The Boy On The Run

CHAPTER FOUR

Song: Hold On By Chord Overstreet

CHAPTER FOUR.

Abel's POV

A week an a half later.

"Your family deserved what happened to them."

"Shut the f**k up!" I shout at Braiden and jump on him. I throw a punch as hard as I can at his ugly face.

His head flys backward and blood drips down the back of my hand. He wipes his bloody nose and smirks.

"Say that one more-"

"Hey!!" Sister Holly shouts as she runs over to us. She grabs my ear as one of the other nuns drag Braiden away.

She leads me into her office and makes me sit in the seat in front of her desk. "What has gotten into you Abel? This is your third fight this week!"

"He deserves it."

"What am I going to do with you?" She glares.

"I don't know and I don't care."

She bends down in front of me and places her hand on my knee. "Abel, I am only trying to help." She sighs. "Just keep your distance from Braiden. We don't need anymore fights. Now, please go to your room and stay there until dinner. But first, go eat your lunch, hurry it up."

*******

*tap tap*

I close my book and look over to the window to see Sully. I quickly hop off my uncomfortable, squeaky bed and open the window.

"Hey Abel!" He chirps and closes the window, only leaving the slightest crack.

"Hey Sully! I snuck you two bread rolls, I know it's not a lot, but, that was all I could get." I point to my desk where the bread rolls lay.

His eyes widen slightly, he grabs the rolls and tears at them like a wolf with a rabbit. "Wow Little bro, thank you!"

"How long ago was it?" I ask.

He raises an eyebrow as he gulps down the last bread roll. "How long ago was what?"

"The last time you ate."

He shrugs. "Uh, two days ago."

I sigh. I'm worried about him. He has no place to stay to be warm and hardly anything ever to eat. I'm scared of losing him. He deserves the best, he's taken care of me so many times. He doesn't deserve any of this, none of this was his fault. "Sully." I brush my stray hairs out of my face and take a deep breath.

He places his hand on my shoulder and gives me a small smile. "Abe, don't worry about me. You have enough problems of your own." He grabs my face and scans it. "For example, the black-eye." He lets go of my face and shoves his hands into his jean jackets pocket. "You gotta stop getting into fights. If I were here I would defend you, no one would have laid their pretty little fingers on you." He places a cigarette in his mouth and lights it.

I nod, "I know, but that's just it, you aren't here. Sully. You should hear what the kids said. He's talking smack about our family!"

He sighs and rubs his face. "I know, I'm sorry. Don't listen to them. They are only trying to get to you. They are only saying lies."

"Hold up." I lean in closer to him. "What happened to your face? Why is your cheek and nose all bruised?"

"Psh- this little thing?" He gestures to his face. "It's nothing."

"Did you get into a fight?" I ask.

He shakes his head, "N-"

"With who? And you tell me to stop getting into fights."

"Yeah, well I wasn't the one that started the fight." He eyes me.

"Your face looks like shit."

He rubs his neck and blows the smoke out the window. "Thanks."

"Who did you get into a fight with?" I ask.

He shrugs. "No one, now drop it."

"Come on Sully! Just tell me."

He sighs. "Abel, I don't want you to worry."

"Worry? Who was it?"

"Victor." He mumbles.

I stand up as my body tenses and my hair stands up on my arms. "Victor? You mean Victor Nov-"

He runs his fingers through his hair and nods. "The one and only."

"What does he want?" I ask as my voice cracks.

"The same thing as always."

"But why does he want you dead?" I inquire.

"Abe, if he wanted me dead then I wouldn't be here right now. He doesn't have half as much power as Dominik does. He wants something but I don't know what." He shakes his head and stands up.

I walk up to him. "Your cheek is bleeding."

He touches his cheek and looks at the blood on his hand. "Dammit."

I grab an old, clean, washcloth out of my dresser drawer and hand it to him.

He takes it and places it on his cheek. "Thanks."

"You're nose looks broken." I look closely at his cheek. "Did he cut you with a knife?"

He nods.

"Sully."

"Yeah?"

I glance out the window and back up at him. "Do you remember the night.... when Bryce died?"

He gulps and takes a moment to answer. He puts out his cigarette and waits for it to cool off before throwing it in the trash. "Yeah?"

"How did they kill her?" I ask and sit on my bed. "If your willing to talk about it. You said that it was a lot worse that Mom, dad's, and Emilia's Murder."

He sits back down in my creaky desk chair. He takes a deep breath and rubs his bruised forehead. "Well." He glances around the room, "When I said worse, I just meant that they did a little more to her than they did to everyone else."

"Oh."

"I remember the day she died so clearly. I can't stop picturing it. I can't sleep."

"Wasn't it on your anniversary?"

He nods. "Yeah."

"Do you still have the ring?"

He pulls a chain from around his neck hidden by the collar of his shirt off with the ring on it. "I carry it with me everywhere I go."

I stand up and walk over to him. "She would have said yes, Sully."

"I remember being so mad at her for standing me up at dinner. I waited for over an hour." He stops.

I place my hand on his shoulder. "Sully."

He looks at me.

"I don't want you to talk about it if you don't want too."

"No Abe, it's been long enough. If you want to know you deserve to know."

"I just hate seeing you so sad."

"It's alright." He pats my back. "Ask me anything."

"Um Okay...continue."

"Okay, well, we planned our anniversary dinner two weeks before, and you know, I was pretty excited because I thought that was the night I was going to purpose."

"And then what?"

"Well I called her about five times and I texted her. And she never responded, and she always responds or calls back shortly after. So I thought she was mad at me. I left the restaurant and drove to her house. I saw that the lights were still on so she had to be home, I rung the doorbell a couple of times and she never answered. I was getting kinda worried and then I tried the knob and the door was unlocked. They always locked their doors. So I grabbed my gun out of the side of my pants and walked inside."

*flashback*

Sullivan POV

I push the door open slowly and close it quietly behind me. I look around at my surroundings cautiously and make my way towards the kitchen and living room. I walk into the kitchen to see a few plates and bowls broken with little droplets of blooding tracking into the living room. My heart skips a beat when I notice that the sliding back door is shattered and the coffee table is tipped over, a couple of picture frames and vases broken along the living room floor. I pull out my phone and dial 911 and tell them my girlfriends house has been broken into. The hair on my neck stands up as I walk into the bathroom, I glance around to see everything untouched and nothing out of place. I head upstairs and notice that the trail of blood starts from outside of Bryce's bedroom. My heart beats faster than it ever has. I continue into her room and see everything messed up and things scattered and broken. The trail of blood becomes more vibrant and bigger traces than before. I slowly make my way into her bathroom to see her lying lifelessly on the blood soaked floor. My heart feels like it stops. I rush to her and pick her head up.

"Bryce." My eyes start to water. I feel for her pulse, nothing. "No! Come on Bryce!" I begin to give her CPR to find that it's useless. "Bryce!" I place my head on her heart. "Bryce, please! You can't leave me!" I pick up her head and look at her gorgeous face. "Please don't leave me!" I scream. "You can't leave me. I need you Bryce." I brush her soft, dark brown hair out of her face. "Please Bryce."