Disclaimer: the entire story would be in Ally's POV as she is the main protagonist.
It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon, and Trish and I were over at Dez's house for his 18th birthday.
I sat closely to myself and smiled as I watched Dez open his presents, before glancing over at his younger sister; Didi who sat whilst texting on her phone in boredom. As she caught my gaze, I quickly turned my attention to his Father; Dennis, who sat in his arm chair gazing directly at Dez with his usual stern and blank expression that I remembered him having. He was fine whenever he looked at his wife or his daughter, but whenever he looked at his son, you could see the disappointment and anger in his eyes. It amazed me how a overly happy and joyous person like Dez could could be related to such a grumpy and unhappy man. Dez turned his head to thank me for one of the presents I had gotten him with a wide grin on his face, oblivious to the look his Father was giving him, and I smiled before shifting closer to him and ruffling his hair.
As I watched him open more presents from Trish and I, my mind began to wander back to the person who had been stuck on my mind that week. I was sure that he was kidding at first, when he revealed to me how he felt about me, but after avoiding me for the whole week and refusing to attend school to avoid seeing me, I started to realise that he was indeed telling the truth, but with so many things going on, I didn't have time to sit down and think if I really felt the same way about him. I mean I truly enjoyed being with him more than anybody, even if we sat in silence, it was still the most peaceful silence I could ever experience in life. He made me feel things inside, especially when he looked at me because no one had ever looked at that before, he made me nervous and anxious at times when I wanted to seem confident, and more importantly, he made me care so much for him at a time when I was losing so much faith in people. Thinking about it now, maybe I did have a slight crush on him too, but I couldn't let my feelings grow because I knew that there was no way he was ready to be in a relationship, especially at such a difficult time. But apart from all that, I knew that I still desperately wanted to be in his life and keep the promise that I made with myself, and the only way I could do that was to continue being his friend.
After a short while, I snapped back into reality, as my eyes quickly narrowed to Trish and Dez's mom; Donna, who strolled out the kitchen whilst singing happy birthday. Trish held in her hands a birthday cake as Donna followed after her from behind. I got up from the sofa and clapped as Trish slowly made her way over to Dez. "Blow out your candles and make a wish" she grinned holding the cake up to her face. Dez looked at the both of us and smiled before taking a step closer to the cake. "I wish that three of us can be friends for ever" he said and with that he quickly blew out the candles. "You're not supposed to say it out loud" I laughed whilst placing my hand on his back, causing Trish to do the same.
Trish placed the birthday cake down on the table and was about to speak up, but before she could, she was quickly cut off by his mother. "Dez, honey, you hardly opened all the presents I got you... don't you like any of them?" she asked whilst placing her hand on his heart. My eyes narrowed over to Dennis, who leaned back on his arm chair and picked up a cigarette and lighter beside him before quickly lighting it as the room went silent for a brief moment.
Trish rolled her eyes over to the back of her head before crossing her arms above her chest and turning around to face his mom. "You bought your now 18 year old son a train set and comic books Donna, he's not a kid anymore, you should know that he outgrew those things in freshman year" she spoke bopping her head to the side and arching a brow up at her. The reason why we refrained from going to Dez's house the majority of the time was because if we did, there was a guarantee that Trish and his mom was bound to break out in an argument. The both of them loved him a whole lot and often saw themselves as competition when it came to his love and affection. I watched as Donna placed her hand on her hips and rubbed her head irritatingly before speaking up. "Trish, I think I know more about my son thank you. I don't need you to tell me what he likes and doesn't, I'm his mother, I know what's best for him" she uttered whilst gritting her teeth tightly as an awkward and uncomfortable silence rapidly lingered around the room.
Dez and I sat back on the sofa, as Trish clenched her hands together whilst gazing out the window. It almost seemed as if she was about to explode at any minute, till Dez's Father cleared his throat, causing the unbearable silence in the room to slowly vanish. "Have you spoken to your chemistry teacher about your references for college, son" he questioned briefly. His deep and raspy voice felt almost like a giant boulder falling and striking the ground beneath it with a shudder. It was so sharp and stern, that it made everybody in the room stop what they were doing to look at him.
Dez looked up at Trish before nervously turning his attention over to his Father. He scratched the back of his head timidly before shifting closer to me for reassurance. "I-I..." he stuttered before sighing to himself, and I slowly rubbed his back signalling for him to go on. "I'm not studying chemistry in college Dad, I know you want me to have a career in science like you, b-but I've decided to study film. I wanna be a film director... Trish and Ally will be with me too, we've all decided to enroll in the same college after graduation" he explained before lowering hanging his head low.
As the words slowly rolled out of Dez's face, I couldn't ignore the annoyed and disgusted look on his Father's face. His face was contorted in fury. He was as furious as a bull. His cheeks flushed and his eyes sparkled with ferocity. He darted his eyes over at Trish and shot her a death stare, before fixating his eyes back at his son as everybody in the room dared not to utter a word. His lips pursed together and his eyes unblinking, at that moment, if his eyes were a weapon, the piercing look in them could have easily caused some serious destruction. "A film director... are you trying to make a mockery out of me?!" he snapped causing a frown to quickly appear on Dez's face. I quickly moved closer to him and placed my hand over his, to stop him from possibly getting angry and harming himself. "I knew that there are a lot of things wrong with you but I didn't think you were that stupid! you've been with Trish all your life and now you want to keep following her around?! when will you grow up and go your own way! when I was 18 I didn't have the luxury of going to college like you, I had to look after my three younger sisters before I went back and got my degree!" he shouted angrily as I felt Dez's hands began to tremble.
"That's enough Dennis! can't you see he doesn't like it when you yell at him, its his birthday for Christ sake! and he can do whatever he wants with his life and go wherever he want. As his Father you should support him not criticism him like you always do-
"You be quiet Trish, this is my god damn house and my god damn family and you don't tell me what to do with my family!" he yelled quickly cutting her off, and within a split second later, the two began to argue.
I grabbed hold of Dez's cheeks and gaped into his eyes to calm him down as his mother and sister watched them argue. After a couple seconds, I noticed the pained and distraught look in his eyes, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to calm him down for much longer. "Guys we're leaving!" Trish hissed grabbing her handbag from the side before swinging it over her shoulder and storming out the front door, making sure to slam the door behind her. I gazed back at his Father who sunk back into his seat angry and frustrated, before glancing over at his mother who covered her face with her hand before turning around to head back inside the kitchen. As the room started to get quieter, I inter-wined my hand with Dez's, before getting up from the sofa and slowly leading him towards the front door.
As we walked outside, we glanced over at Trish's car, to see her sited in the driver's seat whilst quickly lighting a cigarette. I glanced up at Dez who held a distress look on his face as he gazed over at her unwillingly, before strolling over to the car. It was his special day, yet everything seemed to be slowly falling apart. As we arrived at the car, Dez headed over to the backseat and I headed over to the passenger's seat. Trish turned to gaze out the window with the cigarette pressed between her lips avoiding my obvious gaze, almost as if she knew what I was going to say. I sighed to myself before looking back at Dez who stared out the window to his side with a lost and quiet expression. The car ride that occurred afterwards was incredibly silent, so silent that even the road sounds didn't seem to faze us.
~An hour later: The three of us were sited in a small restaurant downtown.
I stared at the old couple who sat near the back feeding each other, before slowly shifting my eyes away to look across the table at Trish, as she gazed over at Dez who seemed to be ignoring her ever since we arrived. We had been planning that day since the start of the week, it was supposed to be a special day seeing as it was his birthday, but right then it was filled with nothing but silence.
"I'm sorry" Trish sighed, placing her hand on her head and her arms on the table.
"Why can't you just try and get along with my parents" Dez groaned finally fixating his eyes on her. "I know my mom doesn't really know me that well and my dad's a pain in the ass but-
"I've tried to get along with them Dez" she hissed quickly cutting him off his sentence. "Ever since elementary school they didn't like me because they thought I was a bad influence on you and I was holding you back somehow, when all I've done is constantly be there for you always" she exclaimed as tears began to slowly sprinkle onto her eyes. "I know your parents and they're both fucking full of crap. They're gonna do anything to stop you from studying film to get you as far away from me as possible just you wait and see, then what am I gonna do then" she scoffed before frustratingly rubbing her forehead.
"I'm not gonna leave you, Trish I promised a long time ago remember, I just wished for us all to be friends forever, why would I allow them to-
"Open your eyes Dez!" she snapped causing a couple people in the restaurant to turn their attention over to us. "Life isn't all sunshine's and fucking rainbows and just because you wish for something doesn't mean its going to happen, you have to put in the work to make it happen. I want us all to be friends forever too, but can't you see that your parents are gonna take you away from me when you're least expecting it. What are you gonna do without me huh?... what am I gonna do without you?!" she cried, and with that she threw her napkin down on the table before getting up from her seat and going to storm out the front door, whilst drawing more attention to herself. I gaped out the window to see her heading over to her car and I groaned quietly to myself. Like me, Trish was a tough person who had no problem saying whatever was on her mind, but sometimes she let her emotions control her without thinking her words carefully
I turned my head back over to Dez, who sat rubbing his forehead before placing my arm on his shoulders. "Ill be right back Dez, everything's gonna be fine don't worry" I said flashing him a brave smile before getting up from our booth and strolling towards the front door. As I stepped out the restaurant, a gush of wind quickly swept in, blowing my hair to the side. I saw a man with a motorcycle quickly pull up in the parking lot, before going to walk towards the restaurant. He was tall, had shaggy blonde hair, and brown eyes like Austin, but it wasn't him. Was I just imagining things? I thought to myself before rapidly shaking my head and taking a deep breath. I glanced over at the motorcycle once more before sighing to myself and walking over to a distress Trish who leaned vigorously on her car.
I leaned on the car next to her before looking up at the clear blue sky. "We're not doing this today, Trish" I uttered as the sun radiated of my face. "Any day I would've accepted your bullshit but today is Dez's birthday. Can't you pretend to be happy for his sake?" I groaned whilst rubbing my eyes. "I know you love him and don't wanna be separated from him but do you think that he wants to hear all this on this day of all days. I agree that his parents a fucking nightmare, they remind me of my parents, and I don't know how he can stand the both of them, but just try and bear with it for a little while longer because he isn't going anywhere" I muttered the last bit before wrapping my arms around her. "Every day he has an urge to cause more self-harm to himself and its becoming harder for him to control himself but he does it anyway because of us, because he doesn't wanna see us so upset because of him. Since he does everything to make us happy whenever we're feeling down don't you think we should do the same together so that he wouldn't have those urges anymore?" I murmured glancing down at her.
She lifted her head back up to look over at Dez from the restaurant window before letting out a deep sigh. "God, I fucking hate it when you're right, I've been a bitch to him haven't I?" she hissed causing me to chuckle.
"C'mon, lets go back inside, we don't wanna keep him waiting" I said smiling down at her, and with that the two of us walked back over to the restaurant to Dez.
Several hours later, we were sited back at the restaurant whilst eating our food we ordered. I watched as Trish laughed hysterically at a joke told by Dez, before glancing over at the man who parked his motorcycle out hours ago. As he looked over, catching my gaze, I quickly looked away before peering down at my food which I had lost the appetite to eat. It was as if no matter the time of day or where I was, I found myself still thinking about him. Whenever I saw a motorcycle, it reminded me of him, whenever I saw a guy with blonde hair, it reminded me of him. Everything around me easily reminded me of him and I found myself missing him more than I could ever imagine. I guess I would've understood if he didn't want to speak to me again, I wouldn't have wanted to be friends with me either, but its almost as if I had became way too attached to pretend like we weren't meant to be in each other's lives for a reason. I wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse, that was something that I had to think about later on in our journey, but what I was sure of was that I wanted to be in his life no matter how bad things got.
I watched as the man slowly got up from the seat and strolled towards the entrance door. He stopped to flash me a sly smirk and a wink before heading out the door and out to his motorcycle. I watched from the window as he got on and drove off before turning my attention back to the two. I was about to join in on their conversation till I heard my phone ringing from my pocket. Puzzled at who it could be, I dived into my handbag and brought it out to see that it was Trent.
"Hello, Trent?" I answered the phone, pressing it closer to my ear and glancing over at Trish who rapidly turned her attention to me.
"Ally" he breathed out a sigh of relief, almost as if he had been waiting to talk to me ever since. "Do you happen to know where Austin is? I've tried calling him all week but he won't answer and every time I go to his apartment he isn't there. He hasn't been over at the underground club either so I thought you might know where he is. Today is the day his brother killed himself three years ago and I just want to find him quick because he- he almost tried to kill himself last year" he stated, causing me to panic a little. I looked over at Dez who looked back at me and I began to understand why Austin distanced himself especially towards him. It didn't help that they both shared the same disorder, but what was worse was that the day he died also managed to be Dez's birthday. I wonder if Austin often saw his brother through Dez.
After letting Trent's words sink in, I took a deep breath and rubbed my forehead frustratingly before speaking up. "I-I don't know where he is either, he hasn't been in school since Monday, but I can help you look for him" I panicked, looking across the table at Trish and Dez as they gazed at me worriedly.
"Where are you right now?" he asked in a breathless and tired tone.
"Its Dez's birthday, so the three of us are at this restaurant downtown, its called the 'Plaza Italian'" I informed pressing the phone closer to my ears.
"Alright, I'll be there soon" he said, and with that he quickly hung up the phone.
I placed my phone back down on the table as my mind started to fill with negative thoughts on what could possibly happen to Austin. Yet again I was failing on my promise on being the one person he needed in life at times like these. "Is everything okay, Ally?" Trish asked stretching across the table to place her hand over mine. I slowly lifted my head up about to answer her question till I spotted two girls walking through the door. One of them had multi-coloured hair and wore a tight black dress, laughing and pacing around almost as if she were drunk, and the other had long blonde hair and wore a denim skirt and blouse. She was the last person I least expected and wanted to see right then. "Piper, lighten the fuck up, its your 21st birthday, fuck who ever you're thinking about right now and lets just got drunk even more" the girl with the multi-coloured hair slurred and stammered, before pulling her over to a booth near the back. I watched as they took their seats and drew attention to themselves, not caring that there were other people at the restaurant.
"I feel like I've seen that blonde chick before, the other one looks like she just had sex with three guys at a local gas station" Trish spoke up, squinting hard over at them. Dez sent me a look signalling for me not to say anything to Trish, and I could tell that he had remembered her from the group of people who kidnapped him before. "I guess its everybody's birthday today, huh?" she chuckled before looking up at Dez, who quickly flashed her a smile before taking some of her food from her plate.
I glanced down at the table trying to avoid her from noticing me, as I thought back to the day where we had came face to face in Austin's apartment. I sighed a small sigh to myself and turned my head to look at her once again, only to find her gazing directly at me. She locked eye contact with me, and shot me a look that made me feel a little uneasy and uncomfortable at the same time. "Uhm guys, I'm gonna go use the bathroom I'll be right back" I stammered before rapidly getting up from my seat. Without looking back at Piper, I quickly hurried over to the bathroom before quickly closing the door behind me.
Luckily there was nobody there. I ran my fingers through my hair and went to stand in front of the mirror. As I stared at my reflection, I began to feel so weak and defeated, like there was nothing I could do in that very moment. It was as if whenever I saw Piper I was reminded of the girl in me that I tried so desperately to hide away from. Each and every day, I put up an image, forgetting that deep inside me, I was a nervous and unstable wreck who couldn't do anything right. I pretend to be confident and not show any signs of weakness, but I was the complete opposite which nobody could know about. The one thing I wanted was to be there for Austin, but how could I do that, when I found it difficult to even be there for myself?. I loosened the ponytail from my her and placed both my hands near the sink as I started to frown at my reflection. After a short while, I gathered myself up to head back to Trish and Dez, till I heard the door slowly creak open, and I quickly spun my head around to see Piper leaning on the door with her arms crossed above her chest. Without realising it, I found myself taking a couple steps back, without letting it show how much she troubled me, and how much I saw a lot of my insecurities in her. I was trapped.
As she pushed her back of the door and took a step closer towards me, I could almost sense the distressing aura, radiating from her. Her eyes were so vacant and held no life. With her gaping, empty eye-holes, you could almost spot a seemingly endless tunnel, reflecting neither light nor emotion. "Why is it that wherever I am, you're there too?" she scoffed, stopping to let her arms drop to the side. She was completely emotionless. The chasm of life had drained out o her iris's. It was like staring at the dead eyes of a corpse, lifeless. She slowly tilted her head to the side before chuckling a little afterwards and it was then that I knew that she was truly insane. I didn't quite know the full story behind her and Austin's toxic relationship, but thinking back to what had Trent had told me about her earlier on that week, I knew that she was trouble.
Being in the same room as her made me almost want to lose my mind, and I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there. Before I could take a step, she quickly shot me a devious look, causing me to take another step back. "The type of person that Austin is... he's complicated" she spoke calmly, but her eyes told a different story. "When we were together, I gave him everything, I loved him and not once did he ever tell me he loved me back... not once" she whispered the last bit whilst slowly lowering her head. "After a while, I realised that someone like him can never be happy in life no matter how much anyone tries. You have a little crush on him right? why?... is it because he's gorgeous?... you can't possibly like him because of his personality, because he never fucking says anything, right?" she questioned in a silent and dark tone as I kept quiet refraining from saying anything.
"This is the last time that I tell you, Ally is it?... stay away from him, just because we broke up doesn't mean you can show up to his apartment whenever you want. He might have done a lot of things to make me hate him, but I'm not the type to give up easily. I'm the person he needs and I'm the person he's only ever going to need. I'm begging you... I can't lose him for good" she muttered as tears began to appear in her eyes, but I wasn't buying it one little bit. As a single tear rolled down her cheek, I gazed up at her with a blank and emotionless expression, not believing how a person who tortured and ruined a person's life could be saying all this. I rolled my eyes about to walk past her once again, but before I could, she quickly dragged me back by my arm, stopping me.
"I wasn't done talking you skank!" she hissed, showing me a new change of attitude, that I knew was hiding under all her crying.
"You fucking psycho! get off me!" I snapped, whilst rapidly shoving her hand away from me. "Do you really expect me to believe all what you just said?! I know that you fucked up his life selfishly for two fucking years so don't me to stay away, this isn't a love triangle because he doesn't love you!" As I yelled the last sentence in her face, she lifted up her hand about to slap me, but before she could, I quickly blocked her hand, causing the rage in her eyes to grow even more. "He doesn't love you... he can't love anybody right now because of everything that he's been threw. I thought you knew him well to understand that, or maybe you do but you don't wanna believe it because you're selfish and you know you're selfish" I spat out gazing up at her furiously.
As I breathed in and out trying to catch my breath, she slowly took a step back from me whilst lowering her head. It felt like all the life had just been sucked out of her right then and there was nothing she could do about it. "You're wrong..." she muttered quietly, slowly lifting her head back up to look at me. Before I knew it, she had fell to the floor screaming loudly at the top of her lungs as I watched on in despair not knowing what to do.
After a couple seconds, I heard someone barge through the door, and I quickly looked up to see Trent, causing a sea of relief to flow through me. He peered down at Piper who had stopped screaming to turn her attention to him. "This is all your fault" she murmured before slowly quickly getting up from the floor and going to throw punches at him. "You told Austin to leave me, its all your fault, and now I'm going to lose him to this bitch!" she shrieked slapping his face continuously. Before she could throw another slap at his face, he quickly caught her hand in mid air whilst trying his best to block himself from her. "You terrorised Austin for two fucking years with your constant bullshit, you're not gonna terrorise Ally too, you hear me?! she has nothing to do with how you fucked up so leave the girl alone or you're not gonna like what I'm gonna do to you this time, Piper" he threatened, holding onto her wrist tightly to stop her from lashing out on him as I watched on in disbelief.
She was about to speak up, but was quickly stopped by someone running inside the bathroom and I quickly realised that it was her friend she had came in with. "Trent" she breathed out gazing up at him. "Just let her go, its her birthday you fucking idiot, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" she snapped throwing her hands up in the air. As Trent quickly released his hands away from Piper's wrist, she quickly threw another slap at him, causing him to clench his jaw tightly.
"I don't fucking care if its her birthday Alex, tell your sister to stay away from Austin or else things are gonna get ugly" he spoke gaping down at Piper who held a scowl on her face gazing back up at me.
Alex wrapped her arms around Piper's waist and scoffed to herself before turning to look back at me. "Why is everything you do always for that pathetic mute? would you die and go to hell with him too if you could?" she scoffed rolling her eyes away, before leading Piper out of the bathroom.
As they closed the door shut, Trent rubbed his eyes frustratingly and let out a deep sigh before turning to face me. "Are you okay? I'm sorry you had to see that" he breathed out, walking closer towards me. As he took a step in front of me, he quickly pulled me into a hug and I closed my eyes, whilst resting my head on his chest. I was a person that could normally handle lots of drama, seeing as how I had grew up in a family where drama occurred almost everyday, but I couldn't handle Piper's obsession with Austin and the psychopathic 'love' that came with it. It made me almost want to stay away from him because of it, but I knew that if I listened to her, I would somehow disappoint him in the process. Even though I knew what I was getting myself into by still wanting to be in his life, I was prepared to put up a fight and put on the tough image I had plastered on my face ever since I was young.
"I think I know where he is" I muttered, slowly pulling away from the hug. "C'mon, we have to hurry".
~Half an hour later.
Trent pulled up down the dark and empty street and I quickly looked out his window to see Austin sitting quietly on the bench to himself as he watched the homeless man play the ukulele, and I quickly breathed out a sigh of relief. I knew that he had to be here. It was where he came everyday, more importantly, it was where he watched me dance, and where we first sat together in peaceful silence for hours. Even though it was hard to tell the look on his face from far away, I knew that he was feeling a lot of emotions inside.
I turned my head to look at Trent who sighed and placed his hand on his head as he watched him. "You should go and talk to him... he probably doesn't wanna see me right now. I'll wait here" he said flashing a warm smile, before leaning over to open the passenger's door for me. I smiled back up at him and nodded my head before taking a deep breath and stepping out the car. Remembering how awkward it was between the two of us last time we were together, I felt myself starting to become nervous as I walked further and further towards me. My heart started to beat quickly as I sucked in a shaky breath, feeling my throat constrict. Anxiousness instantly rose like bile in my body as I thought of what to say to him. What if he ignored me or pretended that I wasn't there? what if he just got up and walked away to carry on avoiding me?. My palms become clammy as I tried not to knot my fingers together. He was the only person that ever made me so nervous.
Taking one last deep breath, I slowly took a seat beside him before looking over across the street at the homeless man, who closed his eyes whilst slowly strumming along the strings of his ukulele that Austin had given him. I looked back at Austin as he held an empty and lifeless look in his eyes whilst his eyes fixated on the man. He didn't say anything to me or acknowledge my presence, but he didn't get up to leave either, so I took it as an opportunity to stay.
As silence grew more and more between us, I sat back on the bench before pushing my head up to look at the night's sky. The stars in the sky were nonexistent, as between us arose puffs of grey. Those balls of cotton seen during the day shifted into streams of grey, the colour of ash and soot. They blanketed the sky, hiding the full moon in its full glory behind them. The sky was exactly the night we first sat together at that very bench. The atmosphere and the slight gush of wind, coming from the bush beside us all felt the same. Was that fate or was I just imagining things all in my head?. I almost forgot how much at peace I felt just sitting with him, but it somehow felt a little different that time knowing that he then had feelings for me.
"He's playing beautifully today" I said deciding to finally speak up. "Careless whisper by George Michael... my grandma used to play that on her piano to me all the time when I was little" I smiled referring to the tune that he played. It amazed me how Austin had came by there every night just to watch him play or give him food or money, but not saying a single word to him. It made think if there was a special relationship he had with him as he did it for years. I looked back up at him to see the wind blowing his blonde locks to the side, revealing his weary and tired eyed. Even if he lacked sleep, he still managed to take my breath away just by looking at him. We sat in silence for another several minutes, and this time it was his turn to speak up. "He used to play the song every night for my mom" he muttered quietly, his gaze not leaving his.
I stared up at him a little puzzled and bewildered trying to understand what he meant by that. "Wait, what? if he played that for your mom every night could that mean-" I stammered looking back at the man.
"He's my Dad..." he spoke finishing of my sentence. My jaw immediately dropped to the floor and millions of questions flew through my mind as everything seemed to be still in that particular moment. "When my mom got sentenced to jail nine years ago he lost his mind. He started drinking a lot and that caused him to lose custody of me and my brother. Once I ran away with my brother so that we wouldn't be put in foster homes, I thought that I would never see him again, until I found him on this street five years ago. I told him my name but he didn't remember me, I then found out that he was involved in a car accident where he lost all his memory and became homeless afterwards. Every night I come here to make sure he's okay. I don't expect him to remember me, he's just the only family I have left that isn't dead or locked away" he explained emotionless whilst slowly diverting his gaze away from his father.
What an unfortunate life he had lived at just 19 years old. His mother was locked away in prison leaving him to grow up without her, his younger brother had committed suicide because of him, and his father had lost all his memory he ever had with his family and only saw him as nothing but a stranger. He didn't deserve to constantly go through life living in pain, he didn't deserved to be looked down upon because he showed no emotion due to his past, he didn't deserve all the misery and constant disappointments that life had to offer. He deserved to be happy, he deserved to know that he was loved even though he couldn't love back. After a short while, I found tears starting to sprinkle onto my eyes as I sat imagining all the struggle one person can endure in life before he finally had enough.
"Have you ever told him that you're his son?, that he's your Father?" I asked gazing back up at him teary-eyed.
He paused and lowered his head briefly for a little while before sighing a small sigh. "If I tell him then what? we go back to being a happy family with just the two of us?. Its too late for that, its better if he doesn't find out! he murmured slowly sitting up on the bench. "I know that I haven't bothered to call you or do anything to see you this past week, but I just want you to know that I'm always here for you" I sniffed, quickly wiping away the tear that flew down my cheek.
Austin turned his head to glance down at me. We held a strong eye contact for what seemed like forever, till he slowly removed his eyes away to look back at his Father. "If you mean all what you say about wanting to be there for me, then I want you to promise me something..." he began whilst looking ahead.
"What is it?" I asked shifting closer to him.
"If you mean what you say... I want you to promise... I want you to promise me to never let me go, if you promise me that, then I'll promise the same" he said gazing deeply into my eyes. Those words were like heaven when I first heard them. Even till this day, I still remembered the tone in his voice and the expression on his face as he said it. I could tell that he was a little unsure himself, but he was so serious, that he didn't have any doubt about it in his mind. That promise was the beginning of our true story, the beginning of our journey into something that I thought would last forever.
"I promise... I'll never let you go".
Sorry it took me a little while to upload this, but I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and the little cute Aussly moment at the end. Also, don't forget to review and let me know what you thought of it.