“You screw up when you take a left instead of a right. Not when you hand a manic depressive a loaded gun.”
“I’m sorry, man.” I really am. I’m so damn sorry for the way that all unfolded. I was at a really bad place and made a lotta bad choices.
Zed takes a step forward and reaches out his hand with the SD card. “She already knows.” He slaps it into my open palm.
“Knows what?” I ask, but just as the words leave my lips, Zed grabs my arm. He gives it a twist behind my back, then spins me around to face Tommy. The card digs into the skin of my palm as I grip it tightly. Zed’s other arm crosses over my throat while my back is pressed firmly to his chest. I’m pretty much fucked as far as getting out of this hold.
“She knows everything.” His voice is unfamiliar. I’ve always known that Zed’s heart is as black as coal, but he’s shown us streaks of color over the years. Only us. Only his boys.
When we were eleven years old, I was staying over at his house. He had stretched up to do something, I can’t even remember what he was doing. Pulling off his sweatshirt, maybe. I noticed a mark on his back. It was the perfect shape of a handprint with little bruises on the rest of his back, and with my history, I knew exactly what it was. It was a secret.
Something he didn’t wanna talk about and something I didn’t dare ask about. Only, I had no idea who’d done it. Was his dad giving him beatings, too? It didn’t seem likely. While his dad wasn’t the friendliest man in existence, he didn’t come off as angry or bitter. No. It was someone else.
From that day on, I was hell-bent on finding out what happened to Zed. I couldn’t figure out if I was worried for him or if it was because I needed to know that I wasn’t the only one who was living a life under the clutches of Satan himself.
I followed him everywhere. My eyes were always on him. Weeks went by, and eventually, it began to slip my mind until it was just a distant memory.
Three months later, it was Christmas break and we were all hanging out at Tommy’s house and Zed had to get ready to leave for some Christmas play at his family’s church. Yeah, Zed went to church. Religiously. His mom made him attend every single Sunday, and they were at every gathering the church held. This night was no different. Zed made a comment about hating the pastor and how one day he’d pay for his sins. Everyone brushed it off as Zed being Zed. At this point, his darkness was starting to creep out like black tar. So, I became suspicious again. There was something about the look in his eyes that told me this was more than Zed just hating church.
Making jokes about seeing Zed dressed up as a shepherd, I talked Tommy and Lars into going. Zed put up a fight and wasn’t happy in the least. But we went anyway. The three of us were lined up in a row, waiting for the play to start, when I saw Pastor Jeffries pull Zed aside. Zed’s eyes danced around the room in fear, as if he was searching for someone to stop him. Though no one did. I excused myself and told the guys that I had to use the bathroom.
That’s when I saw it. After months of wondering what was turning Zed ice cold and leaving those marks on his body, I had my answer. Staring at a plain white wall, Zed looked numb. But it wasn’t the black of darkness in him I saw that night. It was shades of blue sadness, red angered, and crimson fire. I saw his true colors. Pastor Jeffries was the one hurting Zed. Not just physically, but sexually.
I never told a single soul. I didn’t know how. I was just a kid. As years went by, I always regretted it, and eventually it felt too late. I knew what these secrets felt like, and I knew what would happen if they got out. To this day, Zed isn’t even aware that I know.
Until now.
We all have our inner demons that we battle day in and day out. Just because the world doesn’t see them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. My father created a monster inside of me. Pastor Jeffries unleashed the monster in Zed.
“We aren’t your enemy, Zed.” I speak calmly in an attempt to alleviate his rage.
His jaw clenches. “The world is my enemy.”
“Talon!” I hear Marni shout in the distance. My body jolts up and I wanna scream back. Tell her I’m here, but I don’t. Instead, I motion Tommy to the staircase with my eyes.
Just as his feet slowly slide in the direction of the basement, I hear the thud of footsteps come from the kitchen. Many footsteps. Sloshing and squeaking from the rain across the hardwood floor. Zed spins my body around, and I catch Tommy ducking out to go to Marni.
“Where the fuck is my sister, King?” Axel growls as he repeatedly taps the tip of a baseball bat to the palm of his hand. The shadow of the others casts off the wall, and I immediately know he brought back up.
Just like us, where there is one, there are four. With Axel’s boys, where there
