CHAPTER 8

"Are you sure you're okay, Miguel?"

Miguel looked up at his father, who had just asked the question. Him, his father and his sister were walking back home from the restaurant that night, and Miguel's family could tell that Miguel had a lot on his mind. He had been pretty quiet during the meal, and his dad didn't need to be a social worker to know what it was about. He had just said goodbye to his sensei in the restaurant, and Miguel was clearly deep in thought about it all.

Miguel smiled faintly at his father and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Miguel replied.

"So when do you think you're going to go back to L.A if you're not going with them tomorrow?" Gabriella asked him. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Eager to get rid of me already?" Miguel joked. Gabriella nodded.

"Of course. With you gone, maybe it won't look like we have a dog shedding hair in the shower drain."

Miguel rolled his eyes, running a hand through his recently cut hair.

"Yes, because I'm the problem, aren't I? Not the person whose hair literally goes down to their stomach." Miguel replied. "As for when I'm leaving… I don't really know. I'm happy here, but I know I need to get back at least before school starts again. My mom would probably have a stroke if I'm not back by then."

Manuel nodded.

"Well you're welcome here for as long as you want." He told his son, who smiled at him. They took the rest of the walk back home in comfortable silence, and when they arrived, Gabriella went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, and Manuel and Miguel ventured into the living room and sat down on the various couches.

"Oh, I'm stuffed. That was such good food." Miguel murmured, as he lay on the couch and closed his eyes, in the midst of a food coma.

Manuel chuckled as he looked over at his son. Ever since the day Carmen left, Manuel had felt empty. Even after he cleaned up his life, even after he became a respected social worker, even after he helped tens of troubled teenagers clean their lives up, even after he managed to get full custody of his daughter… his heart had always felt like something was missing. He had assumed that was the hole that Carmen had left behind, and it would be a hole that would never be filled. However, as he sat with his son, both silent but content, Manuel finally felt complete. He realized that even if he never saw Carmen again a day in his life, for as long as he didn't screw things up with his son, he would be okay.

"Hey, dad!" Gabriella's loud voice cut through the silence, and both Manuel and Miguel groaned. They were both enjoying the peaceful silence, but of course the ever talkative Gabriella could not last longer than a minute without talking.

"What's up, mija?" He asked her.

"Did you know you left the kitchen door open when we left?" She called to him from the kitchen. Manuel's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Um… no I didn't. I last used it this afternoon, and I definitely closed and locked it after." He replied. "Miguel, did you go through the kitchen door?"

Miguel shook his head.

"I went on a run this morning, but I took the front door, not the back door." He replied.

"Gabi, we didn't use the door. It shouldn't be open." Manuel stated. In the kitchen, Gabriella rolled her eyes at the two boys' stupidity.

"Well I don't know what to tell you guys. Maybe you fell asleep and sleep-opened the door, because the door is definitely open right n-"

BANG!

Feeling the memories start to become overwhelming, Miguel, with all his might, tore himself out of the flashback. He knew that if he didn't escape it now, he'd be forced to relive everything that happened after. Blinking a couple of times, Miguel readjusted himself to his surroundings and found himself face to face with Hawk.

"So help me understand, man! What's going on?" Hawk yelled at him. Miguel took a deep, shaky breath and closed his eyes. It was so infuriating, his situation. He wanted to tell someone about what happened to him. Everyone in his life was pleading with him to open up about what had happened, and it physically hurt him to see the looks in their eyes when he didn't. They all figured he just didn't trust them enough to tell them or something, that he didn't care about them enough. That wasn't true! If anything, it was the exact opposite. The reason he couldn't tell them what happened was because he knew how they'd react when they heard: they'd treat him like the monster he was.

"Look, Hawk, whenever I've just stepped back and refused to fight, me or the people I care about have gotten hurt." Miguel slowly growled. "That changes now! I'm not just sitting back anymore!"

"So your plan is to go full-on Batman vigilante mode on everyone who's screwed you in the past?" Hawk asked.

"No. The plan is to finally stand up for myself against the bullies of the world so the ones I love don't get hurt!" Miguel shot back, his chest heaving. Hawk stared at him in disbelief. What in the name of God had happened to his best friend?

"Okay, you're probably tired from your whole trip…" Hawk began, but Miguel's eyes immediately narrowed into a deathly glare.

"Don't…" Miguel growled. "Don't patronize me."

Hawk shook his head.

"No, no, I'm not." He said. "All I'm saying is go home, get some sleep. If you still are hell bent on going all John Wick on your enemies tomorrow, call me and I'll be there to fight the shitheads right beside you."

Miguel looked at him, puzzled.

"Why would you do that?" Miguel asked.

"Because even if we're no longer Cobra Kai, we're still brothers for life. If one of us is going to war, we both go to war." He replied coolly. "But you've gotta let me take you home now. Get some sleep first, and then if you wake up tomorrow still wanting to fight, then we'll fight."

Miguel and Hawk locked eyes and stared down at one another for a long time, both holding their nerve and neither faltering. However, eventually Miguel slowly nodded at Hawk.

"Fine. Let's go."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

BANG!

The sound sliced through the air like a… well, ironically like a bullet. And for a moment, Miguel was confused at what the unfamiliar sound was. What in the world was that? Had Gabriella accidentally dropped something onto the ground? Had one of the ceiling lights or fans fell? He had no reason to believe that this was anything other than something innocent like that, and he was about to shout to Gabriella if she was okay, but when he glanced over at his father, his words caught in his throat. His father had gone deathly white, recognizing the sound immediately. This wasn't something falling. This was something much, much worse.

BANG!

A second gunshot snapped Manuel into action, leaping to his feet and dragging Miguel up with him.

"Dad… what's… what's going on?" Miguel stammered. Manuel grabbed Miguel tightly by the shoulders, shaking the shock out of his son's system.

"Miguel… I want you to listen to me carefully, okay?" Manuel said, his voice surprisingly steady and calm as he spoke to the teenager. "You're going to go upstairs to my room and you're going to wait for me there, okay?"

By this point, Miguel realized exactly what the banging sounds were, although fear hadn't yet kicked into his system.

"But dad… I want to help you." Miguel stated, mentally gearing up for a fight. Manuel vehemently shook his head.

"No. You're not fighting." Manuel stated, quietly but firmly.

"But dad…"

"Miguel…" Manuel demanded quietly. He knew that they only had a few moments before the gunman made his way into the living room and saw them, so he needed to act quickly. "Listen to me… you are NOT fighting."

Miguel's face knitted into a tight scowl, adrenaline forcing any iota of fear inside him to be buried deep down. He sighed and nodded.

"Fine." Miguel eventually murmured.

"Good. Now you stay in my bedroom, shut the door. I promise you, I will be right there as soon as I'm done with this, okay? I promise."

Miguel nodded, before turning on his heel and sprinting upstairs as quickly as he could. Manuel's father moved just as fast, grabbing a gun they kept concealed in the living room for emergencies, before charging towards the sound of the gunshots…

Miguel roughly yanked himself out of his flashbacks once again, this time finding himself in the passenger seat of Hawk's car. Noticing his friend jolt awake with a start, Hawk glanced at him, concerned, but as Miguel avoided eye contact and didn't speak up, Hawk didn't press him about it further.

He dropped Miguel home, and as the teenager walked into the house, he thanked God that it was empty. His yaya was probably out to dinner with her friends, and his mom was probably across the hall getting… reacquainted with Johnny. He was more thankful than disgusted though, as it meant he had the house to himself, nobody there to confront him about what had happened, nobody there to condemn him for refusing to talk.

As Hawk pulled his car out of the driveway and away from the compound, he quickly pulled over at the nearest hard shoulder in the road that he could find. Once he had done so, he immediately pulled out a phone and sent a message to someone…

Fyi thought u should know I just caught Miguel beating the living shit out of Kyler. I managed to get him to stop and took him home, but he's in pretty rough shape. You should probably go see him. Maybe he'll talk to you

It only took a few more moments for him to get a response…

On my way now…