A Step in the Other Direction

~~Chapter 6~~

--Bowen's Point Of View--

I woke up with the sun shining brightly though my window. I had practically passed out the night before. We had a binder full of homework. And when I say binder full, I mean my teacher gave us a binder with 50 pages of homework that were due tomorrow. 

I got up, my hair falling in my face. I really needed to get this stuff cut. I pushed it out of my face, my arm feeling really stiff. I blew it off. I could imagine the ridicule from all of the people I knew if I got my hair cut. Especially Cassidy.

I stopped when I thought of her. Saige's comment really had me thinking, and I didn't really know why. I mean yea, she was my friend, but did I really like her? I mean she was sweet and kind and really pretty...

I needed to stop.

I got up, looking over at my clock. It was about 9:30 in the morning. Today was a teacher work day, so students were off. My parents still had to work, but Saige and I could stay home. My phone rang and I saw the message my mom had sent me earlier.

Have a good day! Make sure the doors are locked and stay in the house today if y'all don't mind. It's really cold outside today.

Why would it be cold? It was 80 degrees yesterday! And the day before it was 78! I swear, Georgia is bi-polor...

I walked out in some sweatpants and a t-shirt and the smell of...bacon filled my nostrils. I went down the stairs to see Saige cooking.

"Smells good," I commented.

"Thanks. I've gotten pretty good at this," she smiled as she placed a couple pieces on her plate and then some on what I assumed to be mine. There were biscuits sitting on the top of the stove. I picked up a couple an put them on both of our plates.

We both walked to the table with a plate full of bacon, biscuits, and butter. Perfect. We said our blessing, and then ate in silence, the only sound being the chirping of birds.

The silence was broken by Saige, "Bowen, are you ok?"

"Yea," I said, not skipping a beat.

She hesitated, "You just...you haven't seemed right the last couple of days...I'm just worried. I mean how could I not after the other night-" She stopped. She knew she hit a hard spot.

"I know..." I looked down at my food, suddenly not hungry, "I'm sorry about that."

"Sorry about what?"

"About the other night," I said, "You shouldn't have had to deal with that. I-"

"I swear if you say what I think you're saying I'm going to kill you. You couldn't help that Bowen I know that much. I don't know what happened exactly, but I know it was something that you refused to tell me before now. You and Cassidy both have secrets that I would really like to know because you are both my family."

"Believe me Saige, you don't want to know-"

"Yes I do. You are my brother, shouldn't I know what's wrong?"

"You saw what happened Saige I went crazy." I was trying to keep my temper from rising, but I couldn't help the slight edge that crept in.

"I know that's not really what happened."

"That's all that you want to know, beli-"

"Believe you? How can I when you're lying to me?"

"You don't want to know Saige!" I froze. I just yelled at my sister. Her eyes were full of fear. She had never seen me get mad to the point I yelled.  "I-I'm s-s-sorry. I-I d-didn't m-mean t-to."

"It's fine," she whispered.

The silence grew, and before I knew what I was doing, I blurted, "It happened when you were with your dad for a couple of weeks." She looked up at me, giving me a 'what?' look. "You were still really confused about the whole divorce situation and so mom let you go with your dad for a couple of weeks until things could get sorted out."

"I remember that. That was right before..." she trailed off.

"Before my dad died," I finished, holding in the tears that threatened to come out. "I was in the car with dad, coming back here and there was a car...you know that part. He was killed and then..." I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell her what happened. I couldn't go on and say how hard it was for me to keep going. I couldn't tell her what I thought about. "I'm sorry Saige, I can't..."

She got up and walked over to me. I couldn't tell what she was thinking or what she was about to do. My head fell, and the next thing I knew, a pair of arms were being wrapped around me.

"It wasn't your fault Bowen. You know that." I felt a tear streaked down my face.

"But it feels like it was." My voice cracked, and the flood gates opened. I felt another panic rising in my throat, but I swallowed it down, refusing to look any less weak then I did in that moment. I could feel Saige try to turn me around, but I couldn't see anything past the tears.

"Bowen, look at me please." I shook my head, wiping the tears away. "I will flip you out of this chair if you don't look at me."

I laughed, or what was suppose to be a laugh, and tried to look at her. I could see myself in her glasses. My face was as red as a beet, and was shining with tears.

"It wasn't your fault. You should know that. As much as you told me that when mom and my dad got divorced you should believe it." She grabbed my arm, and I flinched. Oh crap. She saw the pain flicker through my eyes. I didn't know what caused the pain, all I knew was that it was staying with me. Saige slowly turned my arm over, exposing something I hadn't noticed.

There was a huge scar running from about halfway down my forearm to my elbow.

"W-what is that?" Saige whispered, worry creeping into her voice.

"I-I d-don't k-know..." I pulled my arm back, running my finger down the scar. A pain like fire ran through me, and I got dizzy. Where did that come from? I tried to stand up, but I felt my knees begin to buckle. Saige helped me prop up as a wave of dizziness almost sent me to the ground.

"Bowen? What's wrong," she asked.

"Umm..." I couldn't form the words. They kept getting really scrambled in my brain, and I couldn't even think of what to say. I nodded my head towards the stairs. Saige knew what I meant.

Saige began to help me climb the stairs, each step radiating pain through out my body. We finally made it to the top, where she pushed open my rooms door. It felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I practically collapse onto my bed, feeling nauseated and lightheaded.

I felt like I was sinking into...something. I couldn't see anything in front of me, and I couldn't hear anything. It was just a really loud buzzing. I didn't even notice when Saige pulled the covers over me and took my glasses off.

I didn't remember anything right before I passed out.

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So that was crazy suspenseful and I fell kinda bad so...if I can get at least 15 votes (I know it's a small number) then you will get an early update and still have the Friday update, which will be Friday May 5th or Saturday May 6th. Just to update you on my life my Formal is on the 5th and I have another competition on the 6th so who knows? 

Also...HAPPY BIRTHDAY kkplayer45!!! Love you to death you are the best!! You are the most amazing Marchingbandfam and you're welcome for those Hershey Kisses today!! XD

So have a great weekend/week and please vote, share, and comment!

Bye!!!!!!