My Life Started After High School - 14. Pushing Passed - Stat of My Head

Noah's POV

“Half this room is in disarray, and the other half has been cleaned up neatly.” Aaron was looking into the room with all my family's old stuff in it. It was a part of my 'ignore it, and it will go away' plan. So far that hasn't been working.

I peered into the room. “I'll get on it another day.”

Aaron grabs my shoulder. “You and Ashton made this mess; you have to clean it up.” I show her my disgust of the idea through my face. Hopefully, she gets the message. “I'll help you, you brat.” Not the message I was trying to send, but nonetheless. One thing I've learned, do not turn down free help... or food. Just don't turn down free for the most part.

So Aaron and I worked at rearranging the room a bit, making a bigger mess than there was before. This is what happens when you sort through stuff. To make room for stuff, you have to make piles, and then those piles might be in the way. It's a long and painful process.

In actuality, the mess that Aaron saw was bigger than how the room had started out. See a bunch of the stuff Ashton and I couldn't decide where to put it, so we threw it into the unsorted to go through it again. The room honestly looked like it was just becoming messier and messier.

Eventually, I made a huge sigh and laid down on the floor. “Aaron, I can't go on!”

“You've been living here how long? You need to sort through this stuff dude, things you want to keep, sell, and trash.” She was right, and I didn't like that. “We're like most of the way through it all. Don't quit on me now.”

“Can we get some food or something first? We're not going to be done today anyways.” I rolled over and up into a ball. That's when I saw it, Ryan's diary. Well, I guess it's not so much a diary as a journal but whatever.

It was the journal I had found a few years ago and learned the truth of his passing. Ryan was taking the brunt of our babysitter's wrath for me. I never knew what happened after I went to bed, what Ryan was put through. He's very much my hero in that aspect, but it turned out to be too much for him.

Because of his efforts that babysitter was prosecuted and found guilty on a couple of accounts. Not even on just Ryan either, a few others. I looked up the case; it didn't use the kid's name as he was a minor, but his sentence was severe. He's still in a correction facility to this date.

Man... that morning was the hardest.

Years Ago:

A scream came echoing through the Wesley’s house. Ryan, the elder of two brothers, was found in his room hanging from a noose by his mother. It woke everyone in the home. Mr. Wesley came bolting to his hysterical wife's aid before getting his long passed son's body down. He was pushed aside as Mrs. Wesley did her best to revive the boy, to no prevail.

Noah, the younger brother, was still very much asleep as he dragged his feet down the hallway. Rubbing his eyes to wake himself his father picked Noah up and brought him down to the kitchen. “Why did mommy scream?”

“I don't know Noah.” He lied. Mr. Wesley was in his own state of shock. The opposite to his wife, he didn't know what to feel, he couldn't feel anything. It wasn't that he wasn't in grief for his son's passing, perhaps he was in too much grief. “Just grab something for breakfast, okay Noah?”

“Okay, daddy.” Mr. Wesley took their handheld phone and returned to his wife's side, which left the eleven-year-old Noah to his thoughts. He thought of the strange night he had last night. It was planned that he'd spend the night at his friend's but his parents came and picked him up at midnight.

He had returned home, in a sleepy state. Ryan was fine and up, he wouldn't let anyone in his room, though. Noah had tried to go in for a good night kiss, but Ryan wasn't interested. Noah went straight to bed; as did his parents assuming Ryan would be close to follow.

Noah had gotten halfway through his breakfast when the sirens screamed outside his house. Police and medics came bursting into the house. An officer came to Noah's side to calm him. “Hey bud, how are you doing?”

Noah stared at the officer confused. “What are you doing in my house?”

It was then that the officer realized the boy he was talking with had no idea what was happening. “We received a call from your father. May I sit and talk with you?” Noah knew the police were helpful and agreed to let the man sit and talk.

The officer distracted him almost well enough. Noah didn't notice the cart go in or out of the house. Ryan's body was never in his line of sight. That wasn't the case with the hysterics of his mother. Her cries were much too obvious to ignore.

Noah got up from his seat and went and hugged his mother. “Mommy, what's wrong?” Her cries stopped for just a moment as she looked at her son. They soon returned but calmer than before. “Why are you crying?”

Mr. Wesley came up and separated the mother and son. “Noah, please sit down for a moment.”

Noah looked at his father. He knew something was off, but he couldn't see any emotion in his father. “You're scaring me, daddy... what's wrong with mommy?”

The officer lightly held onto his shoulder. “Please sit down Noah; we'll tell you everything.” Noah trusted this officer; he listened and returned to his seat at the kitchen table.

Mrs. Wesley stayed at the foot of the stairs looking out the front door as her elder son's body was rushed away. There was nothing she could do to help Ryan anymore; she knew she had to be here for Noah.

Mr. Wesley knelt before his son. Looking into the eyes of his sole remaining child he tried to find the correct words to tell his son. As if it would soften the blow, he tried finding the right words, but every way he found was just as harsh as the last. There isn't a nice way of telling someone this... He thought to himself.

“Noah... It's about Ryan.”

Noah sat up in his seat. “Ya?”

The first tear of Mr. Wesley crawled down the man's face. “He's gone, buddy.” More and more tears soon followed, it was as if the seal was released and the waterworks were in full force now.

“What do you mean gone daddy?” Surely Noah knew what his father meant, but he didn't want to believe it. He was old enough to know what 'gone' meant. There is just something about death that makes you doubt that it had happened.

Through his tears, the father choked out. “Ryan's dead bud.” Noah's face turned as white as a ghost. Not even the officer could hold back his emotions as the full realization hit the boy's face. That he had just lost his best friend, his hero, his brother.

Abel's POV

“Dude I can't wait to meet your family!” Jason was practically jumping to the moon and back. It was the day that mom agreed to let me have friends over. Why did Kyler have to cancel?

“Sorry dude, my mom wants me home right after school. Something about an important dinner or something.” He had told me during the lunch hour. I still wasn't happy about it.

So we waited for the bus, well my bus to get to the doors before heading out. I could see everyone giving me stares about Jason talking to me. Everyone figured he was gay, and now everyone will think I am too. This couldn't be good for me in the long run.

When the bus got here, I was the first one on, Jason right behind me. He continued to talk my ear off the whole way. Kyler sat in front of us, and every once in a while he would turn and smirk at me. I growled to myself every time he did.

Kyler's stop came and passed, and then my stop came up. I almost missed it because I was trying to tune Jason out. The driver had to call out to me. “Abel, isn't this your stop too?”

I got all red, and we got up and out of the bus. “Thanks for the reminder, guess I got too busy.” The driver gave me a friendly smile and wave before shutting the doors and driving off.

Jason was quick to speak again. “So which one is your house?” He looked down the street looking at each house as we went. “That house has a cool balcony on it, and look at that one's window! It would be so cool to live in that house; it's got both!” He pointed to Greyson's house.

“Greyson lives there.” I turned towards my place. “This one is mine.”

Jason looked at the house and was silent for a moment. “Oh cool.” He sounded really unimpressed with it. “Who's Greyson?”

“A neighbor and a friend.” It's better to keep answers short with this guy. Jude came out from behind his truck as we came to the door. “This is my brother Jude. Jude, this is Jason from school.” Jude gave us a little wave before returning to work on his truck.

Once inside I showed Jason around and introduced him to my mom. Of course, they got along right off the bat, why wouldn't they. I think we were down in the living room for the entire time Jason was over. Mostly my mother and he spoke while I said a word here and there. It is just like my mom, though, getting to know my friends.

When Jude came inside after a bit, I rushed over to him. “Save me! Jason and mom won't stop talking!”

He looked into the living room and then at his hands. “I don't know what you want me to do Abel. I'm a little greased up right now. Why did you even bring this kid home? He seems a little too... eccentric.”

“Understatement of the year. He kept pestering me, so I brought Jason here to try and ward him off with mom's antics.” I look back into the living room, and they were still chatting up a storm. “You can see how well that went.”

“If the kid pesters you, just ignore him, he'll go away. Well eventually at least.” He cringed looking into the living room. “Good luck there Abel, I'm having a shower.”

“Thanks for nothing!”

“No problem.”

Just as I was heading into the living room, Jason stood up. “Well I should get going; mom wanted me home by 6:30. Thank you for the company Mrs. Yeager, I do hope to see you again.”

“You're welcome over anytime Jason.” My mother walked him out. I don't even think he said good-bye to me. I waved to him, but who knows if he noticed. “You're friend is very nice Abel.” Mom said as she came back towards me.

“Ya to you maybe, I didn't even get a good-bye.” I huffed and headed upstairs.

“Wash up please, dinner will be ready shortly.” Typical mom thing, ignore the problem at hand and offer me food... Well, it kinda worked. I don't think I'll be bringing Jason over willingly in the future.

Carter's POV

“So I guess there won't be another meeting for you, eh?” Ray asked as we finished up a meeting. Tre and I announced we'd be moving away. Ray told us he was happy to see me getting away from my darkness.

I nodded. “Ya, I guess so. Thanks for all your help. I'll be sure to find something like this when I settle in.”

Ray chuckled. “Glad to have left such a good impression on you, Carter. Say could you do me a favor?”

“Umm, ya sure. What is it?”

“Well it's not so much me you're doing the favor for, it's for yourself.” Okay, that's a little odd but whatever, I'm listening. Ray got super serious about this. Starting now, every day when you wake up I want you to tell yourself some stuff. First tell yourself three things negative about yourself, no more, no less. Then tell yourself at least three positive things about yourself. Doesn't have to be three, could be ten or twenty, just got to be positive.

“You might start off saying silly things like 'my hair is bad right now' or 'I'm talking into a stupid mirror, ' but that will change. Sometimes you can bring yourself down with the negative stuff, but it's the positive stuff that helps. Again you may start off silly, but you'll work your way up.

“I know I started with things like 'I don't want to die today' when I first did this. There were days that didn't make it on my positive list, but I'm still here. Now it's on my positive list every single day as a reminder to myself. What do you say? Tell me three negative things about yourself.”

I thought to myself for a few moments, trying to come up with some serious ones. None of that half ass shit. “I'm worthless to my parents. I have no friends. I'm broken goods.”

“Now the positive. Say as many as you want.”

“I'm moving out of this shitty town. I have a great guardian. My future doesn't look as dark as my past.” I stopped for a moment, but Ray left me to think to myself. “I just healed a little more. I'm a cute kid. My little brother loves me.” I couldn't think of any more.

“What's this about no friends?” Tre asked. “I'm your friend, Tracy and Rownin are your friends. I'm sure Ray would call you his friend too, right?”

“Absolutely, but that's not the point. One day that thought won't even come to you, it'll be 'I have tons of friends who love me very much, and other stuff. Now Carter promise me you'll do this?”

“Ya sure. Mind if I send you what I say to myself?”

Ray smiled. “If it helps you I'm down for it.” He pulled me into a huge bear hug. “Keep in touch Carter, and good luck out there. Knock 'em dead!” With a smack on the back and smiles all around Tre and I headed off. We are moving after all.

A Few Months Prior

I grabbed the nearest cell phone that was being left unguarded and bolted. Someone saw me, but I just kept running and running. Once I was way out of there, I looked at the phone and swiped it open. No lock on it, idiots.

I downloaded Grindr and looked at the options available. I saw Nathan's photo on there and blocked him immediately. No need to go back there, I'll just be a problem for them. Soon they'd kick me out anyways.

A few guys answered my messages. When I offered them sex for a bed and a couple of bucks a few said sure. I decided on the youngest guy and headed towards where he said he lived. I got there with no one finding me, so it was good. It was almost 8pm when I got there.

I didn't even knock on the door, the guy answered it. “So you're Carl?” I nodded. “Nice body you got there, virgin ass?”

“Yes, sir.” He told me he was 22 on the app and he looked it. He was wearing sweats and what looked like no underwear. You could see his boner rise as he looked at me.

“Come in, and strip to your underwear.” I did as I was asked. He spanked me as soon as I walked passed him. “Very nice body. How much for no hold bars sex?”

“I don't know... two hundred?”

The guy smiled. “Expensive but I've paid more for less.” I was left alone in his living room for just a moment. He came back with four $50 bills and handed then to me. “So I get to fuck you as much as I want how I want all night?” I reluctantly nodded.

He swept me up into the air and carried me to his bedroom. He threw me onto his bed and stripped naked. The cock he was equipped with... it was huge. But that wasn't even the worse part of the night.

I think I saw every toy there was. I was tied up to the bed, and he played with me as he wished. His cock was in me most of the time. At first, it hurt really badly, but soon it numbed out, and I couldn't feel anything but his motion.

He was rough with me, not kind in the slightest. He would spank me almost every time he thrusted, and he would push that cock as deep as it would go. I was leaking his cum by the end of the night, which was what he took as an invitation to eat out my ass.

The first wasn't even the worse... every night after that a guy found a way to shame me in a new way. Five nights later I had enough money for a hotel for a couple of days and a bus ticket back to Cairo. I just wanted to get back to my little brother, he's important.

Cairo was the only thing that kept me going. That got me through the tough nights... At the beginning at least.

Nathan's POV

I had spent the past couple of days of doing detective work. My best lead to finding Carter was this Tre character. I've tried looking for him on Grindr, according to Skylar he has a drawn picture of himself but I didn't see it anywhere.

After searching online and talking to a couple of people, I think I found the house he lives in. I'm surprised it went so well. Simply saying that he might have information on the whereabouts of my cousin got a lot of information out of people.

Looking into the driveway, it didn't look like anyone was home. If you looked in a window at the front of the house, you could see someone attending to some kind of household chore.

So I got out of my car and went to the front door and knocked on it. I heard a small kid inside and the person trying to get available to answer the door. It took a moment, but someone finally answered the door. “Hello?” She seemed very confused.

“Hello, does Tre live here?”

“Who's asking?”

I cleared my throat. “My name is Nathan Raynolds. I'm looking to speak to Tre to see if he knows the whereabouts of my cousin Carter. People have said that he could have information on his location.”

Her face went from confusion to comfort. “Tre is Carter's legal guardian, and unfortunately for you, they left this morning?”

It was my turn to be confused. “What do you mean left? Will they be returning sometime soon?”

She shook her head. “I'm Tre's sister, Tracy. Tre recently accepted a position out of town and today was moving day. I'm sorry, but Tre and Carter are no longer in town. I can tell you where they went but not the exact address. Is there a message I could relay to him for you?”

“Tell him I'm trying to find him on behalf of Cairo and that we're all worried about him.”

“No problem Nathan, I can get him that message. Does he know your number?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Sorry I couldn't be of more help.” She looked sincerely apologetic.

I shrugged. “There isn't anything more you can do right now. It's fine. Thank you for your time.” Well, I did get it right, but moments too late. Carter is hours away from me now. If only I could have gotten to him sooner... I've let Cairo down.

Chapter end.