Hello guys. I'm back, and actually on time. I don't know if we even have a "on time" anymore. It feels more like a, "OH, I guess I'll write a chapter now." A lot of you guys like the last chapter which is a huge relief. I worked so hard on it, and I went back and forth on whether to upload it or not.

So I actually outlined the entire rest of the story, and I concluded that there will be 35 chapters and an epilogue. Only nine more after this chapter. Be ready for some immense tears. :)

So without further ado:

Chapter 26: Broken

Broken Threats

Max

Last Time on Broken:

"My reasoning was simple, "Juliet and I don't have godparents. My mother's parents don't approve of either of us and would give us up, and my father's parents are both dead. I only have one aunt, and she's in jail for murder. I'm not eighteen yet, so if I turned in Anne, then Juliet and I would be put in foster care. We'd be spilt up because she would go to a foster family, and I'd be put in a group home because of my police record. I'm not gonna have Juliet and I be separated. We're the only ones we have left."

Max was silent. "Come on, we need to get you home." I said quietly. I opposed the idea of Max going back to that house, but I knew that she would have to go home sometime. It would be better if she was there before Jeb woke up again.

"No," she pleaded, "no, no, no, no, no. I can't go back there. He's going to kill me. I can't go back." She began crying again.

I quieted her down, "No, he's not going to hurt you. I knocked him out, and with the look of how drunk he was, he won't wake up until late tomorrow. Don't worry. You are going to be okay."

I limped my way into my house; my entire body ached. Jeb hadn't been too bad. Like I had said before, Jeb didn't hurt me as bad when he was somewhat sober. It was when he was flat-out drunk that he was the most dangerous. I couldn't help but chuckle while struggling to twist the key into the lock and open up the door. I pictured Jeb, lying on the floor, completely passed out.

The lock finally gave way and I quietly creeped my way into the huge mansion. As I stepped inside, I snuck a glance at Jeb. Emotions of relief and self-righteousness flooded within me. I did not look at him for more than two seconds, but I already felt happier. Afterwards, I took a left into the hallway that led into my room.

I wondered how I would ever be able to fall asleep. For the first time in a while, I felt completely and utterly awake. Excitement, commotion, and comfort buzzed around me. The Sandman, with two pounds of sleeping dust, would not be able to put me to sleep.

So, as I walked into my bedroom, I had no idea that I was about to be reprimanded by no other than my own sister. "Where the hell did you go?" She yelled in a whisper, "I was worried sick. I walk out of my room, wondering who had made such a loud noise, and I see Jeb passed out with no sign of you. I thought you were kidnapped!" She was furious. I mentally criticized myself. I had completely forgotten about Nudge, my sister. I claimed that I didn't want anything to happen to her, and yet I leave her completely alone with absolutely no warning and only a blacked-out Jeb to protect her. Idiot, Idiot, IDIOT! I exclaimed in my head.

"Well, I'm waiting for an explanation!" She declared.

I sighed, and began my story, "Nudge, I'm so sorry. I invited Fang over tonight, and by the time Jeb was doing his normal beat-down, I had completely forgotten he was coming. Fang walked in when Jeb was mid kick and pulled him off of me and beat the crap out of him. He carried me outside so he could get an explanation and I had no choice but to tell him about what's been going on, and then he lectured me about telling the police, but I came back inside instead. I'm so sorry."

Nudge huffed, annoyed, "You don't think, Max. You go though life just excepting that you can't do anything about your problems because you think that they're too hard to figure out solutions for, and then you break down because of them. You go completely crazy because you hide all of your issues and you can't talk to anyone about it. And then when something actually happens, you react impulsively and don't think about the consequences and other people, like me, are effected by it. Or, you overwhelm yourself with responsibilities, like being a straight A student, or protecting me twenty-four seven. You stress yourself about how you won't be able to do everything you sign yourself up for, and you end up letting everyone down. You don't think and it pisses me off."

She was so infuriated that she began to cry angrily, "I thought you were dead, Max. I thought you had been taken away by some pervert to be raped and killed. And now you probably don't realize just how worried I am, because your hyper-analyzing everything that's ever happened to you. You need to get your head out of the clouds or else you're gonna fall and crash, and along the way, you'll take a lot of people with you."

I wrapped her in an embrace and held her closely, "I know Nudge. I'm so sorry."

"I know your sorry, and I don't care about apologizes. I don't want to ever feel so alone and so vulnerable again." She said harshly.

I shushed her quietly as more tears rushed down her face, "I know Nudge. I will make it up to you. I'm so sorry."

After a few silent minutes of heavy crying, she finally responded to me, "Did you ever learn how my mom died?" She asked quietly. I shook my head slight; just enough for her to see. I hadn't thought much about her past. Nudge was extremely sad when she arrived at our doorstep. She was a quiet, little girl who did not talk at all. We had figured that she would not want to tell us about her past because of the way it haunted her. She would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying out for her mother.

She began her story, "Before I went into foster care, my mom and I were really poor. We didn't have enough money to own a place so we would often hide in foreclosed houses. My mom would leave me alone in the houses a lot of the days, and I would be forced to go to the public school. Sometimes, she would leave the house for days on end, and I would just stay there, hiding in a spare closet. Sometimes, I would have to pickpocket off of some kids at school to get food and water. The longest she had been away was for five days.

"One day, when I was about six years old, my mom left for a week. I continued to go to school for a while after that; until the fifth day. Then I was starting to get worried. On that Sunday, right before the sun was about to set, a group of policemen came barging in. Apparently, a neighbor had seen the me roaming around the house, and he had called the cops. When they brought me into the sheriff's office, I kept asking one question. Where was my mother? Later, the sheriff told me where she had been. Her long trips were really robbery missions. She had been robbing gas stations, restaurants, she'd even robbed a bank once. They had found her on the third day she had been away, and she had run. She pulled out a gun and pointed it at one of the policemen and he fired.

"I had been alone for days, though it felt like years. I didn't know what had happened. I was just sitting there, day after day, hour after hour. And no one had even thought to warn me, because no one knew that I was her daughter, or where I was. I might've died in there. So when you were just gone, and Jeb was passed out, I assumed the worst. Max you can't do that to me. You can't let me go back to that life." Her voice quivered. I stroked her head, as the tears came streaming down her face.

"Shhh," I whispered silently, "Everything's going to be okay."

Nudge looked innocently at me, "Max, I don't trust Fang. What if he tells someone? What if I get taken away and then I get abandoned all over again? I don't like him. He's so cunning, dark. I don't think he's a nice person."

I felt surprised she had said this. Nudge had always seemed to be happy whenever Fang came over. Maybe it was just because of Juliet, but she was still always cheerful. Then it hit me; Nudge had complete and utter trust issues. She never really trusted any of her friends. She never trusted Jeb, though she did not believe he was as bad of a person as he was. The only one she trusted was me. "It's okay Nudge. I'm not gonna let that happen to you."

I escaped the house early enough that Jeb had not woken up yet. His limp and useless body had at least went into his bedroom, so the trashed living room was empty. The entire house stunk of alcohol and sweat.

When I finally arrived at my school, Fang was already there, resting on a bench. He was wearing the exact same clothes he had worn the night before. I nudged him with my knee, "Hey Tooth," I said playfully, referring to his nickname that I never seemed to call him by anymore, "wake up. This school isn't a bed." He opened one of his eyes, glanced upon me, and closed it once again. I shoved him a bit harder and he let out a small groan, "Come on jackass, we've already missed first period," I lied. He needed a motive to get up.

Both of his eyes reluctantly opened up, "What do you want Ride?" He grumbled tediously.

"Did you sleep here or something?" I asked incredulously; he was covered in a layer of grime and dirt, and his hair was sticking out in all directions.

He nodded silently, until he finally mumbled, "Your house is too far away from my house. Decided this would be as good a place as any to crash out. Besides, I didn't want to go to my hell-hole of a house."

I scoffed, "You could have just stayed at my house."

"Yeah and risk being seen by the ever-loving Jeb? No thank you."

The mention of Jeb ran my mind back to Nudge's and I's conversation, "Speaking of Jeb, we need to talk about that," I said. Fang finally sat up wearily, and paid attention, "So you can't tell anyone about last night. Last night didn't happen at all. Got it?"

Fang's face stayed emotionless, "I'm not gonna tell anyone. But last night did happen. No matter what you think, I am and will always be here for you. For once you can let go of your pride and trust someone for once," He said quite monotonously, "Now if you will excuse me, I believe I have some sleep to catch up on."

I left before his head hit the bench. I was angry. He called me prideful? That wasn't true. I could look after myself. Everyone knew that, because I obviously could. My mother had died, and I handled myself. I didn't have nightmares about it anymore. Jeb started abusing me, I handled myself. I could endure the hits now. I gained a little sister that I now had to raise basically by myself, and I had done a pretty good job. I didn't need someone to help. I could handle it all.

But of course, that was all a lie. The nightmares of my mother's death still haunted me, though I dismissed them every single night. I pretended that they never happened, but they did of course. And I had handled abuse so well. I hadn't turned Jeb in. I hadn't helped myself by releasing myself from the demon had infiltrated my father. And then, there was raising Nudge. Had I really done that well? She had immense trust issues, and she didn't believe anyone could help her except me. Though I would never admit it, I needed help.

Maybe Nudge wasn't the one who had immense trust issues.

The school day had dragged on for what seemed like weeks. My junior year was coming to a close, and finals would be in two weeks, and the teachers had all begun to review some of the material. After I had picked Nudge up from school, we drove back to the house.

I wondered how I would be welcomed into the house. Jeb must have now woken up, and I couldn't hide from him forever. How would he react? He obviously would be angry, but would he be paranoid? Would he feel guilt? Would he dread abusing me? Or would he simply continue on, and continue to threaten me everyday of my life until eventually he kicked his final kick. Until he punched his final punch. Until slapped his final slap. Until he laid that final attack on me that left me dead in a swamp of my own blood.

I slowly turned the keys, and walked inside hesitantly. Nudge ran straight to her room. She must've not wanted to find out what would happen. I advised her to do this as soon as she got home. I didn't want her to get hurt. I sighed gratefully; he was no where in sight. I slumped toward my bedroom. All I wanted was a nice night's sleep. I opened the door, and dropped my backpack down. I hadn't seen who was standing in front of me. The face of the devil himself. Jeb.

He did not seem very drunk, but he was without a doubt furious. I was an idiot for thinking that he would actually contemplate his actions. "Look who decided to show up." He drawled, smiling a sicking smile. "Little Maxie, I believe we have little problem here." He walked up to my window, and calmly brushed his fingers against the glass. With one sharp hit, he punctured the window with his fist, causing glass to spill all over the floor. "You've been a bad girl, haven't you. Inviting over that nuisance of a human-"

"Fang is not a nuisance." I grunted, "He will always be ten times better than you will ever be."

Jeb scoffed and laughed mockingly, with his back turned away from me, "Aw, this is what it's about, isn't it? You like this boy. You think that he can protect you, that he will be able to take care of you, instead of you having to take care of him. This is such a sweet fairy-tale ending." He dramatically turned around, "Except your life isn't a fairy-tale."

He grasped my throat and pushed me against the wall. I gasped for air as he continued, "That failure isn't a prince in shining armor, but a deadman if you so even look at him again. I'm swear to God, one word to that good-for-nothing idiot is going to wish he had never been born if you say one word to him." My head began to feel light-headed, and the breath was escaping too quickly. "You got it, princess?" He spat.

With a tear running down my face, I nodded silently.

And that's where I'm ending it. So I graduated 8th grade a few days ago. Tomorrow I get to go to disneyland, so make sure to give me a lot of review to come back to.

9 more chapters. Prepare to be surprised.

-Maximum Reading