Mitch did u go home?”

Though he usually ignored being tagged and didn't even post into the chat often, this was an exception. Quickly typing up a response he sent “Sorry guys, some stuff came up back home and I had to head early with Jasp.”

With that sent, he returned to staring at the lunch he had packed for himself, just a sandwich and drink that at the moment was just unappealing. The thought of eating at the moment not sitting well in his stomach. “Could really use a boost...” He grumbled to no one in particular as he stared at his drink bottle that he had often filled with the potion after late nights, today just filled with water.

Part of him was somewhat happy he didn't have any, since it was an addictive thing being able to stay up until 6AM and run on two hours of sleep on a school day. Apparently it also prevented growth in the teenage years which was a rumour he had heard from jokes about a rather short student in the weekend classes.

After his brief moment of thinking about the potion, his mind was back to the thoughts that had been plaguing him since last night, and one that had been on his mind for a few days. “I wonder what she'll say...” Mitch mumbled as he buried his face into his hands.

Though he had spent a lot of time ignoring the booming chatter around him today it was hard to ignore in the lunch room where it was amplified by the amount of students sitting around him.

There was the general chatter of the football match that had happened the night prior, or a TV series everyone was interested in, but one stood out in particular.

“Did you read the posts on P. Normal's blog?” It had begun through some hushed laughing at the table next to him.

“That shit’s just a bunch of paranoid nonsense.” One of the girls replied.

“He had pictures this time!” The first one responded.

“It’s easy to fake pictures.”

“I swear this one is real!”

It was around here the conversation devolved back into other topics and Mitch returned to his own thoughts. P. Normal was a name he had heard before, some guy online that goes to “supposed haunted buildings” and searches for any evidence of the paranormal.

He was often just making up nonsense and sometimes had visited areas the family had actually exorcised already so he was doing no real harm other than making the world think ghosts and goblins were fake, which was beneficial in the end.

Thinking about what he did led him back to talking to Rin last night. “Those who have this power, and refuse to join us must be… dealt with.” echoed through his mind, which would eventually trail on to what Jasper shouted in the car “Because they would kill you! You aren't as useful as I am to them!”

He still didn’t get any answers out of him, and all it achieved was giving him more questions. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to go to Jaspers after all this and face what he had started.

The rest of the school day passed at a snail's pace compared to the first half as Mitch had to battle with these thoughts, his gut wrenching the whole time making him feel rather queasy from time to time but he toughed it out for the rest of the remaining classes.

Though he had thought of just running off and not returning a few times through his last class, he had eventually come to the decision to go to Jaspers and face the music.

He walked the streets rather nervously thinking about what was going to happen. Once again he was overthinking a situation before it had even begun. “I hold her life in my hands…” He thought, but it was harder to accept as he had to think about the inevitable fight he was going to have with Jasper.

When he approached the manor he found the gates were opening already which was rather confusing, not exactly sure how they knew he was there.

Though his confusion was soon met with the honking of a car horn that made him jump in shock, followed by the loud, thunderous laughter of Jasper who was turning in from the street with Sophia in the passengers' side.

“Dick!” Mitch shouted at him as they pulled up. That simple interaction was enough to annoy him further, feeling that he wasn’t taking any of this seriously. On another hand it made it feel like perhaps this fight could be avoided. He quickly followed through the gate before it had closed to save them the trouble of opening it again.

Sophia stepped out of the car and walked to the boot that would pop open “Care to give us a hand?” She asked, the trunk being full of bags of groceries.

“Yeah, no bother.” he responded, grabbing as many as he could carry in one run which would have been four. He took them into the kitchen where he left them on the table to help grab some more.

Once they were all laid across the counter in the middle of the kitchen Sophia asked “Can I trust you two to put these away?”

The two shared a brief glance for a moment, Jasper nodding and saying “Of course you can.”

Through the sound of plastic bags being unpacked she remained. Deep in thought she eventually said “I don’t like seeing you goofballs like this. Be sure to talk about whatever it is before I get back.”

Neither had time to respond to the blunt statement before she was swiftly through the door, followed by the sound of a loud click that spoke a lot louder. ”You are not allowed out until you do,” it screamed.

The silence resumed with the echo of the click, neither knew how to approach the topic. The sound of jars being placed on the shelves or the fridge being filled kept it from being unbearable.

After some time, Mitch was ready to pry and bite the bullet but Jasper sighed loudly before he did.

Turning to look at him, Jasper kept his back facing him but eventually began to speak. “I had my reasons…”

Mitch took a moment to ponder his reply, now wasn’t the time to let his emotions get the best of him. “Lying to me about something this important… Not sure there is a good excuse for it.”

“My reasoning may not be ‘good enough’ for you, but they are what colour my decisions.” Jasper replied in a matter of fact tone.

A few more cans went into the lower cupboard and Mitch had remained silent. Jasper took that as his signal to continue. “I had three reasons in total. Whether or not you see them as valid is not my decision.” Picking up the large bag that seemed to be full of vegetables and meats he continued, reaching in to pull out each bag, sack, and container. “The first was I didn’t think you were ready for such a truth. It is not something to be taken lightly.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Seeing Mitch wanted to immediately defend himself he held a hand up to silence his protest. “Let me finish first.” He sternly added. “The second was that I didn’t want you to gain a negative view of the family before you had a chance to learn more about it and learn that some things need to be done.”

“Too late for that one…” Mitch grumbled. The austere look caused him to hush once more, holding his hands up defensively. “Fine, fine, I’ll be quiet…”

The last one seemed to be the heaviest as Jasper took some time to compose himself before he said “I don’t know if I was ready to tell you. I have made my fair share of mistakes at your age and I see a lot of myself in you.” His eyes trailed off to the door as he spoke.

The simple glance as he spoke was louder than any explanation could be. Wanting to probe deeper Mitch saw the look on Jasper's face and simply nodded for now.

“I’m tired of being left in the dark…” Mitch finally responded when it seemed he was done. “I am always stuck in the middle. I am always confused when things happen. I am always treated like a child, with the responsibility of an adult.”

Jasper froze in place, clutching the tin of soup to the point it buckled and slightly dented. “I wish I could just tell you everything, Mitchell… I am just not ready.”

It was hard to come with a solid argument against it, as much as he wanted to. Placing the last of his side of the groceries away he said “I’m sorry. I am just not ready to forgive you, even if I have context to your choice.”

Jasper needed some time to process it but when he did he nodded. Closing over the cupboard and turning to face him he said “I understand. I won't ask you for it but I ask you to still work like a professional.”

“Sounds like you want to segway into the job for tonight.” Mitch responded. It was best he let Jasper explain the rest when he was well and ready. Though that didn’t mean his mind was off of what Rin had said to him, or the fact that the family consistently operated under such sick rules. Treating common folk as livestock that needed to be culled if they got too rowdy. It was a sickening thought and went against the core belief that he had been raised to believe, ‘The family exists to protect and serve the comms.’ written cleanly on the inside of his notebook.

His musings were eventually cut off by Jasper confirming what he had thought the job for tonight would be. “We are heading back to the hospital to get her response.”

He seemed to judge Mitch’s reaction, which was that of fear. Of course he was afraid, her life was in their hands and it was his fault. Before Jasper had a chance to offer to go alone, Mitch said “When are we going?” Cutting him off as he opened his mouth.

Jasper didn’t protest and nodded “We will be going come eleven. You have time to rest up and do what you need upstairs.”

“Well, when I am allowed to leave that is.” He responded, trying to joke though his tone was still stuck in ‘serious mode.’

Jasper dug through his pockets and eventually pulled out his own keys “You think I would live here and not have my own?” He chuckled.

“So the lock was just for me?” He grunted, leaving through the soon unlocked door into the hall.

“Oh no, I know what I would get if I unlocked it before we had a proper conversation.” Jasper laughed. “Do try to get some rest.”

Mitch still contained anger from the events, though most of it was directed towards Rin. Small amounts were still towards Jasper but with his theory of what happened it was hard to keep everything pressed against him.

As he was ascending the stairs he caught Sophia out of the corner of his eye beckoning for Jasper to follow her into her art room.

They never had let him see inside, which he could understand since Sophia seemed to be quite a bashful person with her creations. Seeing the two enter and hearing the door lock he returned to his room.

Spending his time doing homework and catching up on studying, the hours flew by until he was left sitting at his desk with a small lamp lighting the table and a small section of the room. Using the study to take his mind off of what had happened he was deep in the textbook, so when Jasper approached his room he didn’t hear.

The booming knock was enough to cause him to almost toss his book across the table with a loud yelp. He could hear the laughter on the other side of the door, followed by “I take it you are in there then.”

“Could you knock any louder?” Mitch responded in annoyance. Placing the book away and walking over to open the door.

“I could if I wanted to.” Jasper replied with a sad grin across his face. “May I enter?”

It was an odd request, Jasper never asked to come into his room before as he often referred to it as Mitch’s safe haven he had to himself growing up.

“Sure, come in.” He replied. Stepping backwards and taking a seat on the bed.

Jasper slowly entered and took a seat on the chair he used for studying. “So I spent some time talking with your grandmother. She wants me to tell you everything that happened.”

“You sure you want to?” Mitch asked. With such a question he felt that he was the concerned adult here.

“Whether I want to or not, you deserve to know.” Jasper responded. “I would have preferred to never talk about this again.”

He took a few moments to compose himself, leaning forward in a slouched posture to rest his elbows atop his knees. “You are a smart kid. I imagine you have an inkling of what happened. I saw how your face changed earlier. This is about myself and Sophia in our youth.”

Mitch nodded along and sat back further onto the bed to press his back against the wall for comfort. “When you said you saw yourself in me, was it because you did something stupid with her, is that why we are the black sheep of the family?”

“One of the black sheep, yes.” Jasper responded solemnly. “In our youth I worked at an asylum when I graduated from college. It was a position the family needed me to fill. As you can imagine, having someone in an asylum is the best way to ensure those who are incarcerated for insanity are given the choice if they genuinely can see spirits.”

Mitch nodded along with his story. It sounded like an awful fate to be incarcerated for something you could genuinely see. Though in that situation perhaps he wouldn’t need to kill them if they were already viewed as insane.

“Was nan one of those in the facility?” Mitch asked.

“She was, yes. She was placed into the facility by her family for severe schizophrenia. Visual and auditory hallucinations. Of course no one believed her for what she saw. Why would they?” Jasper asked.

“It started about a week after I began working there. I had her scheduled for a one on one session on the behalf of the family. A routine inspection at the time due to her suspicious symptoms. When I sat her down it began with some generic probing and questioning. This lasted for a few days until I was certain she was able to see spirits.”

Jasper fell silent for a few moments, it was clear that Sophia was waiting outside the door with the occasional shuffling. They decided not to draw attention to her and Jasper continued his story. “We spent a long time together. She was a lovely person, but she was also weak from sickness... She wouldn’t have survived the work the family would have put her through.”

Mitch could tell where the story was going next, leaning forward as Jasper continued, “I reported her as inconclusive and continued my investigation. I used this time to get to know her, and her history more. Until ultimately… in my naive youth… I thought I could get away with breaking the most sacred rule within the family. I took her into another meeting and this time I poured my heart out to her. I told her everything.”

Jasper fell silent, staring into the floor with pain behind his eyes. “The consequences of my actions led to the decline of our household. I showed Sophia the magic that we wielded. I took her and signed off that she was fit to return to her family… They knew, they conducted their own research with other members and waited for me to act. When we tried to flee the country it was only an hour before they found us.”

That fidgeting at the door had slowly faded with the sound of Sophia trying to quietly move away as the conversation began to come to a close and Jasper finished his story. “I was put on trial. Everyone demanded that we suffer the consequences for breaking the core rule of the family. Death. Rin however, a dear friend of my father, and mine at the time, saw a way to salvage this situation. His ruling wasn’t the end all of everything but he was able to convince the majority to back his decision.”

Mitch finally spoke up during the story to ask him “And what was his decision?” giving him some breathing room to take a pause.

Leaning back off of his knees he stood and walked to the window to stare out into the darkened sky. “That I would be branded a black sheep, I would take all the jobs no one else wanted to do and would act as the resident therapist for those in need within the family free of charge. If I ever broke a single rule again, any at all, I would be put to death and Sophia's actions would reflect on me… In the end I saved her from working for the family in her weakened state, but it cost the integrity of my entire household and eventually led to us becoming old, and alone… until you came along.”

“So it hurt more when my father was born and didn’t have the gift?” Mitch asked solemnly, standing from the bed to move behind him.

“It hurt more than any physical wound I have received in this line of work…” He replied, looking back at him with near tears in his eyes. “Everything from then fell apart. My family members moved on, relocated, or simply… passed away.”

It explained all the empty rooms with placards still named on them, along with the lack of anybody else over his years living here. It felt far too odd that they would all have passed away without children, but moving on to another sect because of Jasper’s actions made sense.

He didn’t have much time to respond seeing as Jasper pushed past him while he was lost in his musings. “Get ready. It is time to finish what we started and get an answer.”

Within a moment, he was gone. Leaving Mitch alone in his darkened room to chew on the story he had been told. “Never mind that for now” he thought, Lara was a much more important issue.