Trigger

twelve • intimidation

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" My breaths are laboured and my hands have clenched into fists but I don't care- because nothing is making sense. I want to say Finn is lying, but the absolute evil look in his eyes says different. His words took a couple of moments to sink in, but now that they have, I feel like going ballistic. "How could you do that? Levi is... was your cousin!"

"I had to!" Finn shouts angrily, his hands mimicking mine and curling into fists as well . "I had too, okay? And you- you're going to keep your mouth shut."

"You messed with his pills," I continue, ignoring his last statement, some things falling into place while others become even more confusing. "That's why Levi kept saying that his pills weren't working anymore. He was so torn up about it... he just wanted to be normal!"

Finn raises an unimpressed eyebrow, "Did he tell you that?"

I gulp, not sure how he's going to react to knowing I was eavesdropping, and admit, "I overheard some things. But don't try to turn this on me-"

"What else did you overhear?" Finn asks through clenched teeth, his figure towering over mine. It frightens me- it really does. Finn Allen looks ready to snap me like a twig, a look I never would've associated with Finn before.

"Nothing else."

"So you don't know why Levi was on the pills in the first place, huh? You're just going to go and call me the bad guy?" Finn's voice begins to raise once more in volume and anger. "I'm not the bad one here! Levi was a monster!"

"Bullshit! Levi did nothing wrong-"

"You don't know the story!"

"Levi was completely innocent-"

Finn barks out a humourless laugh, "Innocent? That's rich."

"Yes, he was!"

"He killed his own goddamn parents!"

That shuts me up.

Finn continues to laugh bitterly, his chest heaving as he runs a hand through his hair. He looks insane, like he's losing touch with reality. He is the insane one, not Levi. Everything that is coming out of his mouth is crazy. "He killed them. That's why he felt so guilty. That's why he had to take pills- if he didn't, he'd constantly lose it. Why do you think he punched his own reflection, Kinsley? He loathes himself."

I'm at a loss of words. I can't believe it- I won't. Levi wouldn't do that, he's too sweet, too caring, always investing himself in others problems to do anything to help them, always listening to what others have to say instead of focusing on himself-

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying, Kinsley. Use your goddamn brain. Levi can't deal with guilt because he has so much already. He hates himself, despises every fibre of his being for doing it. That's why he committed suicide."

Without even realize, I've begun to shake. Out of anger or out of fear, I'm not sure. "No. He killed himself because you messed with his pills."

"I'm not the bad guy here, Kinsley! Levi killed his parents and he would've hurt you too if it weren't for the fact that I saved your ass every time he had a meltdown. He needed to be alone or else he would have hurt someone else- and that someone else would have been you if you went to him if he got bad."

"He didn't want to be alone," I insist. Finn's getting annoyed with me- I can tell. His jaw is clenched now more than ever as he listens to me with what seems like little patience. "He asked me to stay once-"