"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

I knew my dad was a bad man, from the whispers of my mom to the whispers of the man that raised me as his own. It was from them that I found out the truth. All of the sordid little details of the monstrous things he did throughout his life. It was then that I had decided I needed to go back to the root of all of his evil. I needed to go back to Charming, to get a firsthand glimpse of the rotten legacy that I was set to inherit along with my older brother Abel. I needed to know exactly how the Sons of Anarchy corrupted my dad, Jackson Teller and I needed to know if there was really a way to live in Charming without falling down the same Rabbit Hole he did.

Thomas Teller moved around his bedroom, grabbing clothes from every surface they had been stored on. It was a habit of his, not to wash any of his clothes until he was completely out. No one would notice if wore the same black shirt three days in a row, as long as it looked and smelled clean. He lifted his arm, taking a whiff of himself before pulling the shirt over his head and stuffing it into his duffel bag. There was no time for him to wash, he was already running two hours behind. He was setting out on a journey, his biggest adventure yet.

As an aspiring writer, he wanted to seek out new adventures and since he had finally learned about his biological father. The one his mom had fled from when he was still practically a baby he couldn't help but jump at the chance to pack up a bag and hop into his beloved 1969 Ford Mustang and hit the road. He was in for a long drive but he didn't care. He was bringing along his best friend and sidekick since preschool, the girl he claimed was a permanent pain in his ass. Braden Deveraux. "The flash always gives you away."

"Yeah, I know." Braden shrugged her shoulders, tossing her long auburn hair over her shoulder as she tossed the disposable camera to Thomas and flashed him a devious grin. "Are we really leaving small-town Bandon, Oregon for an equally smaller town called Charming?" She chuckled as she moved towards his duffel bag and started to pull his clothes back out of it. "Be civilized, just the basics, we can hit up Walmart on the way out of state. Pick up a few packs of those shirts you love and some boxers. I have a collection of gift cards to that place that I've been collecting since I was like twelve since we lack a Walmart here."

He nodded slowly, watching her expertly fold a few of his shirts and put them back into the white duffel before tossing in his cologne, socks, boxers, deodorant and most importantly his favorite leather-bound journal, the one he had crafted over the course of a week. "We really are. I wanna get down to the bottom of it. Abel is taking time off from the Marines and meeting us out there since he's stationed not too far away from Charming. This is it, Bray. We're finding out where we came from, we get to discover even more about our dad and how he lived."

"Sweet, sweet naive Thomas." She patted his chest and shook her head slowly. "This is exciting but don't get your hopes up. What if you don't get a story from this? What if when you get there, there's no one willing to talk about him or what he did or didn't do? I don't want to sound like a downer but I don't want you to get your hopes up."

He shrugged as she reached around her, pulling her ringing phone out of her back pocket before silencing the ringer. "We're both after something. You want to get away from your obsessive ex and I want to get answers and most importantly I want to make this an adventure I can write about."

"I'm all for escaping that asshole." She huffed as she grabbed a sweatshirt from the closet and pulled it on. "The only thing that you have clean is a sweatshirt from Harvard? Hope you weren't set on wearing it because oops, it's mine now. I put my bag in Sally already."

"I was going to wear that, I really was but whatever, I'll borrow something from my dad." Thomas took one last look around the room before grabbing his bag and heading for the door. "We have to get out of here before my parents get home. I don't want my mom trying to talk me out of this again. I need to do this, for me and Abel needs to do this for himself." He draped an arm around the brunette's shoulders before cutting the lights off. "Let's get on the road, let's start this trip. You capture it with your little cameras and I'll document it with my pen."

"I just have one question, what are you going to call this book?" She walked out into the chill of the Oregon summer and groaned. "I'm so ready to try to get a California tan, do you think we'll have some fun on the trip down?"

"We'll have lots of fun." He nodded slowly as he taped a note to the front door before locking it, taking one more look at the house before smiling. "See ya in a few. My mom is going to hunt me down and kill me when she reads that. As for the title, I'm not sure yet. I'm sure it'll come to me eventually."

.

.

Stop one, Crescent City, CA. Two hours in and Thomas was ready for a snack stop and most importantly, ready to use the restroom and stretch his legs. Sally was his car but she was still a bit uneasy on his legs. Not enough legroom for his build. "We're here." He squeezed Braden's leg, watching as she slowly looked up from her laptop and smile over at him. "This is what dreams are made of."

"Score." Braden smiled as she took in the lights of her favorite place in the world. Walmart. She closed her laptop slowly before shoving it into her backpack as they parked as close to the entrance as possible. "It's even bigger than the one we go to back in Oregon. My legs are killing me."

"Your tiny ass legs are killing you?" He laughed as he got out of the car, stretching his arms above his head as he took in the smell of the air. It was salty but it still had a different scent than the air just across the state line. It somehow smelled cleaner and that sent a surge of excitement through his body. "Come on, let's get some things and let me take a piss."

"I was thinking while you were driving and I was doing some research on Sons of Anarchy." She hooked her arm through his and nodded slowly. "They are some badasses. I found mugshots and I found your dad's picture and I'm sorry but he's fine as hell and I hope you age as well as he did." She laughed as she moved away from him, dodging the playful swat he was trying to land on her ass. "Like I'm serious T! I hope you age like him. All of his long blonde hair, ugh! No wonder why your mom was all about him."

"I'm not hearing that, let's be serious right now and get what we need, let's re-up on snacks. You should pee, or rather tinkle." He grabbed the cart and started pushing it into the store. "How much are you spending on me today sugar mama? Let your sugar baby know before I try to go wild."

"Uh, I have like two grand in gift cards so don't go wild, you can have one for like two hundred. You only have to buy shirts and boxers, I'll get the snacks. We should see if we can use a gift card to buy another gift card, like one for a fast food place or a gas station. I'll see if customer service can give me cash off one." She smiled as they stopped at the restrooms. "If you finish first, I'll meet you over in the men's section."

Thomas nodded his head slowly, moving into the bathroom just as he felt his phone start to ring. He pulled it out with some hesitation, knowing he was about to get his head bit off by his mom. "Hey mom, don't yell. I'm alright, we're in California already and I'm not turning back around."

"I'm not going to yell, I just wish you had told me that you were actually leaving instead of leaving behind a note for us to find. Your sister is upset and your dad is a bit annoyed."

"I had to do what I had to do. I'm chasing an adventure, a story and some answers that you can't seem to give me." He stood in front of the urinal and sighed. "Hold on one second, I'm gonna mute you, I just walked into the bathroom."

"Thomas, you better not use the restroom while we're talking. I raised you better than that. You know what, I'm going to just clean your room while you're away. Touch all of your things, so if you have anything embarrassing, fess up right now."

Thomas laughed as he took the call off of mute. "I'm done. Uh, I have to playboy magazines under my bed in a box, I have a stash of porn movies in my closet in a shoebox and I have a blow-up doll hidden in the far back of the closet. It was a gag gift from Abel when I turned eighteen. I haven't used it, he had it shipped to me."

"It'll all be gone when you get home. Please, just please be safe. Call me if you need money or anything Thomas. I love you, don't forget that."

"I love you too." He chuckled as he dried his hands and walked out of the restroom, just in time to see his best friend walk towards the men's section. "I have to go, I'll call you when I get there mom. Give my love to Skye for me. I will send her some souvenirs or something." He moved swiftly after the brunette, easily closing the gap between them as he reached out and poked her shoulder. "Mom just called, I didn't get my head bit off, she just wanted me to tell them face to face."

"That's good, let's get everything. I want to pick up something comfortable to sleep in, maybe a large shirt. One with some cheesy graphic on it." She shrugged her shoulders as she watching him climb into the cart like an overgrown child. "If you don't get ya big ass outta there."

"Sorry, can't walk, my legs hurt too much." He shrugged as he bit back a smile as she struggled to push him on the carpeted section of the floor. "I can see you wearing that shirt, the one with all of the emojis on it."

"Oh it has matching joggers and socks, I think this is a must-have." She grabbed the items and tossed them on top of Thomas and chuckled. "Things in California are already so much cuter. I can't deal with it." She shook her head slowly. "We're so getting matching fits, look it comes in black."

"No, no, no." He shook his head frantically. "I don't wanna match with you! I've had enough of that when they'd make me and Abel match growing up. It was horrible and I hated it and I'm still working on that emotionally."

"Fine, fine." She rolled her eyes. "Let's get the things you need and get out of here. I want a shower and a bed. Sally is not comfortable, not even with a back seat of pillows and blankets. I need grapes, water, and a sandwich. That's it."

"I don't care what we get to eat, just keep pushing me." He grinned widely at her and nodded. "It's nice to kick back and relax like this. I needed it."

SOA

Click. Click. Click. The sounds of the camera shutter filled the room, slowly waking Thomas from his dream. They had made it into Charming late and were forced to stay in the first motel they had come across. It was nice and he was pleasantly surprised that the bed was beyond comfortable. It was just what he had needed after driving for six hours straight. "What could you possibly taking pictures of now?"

"You!" Braden stood up on the bed, taking another picture of Thomas before dropping back down. "I've been busy while you were asleep. Abel will be here in twenty minutes, so you may want to shower quickly because you're smelly as hell and are in dire need of a shower."

"Bray," He grumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes with the heels of his hands before slowly sitting up and nodding slowly. "What time is it?"

"A bit after two." She shrugged as she bounced off of the bed, reaching for a cup of coffee before handing it to him. "I've documented this little hotel, the lady at the front desk, she's cool. She was telling me a bit about the history. I told her we were tourists, in town because we're road tripping to Los Angeles and staying in a place called Charming sounded cool."

"Oh, I cannot wait until you come down from that caffeine high." He sipped on the coffee slowly and shook his head. "Not even enough sugar in here. Is this pre-made or what?"

Bray nodded slowly, slipping her feet into her beat up chucks. "It's not like there's a Starbucks here. This place is smaller than Bandon. I walked to the diner and got food and coffee, there's sugar right on the nightstand. I know you love a cup of sugar with a bit of coffee."

"Oh, you know me so well." He grabbed the packets of sugar off of the nightstand and smiled brightly before watching the door swing open to reveal his older brother Abel. "Man! I thought I had twenty minutes to get decent!"

"You thought wrong." Abel laughed as he walked further into the small motel room and sniffed the air. "Man, oh man. You smell like armpits and week old trash Tommy." He covered his nose and looked over at the brunette. "Are you numb to his stench or what?"

"You get used to it after being in here a while. It's when I got out and then come back in that I even notice." She shrugged. "He usually smells good but he's on one of his writing kicks so everything takes a backseat. He was getting ready to shower and change so we can get this show on the road."

"She's acting like it's her history she's trying to track down." Thomas stood up and tossed the sheet back onto the bed. "I guess she saw a picture of Jackson and apparently he's attractive."

"Fine as hell." Braden corrected him as she looked at the brothers and smirked. "All baby blues and blonde hair."

"I can't with her." Abel laughed and shook his head as he removed his hat and set it down on the nightstand. "Let's just get our thoughts together after Thomas showers and puts clean clothes on."

"It's cool that you took the time out to meet us here and go on this journey with him. I know it means a whole lot to him." She shrugged. "What about you? You want anything from this?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "I remember him, unlike Thomas who has no recollection of things here." He shimmied out of his jacket and sighed. "He was good to us, he loved us and he was good." Abel reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, holding it up in the light. "This belonged to our Grandpa, JT, our grandma gave it to me one day at recess. She was outside of the fence, seemed like she was going out of town and told me she wanted me to have it. I've kept it ever since never told my mom I had it or anything. It's been this heavy secret I haven't wanted to dig up but he wants this and I'm going to support him, just to see how everything falls into place. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit curious to see the men I grew up around."

"Nice." She took the ring, examining it briefly before passing it back to him. "I'm interested in it all. I think it'll be cool to document it, especially from my point of view and from your guys'. He wants to write a book, I think it'll be nonfiction like a weird autobiography."

"I don't care what he writes about as long as he's happy and remembers to shower." Abel laughed as he slipped the ring back into his pocket as he heard the shower water turn off. "I guess we have a long day ahead of. I'm ready for it though."

"Same." Thomas walked back in, a towel wrapped loosely around his hips as he grabbed the bag of fresh clothes from the armchair. "This is going to be epic, whether it fails or succeeds."

.

.

"This is it?" Thomas looked at Abel before shaking his head slowly, all this traveling and the clubhouse was pretty much a building attached to a garage. "I thought they were big and bad? I didn't think they were a group of mechanics." He parked his car and got out slowly. "I'm a bit disappointed already."

"I'm not." Braden shook her head as she took a few pictures and smiled. "It's got charm to it. It could totally be a front, like a mob boss who uses a laundromat or deli as his front. Think beyond what you see, I'm pretty sure you told me that."

"It's pretty much the same as I remember it." Abel shrugged his shoulders as he chanced a glance at his brother. "We don't use our last name, we use dad's or something. We're not Tellers here, not yet anyway."

"We can't use our first names either then jackass." Thomas looked at his older brother. "Not even our middle names."

"Alright." Braden nodded slowly. "You're now Matthew and Hayes Orion. The Orion brothers."

"Ha." Abel laughed. "I'm Hayes, deal with it, Matty."

"No!" Thomas shoved at Abel and shook his head. "I want the cool name for once! I don't wanna be a Matty."

"Knock it off assholes." She shook her head as she pinched their sides. "Someone is walking towards us so think fast."

"Uh, we're having car trouble." Thomas nodded as he looked at the man before pointing towards the car. "Drove it from Washington and now I'm unsure of whether it is good. I heard a strange noise, a knocking noise."

"Ya car is old, shouldn't have driven it from there." The man shook his head slowly as he looked over the trio and then at the car. "I'll take a look at it ya? Let ya know if I find anything wrong with it."

Abel nodded slowly, looking at his feet before back up at the familiar face. "Thanks, man, we appreciate it. Can we stick around while we wait for a cab out of here?"

"Yeah, picnic tables over there." he nodded as he looked at the young man carefully. "If ya need anything, holla for Chibs or for the boss right over there. Jackie Boy! I have a car that ya might wanna look at! I know ya get hard-ons over muscle cars!"

"I thought he was dead," Braden whispered against Thomas' back. "You said your mom said he was dead…"

"She did say that." Thomas nodded as he looked at the man approaching them slowly. His eyes and stride familiar as he glanced at his brother who was looking a bit pale. "Why would she lie?"

To Be Continued...