Cary was asleep at his desk, he had been rolling M-80s the night before but was too exhausted to finish them. He was covered in ash and dirt, his flesh and clothes smelled like smoke. He had never had to let out so much anger in his life. His family didn't notice he left the night before. He left his door locked until about five minutes before he fell asleep, making sure no one would get suspicious. His father opened the door, Cary still had his head down in his arms, undisturbed.

"Cary." his dad said loud and clear, he still didn't move, he moaned a little, his voice having worked its way into the little dream he was having. He rapidly shook his shoulder, "Cary. Wake up."

"No…!" he exclaimed aggravated, his head shot up, "What?"

"Come on…it's ten o' clock."

Cary's eyes widened, "Ten?"

"Yeah, you've been sleeping this whole time?"

Cary looked at the floor, somewhat ashamed, "I think so."

His father laughed, "Your finally turning into a teenager, now come on and get some breakfast."

Cary stood up, "Ok." he rubbed his eyes walking over to his closet grabbing some clothes, "Just let me take a shower-"

"Wait…" he sniffed, "Do you smell smoke?"

Cary's eyes wandered around the room in fear, "No…why?"

"Hm…must be a forest fire somewhere." his father walked out, leaving Cary sighing in relief.

He was immediately greeted by his mother once he walked into the kitchen. She pulled him into a hug, kissing the side of his head. She hugged him tighter,

"I love you sunshine." she mumbled into his ear,

"Love you to." she pulled back smiling at him. She went back to making the coffee.

Maybe things would go better today he told himself. Just no talking to Caleb. Cary had nothing that wasn't hostile to say to him. Nathan was at the table, eating the sausage and eggs his mother had made,

"Your up pretty late."

Cary just looked at him and sat down, not hungry or in the mood for talking. Especially to the guy who called his own brother 'psycho' the night before."

"Hey…they said they'll be leaving three days early."

Cary suddenly perked up, "Really?"

"Yeah, Uncle Will's got some…business meeting he has to get home for so…" he sipped his coffee, "They'll only be here for about five more days."

Five days…ok…he smiled to himself, "You got this Cary…five more days…you got this."

Five more days and then he'd be free. His mother saw Cary's expression.

….It saddened her. That he couldn't get along with the only extended family they had left. Cary had no other cousins, both grandparents were gone, and Will was the only brother Amy had. All she wanted was for them to get along and be close…but she didn't know what was driving Cary so insane.

"Um…" Cary played with his fingers, so tired that he was half in his head, half in reality, "Where are they now?"

"They went out to get us some more groceries." Nathan held his head up with his hands, tired himself. He was up all night thinking about what he had said to Cary.

Never once in his life had he yelled at Cary. Nor insulted him like such. He couldn't fall asleep and went to check on Cary at about midnight. His door was still locked (as Cary wasn't even home by then) and it made him feel worse.

He was sitting there, yet to apologize.

"C-Cary?"

He stared at the table, a horrible headache that came out of no where, "Yeah?"

"…Your not a psycho. Ok?" he may have not actually said 'sorry' but that was considered an apology in the Scott family.

"Ok." Cary didn't take in what he said. Unbelievably exhausted.

Later on at noon the phone rang. The parents were outside trying to feed the koi fish, Cary was sitting on the living room couch resting his head on his hand trying to sleep, Nathan was helping out with the chores that his mother hadn't completed and Caleb…was answering the phone,

"Hello?" There was a pause, Cary mentally 'woke up' and sat upright,

"Who is it?"

"Oh, I don't know…wait, oh! Ok." He held out the phone, "Hey, a girls looking for you." he mocked. Cary was confused, he pulled himself up and grabbed the phone, still angry with him.

"Hello?"

"Cary?" Alice Danard?

"…Alice?" he didn't know whether to be thrilled or confused. He thought of Alice as a close friend…and a close friend only. But never so close as to call each other out of the blue.

"Hey."

"Hey…uh-"

"I just wanted you to know…I think I saw you the other day when my dad and I were driving by your street."

Uh… "Ok?"

"No no I mean…you looked really…unhinged."

…

"Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"You sure. Cause really, I think-"

"Yeah, I'm positive." he lied. So much lying this summer he thought.

"Cary…if your lying-"

He suddenly woke up inside for real, he knew what was going on, "Alice? Is Joe there?"

There was a pause, giving Cary his answer, he needed no more words,

"No why-"

"Alice, I know Joe put you up to this."

"No he didn't Cary. I'm asking you honestly, why were you alo-"

Cary hung up the phone. Alice was with Joe indeed. She was at his house giving back some spices she borrowed for her dinner the night before. That's when they had started talking,

"Hey, you haven't heard anything from Cary over the summer have you?"

"No. Not since the…thing anyway."

"Well…"

"Oh wait. I did pass by him in my car the other day…he was just sitting there by himself…he looked upset."

Joe was then feeling like the detective of the story, a story he wished he wasn't a part of, "You know, his cousins in town and he's been acting really weird."

Alice raised a brow with a smirk, Joe smiled, "Weirder than usual."

Alice frowned, "Maybe we should check on him?"

"I tried…he shoved me out of the house like there was bomb in it or something."

Alice was suspicious herself, she looked at Joe's house telephone, "Why don't I give him a call?"

That didn't work… She placed the phone on the receiver.

Joe was sitting on his bed next to it, "Nothing?"

"No. But he sounded so angry. Like 'just leave me alone' kind of tone."

Joe nodded in confusion, trying to think,

"Joe," she got his attention, "Maybe we should let him be. Cary hates it when people baby him."

"Cary's got to learn not to be so stubborn all the time and let people help him." Joe exclaimed picking the phone up. He turned the dials to Cary's number,

"Joe, we should let him be-"

"Alice," he stopped turning, "I've known Cary since the 2nd grade. I have to be there for him when he needs me. Even if he doesn't want me to." he re-started the phone number. Alice sat on his bed, petting Lucy who was laying there, oblivious to the seriousness in the room.

"Ok it's ringing, pretend your not here."

A deep voice answered, "Hello?"

"Yes, can I speak to Cary please? It's Joe."

"Who?"

Joe got confused, Cary's whole family knew who he was, "Joe Lamb…who is this?"

"Oh, I'm his uncle."

"Oh-Oh!" he laughed, trying to ease the tension, "Well, I'm a close friend can I speak to him-"

"Well he's not here right now he literally just walked out of the house."

He grew tense again, "Where to?"

"He didn't say, just took off on his bike."

Wait a second… "Well ok. I'll see if I can catch up with him later on."

"Ok, I'll let him know you called."

"Thank you. Bye." they hung up at the same time.

"Alice, I think you should be getting home."

-X-

Cary was in fact on his way to Joe's house. Taking the long way. He didn't care if Alice had been there at this point. He just wanted to avoid Caleb. As long as possible. He didn't care how much trouble he'd be in for not asking first but as long as he wasn't getting hit. He had his bag of fireworks with him. Maybe he'd be able to spend a long time there he hoped. He pulled up to the driveway. The one thing Cary hated the most about Joe's house were the long sets of stairs that led up to his front door. It was like one of those beach houses where they were built high up so when high tide came the waves wouldn't reach it.

Cary never knocked with Joe. He just walked in, "Joe?" he slammed the door behind him, dropping his heavy bag onto the floor. He could hear Lucy barking as she ran up to him, jumping and licking all over Cary's face. He laughed and petted her all over. Kneeling down to her height.

Joe walked out of his room, "Hey." Cary felt a sudden streak of fear when he walked in,

"There you are." they stood there awkwardly as Lucy ran off into the living room. "Uh…about yesterday I…"

"Don't even, it's fine." as he thought, Joe would get over it in a matter of hours. Cary stared at the floor, still embarrassed from the day before.

"How's your lip?"

"Oh, it's fine. It stopped bleeding." Lucy eagerly ran back into the room with a toy in her mouth. She sat in front of Cary dropping it on the floor, wagging her tail. For unknown reasons Lucy loved Cary out of all of Joe's friends. Maybe it was because he was the most energetic and playful with her when she was just a puppy.

Joe snorted, "Lucy wants to play." Cary picked up the toy, letting Lucy try to snatch it from him. She wouldn't let go for anything. They played a small tug-o-war as they stood in the same spot,

"So Cary…is everything ok? Why did you come-"

"About this morning…I know you put Alice up to it."

"What?" he had some acting skills of his own. But he wasn't a good lair needless to say…Ok, he was horrible at lying.

Cary laughed, "You can't fool me Joe, I'm not that stupid."

"I know your not stupid Cary. But I knew you wouldn't tell me so I thought maybe if someone else spoke to you-"

"But your basically telling everybody that I've got problems when I don't!"

"That's because I'm trying to be a friend and help you Cary!"

"I don't need your help Joe!" he dropped the toy, leaving Lucy to maul it, "I don't want your help!"

Joe got an expression of both shock and anger,

"You hear me? I am JUST FINE!"

He sounded crazy Joe thought. Something really could lead someone to insanity he thought. He grabbed his shoulders,

"You need to calm down!"

He pushed him away, violently shoving his hands off, "Don't tell me to calm down!"

There was a knock on the door. Cary turned around, trying to see who it was through the window of the door. Joe angrily glanced at him as he walked over to open it.

Caleb.

"My god, there you are!"

Cary was both horrified and angry at the same time. He didn't know which to be more of.

"Caleb, wha-." Joe spoke,

"Cary ran out of the house without anyone permission, your parents are pissed."

"Oh calm down it's not like I ran off to some gang!" ha angrily talked back, Joe backed away from the two, "And how did you even know where I was anyway?"

"My dad got a call…"

Joe's eyes widened in fright, that sounded like the wrong thing, Cary looked at him bitterly shocked,

"No no, Cary I didn't sa-"

Cary cut him off, upset, pissed, annoyed, embarrassed, everything negative, walking out the door and slamming it. Joe walked up to Caleb,

"Why would you say that?"

"What? I told him the truth."

"But he thinks I ratted him out!"

"Oops." he faked guilt. Now Joe wanted to punch him in the mouth.

"What are you doing to Cary?" he pushed his chest angrily, barley knocking him back.

"Nothing he's never been through before." he backed up and walked out of the house. Joe stared at the door angrily until he was out of sight and left into his room…maybe a model to make would keep his mind off of everything.

Cary was at the bottom step, steam in his chest…tears trying to fill his eyes but he refused them, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Hey," he kicked Cary's elbow, "Lets go, you've got some yelling to do." Caleb got in the drivers seat as Cary hopped into the back, "Your not gonna get in the passengers side?"

Cary hated him…he hated him so much, "I'd rather sit in the trunk if I could." Caleb scoffed as he started the engine, Cary was about to buckle his seat belt when he remembered something,

"Wait." he unfastened himself, Caleb looked back at him, annoyed,

"What?"

Cary stepped out of the car, "I forgot my fireworks." he started to head up the tall stair case outside, Caleb followed grabbing his finally healed arm,

"Hey!" he yanked him back, not as hard as before but enough to erupt a volcano in Cary's chest, "You can get them later lets go." Cary yanked his arm free,

"It'll only take five fucking seconds!" Cary walked up only two more steps as Caleb was hovering over his shoulder pushing him over the edge more and more,

"Oh so you think you have the authority to curse now?" Cary ignored him as he went up about three more steps, almost towards the last few leading to the door stoop. "What makes you think that you can talk to me like you're an adult?"

"Oh my GOD!" he yelled, horrible aching hatred and anger that just couldn't be let out. Just two more steps, until his right arm was now yanked,

"Listen up you fucked up lunatic! Lets just get home alright!"

Cary tugged his arm back, only to have his wrist grabbed, "Let me get my stupid fireworks!"

"What do you want with those fireworks anyway?" he screeched. Cary looked him dead in the eyes, hatred filling his lungs,

"So I can celebrate the day you go home!" he yelled.

Then suddenly, Cary seemed to blank out…all the sudden he felt Caleb tug him forward and he went tumbling. He went rolling down the wooden stairs, landing once on his elbow, hip, knee cap, his back, his thigh, then nearly his head. It would've most likely killed him but he finally and thankfully reacted fast enough on the last few steps, using his hand to slow himself down as he rolled over his head.

But all Cary remembered was being tugged forward and then rolling over his head on the last two steps. He laid on the bottom stoop in pain, breathing hard, and struggling to fight off the tears. Unfortunately, his face turned bright red, his eyes blood shot and watery as his face scrunched up in agony and horror. Caleb walked passed him, listening to him whimper and breathe. He even sounded in pain.

"Go to hell Cary." he walked towards the car, not even helping him up.

Cary felt tears streaming down his face but he tried to suck it up…but it was no longer anger or hatred…it was pain and sorrow, "I hate you." he forced out. His chest aching and pumping with each breath he tried to take. Caleb smugly looked at him…he then got into the car and pulled off.

Leaving Cary still on the ground in pain, he tried to grab the rails to pull himself up, but he couldn't reach. He was left there to cry…although he was trying so hard not to.