Chapter Eight

When I felt the heat of the flames, I was even more desperate to get out…alive. I think the car had flipped over a couple of times. I think the car was turned over right now because I felt all the blood rush to my head.

I couldn't feel my legs, and with all the black smoke coming this way, it was getting harder to breathe. I heard coughing…and it wasn't me…

"Kai – get out!" I heard someone yelled. I couldn't. I was stuck. My seatbelt was completely jammed. "Get out, Kai!"

"Dad?" I turned my head to the left, and I was literally paralyzed at the sight. There was blood all over the place – some of which belonged to me, but most of it belonged to my dad.

"You don't have much time! Get out!" He yelled.

"I – I can't! I'm stuck!"

"Wake up, Kai!"

"What?"

"Wake up!"

I suddenly felt something…and my dad's voice seemed distant, and everything whirled and went blank.

"Honey, are you okay?" Opening my eyes, I looked at my mom. "Its okay, Kai, it was only a dream." She looked at me, straight in the eyes. It felt so hot here. "Calm down."

"What?" I sat up, and was surprised to find myself sprawled on the floor, near the stairs.

"It was just a dream."

"No, dad was right here. He was here, and he needs help."

"No, Kai. It was just a dream." She objected as she still made eye contact with me.

"He needs help!"

"Kai, your father is dead, please understand. It was just a dream. You were having a nightmare. It's okay now. Let's get you upstairs." She pulled my arm as she stood up, making me stand up as well.

"Mom, it was real. Dad – "

"Please stop, Kai. You're upsetting me now." Why won't she believe me? I felt so depressed. Today was one of those days, where I felt like crying. I wanted to cry. I felt something wet stream down my face as I took a seat on the edge of my bed. Then I felt more tears roll down my cheeks. I wiped them away because I didn't want my mom to see me like this. But I couldn't stop.

"I really miss him, mom."

"I know, honey. I miss him too." She pulled me closer into a tight embrace. "But we have to remember, Kai," She paused and continued, "that everything happens for a reason."

"But is it a bad reason? Why did dad have to die? Now I have no one." I continued to cry like a baby, or like a girl – depends on the way you look at it.

"Of course it's not a bad reason. And you have me, and your sis – "

"She hates me. My sister hates me. How can she be my sister? And I don't even know her. I haven't seen her all my life, and I've never met you since a long time ago. You don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you. We're just living in the same house – but we don't know each other."

"Don't say that honey, we love you a lot."

"We?"

"Your sister loves you a lot. She just needs some time."

"I know there's something wrong with her. I want to know what. I found something in the kitchen cabinet yesterday. Is there something I should know about Megan? I promise I won't tell anyone, mom. Please tell me."

"There is nothing wrong with Megan." She said.

"Please tell me the truth."

"I am." She said. "And even if there was something wrong with her, she's fine right now, but she needs some time to recover."

"What happened to her?"

"Nothing." She said. "Nothing, Kai. She's normal. All you need to know is she doesn't hate you."

"Then why isn't she talking to me?"

"She just needs some time." She repeated. I nodded. "She loves you a lot."

Yeah right…

"What time is it?" I yawned.

"It's… ten o'clock. Do you want dinner? You must be hungry." She said. But I tried to remember what happened to me. Why was I downstairs in the first place? And then it all came back…

"Who were they?"

"Who?"

"The people, mom. They came over, and they wanted Megan, and I don't remember what happened after that."

"I'm going to go heat up your dinner, Kai." She got up and exited my room. She didn't want me to know anything. Even though it was so obvious that I knew something was going on, she wouldn't say a word.

Eventually, about fifteen minutes later, I was downstairs, eating dinner while watching TV. Mom said today could be an exception just for me. I flipped the channels, and finally stopped when I realized a good movie was airing: Lara Croft – Tomb Raider. Well actually, to be honest, the movie sucked my uncle's ass, but Angelina Jolie was really hot, and I think that's a good enough reason to watch the movie (for like, the 100th time).

Talk about mood swings; I was completely miserable one minute, and the next, I'm one happy bastard.

By midnight, I went to bed. I asked my mom about Megan, and apparently, she was upstairs, sleeping. I asked mom if Meg had dinner – she said yes, but I don't remember seeing other unwashed dishes in the sink other than mine…

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Elaine is going to kill me – literally. It was hard to run all the way from home to school, especially when you have a backpack full of shit ass text books and useless class notes.

I made it to school at 8:15. I searched the hallways for her, and nearly had a heart attack when she attacked me from behind.

"You're late!" Were her first words.

"I know, I'm sorry." I apologized. "I was – "

"Don't give me excuses. Anyways," She said, taking a seat next to her locker. "I was thinking we should have a nice pink folder for our report."

"A pink folder?"

"Uh huh, and you can do the rest of the work." She said. "I've looked over the instruction sheet, so you better get to work if you wanna hand this stuff in on time. There's like, twenty questions, but we need three graphs."

"That's all you did? Dig out a pink folder for our assignment?" Now I was pissed.

"That's a lot of work you know. I had to go out, waste my time looking for a nice folder, and waste my money to buy it just for us."

I rolled my eyes. She's unbelievable…

But since she was talking to me really nicely today, I didn't say anything to her. Plus…I highly doubt she's passing physics.

At 8:45, the bell rang, cueing us to head to class. I had…dun, dun, dun…physics first period, so we ended up walking to class together.

"So, you're on the basketball team now?"

"Yeah." I said.

"It's funny; you're not even that good." She said, in a matter-of-fact sort of way. And trust me, it hurt, more than ever, since it was coming from a girl. "Aidan was pissed at coach when he found out you'd be on the team."

"I forgot the part where that's my problem." I said, walking past her, heading off to class myself. Who needs her insults anyway? Not me.

It was so horribly boring in physics today. I don't think anyone paid attention. Everyone was sleeping – or trying to get some sleep. Tyson was snoring – literally.

"Mr. Granger," Mr. Earl came around, and poke the sleeping figure with the meter stick. The class laughed when the response they got was even more snoring. I have to admit, even I laughed, but I also found it a bit strange…he was lazy and tired, but not this lazy and tired. Mr. Earl poked him once more, "Mr. Granger." He said this time with more volume.

Everyone was silent and watched. Soon, I could tell Mr. Earl was getting a bit worried. Then, he walked to the front of the class, and walked out of the class, exiting the room. At once, everyone started talking.

I gave Tyson a hard shove. "Hey, wake up." I watched him raise his head and stare at me and he looked really annoyed.

"Quit it!"

"You're going to get in trouble; Mr. Early was calling you, and – " I shut up – everyone shut – as soon as Mr. Earl walked back into the class…with the principal.

Mr. Earl and Mr. Conner walked closer to the table me and Tyson were sharing, and looked straight down at Tyson.

"Are you feeling alright, Tyson?" Mr. Conner asked. I watched the bluenette nod.

"Yes, sir." He answered.

"Are you sure? Do you want to sign out of class?" The principal questioned. "Have you gotten enough sleep last night?"

I think some of the questions embarrassed him. But I guess it was Mr. Conner's job – to be worried about the students. Soon, Tyson was asked to step out of the class – I'm guessing to Mr. Conner's office. I don't think the principal was angry, I think was really concerned.

Soon, after chemistry, lunch rolled in, and boy was I glad. I was starving my ass off. I walked down the hallways, unsure of where to eat lunch today. Soon, someone caught up to me.

"Hey Kai," Tala said. "Where were you yesterday?"

"I was…around."

"Sure you were. If you're ticked off at Tyson, don't be, because he's equally pissed at you, so I think it's pretty even. I mean, it's not like you guys are going to talk to each other, so you can still sit with us, man."

"Really?"

"Of course. And the other guys, you know, Brooklyn and 'The Man Whore' aren't mad at you – well, maybe a little, but whatever."

"The man whore?" I made a face.

"I mean Ray." He said. "Anyways, I'm not mad at you."

"Thanks."

"I don't know what happened the other day, but I doubt I want to."

"Okay." I said, following him to our usual lunch seat. "Where's Tyson?"

"I think he went home or something. I saw him in the office when I was handing in the attendance, and apparently, he wasn't feeling too well."

"Yeah, Mr. Conner came into our physics class,"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and then Tyson had to leave the class." I said. Lunch was okay today, The Man Whore was talking to me, and so was Brooklyn, and no one mentioned the fight. Hilary kept asking about Tyson, and I told her he left. She didn't seem too upset about though…

Instead, she kept talking to me.

Lunch ended, and I walked up to math class, which was so fucking boring it wasn't even funny, but I still did the work. Then I had English…with Hilary.

We were told to work in groups of five, and analyze an essay written by Timothy Findley – a Canadian (homosexual, I'm serious) writer. His books sucked. And so did his essays.

Then we had to compare it with one of Margaret Atwood's essays. Margaret Atwood – you know, another Canadian writer who apparently, has a hard time spelling…

Hilary and I were in the same group, along with these three other people: two girls and another guy who didn't really speak English. I think he was Russian, judging by his name. Too bad I didn't know how to speak Russian…I would have helped him.

School ended, and today I had no basketball practice. I decided to go see what was up with Tyson. Maybe he was faking just go get out of class.

Hilary asked me to walk her home – I did, and then I headed to Tyson's place.

"Who is it?" Came Myles' voice from the inside of the house.

"It's me." I said, hoping he'd recognize my voice. He opened the door.

"Hey." He said. "Come in." At least someone was nice.

"Is Tyson home?"

"No, he's out."

"What? But I thought he was sick." I knew it! Faker!

"Really?"

"He signed out of school today, during first period." I said.

"Well, I have no idea where he is. Maybe he's with Hil – "

"He can't be. I just walked her home."

"Maybe he's at work then."

"He doesn't work…" Tyson was a jackass. He was lethargic, that he didn't even make a resume. Even if he did have a part time job, he'd probably get fired on his second day for being late.

"Oh." He said, looking completely dumbfounded. Wow, I knew a lot more about Tyson than his own brother. Were they even close? Judging by the lack of information they had on each other…I doubt it. "He's probably…somewhere."

Obviously! He's not home! Gee, that's a hint! Moron…

"Try calling him." He suggested. Now I felt dumb. I could just try calling him on his cell. I took out my cell and dialed his number, hoping it was the right one because my memory of phone numbers sucked. I waited, and flipped the phone closed after about six or seven rings.

"He's not picking up." I told Myles.

"Well, I'll tell him to give you a call when he returns." Myles said.

"Um, thanks. Where's Ms. Granger?" I asked, referring to his mother of course. I really liked Ms. Granger. She was kind of like a second mother.

"She's…at the hospital. Didn't you hear?"

"What? Hospital? Why?" I asked.

"She's…not well." He said.

"What happened to her?" I asked. I was worried, to be honest. I think I'd be just as upset as I was with dad's passing if I hear something dreadful about Ms. Granger. "Is she okay?"

"She's been diagnosed with lung cancer." He said, exhaling loudly. There was a moment of silence as it took me some time to register the information he was giving me.

"Lung cancer?"

"It was caused by second-hand smoking." He said. "It was unexpected. She…might not…make it."

"I'm really sorry." I said, and I meant what I said. "When was she put in the hospital?"

"A few days ago."

"Tyson didn't tell me anything."

"I understand why. He doesn't want to talk about it." Myles said. "But don't worry about it. My mom's going to be fine." He smiled. I couldn't tell if he was actually happy, or just faking it, which made me wonder if people could tell when I was pretending to be happy.

I felt bad…for Tyson. All this time, I was giving him an extra hard time. I was just an additional issue for him. I mean, he had school to worry about, and especially since he made a promise with his mother, he's working even harder, and trust me, that idiot's got a lot of confidence and potential, and then he has to worry about making his girlfriend happy all the time, and he has to put up with his soccer team. I can't imagine how I'd react if I had so much stuff in my life.

Maybe Tyson is a lot more mature than I thought he was. He's so…responsible, and yet, he doesn't whine about his dilemmas like me. I always complain about things, even though my problems are not even comparable with his. He's acting completely normal, even though he knows his mom might die any minute now. He's…something I'll never be. And in all honesty, I'm completely jealous.

There's probably a reason why Megan hates me: I'm not responsible enough as an older brother. I cry until the entire world knows I'm pissed off, and leave me alone.

I'm a dick.

This is my punishment – to feel guilty for the rest of my life.

I accept my punishment, because I am the worst son a father could ever have; the worst boyfriend, the worst friend, a really bad basketball player, the worst brother ever, and…the worst dick head.

I deserve this punishment…I need to learn my lesson…and if I can't take it anymore…then I'll commit suicide…

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You have to admit, I updated a lot faster than other times – I think. Please R and R. Thank you to:

mrsalexwatkins, Hutchy, kaieshakai, -Dark Pheonix Angel Nami-, beda, Majirdiu, final fantasy, charl

The story is about to unfold…very quickly…so…keep reading!