Blood.
Blood on the floor.
Blood on the walls.
Three dead chidren.
Two dead men.
will this pain ever end?
"ugghhhhh! why do we have to get up so early?" Rigby was off to his usual morning complaning. Mordecai just sighed and rolled his eye's. "dude we're running late."
"what!" Rigby yelped. If they were late yet again Benson might actually kill them. Rigby dashed out the door. "hey Benson sorry we're late we just got a little caught, so don't worry it won't happen agai-" he cut-off sharply when he saw what awaited them on the door step.
sitting there, looking like it was the most natural thing in the world, was Jeremy and Chad.
"nuh-uh! No way! You are not working here as long as me and Mordecai are here!" Rigby cried. "which might not be much longer" Benson growled. Rigby gulped. When Benson used that tone, it meant nothing good.
"Since when do you two listen to screamo?" Mordecai asked disbelievingly. sure enough, the Jeremy was wearing a Pierce the Veil sweatshirt, and Chad was wearing a Falling In Reverse t-shirt.
Jeremy looked down at his sweatshirt self-conciously. "For a while. Didn't you know? ah, but, if i recall correctly, you two have always been sadly misinformed" Jeremy said smoothly, but the look on his face showed his dislike towards screamo bands.
"you guys are trying to become me and Mordecai!" Rigby yelled angrily. "Rigby" Mordecai warned. "there's no way you two have a chance of becoming us!" Rigby cried, ignoring Mordecai.
"Oh? and what makes it so hard for us to become you? Perhaps it's cause your poor, and we're rich?" Jeremy sneered. "you..." Rigby growled. The others watched with amazement as the fight continued.
"oh, but it could also be because your parents threw you out. i bet it's cause you stuck gum in your sister's hair." Jeremy and Chad laughed and high-fived each other. They looked over at Rigby expecting him to be pissed. what they saw surprised them.
Rigby looked like he had been punched in the gut. All the color had drained from him leaving him almost white. His eye's were glazed and distant. His face was molded into a look of pure terror. "My...sister" he whispered, barely audible. Mordecai's eye's had grown huge and he was staring at Rigby worriedly.
"Rigby?" Mordecai said gently, shaking his friend. he blinked, then looked Jeremy straight in the eye's, hatred painted all over his face. "don't you dare talk about my sister." Jeremy, trying to change back into fight mode said "why? scared someone's going to find out you kissed her?"
"I did kiss her." Rigby said. Jeremy blinked. He had not anticipated that response. "I also kissed my other sister. and my little brother. I would kiss them on the forehead before they went to bed, before they left for school, or a friends house. I was the oldest. I took care of them."
Jeremy had not expected this turn in the argument. he wasn't sure where Rigby was going with this, and was a little afraid to find out.
"They were my whole world. My parents knew that and trusted me to take care of my siblings. I let them down." Jeremy gulped. "My parents went to visit our grandparents in Oregon, and left me to watch my brother and sisters. thats when they came."
"It was the middle of summer, and they were wearing long sleeves, gloves, with their hoods up. that's how i knew something was up when i saw them out in the street. I grabbed my siblings and hid with them in the house. the men picked the lock."
Jeremy could feel his heart beating. what was Rigby saying?
"they came in with guns and knives. our parents were skammers, i knew, and these were but more people they had fooled. and now they were back for that money, and we were expected to pay. they beat us. cut us, punched us, kicked us, shot us. but i said nothing. i didn't know where my parents kept there money, or anything of value for that matter."
Jeremy saw Rigby clench his fists.
"that's when they had an idea. A cruel idea. A clever idea. They grabbed me and said, 'your the oldest so surely your parents have told you what to do in this kind of situation. what to give us.' But they hadn't. They didn't want me to know they were skammers. I just played along, feigning ignorance."
"but they didn't stop there. they said 'we will give you ten minutes for each of your siblings. we will release you for ten minutes to search the house and bring us what we want. if you do we will leave. however, every ten minutes that pass that you do not bring us what we want, we will kill one of your siblings. If at the end of each of your siblings time, you still have not brought us what we want, we will kill you as well. if you runaway when we release you, all your siblings will be killed immediately. no question."
everyone let out a gasp. Rigby and Mordecai had never talked about their childhood, so no one ever really knew much, except that they didn't like to talk about it. this must be why.
"i searched. I searched as hard as i could. i could find nothing. I was forced to watch each of my siblings beg me to help them, to make the pain stop, and know that i could do nothing."
"first to die was starlet. she was 8. next to die was gideon. he was 6. last to die was kyra. she was 3. I was 11. they were going to kill me to. the police finally got there. they saved me. for years i wished that i had died that night, rather than live with the burden that i couldn't save them."
"i was going to commit suicide. that's when i met mordecai. some woman had set a fire to his house that had killed his mother and his older sister Ella. He showed me that the world wasn't as cruel as i took it to be." Mordecai looked at the ground sheepishly, a light blush dusting his features.
Rigby took a deep breath. "so you see," he said, sounding exhausted, "You can never become like me and Mordecai, and I honestly don't see why you would want to."
Jeremy blinked and looked at the ground. he felt ashamed. "i'm sorry" he murmured. Rigby just gave him a tired smile.
"all friends make mistakes."