A/N: It took a while to get this uploaded, I know xD I haven't had much time for writing, what with me being in college now and also trying to keep up with animating, too. But, finally, here's the chapter!
Unwanted Turn
Chapter Seven - The Past
"You had always loved your mom. That's one thing that you always made clear to me," Dean started. It almost felt as though it was yesterday since Seth had first opened up about his family. "She loved you back, of course, but wasn't able to show it. You never specified completely, but you said that she had problems. Mental health problems, I mean. You told me how you thought you had seen your dad treat her horribly, too, treating her roughly. It was most likely an abusive relationship, but you were only six. You weren't going to understand.
"It all became too much for her eventually. She left a note for you and your brother in your bedroom, telling you both how much you loved she loved you, but she couldn't live with your father. Instead of seeking help, she committed suicide. It was you who found her, though you said you blocked out the memory for years. Your dad… Well, he was abusive, and your brother knew that you couldn't live together after your mother's death."
"Mommy, are you in there?" the small boy called through the bathroom door, crossing his legs. He had gotten out of bed fifteen minutes ago, yet the bathroom door was still shut. "Mommy? Have you fallen asleep in the bath?"
He didn't know why she would have a bath so early in the day. She always told people not to fall asleep in there, just in case they drowned. What if she had done the same thing that she had warned others not to do?
"Mommy?" he called softly again, trying not to wake his older brother or his father. No answer.
He looked up at the door. He knew that the lock was loose and that, the times it was faulty, his brother was able to push it open. Hesitating, knowing that his mother wouldn't like someone disturbing her, he began to push at the door. He was making quite a lot of noise, but by now, he wasn't as scared to wake someone up. She had still not replied. He had to find out why.
The weak lock gave away eventually and he stumbled into the bathroom. He looked over at the bath when he regained his composure. What he saw froze his body to the spot.
"Mommy? MOMMY!"
"Why are you making so much noise?" demanded the sleepy voice of his father, followed closely behind by Seth's brother.
"Mo-Mommy, she's…"
He could only shakily point at the lifeless body lying in red and pink water. In one still hand was a stained razor blade, seeming as though it was going to fall at any second. Seth had never seen so much blood in his life. It poured from his mother's wrists, surrounding her exposed and bruised body. Seth could only stare, his trance broken when his father pushed past him.
"Shit, Linda, LINDA!"
"Is she…" Seth's older brother said shakily, putting a hand on Seth's shoulder. That physical contact was enough to make Seth panic, realising what his brother was saying.
"W-Why is she so still?" he asked, beginning to tremble, though he was smart for his age. He already knew the answer.
There was no reply, instead his father placed a hand behind her head, his other fingers pressing against her neck, searching for a pulse. After several seconds he bent over the bath to press his ear to her bare chest, frantically listening out for any sign of life. There was none.
"She's gone, isn't she?" Seth's brother demanded. There were tears falling down his face but there was anger evident in his voice.
Their father could only nod slowly, his hands grasping onto hers desperately. A look of both regret and guilt was written on his face. Seth's brother saw this, his rage growing.
"This is all your fault!" he screamed, removing his hand from Seth's shoulder as he clenched his fists. "If you hadn't treated her so badly, she wouldn't have wanted to kill herself!"
"Kill… Herself?" Seth whispered, his eyes widening as he stared at his deceased mother. It was then that he began to cry hysterically. "Why would she want to die? Why is she gone?"
"She wanted to die because this man who calls himself our dad was cruel! It's all your fault, I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!"
Their father rose off the ground, and not long after he stood, the sound of his hand against his eldest son's face echoed in the room. A stunned silence fell after that, heavy breathing being the only sound left.
"Don't put the blame on me," their father eventually said quietly. "Do you think I wanted this to happen? Do you think I really wanted her to die?"
"Yes, I do! Otherwise you would have been nicer to her!"
"I never wanted her to die! I just… I just…"
"Well, now you've caused that. I hope you're happy now."
"How can you say that? Of course I'm not happy!"
"Please stop yelling, please stop…" Seth sobbed, looking over at his mother. He wanted to hold her hand, say goodbye, but he was too afraid.
"What's going on in here?"
The three males turned to find two police officers looking concerned in the hallway. One was holding out their badge.
"Your neighbours heard shouting and called us. Luckily, we were already in the area," he started. He looked past the family, his eyes widening. "What on Earth…"
Immediately, he ran over to check the woman's pulse, breathing in sharply when he couldn't find one.
"Looks like suicide," he said. "But why does she have these bruises?"
"Because of him," Seth's brother said, pointing at his father. His voice trembled as more tears threatened to fall over the loss of his mother, but he was determined to stop them. "He hit her, I know he did. That's why she did this. He shouted at her, too."
"Hit her?"
"Yeah. I saw it a lot."
"You can't believe what he's saying, he's only ele-"
"You're under arrest," the officer interrupted, walking over to the man to cuff his hands behind his back. "God, people like you make me sick. Michael, make sure the kids are okay."
"Hey," the man said gently, placing his hands on both of the boys' shoulders. "It's okay. Your dad won't be able to hurt you when he's with us."
"Is she really… Dead?" Seth asked shakily. Michael hesitated, before nodding slowly.
"I'm sorry. But we're going to make sure that you go to a new home, I promise. You'll be loved and cared for there. We're going to call someone to come for your mom too. She'll be in a nice place, I promise."
Seth's brother gently shrugged the officer's hand off his shoulder, bending down and smiling bravely at Seth.
"Don't worry, Sethie," he said, one hand wiping away Seth's tears despite his own face still being wet from them. "We'll be fine as long as we stick together. That's what brothers do."
Seth had to take a moment to think over what he had just been told. The description of his past seemed familiar somehow, though it was hard to remember precisely what it was like. When he had remembered his mother's face and knew she had died while he was young, he would have never guessed he was actually as young as six years old or that she died from suicide. The pain that she felt both emotionally and physically was so great that she saw no other why to escape it than her death, even if that meant leaving her two sons behind. It was obvious that she had been desperate, especially if she had committed suicide without thinking of a way to help her children first. But, despite the fact that other people may feel like this would be a selfish thing to do, Seth wasn't angry. He understood that she had given up hope. When people lose all sense of hope, it can cause them to do things they would never normally do.
However, even though he thought this now, did he feel differently when he was younger?
"Are you all right?" Dean asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm just… Thinking. It's a lot to take in."
"I can imagine. Do you want to stop talking about this?"
"No," Seth said quickly. "I want to learn as much about my life as possible, just in case… Well, I never actually find myself remembering it completely. I know the doctors say that they're sure I'll recover my memory, but I want to learn about myself just in case.
Dean nodded, "That's fine with me. I understand."
"So what happened after her death?" Seth questioned. "Did we manage to get a home?"
"A foster home, yeah. Obviously they had to find one quickly for you, because of your mom being gone and your dad being in prison."
"So he was seen as guilty?"
"Yeah. He got put away for eight years, I think that's what you said? They wouldn't have let the two of you go back to him even once he was out of prison, for obvious reasons."
"I guess it was quite lucky that you both had someone willing to care for you with that much of a short notice and with quite a big age gap between you," Roman added.
Seth nodded, "Yeah, it was. But if we were cared for together, why isn't he around here anymore? I thought he would have visited me in hospital if we were still in contact."
"Well, you were separated," Dean explained. "Not forcefully or anything. You two weren't born here in Cincinnati, you're from Columbus. The couple who adopted you were fairly young; they were only 25 and 27 at the time. Because of this, they didn't feel mature enough to adopt a teenager, but they fell in love with you when they were visiting you. When you were told they wanted to adopt you, you said no, that you couldn't leave your brother behind, especially if you were going to be moving to Cincinnati. He convinced you to though, saying that even if he wasn't adopted himself he would be out of there in a few years anyway. For some reason, he hasn't been in contact at all since you were separated. We never knew if this was because he was adopted by someone else or not."
"I see…" Seth said. "That was considerate of him. Not stopping me from being adopted or anything, I mean."
"Yeah, it was," Roman smiled. "He always wanted what's best for you, even if that meant you both getting separated."
"So what about my adoptive parents? Did something happened to them?"
"No, don't worry," Dean said. "They've spent a few weeks with family in California, to help plan a wedding. Before your accident, you told them that you weren't going to bother them with anything and that you'd stay behind to concentrate on university. We didn't want to worry them with what happened and… Well, to be honest, we didn't exactly know what we would say to them."
"Oh God… That's going to be a bit of a shock to them. 'Hey guys, I don't remember you at all because I have amnesia, but welcome back!'"
"We're sorry that we've not told them what happened," Roman said. "We just didn't want to go against what you said before and we don't even have their phone numbers. We probably couldn't get in touch even if we knew what to say."
"It's all right, I was joking. I might remember them better if I'm not greeted with apologies and everything anyway."
Of course, despite him wishing to be reassuring, he wasn't lying. The news was going to upset them; he didn't need a memory of them to know that. But hopefully, being greeted with however they usually act would be more helpful in jogging his memory. He had been told that it wasn't just sight that would help to bring back his memory; all of his other senses could assist him, too. He knew that he couldn't rely on merely his eyes to bring back his memories, it would take much more than that. He just had to hope that he had what it takes.
"What were they like?"
There was a slight pause. "Well, they're nice and they did treat you well. You just never got on with them as well as you did with your own mother. You spent years after you were adopted not speaking to them properly because you were missing your brother and you would have felt guilty if you treated this home as your new one. They are also the kind of people who are focused on their children becoming successful so a lot of the time you felt like that's all they wanted out of you."
"I'm sure that's not all they wanted out of you, though," Roman quickly added. "But it's what you thought they did."
Seth merely nodded in response. His mind was so active with all of this new information to absorb that for a few moments, it was like his mouth was unable to form words.
"Wait, children?" he questioned. "Did they adopt anyone else?"
"No, they had two of their own children," Dean explained. "They were two twin girls. They had always wanted a boy but there was a risk if she became pregnant again, so they didn't take the chance."
"Did I get along with the twins?"
"Not exactly. They were only two years older than you were so they weren't exactly mature. They didn't want the attention from their parents to be directed on you. It was pretty childish, but they were always like that about each other, too."
"I'm guessing they don't live around here?"
"No, they moved to California. They only really speak to you when they're meeting up with you and your parents."
"I guess that-"
He stopped speaking, frowning as he focused his hearing on the room on the other side of the door.
"What's wrong?" Dean questioned.
"I thought I just heard knocking," he explained. Just as he spoke the last word of that sentence, there was more knocking, this time even louder. Shooting a quick questioning glance at Dean and Roman, he jumped up from the bed to run over to the living room and towards the front door. He opened it to find a man and woman standing there, looking at him with what seemed to be disappointment.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"So you're still keeping up with that act?" the woman demanded, her voice angry, though it shook slightly.
"What act? Who are you?"
He wasn't expecting a slap across his face from the woman, and apparently, the man thought that it was completely necessary.
"We hoped that the messages were some kind of sick joke, but this proves that it clearly wasn't!" he shouted. "What are you playing at, Seth? Why are you-"
"Wait, Paul, Stephanie!" Dean said hurriedly, him and Roman rushing from behind Seth. "That wouldn't have been Seth who sent you whatever messages you have. He wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you."
"Then who did? What's going on?" Stephanie asked.
"Maybe you should come inside?" Seth suggested, breathing out in relief when they did just that. The couple sat on the sofa, with Seth sitting in the armchair while Roman and Dean stood.
"Why would we get messages from your phone which aren't from you?" Paul questioned, looking doubtful about what they were being told.
"Well, actually, I'm not sure..." Seth said, looking over at Dean. "Did the people who attack me take my phone as well?"
"They did," Dean said through gritted teeth, "Those bitches must have decided that it'd be fun to message them saying… What exactly did they say?"
"About how he was sick of us as parents and that we didn't deserve to be called that," the woman replied. "But attack you? Who attacked you?"
Seth breathed in deeply. "The police don't know who exactly attacked me, but… Well, the reason I asked who you are is because the attack left me with amnesia."
Wide eyes stared at him after those words. A hand slowly reached up to Stephanie's mouth as she stared at her son in horror.
"Oh no…" was all she was able to say. Her husband put one muscular arm around her shoulders, looking at Seth with sad eyes.
"You can't remember us at all?"
Seth shook his head, "The only thing I've been able to remember was who my birth mother was. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise, it isn't your fault," Stephanie said. "Is there anything we can do to help? Anything at all?"
"The doctors said that the best way to help is to just be supportive and hope his memory comes back gradually," Dean said. "That's all we can do."
"Then that's what we'll do. We've never got along very well, but let's forget about that so we can work together to push through this," Stephanie said. She removed her husband's arm from around her shoulders so she could walk over to her son and wrap her arms around him. "We'll stick by your side every step of the way, I promise."
Seth managed to smile as he returned the hug, wishing he could remember this woman who clearly loved him. He could feel her love though, and though he couldn't recall anything about her, he still felt care for her inside his heart.
As they embraced, Dean watched them, but he was barely able to see the scene in front of him. Though it was concealed, he was being blinded by rage. The ones who had dared to hurt Seth just had to take their game one step further. To Dean, it was a sign that, finally, they had to pay. Consequences didn't seem to matter anymore. He wanted revenge, and revenge he shall have.
A/N: Dean, no. Bad Dean. Bad.
It felt very strange writing Stephanie and Paul as Seth's adoptive parents after the role they played in hostage xD But anyway, thank you for being patient with me, and thanks for reading!
