No Turning Back - Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Okay, so maybe I was wrong about Jayden possibly continuing telling me whatever he was about to say that night. Hell, after that night, he never called me again. He stopped speaking to me in school – even when our project was concerned, he didn't even look at me when I went to his uncle's restaurant with Melanie or my sister. He didn't even acknowledge my presence half the time. I was completely confused as to what I'd done to him. I mean, I knew that I had been a dick to him back at the hospital but he had seemed to forgive me about that. In fact, he seemed to understand exactly what I was going through. He had been talking to me after the incident so why not now? What did I do that made him not want anything to do with me? Why did he suddenly hate me again?
The months began to drag on once more without Jayden's presence around. My anger had diminished so now I was back in my emotional state where I missed him and wanted nothing more than to just have him back with me again. I tried countless times to talk to him and take him up on his offer to be friends but he brushed me off every single time. His eyes had grown harder as well as the bruises and cuts become more visible in numbers through the months. I was beginning to worry about him. He had mentioned before that things were beginning to get bad at his house. I should have asked how bad. I should have looked through my stupid anger stage and just tried to compromise with him. I should be helping him through whatever struggles he was going through.
Tonight was Prom Night yet I wasn't very excited about it. I was going stag since no girl dared to ask me to go – even as friends – and none of the guys in school who may have been gay as well stepped up to the plate. So that left me alone. I was going to ride with Melanie and Damien in the limo we rented so I guess I wasn't completely by myself. However, I knew they were going to disappear once we actually got to the place. Melanie had told me that she was planning on sleeping with him later on that night so I knew she wanted to have her alone time beforehand. I was fine with it though. She deserved to have her special night.
"Whoa, you clean up nice big brother," Ashley said as she walked into the room. I was staring in the mirror, dressed in my tux with my hair pushed back. I will admit that I did look nice but a part of me felt a bit disappointed that the one person I truly cared about wouldn't see me like this.
"Thanks," I replied as I straightened my sleeves. Ashley tilted her head at me as she flopped down onto my bed. I turned around to face her and forced a smile.
"Daniel, don't give me that fake smile. What's wrong? You were supposed to feel better once your little anger spaz wore off – not worse."
I sighed as I walked up to sit down beside her. "What do you think is wrong?"
"Jayden? I thought you guys were working things out."
I shook my head. "We were but then he just stopped talking to me out of nowhere. I don't know what I did. I mean, I know I was an ass to him but he seemed to understand that I didn't mean it intentionally. Has he said anything to you about why he's cut me off?"
"No...he doesn't really talk at all actually. I don't think it's something you did. I think something's just going on in his world that's making him cut himself off from people."
"He hinted that things were getting bad at his house but I didn't go deeper into it. I should have. I know that I should have but I didn't..."
Ashley put her hand on my shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "You really care about him, don't you," she asked softly.
"I love him," I murmured. "But we're just...we're too complicated now that we're broken up. One minute he wants to be friends with me but I don't want to deal with it and the next it's the other way around. It's getting hard to figure out how to make things right since we keep flip-flopping."
"Does he know that you love him?"
"Nope," I shook my head. "I don't think he'll ever know."
"Daniel Andrew Crawford, if you don't just go to his house and profess your love for him already then I will throw you out of a window. Literally. You can't keep holding in your emotions. I know that you're so used to it and you may think that there's no hope for you and Jayden but you'll never know if you don't fight for it. You know that Jayden loves you so just use that to your advantage. Can you do that?"
"Does that mean that I still have to go to prom?"
She smiled, her eyes lighting up with pride. "No. Just go get your boyfriend back." I smiled down at her before getting up and heading down the steps. I hurried out of the house and into my car to drive down to Jayden's house. Inside, I felt myself get giddy. I was hoping that Jayden would listen to me first and then take me back. I hoped that he could see that we could work a relationship out. We could still be something special. I hoped he could see that I wasn't going to leave until he took me back. I was going to take a stand. I needed to. I'd waited long enough...
When I arrived on his street, I was surprised to see a huge crowd of people and cars surrounding it. I was about to question it until I saw a flash of red and blue lights. My eyes widened as my thoughts filled with horrible thoughts of what could've happened. I quickly parked my car before hopping out and running down towards his house. Evidently, it was his house that all the cars were out front of. I noticed a couple of ambulance cars, some police cars, and tons of news crew vans. There were also some neighbors outside, crowding around to see what was going on. As I passed, I noticed some of them were crying while others seemed just plain solemn. My heart beat more rapidly as I got closer to the house. I noticed that it was surrounded by yellow police tape so I figured no one was in there. I did know, though, that something bad must've happened.
I weaved through the people to get closer to the planks that separated the people from the ambulance. My eyes scanned around the premise, searching for a glance of Jayden's curly hair. Hell, I think I was looking for a glance of his little sisters and his mom too. I wanted to know that they were all safe. As I finally reached the planks, I noticed Jayden's figure sitting in the back of an ambulance, a blanket pulled over his shoulders. Without thinking, I began to run up to him. A police officer caught me by the arm. "Whoa there, kid, you can't go back there," he told me.
"That's my boyfriend," I said impulsively. "Please let me through. I have to make sure he's alright? Is he alright?"
"Son, calm down, please."
"Jayden," I called. "Jayden!" Luckily, my love did snap his head in the direction that my voice had come from. His vibrant eyes were the hardest I'd ever seen them, his jaw tight. His orbs landed on me and I saw his face fall a bit. The police officer looked back to him, waiting for a signal that it was alright to let me through. Jayden nodded once and the police officer let me go. As soon as I was free, I ran up to him. "Jayden, are you okay? Are you hurt?" My boyfriend slowly moved off from his seat on the back of the ambulance and began to walk towards me. When we reached each other, I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly. He seemed surprised, stiffening under my hold, before he let one of his arms wound around me as well.
"What are you doing here, white boy? Isn't it mandatory for the prom king to attend prom," he asked as he broke the hug so that he could look down at me. I noticed there was a cut near his temple that had stitches in it as well as his lip was busted. There was also a long scratch going down one side of his face that would leave a thin scar when it healed.
"Jayden," I said firmly. "Now isn't the time for you to tease me. Are you alright? What happened?" His jaw tightened more as he looked away.
"Not now," he murmured. "Please not now."
"Jayden," we heard his uncle yell. We both turned to see the older man running up to us, his eyes wild with fear. "Thank God, Jayden," he said as he enveloped his nephew into a hug. Jayden leaned into the hug, his body relaxing slightly in the older man's embrace. "Thank God you're alright. Where are your mother and your sisters? Are they here or did they get hauled away to the hospital? What happened? Are you hurt?"
"Tío, ¿podemos hablar en otro lugar?" He glanced around at the scene. "¿Un lugar más privado?"
"Sí. Por supuesto, mi sobrino." His uncle glanced in my direction. "¿Quieres a tu novio que te acompañe?"
"Sí, pero no es mi novio... ya no."
His uncle shrugged. "Lo que quieras. Ven, mi auto es así. ¿Seguro que terminen con la policía?"
"Ellos saben dónde encontrarme si necesitan más información." His uncle stared at him for a moment before nodding and taking a step in the direction where I had come from. Jayden glanced at me. "Andará con Daniel. Te lo diré donde vives." His uncle nodded once more before continuing on. Jayden turned to me. "Come on," he said. "I want to get out of here."
"Okay," I said simply. We walked back to my car in silence. As we walked, I noticed that Jayden wasn't standing up straight and he had a slight limp to him. "Are you sure you're alright," I asked as I opened the passenger door for him.
"I'm fine," he said quickly, his voice getting hard for a moment. "Let's just get away from here...please." I nodded, helping him get into the car. We didn't talk as I drove him to his uncle's house that was located in the fancy apartment complex in the middle of town. I once again helped him out of the car and we took the elevator up to his uncle's apartment. I tried to hold his hand as we walked down the golden hallway but he shoved his hands in his pockets before I could even reach my hand out towards him. I could see his eyes going numb as we got closer and closer to the door. His ice wall was rising except I could feel that it was much, much colder now.
"Hey Alex," Jayden said as we entered the apartment. Inside, there was an older Caucasian male who may have been around Jayden's uncle's age with auburn hair, glasses, and a lean body sitting on the couch in what I guessed was the living room. The apartment was huge. On the inside, I could see the well-furnished living room, a full kitchen, and four bedrooms down the hall. Jayden walked further into the living room as I followed behind him. The man on the couch looked up from the laptop that was sitting on his lap, his bright hazel eyes coming into view.
"Jayden, thank God," he said as he got up from his seat and gave Jayden a hug. "Are you alright? You had your uncle flipping tables when he saw the news." The man's voice was deep but it was soft and held a New York City accent.
"I'm fine," Jayden said simply, his voice hardening again. The older man let go of Jayden and turned his eyes towards me.
"Is this Daniel," he asked.
"Yes. This is..."
"Ah, it's nice to meet you," the man, Alex, said as he held out his hand to me. I forced a polite smile and shook his hand. On the inside, I was feeling a bit worried about Jayden. He may be acting as if he was fine but I knew he had to be feeling something totally different on the inside. Just like when his father had died and he locked himself in his room. Something bad had happened only this time he couldn't hide away to indulge in his feelings. "I'm Alex. I'm Jayden's uncle's partner."
"It's nice to meet you," I said. I glanced at Jayden, raising an eyebrow. I had no idea that his uncle was gay but then again, Jayden never mentioned that he had a girlfriend or wife or anything. He just said that uncle could be embarrassing and acted like the father figure that he didn't really have.
"We're going to go down to my room," Jayden said before he grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the hall. "Tell my uncle that we'll talk in the morning," he yelled after us. We walked down to a room at the very end of the hall. Inside it was moderately big with a bed, a couple dressers, a TV, a closet, and a mirror. Jayden shut the door behind me as I looked around. "I really need to change," he stated. "I have some extra clothes here if you want to change too. You look like a penguin."
"Sure," I said, ignoring his last comment. Jayden scuffled through his drawers to pull out a tee and sweats for both of us. We got changed facing away from each other although I was tempted to turn around and look at him. Not in a sexual way though. I wanted to see the real damage that had been done to his body. I did actually glance behind me to see that his back was covered in long bandaged cuts and bruises. I bit my lip in an attempt not to say anything but I couldn't help it. "Jayden, are you sure you're alright?" He turned around, expressing his bare torso that was also covered in bandages and bruises. On his chest, right where his tattoo was, there was a square bandage with a big dot of blood coming from under it. "Jayden..."
"Daniel, stop. Just leave it alone. Please," he said. His eyes were sad now, moisture starting to fill them. I sighed, walking up to him so that I could hug him. He shrunk in my embrace, curling up into me. I led him to the bed so that he could sit down.
"Tell me what happened," I said softly.
"I...I couldn't..." Jayden began to say as he pulled out of my embrace. He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs. His eyes started to go back to a couple hours before, filling with fear. "My mom and her boyfriend...they were arguing. Their arguments have gotten worse since...since my dad died because she's upset over it and he thinks that she loved my father more than she loved him. So, once again they were arguing over love and lust and who my mom belonged to. My mom was done with him though...she wanted to break up with him. He didn't...he didn't appreciate that. I tried to get the gun out of his hands when he pointed it at my sisters...when he threatened my mom with them. I wasn't fast enough before he pulled the trigger and...and one of the bullets hit Anna." His voice shook as a tear fell down from his eye. "It hit her right in the chest," he murmured. "Cece started screaming after that. She was scared...so scared. I fought with my mom's boyfriend for a long while. I kept yelling for my mom to get out the house...to leave...to call the cops. But she didn't listen to me. She tried to get into the fight. She tried to get him off of me. So he grabbed her and...he snapped her neck." He hugged himself tighter as more slow tears fell down from his beautiful eyes. "I...I tried to save Cece but he shot me...shot me twice. I think he thought I was dead after the second one so he...he put a bullet through Cece's head too." He took a deep breath. "Then I...I kicked him to the ground and I...I wrestled the gun out of his hands and then I...I killed him." He paused again. "One of our neighbors heard the previous gun shots and called the cops so they got there right after I...you know... The medics cleaned me up and the police questioned me about what happened even though we have some cameras that my dad had set up a while back so they have the footage of what happened. I'm not in trouble or anything since it was...it was self-defense. But I don't...I don't think I care about that... I just...I wasn't strong enough to...to save them. I wanted to save them so badly but I couldn't..." His voice cracked as his tears started to come down more forcefully.
"Jayden," I murmured as he put his face down into his knees. I could hear his soft sobs in the silence of the room and I felt my heart break. I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around his body. A few tears of my own had fallen as he spoke but now even more fell at the sight of seeing him like this. Jayden had always been so strong...so guarded. It was painful to see him breaking down like this. I never wanted to see him this way. "It's okay. It's all going be okay."
"No it's not," he said as he picked his head up to look at me. He shook his head. "Nothing is going to be okay again..."
"Don't say that," I told him softly. I leaned closer to wipe some of his tears away gently. "Things will get better. I promise."
"How? How will things possibly get better? My family is dead, Daniel. Unless you can bring them back from Heaven then I suggest that you don't tell me that things are going to get better."
"I'm sorry," I murmured.
He shook his head. "This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault." He leaned his head against my chest, moving his body so that he was in my lap. He curled up on me like a small, scared child, his hands clutching me tightly. "Can you just...can you stay here with me...for the night? Please...Daniel, I need you." My heart fluttered slightly at the sound of hearing that. My mind flashed back to when his father had died and I told him that I'd always be there whenever he needed me...no matter what.
"Of course. I'll stay for as long as you need me to."
"Thank you," he murmured into my chest.
"Anything for you."