Never Too Late: Five Hargreeves

Chapter Thirteen

Five's P.O.V.

"Wow, I had no idea that Anna and Ben were close before his death. I thought that he was just a loner," Allison sighed as she rested her head on Luther's shoulder. "The pieces are coming together. It all started with Luther breaking her heart, and I think it ends with something Vanya did," I said as the pieces came together inside my head, but what was the picture? "I didn't do anything to her. We weren't that close!" Vanya said, looking around at the others who were stone cold staring at her.

"Yeah, you did. Don't you remember that book you wrote about all of us? You wrote about her too!" Diego growled. He was about to lunge at her, but Klaus held him back. "Let it go, Diego. Let it go," He said softly. Diego let out a small sigh and backed down. "Vanya, I'll admit writing that book was pretty ballsy, but you shouldn't blame yourself for Anna's death," I spoke up. Vanya looked over at me, silently thanking me for not getting on her case too much.

"Klaus, can you hand me the notebook?" she asked, reaching a hand out to grab it. Klaus stood up and handed it to her, and we all listened to Vanya as she read her story.

*******

I guess it's true what they say, about how grief can bring two people together. Well, that was definitely the case for the last Hargreeves sibling on this list. Now, she is different. She didn't come on missions with us because Father claimed that she wasn't special. The worst thing a parent can say to their child. I used to hear her play her violin all the time, especially at night before we all went to bed. And it helped me escape from reality for a while anyway.

Vanya, darling. Welcome to your story. 

Vanya, you and I, we never talked that much. Mostly because Father had you confined to your room and made you practice the violin while we were outside risking our lives, going on missions. I tried to ask father why you couldn't come with us, and his answer was simple "Number Eight, won't you ever learn? There's nothing special about her," And every time he said that, a small piece of my heart ached for you, Vanya.

After Ben's death, everyone in the house hated me. Luther and Allison would claim that had I not frozen, Ben would still be alive. They even went deeper and said that had I not supported Five's idea about time travel, he wouldn't have disappeared. I snapped at them, telling them to leave him out of this, but they continued and continued, and continued until I ran up to my room crying my eyes out.

Then, I started thinking about how people's lives would be better off without me. Nobody cared about me. They all treated me like shit. No, I wasn't suicidal, not yet. I thought maybe I could leave this place and move far away as possible and start a new life. "Well, why didn't you leave, Anna?" you all may be asking yourselves. The answer is complicated. But I'm not going to be talking about it yet. That's a story for another time.

Vanya, you heard my loud cries, and you walked into my room while I was curled up into a little ball, staring down at the tattoo on my arm. "Anna?" you called out. I looked over at you and saw you were staring at me. "What do you want?" I asked, sitting up to look at you better. "I just wanted to see if you were okay. I know that things have been rough since-"

"Please don't bring either of them up. It hurts too much." I begged as I grabbed a nearby pillow and put it in my lap. You nodded and placed a hand on my knee. "I heard some of the things the others were saying. It's not your fault," you said. "No, it is my fault, Vanya! I control things with my mind. I could've taken the gun out of his hand or knocked him out, but no, I froze!" I screamed into the pillow.

You leaned in close and put an arm on my back and rubbed it, telling me that it was okay, and you continued to tell me that it wasn't my fault and that it could've happened to any of us. I thought that maybe it would help, but it still hurt me. The image of Ben dying in my arms kept replaying over and over again like a broken record. "You weren't there, Vanya!" I shouted, muffling into my pillow. "I know, but I can imagine that it was painful," you responded. I looked up at you and saw that you were sadly smiling at me.

I put the pillow to the side and wrapped my arms around you, and we both started crying. You were the last chance at friendship I had, Vanya. Everyone I tried to be friends with either left me, or accused me of doing something wrong or made fun of me. I had a feeling that maybe this time, you and I be good friends.

But, of course, if your reading this. We didn't last.

After a year, we both moved on from Ben's death. And we tried to spend as much time together as possible behind father's back. When Allison and Klaus left, I thought that maybe we would be able to spend more time together since Father was more focused on Luther going on missions than he was with me. But soon, he started to perform experiments on me. Honestly, I don't remember them all that well, the beginning of them anyway. But, all I do remember is telling you about what happened before I blacked out from exhaustion.

Then, you left. And I was sad because I couldn't tell you about the experiment anymore. I wrote to you every day, Vanya. But, I never got a response from you. That's not the reason why your on this list. The real reason you're on here is because of that book. That damn book you wrote about all of us. At first, I wasn't mad at you for writing about Luther, Allison, Klaus, or even Diego. I was mad because you wrote about me. You put our conversations out there for the world to see.

I trusted you. I thought our conversations would be kept between us. Do you remember we promised each other that nobody else would know about our conversations? But instead, you broke that promise. You don't know what it felt like after people read that book. If I went out somewhere, people would stare and point at me. It would take every ounce of me to not lash out at people.

Then, someone said something that pushed me over the edge. I was at the grocery store, and this girl walked up to me and asked me if I was Anna Hargreeves. I said yes, and she threw a book at me. It just happened to be your book, Vanya. "Those conversations with your sister are so pathetic. She never cared about you, none of your family did," she walked away, and I ran out of that grocery store, leaving everything behind.

When you wrote that book, you put a target on my back.