Even after a few months of being in custody and living with the Andersons, it was still hard for Ryder. He loved living with them. Brian and Blaine were his family now and he loved them. But it was hard after all he's been through.

Ryder still struggled with being adjusted to living with them, but mostly at night. He had been so used to his old house, locking his door and being afraid that one day his father might figure out how to unlock or break down his door.

The nights sleeping, were the hardest. Ryder was still stuck with horrible nightmares. Mostly memories of what happened, but also new ones. Ones that never happened, but felt just as real as the memories were. He remembered Logan hitting and beating him to death when he would come home from school, him getting raped a couple of times, and his mother being killed. There were even some others, ones that involved his friends; Logan would hurt his friends, badly. He remembered one when instead of Logan stabbing him, he actually was able to stab Marley and she died instantly.

Every night, every nightmare Ryder had, he would wake up. Screaming, sweating, and crying. He wished they would go away, but he knew they would never truly go away. He hated them, and that was something he had to live with.

He would wake Blaine and Brian up with his screaming and crying from his nightmares and they would have to calm him down. Blaine shared his room with Ryder, so he would be the one to usually be there by Ryder's side when he had a nightmare.

Ryder hated the fact that Blaine and Brian were being so nice about letting him live with them and on top of that, had to be woken up in the middle of the night by his nightmares. They however, didn't mind too much. They knew what Ryder went through and it wasn't easy. Especially since Ryder denied on the idea of going to therapy.


Another night, Ryder woke up painting heavily. He tried his hardest not to cry. He wanted to give Blaine and Brian one night. Just one night of sleep. But soon the tears were falling down his face and he started to whimper, which eventually changed into crying.

Blaine blinked awake at the sound of crying. He looked and saw Ryder was turned the other way, but Blaine knew he was awake; another nightmare. Blaine got out of bed and went to Ryder's side.

"Ryder." Blaine said, still half asleep. Sitting down on the edge of Ryder's bed.

"I'm ok. Just go back to sleep." Ryder said. He wished he could go one night without the nightmares. One night without waking them up. One night without being such a burden.

"Hey, did you have another one of those dreams?" Blaine asked and Ryder sighed. He turned to Blaine, who could now see the tears that have streamed down the boy's cheeks.

"When don't I have them?" Ryder asked, the tears still making their way down his face.

"It's okay. You're safe. He can't hurt you anymore." Blaine said, starting to rub Ryder's back. Ryder eventually stopped crying. But the truth was, he didn't feel completely safe. He felt like at any moment, Logan could come through the door with his belt and beat him with it. Or maybe something worse. He didn't feel safe, completely. All he did was feel scared, hurt, weak, and tired.

He didn't get much sleep, he flinched every time he turned a corner and on top of that, one of the things that was hurting and bothering him the most was one thing; his mother. He missed her more than anything. She died trying to save him. Trying to protect him. She wanted to get herself and Ryder out of there, but got herself killed before she could. Losing her was worse than everything Logan did to him daily, he would never get her back.


Blaine woke up the next morning around 11. "Ryder. Are you up?" Blaine said, starting to wake up. Ryder started to yawn. Making it look like he was just waking up, in reality, he didn't go back to sleep. He sometimes couldn't after a nightmare, luckily it was a weekend.

"Yeah. I am now." Ryder said and the two got out of bed.

"I wonder where my dad is. He usually wakes us up earlier than 11." Blaine said, it was weird that Brian didn't come in to check on the boys, or even wake them up. He usually did that every morning. It was better than an alarm clock.

"Let's go see if he's up." Ryder said and Blaine and Ryder left the room and carefully peered into Brian's bedroom. They carefully walked in, but were surprised to see his bed empty. He was awake and he let them sleep. They didn't know why, but it was nice.

"So you want to go with me and Sam—" Blaine said, walking down the stairs with Ryder, but Blaine paused, widening his eyes to the sight in front of him. His heart dropped and Ryder didn't understand what happened.

"Blaine?" Ryder questioned, but then looked straight ahead and his heart dropped. He dropped the phone that was in his hand. The sight in front of the boys was breath taking and not in any good way. They couldn't speak and they didn't know how to react. Blaine and Ryder had seen something like this before, and hoped they wouldn't see it again. But now it was right in front of them.

"Oh my god." Ryder said, his voice was starting to crack. Ryder could take his eyes off the sight. Neither boys could, their heart beats had increased and their bodies started to shake. They didn't know what to do or say.

"Is he—he can't be." Blaine said, his voice cracking. Tears started to form in his eyes and they easily made their way down his face. Ryder hadn't started crying yet, but he felt like he could start freaking out at any moment, why wasn't he freaking out now?

They couldn't believe what they were looking at. What they saw, was horrible. It was Blaine's dad, Brian, on the floor. He was face down in a pool of blood. He wasn't moving and it was obvious that he was dead.

"R-R-Ryder." Blaine choked out. "C-C-Call 911." Ryder nodded quickly and grabbed his phone, which he dropped. His hand was shaking, but he somehow managed to call 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"H-Hello. M-My name is R-Ryder Lynn and m- my—" Ryder tried to get out, but it ended up in Blaine taking the phone from him. What was Ryder even supposed to call Brian?

"H-Hello. M-My d-dad—I think he's dead. Please w-we need help." Blaine choked out, crying.

"What is you address?"

Blaine told them the address and then hung up the phone. Blaine and Ryder got close to each other and Blaine began to cry harder and tears started streaming down Ryder's face. Help would soon be there, but they already knew now that Brian was dead. The horrible thing was, they had seen this before. Both of them remember the last time they had seen someone die, or at least found someone dead like this before; it was when Charlie was when they found Charlie.


Cliffhanger!

I know it has been a long while since I have updated, but school and life has been really crazy. And I have a few other stories I have been working on. Anyway, I am glad to be working on this story again.

I see that a lot of my old readers from "We're Here" like this story already and I really happy that you guys like it already! :) Glad to still have your guys amazing feedback and support for the sequel.

Anyway, yes, Brian is dead :( I know, I liked him too, but it is how I pictured the sequel from the beginning. And this is only the beginning of everything. Another roller coaster!

Anyway, next chapter will feature Marley in it. Hopefully a little bit of Ryley, but we will see. I might include Finn and Sam in as well, but maybe not yet. But they will be in the story. :)

Also, soon I am going to introduce two new characters in here. One might appear next chapter, but maybe not.

If you want to know about the new characters, and if you leave me a review, I will tell you about them ;) (hint, hint)

Please tell me what you thought and even what you think will happen. And if you have an idea, let me know. I might use it! :)

REVIEW!