Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 16

TW: MENTIONS OF RAPE

Although he was high as a kite on weed gummies and also on the fact that Isaiah had kissed him in front of his entire family, Royal should have known it wouldn’t last. Not when Jamie Maddison had walked through those doors, he knew it would all unravel, and it had. The second Thea was about to mention her problem, Jamie spoke up because he knew that what Jamie had to say would take so much more precedence over what Thea had to say.

“I get that I’m four years late to the party, and I assume you all still dabble in what you do, but why are you hanging around Royal? Do you know what he did?”

“Stop, shut up,” it was out of Royal’s mouth before he got to think about what he should have said to the revelation.

“What did he do?”

“Don’t,” he croaked, but he knew Jamie. He had known him throughout high school, how he loved making his life a living hell. “He killed his uncle and his brother.”

“Well, s**t. Mine can wait, I need to know more about this because what the f**k?” Thea muttered, and all eyes landed on Royal, who was too high to talk about what had happened five years ago.

He knew he had to say something. He considered these people, all of them besides Jamie, his family, and knowing what they did, he had still hidden this from them, but he didn’t want to talk about it high as a kite. He didn’t wish to talk about it now, not with Jamie here to hear about his family issues.

So, he did what any sane person would do: he ran out of the room and eventually out of the house. He knew he should have explained. He would have to eventually; he was living there at this point, and they were a nosy bunch and wouldn’t let him live this down until they heard everything, but he didn’t want everyone to listen to what was happening underneath his nose.

He hadn’t expected anyone to follow him; he had hoped Isaiah had followed him so that he could explain without all the ears, but when five minutes had passed, he found himself in the park on the swing alone, and he nodded to himself. Of course, he had been Jamie’s replacement and now that the original had arrived, it didn’t matter. He didn’t matter.

But after ten minutes, Isaiah did appear and silently sat on the swing beside him; Royal didn’t speak. He let the sun shine down on him as he watched the few kids around play, and he heard Isaiah sigh, “I should have come quicker, but they all started grilling me. Royal, what happened.”

“I know it sounds bad, but I didn’t kill them. I was at fault, but my hand wasn’t at the trigger. You have to believe me,” he whispered as the tears he had tried so hard not to let out finally poured down his face.

Isaiah stood up and held his hand out. Confused, Royal took it, and Isaiah led him home; they didn’t go into the lounge room like Royal thought they would; they went up to his bedroom, and the two sat on the bed.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Royal repeated.

Isaiah removed his shoes and got into bed, and Royal did the same. Then, Isaiah, who was still high, made him look at him. “What happened?”

“I came home from school earlier one day. I wasn’t feeling too good,” Royal said, not looking at him anymore. Instead, he had placed his hand over his chest to feel his heartbeat underneath his palm. “My parents were at work as usual, and my uncle looked after me and my brother, River. I came home, and I walked past River’s room to get to my room I heard noises in his room, and when I looked inside, River and my uncle were having s*x. I panicked I ran out,” he cried. “I shouldn’t have run out. I don’t know how long I had been out, but when I went back, River had killed himself. His brains were scattered across his bed. Instead, I ran to my uncle's room to tell him, yell at him, ask him something, and he was hanging from the rafters in the loft. He had left a note, my name in red, beside his corpse. And I don’t know what was happening. Had my uncle been r****g my brother under my nose the entire time, and instead of stopping it, I ran away? Maybe that had been my brother’s way of asking for help and instead i f*****g ran away. I killed him. I kileld my brother and my uncle.”

Isaiah, running his hands through Royal’s hair, sighed and kissed his forehead. “You didn’t know; you were just sixteen, Royal. This isn’t your fault. You panicked. That’s understandable.”

“You have to believe me,” Royal wailed. “I didn’t know. I didn’t kill them. Please, I didn’t know what to do.”

“I believe you,” he whispered. “I will always believe you.”

~*~