The Guy from the Insane Asylum

Chapter 36

Play the song during the second part of this chapter :) Basically, after you see this squiggly thingy. (~)

Song: I LIKE ME BETTER by LAUV.

"Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful." — Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Chapter 36

Everyone was gathered at the edge of Scott Mills Lake. On the other side of it, the park owners were preparing a firework show for the Fourth of July. It was an American tradition to put colorful explosives on the sky.

"You think the guy'll come back?" Joey asked his sister, referring to the creepy guy they had previously encountered. You know, the one Bethany almost killed.

"No," Bethany replied. "He won't be coming back, not—not after what I did."

"Okay," Joe gave a wary smile and sat down on a chair, knowing right of way that his sister wasn't in the talking mood.

"Are we going to talk about what happened?" Zachary had chosen the seat next to Bethany's. But they weren't sitting then, they were standing further back from the people, hidden in the shadows but still with a great firework view.

"No." Bethany said. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't know what happened and I don't know why it happened." She responded, clearly agitated. The fireworks were about to begin, Bethany knew it. "Look, I wish I knew what to tell you, okay? I was angry. The magic took over me. I wasn't in control. Or maybe I was and that makes things worse. Because I saw how terrified he looked, and I didn't care. I still don't, Zach. He was hurting A, and I wasn't going to standby and do nothing. I had to do some—"

BOOM! BAM!

Zachary knew the fireworks would go off any second too, that's why he waited until they did to shut Bethany up. He placed both his hands at the sides of her neck and pulled her to him, entirely ending any kind of conversation the second their lips collided into one another's.

As they pulled apart, Zachary said, "it's okay. You didn't kill him and your sister is fine. I just wanted to know if you were okay."

Bethany sighed softly. "Zach, you don't get it. I wanted to kill him. I still do. And I—I enjoyed hurting him." She scoffed and rolled her eyes at herself. Leaving Zachary, she made her way back down to her family.

Zach was left thinking. I wanted to kill him. I still do. Bethany's words echoed in his head. You don't get it. She had said. But he did. He felt the same way about his bastard father. He wanted him dead, and he didn't think he would regret becoming a murderer if he had a chance at killing his own father. Blood for blood. His mother needed to be avenged.

Their Fourth of July couldn't get any more sinister.

Zachary walked back down to the edge of the water and joined the Harlow's on their firework gazing. Risking a possible slap to the face, or punch of frustration, he sat next to Bethany on the sand. After a few moments, she seemed calmer. Or at least she had stopped breathing so angrily.

She turned to her boyfriend and sighed. "I'm sorry, Zach. I'm being a total . . . bitch. I don't—I just—I," she groaned.

"I know." Zach said, making her smile an apologetic smile. "You don't have to say anything because . . . I know." He was glad for telepathy, he was glad it could voice what they verbally could not.

She knew she had to figure out why she became so dangerously angry. She needed to learn more about control. And she had to talk to her grandmother and figure out more about the Harlow's psychic ancestry. But, for the meanwhile, all Bethany did was lean her head on Zach's shoulder, interlace their fingers, and enjoy the spectacular explosions occurring in the sky.