Chapter-25

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Joseph looked like he had just finished throwing up, he was sweaty, and shivering

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Joseph looked like he had just finished throwing up, he was sweaty, and shivering. His hands wringing together as he looked at Kai nervously. Something was going on, I know I dropped a lot on them just now, but all of this could not be the reaction of someone who continuously called me a psycho.

"Hi, can I talk to Anastasia?" Joseph asked, his voice low. "I don't think.-" Kai started but I stop him. "It's okay, Kai. What do you want?" I ask Joseph who finally sees me and steps inside the room as Kai moves aside.

He comes up to stand in front of me while I stay seated on my bed. He's still fidgeting with his fingers. "Hello?" I say again as he flinches slightly before actually looking at me.

"Do you have weapons on you right now?" I furrow my eyebrows and look at him questioningly but decide there's no point in lying. "Yes, several." Joseph simply nods. "It's okay, I deserve whatever you choose to do to me after this." Now I'm even more confused. "Out with it dude, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I knew about mom." He speaks in a hurry, for a moment I'm confused, thinking I heard him wrong, but then I let his words sink in. "You knew what about you mom?" He gulps and I can see the sweat form on his forehead, "I knew what she was doing to you."

My world seems like it's frozen in that moment, Kai practically shouts something in Joseph's direction but I am too busy trying to refocus my eyes, and keep myself from hyperventilating. "Shut up both of you." I look up as both of them stop talking and turn to me. My eyes move to Joseph, it takes everything in me to not lose it right now.

"I lived my entire life in hell with that woman, you know that right? I have more scars on my body than you can count because of her." There are tears welling up in his eyes and his voice breaks as he says a weak 'yes'.

"How long? How long have you known?" I ask my brother, who hesitates but eventually spills the truth. "I found out when I was eleven."

"Why? Honestly I'm so exhausted by all of you at this point that I just want to know why. Six years and you never said a single word."

"When I was eleven I had heard Alphonso talking with our mother on the phone, they were talking about you, she was saying that she was sick of you...sorry." I scoffed, "Trust me I've heard worse." He gives me a grimacing look but continues.

"He saw me. Cornered me in the room and threaten me. He said that you were...dead. That there was nothing I could to do save you. He even...he even showed me a picture of you on the floor bloodied and bruised and I was terrified. He told me that if I said anything he would hurt my brothers."

I looked at him, well I was clearly not expecting that. "I was eleven and he was this big scary man, so I kept quiet and over time, it became easy to think that you were a chapter of my life that I could leave behind. But then you came back, and all those years of lying and pretending came back too. And I was an ash hole to you I know and I know can't just give you a sob story and expect you to forgive me.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋Where stories live. Discover now