Not even sure how he planned to retaliate without the use of his dominant arm, Curt’s anger nevertheless made him pursue Scott as he left the kitchen. Only, when Curt arrived in the living room, he didn’t see the other boy anywhere. He glanced at the stairs and then moved to the nearest window at the front of the house.

Only when he looked outside, he didn’t see Scott or his vehicle anywhere out there either. Instead, he saw his dad’s Mercedes pulling into their paved driveway and then the garage. A few moments later, the door from the garage opened as his dad stepped into the house, barely acknowledged his son, and headed for the den instead.

His mother entered the house next, her arms full of bags, apparently having made her way from breakfasting to shopping sometime during the day. Curt scoffed as she dropped the bags to the sofa. He then greeted her accusingly, “I thought you were only going out for breakfast.”

That was when his father returned to the room, briefcase gone, tie loosened, drink in hand, “you’re asking your mother to justify her actions? That’s a good one” he growled to his son as he took his drink and found a seat on his lush recliner. “Besides, I should be the one bitching, as your mother seems to wanna drain the rest of what’s left in our bank account after we had to waste it all on bailing you out.”

Then his mother finally spoke, “I had to give up regular therapy thanks to that. I’m just adjusting with retail therapy.”

Curt’s father then scoffed then as he held up his drink, “this is my therapy, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.”

“I’m getting sick of getting blamed for all this family’s problems” Curt defended angrily.

His father’s apathetic expression quickly turned angrier then, “then maybe you should stop being a problem. You’re not even worth any of this aggravation anymore without your throwing arm, thanks to letting that painted up queer get the best of you! So maybe you need to learn to shut your fucking mouth, just like all those bitches you’ve been fucking apparently need to do too!”

“Must we talk about this?” his mother mumbled as she turned away.

Curt’s father then continued, “well they won’t stop talking, or that other little queer. And they all keep saying the same shit. Our golden boy here can’t keep from shoving shit up people’s asses. Are you the real queer here, boy?” he asked Curt with a pointed accusation.

Curt glared back then, “they all wanted it that way. Especially the little fag. I just gave em what they wanted, and now that my arm’s gone, they just wanna finish ruining my life!”

“Yeah, you’re the victim here. All our lives are getting ruined since you can’t keep from fucking the wrong people!” his father scoffed, “now both of you get the fuck outta here and let me watch TV in peace” he ordered as he waved them both away.

As his mother attempted to gather her shopping bags into her arms again, and Curt stomped off toward the stairs angrily, the front door opened then as Phoebe stepped into the house, book bag in hand. Curt looked more than a little startled by her arrival, though his parents barely even looked up to acknowledge their younger child either.

“Weren’t you already home? Upstairs?” Curt asked her with confusion.

Phoebe just rolled her eyes at the question, “god, take a few more pills, jerk” and with that, she made her way to the kitchen with a shake of those long dark blonde waves.

Curt then looked back at his mother as she made her way past him to the stairs as well, arms full of bags again now. “Mom, I really think I need a different dosage of those pain pills or something. These ones are really messing with me.”

Before she could respond though, Curt’s father bit out, “you’re lucky we got you anything for the pain at all. You don’t want em? Then don’t take em. But shut your mouth about it. We’re done wasting time on your bullshit for one week.”

His mother simply shrugged back at Curt in concession before moving up the stairs. He then glared after her and then back at his father as well before following her upstairs with an expression that was equally sullen, angry, and even a bit worried as well.

That evening Sky sat with Star atop her bed after dinner as she tried to do her best to write down all the pertinent facts she had found during her dark journey through Curt’s mind. She figured it would be easier to just get it all out on paper one time for the four of them to continue to use against their nemesis at will rather than having to actually form the words to explain it to them all out loud. As those were emotions and images she didn’t want to have to relive or even try to describe any more than she absolutely had to.

Glancing down at the horrors Star was scribbling out, Sky had to shake his head, “he really did all of these things? And you saw them? In his head?”

“More than saw them” Star mumbled, “I knew how he felt doing them. I knew how much he liked hurting them, enjoying their screams and their pain and their blood even. He’s just...” she shook her head as she took a breath, the pen shaking in her hand. She then looked up at Sky as she tried to fight the tears returning as she allowed all those horrible things back into her head, “don’t you ever again try to claim that you’re just like him. You are nothing like him! You never even could be” she added in a whisper as she moved to place a soft kiss of assurance over his lips.

That was when their kiss was interrupted as Sky got a text from Crista, which read, “Cassie’s being a bitch. Rescue me?”

Sky just smirked, “once a bitch always a bitch I guess.”

“Pardon?” Star asked, a bit thrown by the statement.

“Cassie’s bugging Crista. She’d like me to give her a reprieve” Sky clarified.

“Give her what now?” Star replied wryly.

Sky just shook his head with a small smile, closed his eyes, and psychically reached out to Crista, pulling her with him to that silver room of theirs. As Crista startled at the quickness with which Sky fulfilled her request, she centered a grin on him. “I could get so used to this.”

“I’m beginning to sense that” Sky smirked as she crawled into his lap, covered his mouth with hers, and wrapped him tightly in her arms. When she finally gave him a moment to breathe, Sky had to speak again, “I’m hoping you were alone when I pulled you here. Blinking out of existence in front of your family, even for a second; that might be a tough one to explain.”

Crista simply giggled at his warning, “yes, I was all by my lonesome, thinking about last night. That’s why I texted you. If you hadn’t answered, I would’ve had to find something else to do with my fingers” she told him mischievously.

Sky shook his head, “I’ve created a monster.”

“I haven’t heard you, or Star, or Kole complaining. You know, except for the annoying illegal part of it all” she quickly added with a playful scowl.

“Well, luckily those laws only apply to earth; and we ain’t there at the moment” Sky smirked slightly as she slid her hands up under his shirt.

When they were both undressed a few moments later, Crista had to take pause as she glanced down at the rather recent scars covering his thigh. “Does that really help?”

Sky sighed softly, “not a lot helps. And are we here for naked therapy, or other activities?” he teased as he pulled her close again.

“I just worry” she said softly, but nearly forgot what she was saying as she felt him slide his fingers inside her waiting wetness, expertly distracting her from that attempt at therapy. She moaned slightly as he moved his fingers inside her with his own mischievous smile. Finally finding her voice through a few of those soft moans he was already causing in her, she corrected her previous statement, “I just worry that if I’m on top this time, will it hurt you? That is your thigh after all” she asked as her next breath turned into another moan as his thumb caressed her outside as well then.

“Well Star was already on top last night, you know, before you showed up and distracted her away from me” he teased.

“I’m pretty sure Kole was pretty good at distracting you away from her too” Crista grinned as she moved to take that seat atop his hips at the sound of his assurance.

“We are all very good at distracting each other it seems” Sky stated, his words turning into his own moan as she reached down and slid him inside her again. Though, this time, there was no barrier between their bodies as there had been that first time they were together, just over two weeks earlier now. And that fact definitely did well to make him forget any other words he might have been thinking of saying right then.

Hours later, when Curt tried to go to bed for the night, his eyes had just closed when a girl’s voice startled him into opening his eyes once more. “Maybe your dad was right” she stated coldly.

Curt’s eyes found her in the dark room where she sat in his desk chair wearing a short skirt and halter, just like the one she had worn to that party the summer of the previous year, when he had seen her last. Of course, the last time he had seen that outfit, it was ripped, disheveled, and bloodied; but he quickly pushed that memory to the side before speaking up, “Chloe?” he bit out her name as he sat up with a tinge of pain in that arm again.

“Maybe he was right. After all, you lie about plenty of other stuff. Like the fact that you knew damn well I was a virgin. I told you that night, even” she stated in the same cool tone.

“What are you on about?” Curt shook his head angrily at yet another pretty young blonde girl invading his bedroom uninvited once more.

“Tim was drunk, passed out, when you came to keep the poor neglected girlfriend company and offer her a drink. Of course, I didn’t know what all was in that drink then, but I took it anyway. Guess that means I deserved everything that happened, doesn’t it?” she asked him with her anger just barely beginning to seep through.

“You know what I remember?” Curt returned with his own anger then, “I remember you being so drunk you told me that Tim was too nice a guy to take your virginity. Please, he wasn’t a nice guy. You just didn’t do it for him, apparently. And I remember that I offered to pop that cherry for ya, and even though you were dating ‘Mr. Nice Guy,’ you still agreed to come up to the bedroom with me, even after I made that offer. So maybe you’re the one with memory problems” he bit back.

Chloe just shook her head, “yes, I did agree, because I knew that Tim wouldn’t mind me finding another guy to do that with. I understood him better than you ever did. But you know what else I remember? I remember going to that room, planning to let you take my virginity, and then telling you how scared I was about the whole thing. I was hoping for comfort; another mistake I guess. But what you gave me was another drink, then another, then another.”

“Yeah, they call it liquid courage for a reason. I was being the nice guy that time” Curt sneered.

“Maybe for a second I could have believed that. But when I finally got to the point where I was actually drunk enough to let you, that wasn’t good enough for you, was it?”

“Not my fault virgins ain’t any good in bed” Curt laughed derisively.

“That isn’t what I mean, and you know it. Taking my virginity wasn’t good enough for you. And even though I was still bleeding from that; after I passed out, you just had to do more, didn’t you? That was when you did what you really wanted to do the whole time” she told him with a glare.

“This is such bullshit. You just admitted that you willingly fucked me that very same night. Where’s a wire when you need one” he bit back.

“I willingly let you do one thing, after I was drunk enough, anyway. But I was passed out by the time you decided to do the other thing, and you fucking know it. When the horrible pain woke me up and I screamed for you to stop, you just went deeper, and harder, and hurt me even worse. Guess you got a taste for all that blood and pain after what you did to that little goth girl seven months before me. But then again, she unfortunately was awake for most of your ‘date’ with her. And she didn’t give you permission for any of what you did to her. Maybe that’s why she was so much better at ending it than I was” she sniffled as she added that last part, “they pumped my stomach and brought me back. Guess that’s why Tim knew better than to take pills. Too easy to come back from that. Not so much with a bullet to the brain I guess” she shook her head and wiped at a tear, “do you even ever think about why Tim did that to himself? I have a few pretty good ideas why, myself. How about you?” And with that, she disappeared before his eyes as well.