Bad Intentions

Fifty-Seven

Leah

"What?" I was purely confused by his statement. His words weren't registering in my brain.

"My dad. He's in this photo." He said looking back down to the photo, studying it, taking in the image in his hands like it was going to disappear in an instant. "Why do you have this?"

I walked over to where he was standing. I looked down to the picture, my eyes automatically landed on my father. His dark eyes filled with happiness. His bright smile filled my heart with sorrow and anguish. He wasn't here to smile that smile again. If he only knew what was held ahead after this picture.

He wouldn't be smiling that brightly.

"This is my father's. I found it in a box of his things when I was looking for decorations." I finally said after a moment of silence. I pointed to my dad. "That's him."

Jace was silent. Not a sound escaping him. His eyes still trained on the picture, until he finally spoke up. "This is my dad."

My breath hitched the moment his finger landed on the person who is father. It was like the wind was taken out of me. How could I not put the pieces together? Especially since it was staring me right in the face.

Jace pointed to the man who was standing right in the middle of group. The man who I knew looked all too familiar. The man who had his arm sling around my dad. Who both adorned bright smiles.

The more I studied his features, the more I see the similarities to Jace. From his hazel eyes, to his nose, to his dark brown hair. Jace has all his features. He looked about the same age as Jace in this photo, as he should. It was high school after all. 

My mind flashed back to the photo that I had seen in the Emerson's household. He was older in that picture, but that smile that he had in high school, the one filled with hopes and dreams, was completely gone. Like it never existed. It was broken down, piece by piece taken by one man, Dominic DeLuca.

Jace looked up and met my eyes. His filled with confusion and sadness. "How?" He whispered under his breath. "Our fathers, they knew each other?" He said, but it came out more like a question.

"It seems so. More than knew each other, it looks like they were friends. But not just our fathers, that's Nate's dad too." I answered pointing to Mr.Rylan. Even I was taken back by the thought. In eighteen years, I've never heard about this friendship and I met all of my father's high school friends in this photo. The ones he was close to.

Does that mean they weren't close?

The more I study the photo I noticed they had to be close. Like best friends. It was the way they had their arms slung around each other's shoulders, it was the look in their eyes, happiness and joy to be around one another. It was the same look that Nate's father had in his eyes in this very photo. A friendship. A brotherhood.

The trio, were best friends. They were brothers.

What happened? What led to the divide?

"I don't understand." Jace spoke. "My dad never mentioned his friends. He made it seems like he was alone, like he didn't have anyone. So all of that wasn't true?" He asked. He was looking for answers.

But I didn't have any. I was in the same boat as him."I-I don't know, Jace."

He place the picture frame back in the box and started to pace around the room. Walking back and forth, trying to wrap his head around the new information he discovered. "If they were friends, something must have happened to push them apart." He said after sometime.