BEYOND THE LIGHTS «j.p.»

daddy's name was pain

Los Angeles, 2017

Aiden stands outside of the venue, leaning against a wall, holding a bag of ice on his bloody knuckles. The cool breeze whips around him, helping a little to calm him down, subsiding the anger a bit. He knew that punching Kid on live television might not have been the best idea, but it was the right thing to do. People like that needed to be put in their place, and Aiden was determined to put him there.

Immediately after security had rushed to the stage, the cameras finally turns off, and Aiden was drug off stage and brought out here to wait for someone to come talk to him. He didn't know if Kid would press charges against him, but at this point he didn't really care. He wouldn't stand for anyone to talk to Rio like that.

"What the hell was that?" He hears a familiar voice say, and he turns to see Daphne walking out of a door and approaching him angrily. "I asked you to get my son of the stage not punch one of the biggest names in music in the face."

"Did you hear what he said to your son?" Aiden asks incredulously, wishing that he could find it hard to believe that she wasn't the least bit worried about how Rio was feeling, but he couldn't. "He basically told a suicidal person that the world would be better off without them. He tried to trigger, Rio!"

"Oh, here we go with this bullshit again." Daphne says, shaking her head and laughing. "Rio isn't suicidal. He's normal, healthy. You know what isn't healthy for him though is having you around."

"What?" Aiden questions. "Are you crazy?"

"No, and neither is my son, but I'm starting to think that you are." Daphne says. "So, the night is over, you can leave now, and never come back into our lives again. We'll be much better off without you."

With that, she turns on her heels and walks back to the door, opening it and turning to look at him one last time.

"And one last thing, Officer Sawyer." Daphne says, "Rio could never love you."

With that, she walks into the building, the door slamming shut behind her.

Aiden shakes his head, feeling the urge to punch the wall, but he figures banging up his other fist wouldn't be that good of an idea.

"What the hell is wrong with you, boy?" A booming voice, dripping with anger, echoes from behind him. Aiden turns to see his father quickly approaching, and for a moment Aiden thinks that James might hit him. "I get a call saying that I need to come pick my son up because he's punched a rapper in the face?"

"Dad," Aiden tries to say, but James holds a hand up to shut him up.

"And on top of that, I get a call from a lady from that church saying that she'll keep you lifted up in prayer and knows that God can remove that demon from within you." James says. "So, I had to google it and find out that you're some..." He trails off, a look of disgust crossing his face as he gives Aiden a once-over. "...I can't even say it. I got sick, physically sick when I saw the picture. God, I just want to vomit thinking about it."

Aiden's heart sinks, though he knew this was coming, he knew this would be how his father reacted.

"Do you know what this does to our reputation? What about those dreams and hopes you were going on about? How do you plan to win an election and fix the community when you're broken yourself?" James questions.