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For the majority of his teenager life, Alistair has felt useless. He has let that feeling linger and affect his actions and responses. He let it simmer under a closed lid until it spilled over and left a toxic residue.
But he wouldn't let it control him anyway.
He has called his friend Zion, and Zion's father to get a secret search party going. The police was against them doing anything to harm themselves or mess with the integrity of the investigation.
He couldn't care less. To hell with the damned investigation.
Their little town wasn't as easy to search through as they thought but nonetheless they combed through every possible hide out, every possible corner and every known criminal streets.
Yet they have come up with absolutely zero result.
And it built some anger and frustration inside of Alistair. He could almost tear through a wall or bash someone's head in. The latter sounded really good, he just needed to find the son of a bitch who has done that.
He was getting emotional, irrational and unhinged as time passed by. Every second was a second too many and he couldn't breathe anymore. His chest heavy and small with the lack of air. His whole body so tense, it felt stiff and numb. Nothing broke through his skin. Not the harsh wind nor the jabs of the tree branches as it slapped against his arms. Nothing.
He felt nothing yet everything.
Physically, nothing seemed to faze him or bother him.
Emotionally, it was a raging storm, so powerful it was starting to show in his movements. His eyes shone with fiery passion, his legs walked faster, his arms worked stronger, harder as they searched through the woods.
"Brooke!" Her name echoed in the forest as everybody yelled. The echoes left a sour taste in everyone's mouth.
She was known enough to cause a disturbance in the town. Her kindness has spread and the sudden absence of it was noticed.
For Alistair it felt like the sun has set and never shone again.
● ● ● ● ● ●
For the majority of her life, she felt hopeful. She always had something to look forward to, but as the time passed by, every drop of hope seemed to disappear into oblivion.
It was an hourglass and the sand filled the wrong side of it.
Orion was getting more and more relentless. His actions are finally dawning on him. The rush of adrenaline was wearing off and he was left with nothing but fear and doubt.
He knew that once this is done, there is no way back home. He wouldn't allow it. He would rather die than live another second in that hell hole.
This was going to end in a bloodshed and it didn't matter whether it was hers, his or someone else's. Something bad was about to happen.
Brooke stared at Orion as his features darkened. It felt like cold wind had swept her off her feet as he turned to face her with a sinister smile.
"Orion..." She whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
"I am sorry that I was the cause of your pain, I didn't mean to. I didn't know that your father was doing that to you." Her voice was shaky, hoarse and low.
"Nobody knew!" He exclaimed. "He wouldn't allow it."
Despite the fear and helplessness of the moment, Brooke felt bad for him. She pitied him for the things he has been through. Guilt slowly started to build inside of her, She never realised what was going on with Orion. She never noticed that she was unintentionally causing him harm.
Wasn't she kind enough to him? Should she have been more observant? Why was the dad doing this to his only child? Questions upon questions entered her mind and she couldn't fathom an answer to any of them. The situation seemed bizarre and unreal. She was floating around the room and watching as the scene unfolded in front of her.
Orion's need to hurt Brooke was coming out of his need to hurt himself. He wanted to inflict the pain he felt on somebody. To make the source of his trouble suffer a little for her ignorance and perfection.
He wanted to set fire to the city, he wanted to torture his father, he wanted to make his mom watch as he did so but those were big steps that were subsided by fear.
The fear of not being strong enough to stand up to his father, to hurt him. The fear of breaking down in front of his mother. The fear of people hating him.
All he wanted was validation yet he only seemed to get criticism. It snipped at his sense of self. It took away the things he thought he was. It erased the feeling of belonging. He didn't feel respected, worthy or enough. He felt like a piece of shit most of the time.
And it's all because of Brooke.
He slapped her hard. It left a red mark on her cheek. She cried in pain. Her whole face heating up and her heart stopped beating the second his hand touched her face.
He continued to throw punches around. He yelled out in anger and frustration. He breathed out flames, his insides felt like they were coming out of him. The screams were so pained and loud, it made Brooke cry harder as he stopped hitting her.
He fell down on his knees. The gun in his right hand and tears running down his cheeks.
"Why me? Why do I have to go through this?" He sobbed.
"I just wanted to be loved by my parents, I wanted to feel happy going home, I wanted safety," His voice was low and laced with so much misery and sorrow. It torn Brooke's heart in two.
"Why me? I don't get it." The more he spoke, the deeper his voice got.
