Tyed - Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Tyler tells this whole story, beginning to end, shaking and not really pausing to explain. Colby's shocked silence only breaks at one point.
"I went into that room," he says, "where... where you said he was. He wasn't there. Unless he hid, and called the police..."
"I knew it must've been him who called the police," Tyler says, honestly numb. "But... I thought... it was him, walking around. I never saw you."
"Because I went into the garage after that," Colby says. "I can't believe you said you burned his house down, because I definitely did."
Tyler raises an eyebrow. "How?"
"I... I didn't have the idea immediately," Colby admits, running a hand through his hair. "But I stress-smoked a lot, and I remember when I went into the garage I was considering whether or not I should leave. I lit a cigarette, and that's when I saw he had massive containers of gasoline. I think he was a car enthusiast and he just kept his own fuel for long drives or something? I 'accidentally' kicked them over and dropped my cigarette in them. The fire caught so much quicker than I thought it would, and I ran out before seeing what happened. I didn't hear any cops or anything."
"So..." Tyler mutters. "...I think you doing that saved me from taking the fall."
"How?"
"I always assumed Nancy somehow left her DNA somewhere," Tyler explains, "like when she was searching the room for the money. Because the only reason the cops couldn't arrest me is that they found male DNA on the scene that wasn't mine, wasn't Sandys', and they had seen that my accomplice was a girl so they assumed it wasn't her. They didn't catch Nancy and never learned she was trans. But... they swabbed my cheek, right? What they compared the DNA to was my saliva, which doesn't necessarily mean that saliva was the DNA they found, but it tracks with that interpretation. Your cigarette, if you smoked it, would've still had..."
"I have never thought of that," Colby mutters. His arms wrap around Tyler, pulling him close against his chest. "You're so smart, doll, I never would've realised. I'm so lucky you were there for the cops to catch."
"We saved each other by accidentally burning down the same guy's house at the same time," Tyler laughs. "How fucking insane is that?"
Colby isn't really laughing though. "Have you... thought about it, though?"
"Thought about what?"
"What happened to Nancy. What he did to her. He had a box of jewelry, did you say?"
"Mostly wedding ring-" Tyler stops suddenly. "Wait, you- no, that's the only thing that makes sense, isn't it?"
"Scarlett's always grown up in an environment of repression about that kind of thing. I... don't think she would've told me if he raped her."
Tyler buries his head in Colby's neck, not sure of his response until it's bubbling out of him. "No, no, no-"
"Dear god," Colby breathes. "I assumed- I assumed so much based on what he said, and she never- she never-"
Tyler's not listening, because all he's hearing is that Colby's regretting divorcing Scarlett. "Don't go," he whispers quietly against Colby's neck.
Colby pulls him back to look him in the eyes. "What did you say?"
Tyler shakes his head. "It's stupid. You should call Scarlett. T-talk to her, I don't know, just-"
"No, stop, wait." Colby stares at him forcefully, eyebrows raised. "What's on your mind right now?"
Tyler shakes his head again, but is only met with, "Tyler."
Colby sits up straighter, and Tyler almost falls off of his lap, holding on for dear life because he doesn't want to slip away. "I've just discovered I'm a fucking asshole when it's too late to not be an asshole. Tyler, please don't make this harder on me. What's wrong?"
"It's not too late for you to not be an asshole," Tyler mutters. "Call her, and I don't know, maybe you two can work something out-"
"Oh." Colby half-laughs. "There's no way in hell I'm going to get back together with her, Tyler. Our relationship died with our son, and there's no hope for it when I'm fa-thinking about you. I'm not going to chase her down because I was wrong. I'm going to apologise, for sure. But that's it, Tyler. And we don't even know yet for sure what happened, but even in the worst case scenario, her and I are still done."
Tyler's not sure how to believe him. He has so much more history with her, and so much more to gain with her. "I'm sorry for making this about me," is all Tyler answers. "I trust you to make the right decision, I guess."
The problem is that Tyler doesn't know what the right decision is. He doubts it's him.
"One last question," Colby says after a moment. "What did you do with the jewelry you stole?"
"Well, in all fairness, he stole it first," Tyler mutters, "but okay, really, uh. Nancy still has it I think. We wanted to sell it, but finding places that will take shady jewelry was difficult in Gem Varily and I honestly think she's been scared of getting caught for too long to take it anywhere."
Colby nods. "I... Scarlett lost her engagement ring about the time the affair started, and I noticed she stopped wearing her wedding ring not long before that night. If those are in that box, that kinda confirms the theory. I just... Can't believe she wouldn't tell me that, you know? People have lied and said they were raped to hide cheating before, but it's kinda hard to imagine people pretending to have cheated to hide being raped."
"If you're correct, then she didn't do it on purpose," Tyler says, "but rather, accepted that it was somehow her fault. And... well, like you said, we don't know what happened. But hasn't she been trying to hang out with you more lately?"
"You're... right, now that you mention it," Colby says. "I haven't been wanting to talk to her because I desperately don't want to try and make things work with her again. Even knowing this, we weren't that compatible and it was mostly for Altan anyway. I just... wish it hadn't happened the way it did."
Hearing that genuinely does help soothe Tyler's fears. "I'm sorry," he mutters against Colby's chest. "One bad person can ruin so much for so many."
Colby sighs. "I'm sure there's someone better for her than me. Just as," Colby says, raising a hand and gently touching Tyler's cheek, "there's someone perfect for me."
For a moment Tyler's heart sinks and he dejectedly says, "who?"
And Colby laughs, pulling Tyler closing and kissing him, before saying, "you, of course."
And Tyler wonders if he's alone in how quickly he's falling, or not.
---
Sunday morning in church sucks ass, as it always does. Tyler isn't looking forward to his thirteenth birthday next month. The sound of the priest droning on is the same as usual, as is the incredibly small yet necessary comfort that Tyler gets from Kevin's leg in the row behind him reaching forward to press against his ankle, pushed back under the pew. They got rocks thrown at them by some of the younger kids a few days ago, but Tyler insisted that they change nothing. Kali helped him patch up the wounds on his arms and back in the hopes that his parents wouldn't see them. His dad did and asked him what happened. Tyler got hit a few times for not answering and arguably got injured worse.
The sounds of crunching gravel outside were not normal, though. A few of the younger kids had been looking around as distant rumbling sounded, while the priest had tried to keep going. But now, most people were pretty concerned, and the priest stops talking, going to the window to look outside.
But then the door slams open and Tyler, against his best judgement, cowers along with everyone else as suddenly light fills the room and stranger after stranger pours in, most of them wearing a kind of blue and black bulky uniform that Tyler's never seen anything like before.
Tyler immediately checks on a few things, locating the three most important people- Trey, also cowering beside him; Kali, hiding behind her mother across the way; and Kevin, who now jumps the pew in front of him to come to Tyler's side. One of the strangers, this one wearing entirely black and a pair of dark glasses that he surely can't see out of, holds up a badge, addressing the priest mainly, as well as all the adults in the congregation.
"Federal police," he says, raising what looks like a smaller, darker version of the rifle that Kevin's dad shoots wild deer with. "Everybody in this little cult is under arrest. Do you hear me?"
Kali immediately bursts into tears, and Trey takes a few seconds, but Tyler also sees him crying. The uniformed people are rounding up the younger children in the back, and a few- police?- are grappling the adults from the pews and pulling them into the rows, putting metal things around their wrists to keep them together. Tyler's never seen anything like this before. He's forgotten how to feel anything at all, as all of his brain is focussed on making sure his brother, best friend, and lover are safe.
One of the adults starts trying to punch one of the police, but three come at him and drag him down. Tyler's father is pulled to his feet and starts roaring some words that go muffled as he too is shoved to the ground. Weirdly enough, the police aren't grabbing any of the teenagers; didn't they say everyone?
Tyler spots Kali in amongst the chaos and gestures for her to come over. As her mother is being caught, she slips out under the arm of one of the police and makes her way over, ducking underneath arms and dodging bodies. She comes to their side and the four crouch between the pews, hearts racing.
"We're under arrest," Tyler mutters, rocking back and forth. "What does that mean?"
Tyler turns to Kevin, but he's grinning. "We're not," he says, shaking his head. "We're not under arrest. Everyone who hurt us is. They get locked up for years and we get to go free."
"E-e-e-even M-m-mum?" Trey whispers, shaking.
"Well is your mum a bad person?" Kevin says, a little impatiently, and Trey shakes his head easily. "Then no. The bad people are going to prison and we will be free."
"I'm scared," Kali says with a shudder.
"Don't be scared," Kevin says. "This is good. We're going to be free!"
A woman in uniform comes to their pew and reaches out a hand for Kali, the closest to her. "My name is Vanessa," she says with a little smile, "and it's my job to take you guys out of here."
"Are all the kids safe?" Tyler asks, speaking up for the terrified Kali and trembling Trey. "We're not under arrest?"
She shakes her head. "No, honey, you guys are all safe."
"And my mum?"
"If she hasn't done anything to hurt any of you kids, she'll be safe too. We're only here for the adults who are hurting the kids. Okay? But you have to come with me. You're going to a much nicer place where you'll be much happier, I promise."
Against the backdrop of chaos, it's hard to believe, but when Tyler really looks at it, the chaos is seeing his father, who loved so much to hold power over defenseless kids, defenseless himself. It's seeing Kevin's dad who he hates being lead away in shame. It's seeing Kali's dad trying to fight and getting knocked down. Tyler hates violence, but this... this is the cleansing fire, isn't it?
Kevin stands. "We're coming. Come on, guys."
Tyler didn't have to be told. He helps Trey to his feet, and Trey clings to his younger brother; he reaches out for the mother, who smiles at him and promises, "it's going to be okay," smiling through tears as she too is handcuffed. They're getting every adult and working it out later. Tyler doesn't know if that's good or bad.
Kali, too, scrambles to her feet. "I wanna be free," she mutters under her breath as Vanessa leads them towards the door, out into the light of day. It's the same light it's always been, except on the dirt path that's always lead up to the church on the top of the hill there's maybe eight or nine vehicles, mostly vans with darkened back windows. Vanessa leads the four of them to one, and they climb up into the back. It's a big metal car with a lot of space inside, and Tyler marvels at it, having never seen any vehicle so big before.
"Where are we going?" he asks Vanessa. Kevin takes a determined seat closest to the front of the van, and a still very nervous Trey sits across from him, pulling Tyler as well. Kali sits on Tyler's other side, and while he's not sitting with Kevin, he gets to enjoy Kevin's wide grin of freedom that he hasn't seen since their failed escape attempt years ago now.
Vanessa has a very soft smile. "I can't tell you much, except that it's going to be so much better than anywhere you've ever been before."
Even Trey manages a smile at that.