The family walked into the house, Cary holding a tissue against his nose,

"Wait, what exactly happened?"

"He said something about Caleb pushing him-"

"I just thought he fell-"

Cary sat on the chair as the parents began arguing about which was which when Nathan walked over,

"You ok?"

Cary held out the tissue, now smeared with blood, "Yeah, I'm fine." he sounded nasally due to the pressure, he then saw Caleb walk in, not happy.

"What the hell?" And Cary was scared.

"You want to explain what that was brace-mouth?"

Nathan stood up, "Listen up," a stern, deep tone, "Enough with this crap!" he shoved him back, receiving the parents' attention, "You stay away from my brother!"

Cary smiled, but he tried to hide it. Sherri grabbed Caleb's arm, "We need to go outside!" He tried to snatch it away,

"Listen mom-"

"OUTSIDE!"

Caleb was dragged outside by his parents before Amy and their father followed, "We'll be back in, Cary if you need more there's a tissue box in my bedroom." she seemed calm enough…until she slammed the front door behind them.

Cary and Nathan watched as they argued and fought outside. Cary smiled, laughing

"Boy is he pissed!" he switched sides of the tissue, Nathan turned around, confused.

"What?"

Cary smirked, "Its fine. Now they know who Caleb really is!"

Nathan nodded…until he really took a second and thought, "Wait. So did he really push you?"

Cary felt caught as he lost his smile, "Uh-no." now he was in a crater, "But, before he-"

Nathan couldn't believe it, "So you lied?"

"I didn't 'lie'!" not necessarily anyway, "Ah! At the board store, he yanked me by my hair and…" the look of disbelief on Nathan's face was only making him more and more nervous, "And…the day I had to show him around, he grabbed me and almost broke my arm!"

He folded his arms, "Cary…"

"I mean it!" Cary put the tissue down, he seemed to be done bleeding, "And yesterday…he, I…" He couldn't keep his words in order, his mind spinning and spinning, "I ran off to Joe's…he pulled me down some wooden stairs."

"Cary…"

"He did!" he stood up. "You want to know why I've been acting so weird? THAT'S why!"

"I should've known this was an act."

Cary's heart and eyes sank, "Nathan-"

"No! Alright, tripping yourself on purpose to frame him just to get the attention you haven't gotten since our cousin arrived!"

Cary's jaw dropped on the spot. Now he was in disbelief. BEYOND disbelief. "No! Nathan listen-" he walked up to him, but Nathan held a hand up,

"And then you make up this abuse story! You're that desperate?"

"I can't believe you think tha-"

"Just STOP!"

"YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" Cary screamed, thankful no one outside could hear him. He felt himself welting up, he pulled up his shirt to show him the abrasion, "You see?" Nathan's eyes widened,

"Do you believe me now?"

Nathan nodded, "No…I…you probably couldn't have…"

He felt tears, damn it he felt the tears, he sucked them in, "WOODEN STAIRS NATHAN! ONLY WOODEN STAIRS!" He dropped his shirt and walked away into his room shutting the door.

Nathan didn't want to believe it. His own flesh and blood abused his brother. It couldn't be fake at this point. He twirled around looking out the window…

Caleb had everything under control. Apparently he had 'charmed' them with his 'genius' yet again. What the hell could it be? What caused violence? Apparently therapy wasn't helping. Nathan opened the door,

"So Cary and I just had a little argument, and I may have gotten pretty close and maybe he just 'thought' I pushed him-"

"Don't listen to him." Caleb's head shot towards him,

"What are you doing?"

"Mom, dad." he kept a stern face with a deep tone. He wasn't even sure of what he was doing himself, "I hate to tell you this…but Caleb hit Cary."

Caleb's eyes widened, Sherri and Will suddenly held each other, distraught and Amy's jaw dropped, "He's been abusing him. He grabbed him by his hair and yesterday, he pulled Cary down some wooden stairs!"

"The fucking lunatic slipped!" Caleb shouted, Amy pushed her husband away from her, stepping forward,

"NO ONE CALLS MY SON A LUNATIC!"

"Caleb come inside!" Sherri began walking into the house with Caleb, glaring at Nathan hatefully following. Will looked at Nathan dead in the eye,

"How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know." he shrugged, "But that's why Cary's been acting so off." he looked at his dad, "Guys, he could really hurt him! We have to figure out what's wrong."

Sherri and Caleb were in his guest bedroom, she was digging through the suitcase, angrily. He leaned against the doorframe folding his arms.

She found it.

Varenicline. It was a medication for violence. The jar however was unopened. And it had been at the bottom of the case.

She gritted her teeth, standing up, a chilling tone, "You haven't been taking your pills?"

He snatched it out of her hand, "I told you, I can handle things on my own now."

"BY BEATING A FOURTEEN YEAR OLD KID? THAT'S YOUR COUSIN!" She shouted, "THIS IS YOUR FAMILY YOUR HURTING!" He didn't talk, and Sherri wasn't liking the guiltless attitude he had she began hurdling towards the front door, "Wait until your father finds out," by the time she made it to the front, Caleb had grabbed her,

"If you decide to rat me out I'll swing a punch in your face!"

"You'd threaten your own mother to huh?" she kept a calm streak. She's dealt with him since the day he was in diapers. She could play him like a piano. "How dare you." she spit out.

He slapped her, she yelped in surprise.

"HEY!" he heard Will. He had seen through the window. He charged in grabbing his wrist, "Are you out of your mind?" he screamed. Now Nathan and Cary's parents were just confused as all hell. Nathan backed away towards the hallway,

"What is going on?" His father yelled, Sherri held up the pills,

"This."

"What's 'this'?"

"His medication! He's supposed to be taking them!"

Nathan walked to Cary's bedroom door, he went to turn the knob and push in the open it but only ended up slamming into the door, "Cary?" locked. Damn it. As the family argued he went to grab the same coin he used for the door. "Cary-" Window was open.

"Fuck!"

He found his car keys and opened the front doors, the parents were too busy yelling and fighting with each other for them to notice,

"I promise you it wasn't intentional!"

"YOU HURT MY SON!"

"Did I really hear you say you yanked him down some stairs?"

"This is why people treat you like this Caleb-"

-X-

Cary was violently throwing down piles of firecrackers on top of one another, back in the small field. He mentally swore and screamed as he tossed in some cherry bombs into the stack. He had brought his whole pack of explosives…60 tons. He snatched out the lighter, he knelt down, struggling to get the fire going. He snapped the latch about 5 times before he suddenly saw a shadow tower over him,

"My god; I found you." Nathan attempted to add comfort to his tone.

Cary just glared at him angrily before walking in the opposite direction, "Cary!" he began to chase after him, Cary didn't want to hear it, welting up on the inside, Nathan (accidentally) grabbed his bad arm, "Wait!"

"AH!" he breathed heavily out of the pain. Nathan raised a worried brow, rolling up Cary's sleeve, he saw the bruises and scratches.

"He did that?"

Cary snatched his arm away, "I don't want to talk about it anymore!"

"I do!" he grabbed his shoulders, "I believe you Cary…Aunt Sherri found his meds in his suitcase." Cary's eyes widened, "He's supposed to be taking them but he hasn't. That's why he's so unstable."

"Do mom and dad know I'm gone?"

"No. But I don't think they'd care at this point."

Cary meekly looked at him, hopeless pity in his eyes, "So…what's gonna happen now?"

Nathan pulled him in for a hug, not fun for Cary, "I don't know…" he kissed his head, "But…I should've known." Cary let in and patted his back,

"And I should've told you."

Nathan chuckled, "Guess we both screwed up in our own way huh Ghost Rider."

Cary smirked, pulling away, "So…Caleb's in trouble?"

Nathan laughed, "Well…he's an adult you know…so I'm not sure. Come on, lets go home and find out."

Cary grabbed his bag and explosives and hopped into the car with him. They walked back into the house to see everyone was in the living room, Amy jumped to her feet when she saw him,

"Cary!"

"Hey mom…" He observed how everyone was looking at him, all frightened, except for Caleb who had his arms crossed leaning against the wall. His dad looked at him,

"Show Caleb what he did to you."

Cary hesitated, staring at Caleb with both fear and hate in his eyes, "Go ahead." his dad assured.

Cary lifted the right leg of his jeans, showing the cuts and bruises. He saw everyone's expressions change to shock, fright, and confusion. Sherri just closed her eyes, holding the jar of Varenicline close to her mouth. Amy started nibbling on one of her fingernails in guilt as Will and his dad looked at each other,

"I'm sorry but…this vacations over…we'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

Cary's eyes widened, but he wasn't as thrilled as he thought he would be. He didn't say anything but his mom stood up,

"No!"

Will turned around, confused "What?"

"…I want him under arrest for domestic child abuse!" Cary's heart jumped as he watched his dad grab her,

"Honey, your overreacting," she shoved him off,

"No! No bastard hurts my son! Not even my nephew!"

"STOP!" Cary shouted. "I'll decide…but not right now! Just…everyone let me think!" he walked out of the front door, leaving everyone once again, he had been leaving them so many times he kept thinking. He didn't have any where else to go. Instead of running off he just sat down on the front steps of his home, it was almost time for the sun to go down and it was windier than most days. He could hear the muffled arguments of his family back inside. He was sure five minutes past when he heard the door open, he listened as someone came up and sat down next to him, it was Caleb. Cary suddenly scooted away,

"If you touch me-"

"Relax! I'm not gonna do anything to you anymore." he still sounded hateful, yet at the same time, he looked to empathic. He stared at the street ahead of them. An awkward moment of silence passed when he took a breath,

"I stopped taking my medication to see if I could handle myself without it…I guess I couldn't and my mind just…couldn't maintain control."

Cary turned his head at him, trying to get Caleb to look him in the eyes, "So…when you did those things…did you do them intentionally?"

Caleb bit his lip, "I did." he exclaimed, cleanly and simple.

"…Did you do it knowingly?"

"Yes."

Cary bit his lip, sliding his teeth back until it was in a normal position, "…Ok…" he wrapped his arms around his knees, looking back at the street.

"But why? Caleb if you knew you were dangerous why did you keep wandering around with me?" he half yelled.

"It wasn't personal Cary!" he was finally looking straight into his eyes, "Alright, the hair pulling, the yanking, the punch, the stairs-…It would've been anyone."

"But it was me!" he yelled on full throttle, "And I'm a person…with feelings! I just don't show them a lot but I do have them!" His heart was pounding, but he didn't care at this point, "And honestly…you really…really hurt them." His voice shook a little, it felt weird 'gushing'. Caleb didn't respond, he looked away. Just as Cary suspected. He stood up, climbing up the three steps,

"Hey…if you want to arrest me its ok."

Cary suddenly paused, turning around. "I deserve it…I should-Shouldn't have…" he surprisingly felt tears, "Hurt someone I love…so much…" Cary looked at him full of sympathy, "I mean, after my girlfriend-" he took the collar of his shirt, wiping his tears with it, "…I've just been…so messed up and hurting people."

Cary stayed quiet, he bit his lip walking inside, leaving Caleb. The family was now just discussing what was going on,

"Oh there he is, Cary!" His mother called, "Hey…did you decide yet."

"Um…yeah."

Caleb stepped in, Cary stared at him…having seen another side of him…Nathan tapped his shoulder, "Cary?"

"…No…I don't want him arrested."

Caleb's eyes widened, as did his mother, "Cary are you sure?"

"Yeah…um, but…I do want you to get him help." he looked at his aunt and uncle, "And…I want us…to eventually forget this…please." he moaned.

Amy walked over, hugging him lightly, he looked back at Caleb, he mouthed to him, 'thank you'.

-X-

They decided to leave that night, the three were loading the car up. The stars and crickets were out. Will and Amy were hugging,

"I'm so sorry this had to happen."

She sighed, kissing his cheek, "…Come back soon…when Caleb gets his own home."

Nathan was with Cary who was staring at an M-80 in his hand on his bed, "Hey…I think you showed them who's the better man today."

"…Then why do I feel so dumb?"

"Because…going through something like this is really hard to handle…but you kept yourself together and forgave him."

"I said I'd forget Nathan…I never said forgive." He admitted, rolling the little explosive in his hand.

He sighed, patting his shoulder and walking out, "I'm gonna say bye to the folks. Are you?"

"Already did." he dropped the explosive. Nathan walked out, bumping into Caleb as he exited.

"Cary,"

He looked at Caleb, "Y-yeah."

"I love you."

Cary's throat felt dry…his lungs empty. He didn't know what else…he didn't know if it'd be another ten years he saw him…he cleared his throat,

"I love you to…Caleb." He smiled.

Caleb smiled, they stared at each other for a second and he left the room. Cary took everything in that happened over the past few days…he breathed in. His side hurt a bit when he did though. He exhaled sliding off his bed and running to look out the front window.

The car was pulling out, and he watched until it was no longer in sight…Cary sighed, relieved.

"I knew I could handle it."

The End