It was a Sunday like every other lazy Sunday spent at home when the weather was gloomy: Comfortably dull with nothing much going on and no desire to do anything anyway. All morning a History textbook had been open on my desk surrounded by clutter; paper and books and DVD cases. I hadn't so much as glanced at it since I'd turned to the homework.

"You want to go? Go!" Mother yelled. Not her usual, controlled yelling either. It was a shockingly anguished sound which I was never meant to hear. I ran out into the hall to see what was wrong. "Just get out Robert!"

My feet froze on the spot at the mention of my Father's name. I didn't know what to do with myself; go forward and listen to them argue or turn away and pretend there wasn't a row going on down the hall.

There was never really any question though. I crept a few steps closer to the shouting. I passed a number of photo frames on the way. Mother insisted on hanging them on the walls. Pictures of her family.

Looking back it was so obvious what was happening that Sunday; at the time I couldn't comprehend it. At least not until Robert burst out of my parents' room with a thunderous expression. He held an overstuffed holdall in one hand and his mobile phone in the other. He stood stock still when he saw me there.

"Keep walking! I'm sure Annamarie is waiting!" Mother yelled again. He flinched.

"Maryse..." He ventured, putting a hand up to hold off the questions I didn't know I wanted to ask yet. Who was Annamarie? Why was Mother so angry? Where was he going?

"I don't want to hear it!" She continued to shout. A bundle of clothing hit him in the back of the head.

He took a sobering breath. "Alexander-"

"Is going to be devastated-" Mother interrupted.

"-is here." He finished.

That hadn't been the last time I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Camille and Magnus were still arguing by the time I was fully dressed. I didn't think that they would even see me go.

"Alexander, wait." Magnus said. I realised he did that a lot; asked with statements. I used to find it endearing, captivating even, that he was so self-assured. Now I just saw how manipulative it was not to leave room for argument.

I ignored Magnus; not least of all because I could barely look at him. I turned to Camille instead. "I'm sorry."

She didn't seem effected at all. Why should she be? Sorry wasn't even close to good enough.

"I would never have- If I'd known-" I tried but no words would come. I was the other one. I felt so betrayed but I knew I had no right to be. Camille was the one who had been betrayed; I was the terrible human being who enabled her husband to cheat on her. "I can't apologise enough-"

I was the other one. I was Annamarie; or just like her anyway. A woman I always hated for what she did to my family.

Family. For a spilt second I was terrified that the couple in front of me could have had children. I could have been responsible for more kids like me who resented their Father. Kids like Izzy who didn't know who to trust anymore. Kids like Max with no clue what was happening when everything around them was falling apart.

"Ca m'est égal." Camille waved a hand at me in a 'shooing' motion. I knew then that it didn't matter how many times I said sorry because Magnus was the one she really wanted to hear it from.

I ran out of their apartment. I was the worst. I hadn't just been a phone full of dirty text correspondence or an item of alien clothing that wasn't hidden properly. She had practically walked in on us in the act. I'd left mess on her sheets as well as her life.

My phone was ringing. My eyes were blurry when I tried to read out the name. When had I started crying? I wiped my eyes and saw that it was Magnus. I hit end-call but he was ringing again seconds later. In my haste to make the ringing stop I gave the phone to the valet when he handed me my keys back. It's not like I had any money to tip him with.

The drive home was difficult and fuzzy. I think I ran a red light. I know I got yelled at and beeped at a lot. I had to get home. Away from Magnus and his fancy apartment and the billboards of his wife looking perfect.

It took far too long.

I parked up with more of the car on the front lawn than the driveway before I could shoot inside. It was yet another stroke of bad luck that my Mother caught sight of me running upstairs. She followed me up, asking what was wrong and why I was upset.

I couldn't face her. I just kept thinking back to how she'd been hurt and how I'd done that to somebody else. I didn't have a lock so I had to sit against my bedroom door to keep her from coming in after me.

"Alexander, talk to me." She called in. She was so worried about me. I didn't deserve that. The door shook with her attempts to get in and I had to keep pressing back against it.

I squeezed my eyes shut too. How long can a person cry for? Too long. I ground my teeth together in frustration. Why did everything have to happen at once?

"I'm fine, Mother, please just go?" I called out to her with my head in my hands. "I'll be fine. I just need to be by myself."

"He had a fight with Jace, he'll be okay." The sound of Izzy's voice coming to my rescue was the only thing I had to be happy about.

Until she offered to talk to me instead and started attacking the door with more force. That was when I started to notice the sharp pain I was getting from being sat down. I started to hate myself even more with every second reminding me exactly why it was hurting. Magnus had warned me that would probably happen.

"Izzy?" My voice was so hoarse I had to clear my throat so that my sister could hear me. "Izzy I'm going to get up. Stop pushing or the door will hit me."

"Are you going to let me in?" She demanded, with another threateningly hard shove to the door. I winced when it made me shift.

"No." I said.

"Then I won't stop!" She yelled back.

She did stop, eventually. Max was coming home from a friends and Mother didn't want him to worry. She called in to invite me downstairs for dinner but I didn't reply and I definitely wasn't going down there.

Instead while they ate I pushed my wardrobe and bed in front of the door. I wasn't coming out again. Not until they'd all left the house.

I packed a bag ready for when I had the chance to leave. Then I lay on my bed and tried to think about anywhere I could go.

Thank you all for reading and for your responses to the previous chapter. I think the quick update may have been much needed? This one seems oddly short to me which is weird because the word count is similar to all the others. Ah, well. The next chapter is "A Friend In Need", hope you enjoy.