Summary:

Things turn bad when Drake ends up in the hospital b/c of Josh, a mysterious stalker from Drake's past returns, stopping at nothing to get revenge, even murder. Drake falls for a sweet girl, but is scared to let her in his heart b/c of old heartbreaks. R&R!

Disclaimer:

Don't own it. Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it.

Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it.

Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it.Don't own it. Don't own it.

Note to Readers:

Another short chapter. I'm sorry you guys! I changed the summary on the index of the fanfic because it used to be incredibly dorky, and I personally think it was driving away readers. Anyway, my brain isn't working well now LOL and I tried my best to make this –short—chapter sound… coherent. It's a very emotional chapter. It's not much, but it's just really about you guys understanding Drake's past situation with his Dad and how terrible it was. This really isn't that hard to write because I've gone through an abusive father situation (and still am), but I have grown to love my own story because it actually give me, myself hope! Only a few more chapters left before the end of the fic! Maybe three or four, five at most. Don't cry! FOFL. Well, thanks for the nice, nice comments and thanks of course for you drifters who just read and don't comment—though I love getting reviews, I really don't care as long as you read and truthfully enjoy my story! Thanks guys! Chapter Twenty Two coming your way: 'A Fight For The Soul'!

Story: "Party in a Box"

Chapter: "A Fight For The Soul"; Twenty - Two

Written By: Ginger

Extras:
Italics in "quotation marks" symbolize thoughts of Drake's.

Italic Bold paragraphs are flash backs.

Italic, Bold, and Underlined refer to the mysterious man during flash backs.

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Josh sat in a complete state of un-relenting shock, staring at his brother. Anyone would have expected atleast a "What?" or an "I can't believe this!" from him, but he was, for a long time, too stunned to murmur anything aside from an "Oh my God…" in a tiny, upset voice. He looked down at the shadowy floor and gazed back up, eventually, at Drake—to view his reaction.

He was looking not at the dumb struck teenager, but more over to the side of the couch, past the darkness of the kitchen window, with an almost heartbroken expression on his face. Finally, Josh found the strength to speak in a hoarse tone: "Drake—" "I know, Josh. I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have even told you anything." the boy who had cut his brother's sentence short, rose from his seat and said nothing more as he walked across the open expanse of the murky living room. Josh bit his lip and stood also, following along as Drake stepped toward the moonlit window seat.

He didn't say anything at first, but instead reached out and put a warm hand atop the shivering shoulder of his brother, as the other boy had done for him, earlier. He was surprised at the shudder that passed though Drake's slumping shoulder, under his hand, and feeling this made his speak up, in a very vigilant and gentle tone of voice. "Drake—man, don't be upset. I…I'm not angry with you! Just… so afraid for you. I never knew anything about your real dad. But finding this out about him is just—so scary." "I'm not upset. I'm only sorry. And… I just want to be alone." Drake spoke, slowly bending his head downward and eventually pulling away from Josh's hand to walk back a few steps and stride slowly toward the hall way.

Josh frowned and stood still for a while, in inability to quite grasp understanding of how his brother felt at this moment. "Drake?" he called, hurrying through the doorway to the stairs but stopping short out of surprise when he rounded the corner and spotted his step brother sitting tiredly on the fourth or fifth step, leaning against the rail.

"…Hey, brother—can I just talk to you for like one moment?" Josh asked, in a gentle voice.

Drake looked up and stared at him for a minute, but didn't reply with any words. The other boy's heart sank and any slight hope of discovering everything and helping Drake, once and for all disappeared. Another uncomfortable and awquard silence passed and finally Josh murmured a quiet: "Okay." as he began to turn and step from the tiny room.

"Wait!" a soft voice yelped, and Josh heard the muted pad of quick steps down the stairs behind him. He swerved to meet the other teenager face to face as he spoke: "I apologize, man. I do want to talk. Please, just please don't be mad at me. I get so emotional, but I don't mean to." The tone of his voice was full of remission and impairment. Josh looked down for a minute and then smiled a sweet smile, reaching out and grabbing his brother's curled, cold fingers: "It's okay, bro. …Come on and let's go back in to the living room. As you said earlier—time is really of the essence." Drake mirrored back the same smile and for a second, drew his hand tighter around his brother's clasping it warmly, before pausing and then letting it go.

"Drake?" Josh asked, as the two settled back down in to seats in the adjoining room: "What kind of things did he exactly do to you? Was he a psychical abuser?" "In a way, he was. In another way, he wasn't. He hit me only once—the last day that Mom saw him. But other than that, he really never hit anybody. It was mental torture. I was his main target in our family and for the longest time I was deathly afraid of him—to the point of loosing my health a bit. It got to where my time was just so consumed with trying to avoid him, I had begun to forget to eat and then couldn't fall asleep until five or six in the morning… sometimes even after daylight. On the weekdays, I'd usually only get three or so hours of rest before I had to wake up and head to school, some days less." Josh's eyes were filled with almost amazed horror: "How did you… stay alive?" "Naps, I guess. I mean, I took them, but he would always wake me up by screaming my name through my door or from the bottom of the stairs, so sometimes I'd just have to be exhausted." "Man, you must have been really depressed." The other boy commented, shaking his head and looking on at Drake with quiet sympathy. "I was." he spoke, in an almost whispering voice.

"Did you ever… cut?" Josh said finally, after trying to figure out a way to ask this without being so blunt, and failing to do so, instead letting out the bold question in a hushed voice. Drake's eyes lifted to glance across at the boy who had posed such a truthful and to - the - point question, and he bit his lip, in total silence. "Drake… you really cut yourself, didn't you?" the slow, worried sentence left the lips of the teenager's kind brother. "…Yes. I did. But only once!" Drake exclaimed, shaking his head and nervously turning his head from the view of Josh: "It was bad! I know that now! But… but I was so alone, and so terrified! I thought that if I couldn't kill myself and take the easy way out because of Mom and Meghan, then I'd come as close as I could with out really doing it. And when I did it… it made me feel so real—so alive—and such a human being."

Josh's eyes got larger with a little look of fear: "…Drake, you haven't been doing that latel—" "No, I haven't! That's just in the past." Drake said, in a frustrated tone, grabbing his forehead, beginning to massage the pain away and letting out a deep breath. "I'm sorry, man, you just scared me. I understand that you've already processed a lot of this… but if anything ever happened to you, I'd just loose my mind." Josh replied, with a soft smile: "I mean, you're my brother, Drake!"

"Don't worry about me, Josh. I gave up cutting a long, long time ago, and there's no way I'm ever gonn'a do it again. That would just give more power to him. …I remember once, I started to try and tell him that I had been doing that. But—but I shouldn't have even spoken to him at all." "What did he say? He must have been really upset." "He," Drake paused his sentence for a minute and then sighed, shaking his head and closing his eyes: "Laughed. And started giving everyone the impression I was a rebelling crazy kid. Even… even most of my friends believed him." "I hate him. And I won't stand one more second of watching you in torment, Drake Parker. He's going to know for real that he can't mess with you." Josh exclaimed, standing up in an angry rush and shaking his head in disgust. "No—Josh, listen you can't be like that—it only fuels him." "No, you listen to me, Drake! I can't just standby and watch you die slowly! You're my family—the only real family I ever had! You're a part of me, you're connected to my heart, and if I let him keep on, he's going to end up going too far and killing you! You have to admit even yourself that that's more than likely what he had come to do to you and by the simple grace of God you ended up okay! I won't just let half of my heart and life be ripped away from me when I've just started to learn to love it. I can't take that."

"Josh…" Drake managed, in a quiet murmur as he stood slowly and looked at him with a daze stare. He frowned a loving frown and restrained the slight strain of tears in his throat, suddenly reaching forward and grabbing his brother's heaving shoulders in a hug. This very unexpected action shocked Josh and he felt himself relax his muscles and draw his arms around his thin brother, and sigh, understanding his pain. "I never knew you thought like that." Drake said, shaking his head and causing his brown locks to brush against Josh's cheek. "Well, now you know I do."

The two brothers shared the kind hug for a long time, and finally they back up from each other and sighed. "What'll we do now? The sun's just now starting to rise and we only a have a few more hours until Meghan will probably call." Drake asked, crossing his goose bump covered arms and trying to warm him self. "You're cold. Come on upstairs and we can grab a few blankets. Mean while maybe you can tell me what really happened with the stairs—I still don't know yet!" Josh answered, grabbing the shivering boy's arm from across him, and heading toward the stairs, dragging him along with him.