Chapter Text
“I don’t like that we left him alone after he just got here.”
“Steven,” Ryder turned toward me after helping get the trailer unhooked from my truck, “I know this is awful to say but injuries are a great way in keeping people in one place.” I reached forward and slapped my hand against his arm, “that’s not nice-”
“I know, that’s why I said it was awful.”
“Anyway, I think if he put his mind to it, he would’ve been gone the moment he realized that we’d left. To be completely honest, I don’t think his injuries would hinder him that much.”
“Oh please, and leave Isaac all to his lonesome? I told you, Isaac had taken a quick liking to him, tough guy has a soft spot for kids.” I tried to imagine Ronan, the centaur who glared me down as I let him out of the back of the trailer, smiling and frolicking through a field with a posse of foals following close behind. I couldn’t help but snort at the imagined goofy smile on Ronan’s face.
“Now that’s something I need to see.” Ryder just chuckled as we began to make our way back towards the Barn. Everyone who had come along was now lying splayed out in the grass, dozing. Though, there was a frizzy head missing from the group.
“Hey, did you see where Ayanna disappeared to?” I looked up and Ryder shook his head, pointing toward the slightly open Barn doors, “she probably just ran off looking for Isaac.” Just as the words left his mouth Ayanna’s head popped out of the Barn and waved in a frantic “come here!” motion. Ryder and I looked at each other and shrugged before making our way toward the now empty Barn doors.
Once inside the light clicking of Ryders hooves and muffled thumps of my shoes were the only sounds heard as Ayanna continued to wave us forward excitedly. I was about to open my mouth and finally ask what the problem was when she held a single finger over her lips and pointed into Ronan’s room.
The scene we walked into was something out of a movie. Ronan laid out completely on his side, head pillowed on one arm, the other wrapped securely around Isaac’s torso and twisting around to cradle his head. Isaac’s skinny arms had Ronan’s in a death-grip, his legs twitching in a dream and a thumb securely in his mouth. The only thing that slightly darkened the whole scene was Ronan’s scrunched face and wrinkled nose.
“Wow, even in sleep he’s angry.” I smiled as Ryder chuckled and Ayanna grinned as she tugged on my shirt, “take a picture?” I nodded and quickly wrestled my phone from my pocket. Ayanna reached over my arm and laughed as she zoomed in on Ronan’s drooling, crinkled face before I lightly slapped her hand away and zoomed back out.
As soon as I pushed the camera button I immediately flinched, the sound of the automated shutter seemed to echo in the room, and the flash seemed to blind all of us all. In that split, blind, second there was a frantic rustling from the mattress and a soft cry before we all could see again.
Ronan stood, his bandages leaking through, with an almost crazed look in his eyes as he stood over Isaac. He rocked back and forth, front hooves alternatively rising and falling back to the ground while the back hooves stomped the ground too close to where Isaac’s body was frozen, his tail almost slapping the boy in the face with how active it was.
“Get out.” I flinched at how loud Ryder’s whisper sounded at that moment. Ronan’s chest heaved as he scented the air, his eyes locked on me, his eyes were still glazed over from the remnants of sleep. He looked terrified.
Ayanna, nervous for the safety of her brother, quickly tugged on my arm until I turned and began to follow her out of Ronan’s room.
“Murderer!”
“Steven!” I was suddenly shoved out of the doorway as the sound of clashing bodies thundered behind me. I flew forward from the force of the shove, falling on my stomach and stopping myself with the palms of my hands. I rolled over quickly and watched Isaac huddle as far as he could into a corner, eyes flooded with tears, as Ryder and Ronan fought, trying to get the other on the ground, only a few feet from him. From my place on the ground I watched Isaac’s mouth open wide.
Isaac’s sobs screeched through the Barn making Ryder flinch slightly, but Ronan still reared with purpose, trying to get him under his hooves. There was a commotion from outside and and suddenly Adam and Leah both raced inside, eyes wild. Without any hesitation, Adam squeezed himself into the already overcrowded room, placing himself between his son and Ronan, helping Ryder finally get Ronan down onto the ground.
In a blur of fur Isaac sped out of the room and latched himself to his mother’s side. Leah, keeping a side eye on Ronan, leaned down and ran her hands over Isaac’s arms, back, and sides, checking for bumps or bruises. Once she was happy with her onceover, she held out a hand for both of her children and walks them out of the Barn.
Adam and Ryder both grunted as Ronan thrashed underneath them, still fighting to get back on his feet. His eyes locked on me. Ronan’s arms were pressed firmly into the ground trying to at least get his face and torso upright. I slowly pushed myself off of the ground and locked eyes with Ryder who had his hands pressed firmly to Ronan’s shoulders, keeping him pinned. With a quiet jerk of his head toward the door Ryder urged me to leave the Barn, and quickly.
I didn’t want to leave them with Ronan still fighting back, but I knew there was nothing I could do in the situation and made my way toward the Barn entrance.
“He took them away!” Ronan’s voice startled me as it trembled and cracked, almost as if he were crying, “they’re all gone! It’s his fault!”
***
My fingers itched to play. It always seemed to help when I was stressed, and I was beyond stressed right now. Ronan’s cries still thrashed around inside my head, even hours after I had left the Barn. His broken voice left an aching pain in my chest and a yearning to know what left him that way. I wanted, no needed to leave. To see Ronan and try to help because no one deserved to suffer with that. There was just one thing in the way.
Dad’s heavy-footed stumbles and unintelligible mutterings from down the hall kept me from leaving for anything other than dinner and quiet steps to and from the bathroom. Muttered curses always made my feet move just a tad bit quicker.
I was just about ready to hop out of the window, throwing on a thin jacket to ward off the cold, when a light knock on the glass made me jump. Turning, jacket half zipped up, Ronan gave me a tentative wave from outside, his own jacket hanging open off of his shoulders. With a quick glance to my door I made my way to the window and shoved the cracked wooden frame upward.
“How is he?” Ryder grimaced and rubbed absentmindedly at a slowly forming bruise on his chin, “he’s asleep now, put up one hell of a fight though. After you left he finally started to calm down before passing out. Adam left to go check on Isaac and I stayed in my room to watch over him.”
“Perfect! I was just about to go and check on him!” I threw one of my legs over the windowsill, ready to jump down with him.
“Actually, um-” Ryder lowered him head and scratched at the back of his neck, “I think, maybe, you should wait until he wakes up. He needs the rest after all.”
“Are you telling me that I probably shouldn't go see him?” Ryder grimaced slightly before nodding, “with the way he responded to seeing you, it might be best to give him some space, for both of your safeties.” I sighed and pulled myself back inside the window, tossing the jacket back onto my chair and finally sitting cross-legged on my bed.
Ryder leaned into my room, arms braced on the windowsill, and gave a particularly nasty look to my door when a loud crash came from down the hall making me flinch. He gave a disappointed sigh before turning to me again, “you okay?” Ryder’s question had me rubbing roughly at my temples, “I’m fine, it’s just. . . with tomorrow and everything with Ronan. It just seems to be crashing all at once.”
“It’ll sort itself out, it always does with you,” Ryder chuckled before quickly sobering, “your room is all set up whenever you’re ready to come over.” Without lifting my head, I nodded in thanks. I rubbed roughly over my eyes and listened as Ryder tapped against my wall with the pads of his fingers. He was fidgeting.
“Why don’t you just come over tonight?”
“Ryder, you know why I can’t do that.
“No, I really don’t Steven.” Ryder’s voice sounded both tense and defeated. This wasn’t the first time that we’ve had discussion.
“Ryder, I can’t let the kids see him like that. I need to be here, make it seem like as normal a day as I can before leaving. He needs that at least.” Ryder ran an exhausted hand over his face, “he really doesn’t deserve what you do for him. Well, I guess we’ll see you in the morning. Stay safe Steven.”
***
An alarm set for five in the morning had me groaning and burying my face further into my pillow. I let the insistent buzzing start to deafen my left ear before finally pushing up and turning it off and, with a ringing eardrum, began to quietly dress.
Today needed to be as normal as I could make it.
Today was the anniversary.
Today needed to be normal.
How is he going to act?
Normal.
The door was shut with a near silent click behind me as I made my way down the hall and into the kitchen. Dad’s door was shut with no light coming from underneath, but a scattered trail of cans lead from the living room to that closed door, some crushed and empty, others half full and lukewarm.
The kitchen was no better, the counter littered with bottles and cans, the sink overflowing with dirty dishes, and an open refrigerator door lighting up a corner of the kitchen. With a heavy sigh I walked over to the open door and grabbed the necessities for breakfast before closing it and silently filing away why the electric bills had been so high as of recent.
Once the food was on low heat and cooking happily I went to the pantry and grabbed an brand new garbage bag, opening it as silently as I could and began to clear up the scattered trails of cans and bottles. I had stopped reading the labels and alcohol percentages a long time ago, all of it just blurring together at this point. I traveled from the kitchen, cleaning counter tops, to the hallway, being the utmost careful around not to rattle the bag near his door, and the living room, ignoring the couch that was stained all to hell.
The food was taken off the stove, kept warm under a dome of heavy plastic, when the refrigerator began to mock me again. I knew from my glance before it was stocked with brand new, unopened bottles of differing sizes and shapes. Dad had been planning on doing nothing today, and forgetting as soon as he awoke. My fingers itched as I looked back down the hall, Dad’s door was still quiet and dark and lonely. Before I knew it I had the refrigerator back open and was popping open cans, uncorking, and unwrapping every bottle, leaving only a few beer cans and one bottle with the smallest alcohol percentage. The different liquids bubbled and fizzed down the drain leaving behind the stench of alcohol and a foamy outline around the sink.
After quickly rinsing the sudsy layer away I gently laid each of the empty containers in the trash bag and tied it off, placing it in the garage for a later throw away. I breathed in deeply, the muggy smell of the garage, pulling myself together, before walking back into the house.
The garage door had just clicked shut behind me when Dad’s door slammed against the wall and I heard his feet stumbling down the hall. His grumbling reached me before he physically did. He walked right by me, not even a glance, and immediately went to the fridge. I slowly stepped into the kitchen and watched as his shoulders stiffened and he kneeled to look deeper into the cold depths.
I quietly cleared my throat, “ um, morning Dad, how di-”
“Shut up.” My words tasted like ash and my smiled withered. “Where is it?” My hands started trembling at the tone of his voice.
“W-where is what?” He slammed his fist against the counter, knocking the plastic dome and the food onto the floor.
“You know damn well what I’m talking about! You stole it didn’t you! Gave it to that cripple friend of yours, or those goddamn animals, didn’t you?” Ice was poured down my spine and I froze, “you don’t talk about them like that.”
“You steal from me, I can say whatever I damn well like! Now give it to me!”
The last thing I thought as he charged toward me was that I really should have taken Ryder’s offer.