Famous Last Words

A week later, Austin still hasn’t found out what had happened that weekend. And even though I feel bad for how things worked out, I was glad.

However, things were not only extremely tense between Gus and me, but they also were between Matt and Michelle. He was still refusing to let her spend time with us, for some reason. In fact, he was acting so hostile towards her; I just couldn’t understand why. He was also acting really strange towards us – me in particular.

He was barely letting us go outside anymore, which was driving Gus and me insane. Gus, because he liked to take advantage of the California’s good weather and go running in the mornings; me, because every once in a while, I liked to walk down to the beach, not ten minutes away, to clear my head. Matt’s new and ridiculous restrictions made me feel like I was under house arrest – and I had a feeling it had something to do with Michelle.

The worst part however, was the fact that he seemed less motivated to enforce his rules upon me than upon Gus. It felt like I was under house arrest – in fact, that was pretty much exactly what it was. However, I found the only person who I could tell without them going on about it, was Leda.

Which was how I ended up sneaking her into the house at one in the morning.

“What are you doing here?” I hiss as she slips through the back door, shortly after texting me, telling me to come let her in. Honestly, she was just lucky I hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

“We’re going out,” she replies excitedly, not bothering to keep her voice down. When I’m finally able to get a good look at her eyes, I realize that’s she’s not… all there.

“Are you on something right now?” I ask, raising my voice slightly. She giggle nervously.

“Is it really that obvious?” I nod, narrowing my eyes slightly. “Okay, I did have a little to drink, but that’s only because I wouldn’t have been brave enough to come get you if I was sober!” I raise an eyebrow at her. “Oh come on, Autumn – I’m not that drunk. I only had a few shots of vodka – I’m fine.” I roll my eyes, still not quite believing her.

“Whatever,” I finally say after studying her face for a moment. “So are you sleeping over, or…?” She giggles again and shakes her head.

“I said we were going out, remember?”

I did. I was just hoping she had forgotten.

“Leda,” I begin, trying to keep my voice calm. “I can’t just sneak out! I’ve never done something like something like that before – I’m not like that!” She just huffs and crosses her arms across her chest.

“Autumn. You’re practically a prisoner here. Matt won’t let you go out because, for some unknown reason is afraid of you going and building a relationship with your mother. It’s cruel and unfair and just plain dumb.” I blink. She was right.

“And you think going out and getting drunk is the solution?” I challenge anyway, and she rolls her eyes at me.

“First of all, I never said anything about you getting drunk. Second, Matt’s not gonna find out. We’re just going to go out for a little while – we’ll be back before him or Val find out.”

“And what exactly is there to do?” This just causes her to roll her eyes again.

“You live by an ocean.”

“Are you suggesting we go swimming – at midnight?” I all but yell. “Is that even legal?” She shrugs.

“No one’s gonna care, as long as we don’t make any noise.” She then sits down on the floor, crossing her legs Indian-style. “Go get changed. I’ll wait here.” I sigh, realizing there’s no way out of this.

“Fine.”

I quietly stomp upstairs to my room, pausing in front of Matt and Val’s room. Sure enough, I can hear his loud snores echoing throughout the room, which is enough reassurance to make me think he wouldn’t be waking up any time soon.

I dig through my closet, pulling out a pink two-piece Michelle bought me, and an old Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt and shorts. I put the swimsuit on under my clothes before tying my auburn hair back. Then, I spend the next two minutes debating on whether or not to bring my phone, for fear of it getting lost or wet.

I decide against it.

Leda’s still sitting on the floor, waiting for me, when I finally come back down. She shakes her head and struggles to get to her feet – making me realize that she most certainly was lying about how much she had had to drink.

“Took you long enough,” she grumbles, refusing my help. “C’mon; I wanna go swimming.”

I follow her outside and out the back gate, which I didn’t even know we had, stopping briefly at a bush for her to dig out the half-drunken bottle of vodka she had apparently hidden in it. I narrow my eyes at her.

“What?” she slurs after taking a swig from the bottle. I continue to glare at her and she silently offers me some. I have half a mind to take it from her and dispose of it.

“Why are you drinking?” I demand after a few minutes of us walking in silence. She shrugs, taking another large drink from the bottle.

“Because I can.”

“But it’s not… good for you.” She stops walking.

“Do you think I care?” she asks; her tone dark and menacing. “My life is shit right now – you wouldn’t understand.”

“What happened?” I ask anyway, genuinely concerned for her. She continues walking, so I assume she isn’t planning on answering me anytime soon.

“Anthony.” We stop again. She laughs humorlessly. “He’s always the problem.”

“But Austin… he’s doing something about it. Isn’t he?” She just laughs again.

“He won’t be able to do much. Even if he does somehow manage to win my custody away from Anthony, that won’t stop him from finding a way to keep making my life a living hell.”

She throws the bottle on the street, causing it to shatter loudly. I jump, glancing around wildly, and hoping that no one heard us, nor cared.

Leda grabs my arm roughly, however, and begins pulling me down the street quicker than before. I don’t pay attention to where she’s dragging me, until we’re standing in front of Anthony’s house, and she’s unlocking the front door frantically.

“Leda?” I call desperately, even though I’m standing right next to her. She just shakes her head, finally unlocking the door. Before she can throw open the door, however, I place a hand on her arm, which causes her to look up at me. “Leda, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I just need to grab another drink,” she mutters, her voice shaking slightly. “I’ll be quick; I promise.”

I try hard not ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, telling me that this was a bad idea, and my night was about to go completely downhill. But that doesn’t stop me from following her inside anyway.

Worry continues to course through my veins as I watch Leda desperately tear through the various cabinets in the dark, trying to find some sort of alcoholic drink. By the level of noise she’s making, I can’t help but wonder if she’s home alone, since no one seemed to be disturbed by it.

She finally pulls out a bottle. In the dark, I’m able to make out the shape of her uncapping the bottle. Though in her drunken state, she somehow manages to fumble with it so much, that the liquid in the bottle ends up sloshing down her front. She curses, dropping the bottle, thus shattering it as well. I flinch, and leap back as some of the glass manages to hit my legs. She curses again, more loudly, before trying to remove her shirt. I begin debating whether or not I should help her, when someone turns the kitchen light on, causing both of us to freeze.

I turn around to see Hunter standing by the light switch, half-asleep.

“What the fuck is going on?” He looks wildly between the two of us. He makes a disgusted look at the sight of his little sister with her shirt raised above her head, and then his face grows concerned when he sees the bloody mess my legs are in.

There isn’t any time for him to do anything, as right then; we can hear Anthony moving around in his room right down the hall. Hunter’s face grows pale, and he whips around before turning back towards us.

“Fucking hide!” he hisses, as Leda finally manages to get her shirt off from over her head. “Now!”

I look over at Leda, who looks just as frozen as I felt. But I manage to grab her stick-thin arm anyway, taking her shirt from her hands, and pulling her into the kitchen pantry. We sit down on the floor, and she begins to cry. I hold her shaking body close to mine, keeping one hand clamped over her mouth.

“What the fuck is going on here?” I hear Anthony yell. I can feel Leda stifle a sob, and I hold her tighter, trying desperately to comfort her.

“I dropped the bottle…” I hear Hunter reply, his usual confident, “bad-ass” tone having been completely evaporated by his older brother. I hear what sounds like Anthony punching him, and I flinch. Noticing my distress, I can feel Leda tense up.

“You were fucking going through my alcohol again?” he screams. I hear glass crunch, and suddenly, there’s another noise that sounds like he’s hit Hunter, and I see him fall to the floor through the space under the door.

I hear Hunter groan in pain, but Anthony doesn’t seem to be done. I can just barely see under the door as he bends over Hunter; by the sound he makes, I can imagine him grabbing his hair violently. But before he can do anything else to him, Leda finally manages to get out of my grip, and she begins screaming at Anthony, begging him not to hurt him.

I want to yell at her; scream at her and shake her until she realizes what she’s done. Anthony tears the door open, smiling sinisterly down at the two of us.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Notes