Zodiac Heroes - Cast Down to Earth

Chapter 10 - Two Broken Boys

Capricorn

I knew that Aquarius didn't like me always up late working.

So why am I doing it right now?

It was around 11pm, everyone was asleep. Yet I was sitting on the couch in front of the television, working on my social studies essay.

At 11:10pm, Aquarius walked out of his room to get a cup of water. He found me sitting on the couch with my laptop in front of me, dark circles around my eyes.

"Capricorn." He said in that tone Mum used to use when we did something wrong.

"What?" I looked up at him.

Aquarius sat down next to me. "Come on. You know that I don't like you working late at night."

"I know." I heaved a big sigh.

"Then why do you still do it?"

"I don't know. I haven't been sleeping well lately, so I occupy myself with work."

"You can't do that." Aquarius' concerned face looked up at me.

"Why not?" I closed my laptop and put it away.

"You're not going to get enough sleep." Aquarius said, crossing his arms.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not getting enough sleep anyways."

We both sat there in silence. I kind of missed the days when Aquarius and I were at home, minus Dad shouting at us. Since Dad was so abusive, we only had each other for company. We would spend most of our days locked up in the attic of our house, occasionally sneaking out of the room to get food and drinks. It wasn't the best living experience, but we had each other, and that was all that mattered.

Aqua put his head on my shoulder. "I miss Mum."

"Me too." I patted his head.

"There really isn't a time where she isn't with us, right?" He looked up at me. I could see a tear that trickled down his cheek.

I held my arms wide open for a hug. Aquarius didn't object. He needed one anyways.

"I wish she were actually here." He said, sniffling. "Then Dad wouldn't abuse us and we'd be a happy family-"

"I know, Aqua." I ran my hand through his hair. "I wish that would happen too."

"You know," Aquarius looked up, tears in his eyes. "I think maybe Mum's death was our fault. We should have looked both ways. on the street"

He sobbed into my shirt. I held him close.

I held back the urge not to cry. "Don't say that. People choose to do things that you-" My voice broke. "You can't choose to do for them."

Now I really couldn't help crying. There we were, two broken boys, crying on the couch. Nobody knows the hardships we've been through together, the amount of times we've cried together, and most of all, they don't know about the sadness welling up inside of us. Just two broken boys, alone.

"I really do wish that Dad would change one day." I said once the moment of silence was over.

"What makes you think that he would do that?" Aquarius wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes.

I looked Aqua dead in the eye. "Listen, just because he's a homophobic acephobic asshole-"

"Don't mention it!" Aquarius said, starting to raise his voice. He hugged me even tighter now. "Don't remind me about what happened."

"He shouldn't have done that." I kept speaking, not aware of Aquarius' pleas.

He looked at me, more tears streaming down his face. "Please don't mention it."

At this, I stopped talking. We sat there in silence again, the only noise coming from Aquarius' heavy breathing.

"I'm sorry." I said, breaking the silence.

"It's fine." He gets up, wiping his eyes again. "Please go to bed."

"Okay." I took one last look at Aquarius as he walked back into his room. I turned to the room Taurus and I shared and opened the door. Taurus was fast asleep, snoring softly.

I lied down on my bed and looked up at the celling. I couldn't get rid of the terrible memory about what happened to Aquarius at home.

~~~

At the time, Aqua was 12 and I was 13. We were walking home that one day. Dad greeted us as usual by not greeting us, which was good enough for me.

I went up the stairs to our room in the attic, but Aquarius stayed behind. He figured that it would be best if he told Dad the truth.

Dad wasn't in a good mood lately. In fact, he was never in a good mood with us around. Ever since Mum died, he treated us like freaks. Aquarius suffered worse because he looked more like Mum, even though we were both adopted. Dad just couldn't bear to see his son's resemblance to his deceased wife because it hurt him every time.

I was secretly watching from the bottom of the stairs. I had come down after dropping my stuff off at my room just in case my brother got hurt.

"Dad, I'm asexual..." I heard him say.

I didn't watch when Dad hurt him. I just couldn't. When he came up to our room, he collapsed on his bed, sobbing. He hugged me tightly as I tried to comfort him.

"I-I just thought that maybe he'd understand." He said in between sobs.

"Don't worry." I held him close. "I'll never let him hurt you again."

~~~

I covered myself with a blanket and tried to fall asleep. I couldn't help but think of how my brother was doing right now. I got out of bed and walked across the hall, over to Aquarius' room. He was fast asleep. I sighed in relief.

I went back to bed. This time, I found myself getting sleepier. Aqua was right. I really did need some sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to a surprisingly quiet environment. Everyone was down at breakfast already, so I got changed and went down to the cafeteria.

When I sat down at the table that I usually sat at with my friends, it was also surprisingly quiet. I couldn't help but wonder if we were missing something.

"I feel like something's wrong." Aries noted, sitting there crossed-armed.

"I agree." Virgo agreed. "Something doesn't feel normal."

"Whatever's wrong, I don't care." Scorpio got up from her seat, but Pisces pulled on her arm.

"Stay here, Scorpio." Pisces locked eyes with Scorpio in a silent argument. Scorpio sighed in defeat and sat down.

I waited for two particular voices to start saying something, possibly rapid-fire French and the twang of a Texan accent.

Gemini got it before I did.

"Hey," She started. "Where are Leo and Sagittarius?"

~~~

I know that this chapter is shorter than my usual chapters.

Here, have a dose of sadness. I wanted to make a chapter with a slightly different mood than usual, so here you go. Not the best chapter, but it certainly does have the theme of sadness in it. See, even my anxiety monster agrees.

I wrote this chapter in a day, so that's why it's really crappy.

With that, I'm signing off. Have a good day/night!

Peace out,

The author owo