Running || A Garrance Fanfic

Chapter Twenty Three

Laurance's POV

An hour.

Garroth's been out for an hour.

I've been alone for an hour.

Alone with my thoughts and terrors all roaming around in my mind.

Never stopping.

It's the same images over...

...and over...

...and over again.

I see his red eyes. That villainous grin. His devilish laugh. The echo his voice gave off whenever he spoke to me. To Cadenza.

He hurt her. He hurt both of us, but messing with my sister is something I've never taken lightly.

No one touches my big sister and gets away with it.

He was no exception...

It was after dark, the adults had called lights out almost twenty minutes ago, but Cadenza hadn't returned to her room yet...

I was at the door, looking through the little peephole, watching for her, but she didn't show.

Cad had always been a "goody two shoes" towards the adults and sucked up to them any chance she got, with little rebellious acts along the way. I mean, obviously, since she was a teen, but one rule, for some reason, that she never disobeyed.

The curfew, and she was already twenty minutes past.

That in of itself scared me to death.

"Laurance..." The oldest kid in the room, Zack, sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

"Go to bed," he told me. "You'll see her in the morning."

"She's probably fine," Cloud, who was a year younger than me, said rather uncertainly. He was usually anxious about something, whether it included him or not.

"She's never been gone so long before." I had to stand on my tip-toes to see out. "I know he's up to something; I can just feel it."

"Well, whatever it is, the adults will handle it." Zack laid back down in his cot. "Now, go to sleep, both of you."

"Okay, Zack." Cloud got in his own cot. "Come on, Laurance."

I shook my head: "I'm going out to look for her."

**********

Getting past the adults on night patrol had been a challenge, though I had prior experience which is why I wasn't caught.

He sometimes needed me to run some nighttime errands for him and his lackeys. It usually wasn't legal, but I did anything to make sure Cadenza was safe.

Seems like that only worked temporarily.

I found them a little ways away from the orphanage, their little hideout. The almost seventeen year old and his friends were laughing. Cadenza was on the ground, crying, with blood dripping out of her nose.

They'd hit my sister.

My sister.

They were gonna pay.

"Well, look who decided to show up!" His blood red eyes seemed to look right into my soul, but I didn't cower away in fear. Not this time.

"Aww. Baby Laurance coming to help his big sister? How sweet." One of the others smirked.

"Leave her alone, Vincent."

He smirked and stepped towards me, arms crossed.

"Or you'll do what exactly?"

"Get out of here, Laurance," Cadenza spoke up, looking at me with an expression I hadn't seen before. Concern. For me. That was the first time I'd ever felt like I was her real brother and not just some kid who had no one else in his life.

She was the only family I had, so I was going to protect her with everything I had.

"You stay out of this," Vincent growled, turning back to me. "Now, what to do with you..."

"You can do whatever you want to me," I told him, shaking on the inside but refusing to show him fear. "Just let Cadenza leave."

"No can do. She'll talk." He glanced behind him at his boys. "Looks like we're gonna need a change of plans..."

He'd been threatening Cadenza with my safety just like he'd threatened me with her's.

"What about those two shrimpy kids he rooms with?" One of them suggested.

Zack and Cloud.

"New opportunities~"

He looked back at me, that damn smirk present on his face.

"You might still be useful to us after all..."

And before I registered what had happened, I had a clenched fist raised and Vincent had a hand over his eye. Everyone, including me, had to take a moment to understand what I'd just done and before I knew it, I was tackled to the ground, receiving punch after punch my Vincent and his idiot squad.

The world went black.

With that fiery red glint still tattooed on my brain, I open the bottle that's in my hand and take a drink. Garroth isn't going to be back for another thirty minutes or so, so I may as well do something to help with this insomnia.

Don't worry, it's not gonna be enough to get me drunk. Garroth would smack me upside the head if that happened.

Smack.

I take another drink, praying to Irene the image of my childhood nightmare goes away fast.

Nightmare.

And there's another drink. Maybe I should call Cadenza to make sure she's alright?

Cadenza.

Broken nose.

Vincent.

I take a longer drink and nearly drop the bottle on the floor. I plop it down on the counter, wondering when it became empty.

I should stop.

I steadily get up from the counter, taking a breath to calm my racing heart and mind. Irene, when's Garroth getting here? I need some common sense knocked into me.

Should I call him?

No, I'm too much of a burden already.

"Laurance, you stupid moron."

Nightmares every night and a nervous drinking habit? How does he even stand me?

"I don't see you for two whole years and you think I'm already sick of you?"

He wouldn't have said that if he knew everything.

He wouldn't have came with me if he knew everything.

He wouldn't have hung out with me at that arcade if he knew everything.

He'd go back to the street. He'd go back to his new friends.

He'd go back to-

...

I grab another drink.