Generation 2: Chapter 6

A few weeks after Uriah’s date outing

Rowan’s POV

My brother was worrying me. He always worried me, of course, but it had never been like this. Uriah seemed to have convinced Rosi that he was fine, that he wasn’t making mischief, but I knew better than that.

He would come home at odd hours of the night. No one else seemed to notice but me. Granted, he had done the same as a teenager, but he had been more cautious then, made sure that he wasn’t going to get caught.

Tonight, I decided, would be the night I confronted him for the second time. Most would think that I was sticking my nose in places it didn’t belong, but I loved my brother. He wasn’t exactly a role model to me, but someone I looked up to and wanted to please and protect.

Tomorrow, or rather, today, was my birthday, either way, so whatever schemes he was involved in, maybe, just maybe, he would let me help him.

I dragged a chair from the dining room into the parlor at around two a.m. and sat to wait.

Uriah came in at about a quarter to three. His face was a mess, and he seemed to wince with every step he took. He looked up in surprise when he saw me.

“Rowan…What’re you still doing up?” He asked. His voice was winded and raspy, as though he had run for a long time.

“I want to know what you’re doing at night. Something’s not right.” He gave a humorless laugh.

“Nothing’s been right since she died.” I stood up, angry and frustrated with the man in front of me I called my brother.

“Cut the crap, Uriah. Whatever you’re doing, I want to help. Tomorrow, I’ll be an adult, so if that’s why you won’t let me help you, then that problem will be solved tomorrow.”

“I know your heart’s in the right place, but I can’t let you help me Rowan.” He said. Uriah closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

“But why?!?” I shouted, forgetting that the house was asleep.

“Beca-” Uriah tried to slip out, but he began to sway dangerously. I rushed over to him and gave him support.

“Whatever it is, it’s hurting you man, and it’s making me sick.”

“Making you sick…”He muttered, and dropped his head, signaling to me that he had lost conciseness I tried to strengthen my hold on him, and that’s when I felt it. I couldn’t see it, but I could tell what it was. A gun, concealed in his clothes.

“Dammit Uriah,” I grumbled as I dragged him over to the couch in the living room.

Uriah’s POV

After Cora’s father, the unnamed mafia boss, found his daughter and I in a passionate embrace outside of his house, I behaved the way a normal man would when found by the father of the girl you’re kissing, and he reacted appropriately as well. And by appropriate, I mean trying very hard to control how pissed he was.

Cora hastily bid me goodbye and kissed me on the cheek one last time before she went up to give her father one as well, and she quickly ran in doors.

Her father gave me a cold look that said “You’ll be getting it later” and   slammed the door behind him.

I got back into my car and drove few miles away when I got out of the car and promptly had a full on panic attack on the side of the road for twenty minutes.

Before I got back in the car, my phone began to ring. It was him.

“Hello sir.”

“Uriah. I suggest you stay away from her. Understand?”

“Yes sir. Loud and clear.” The other end went dead, and I had the strong desire to throw my phone into the street and smash it multiple  times.

“Dammit.”

After that, my work load had increased. I had “murdered” six more men the day before Rowan’s birthday. The last one, my seventh “victim” was the least understanding of the fact that I wasn’t going to kill him. He roughed me up badly and punched me in the stomach multiple times before I finally made him see sense.

I finally managed to make my way home when Rowan found me in the  parlor. I wasn’t completely coherent and barely understood what he was saying to me. It was then that the last thing I remembered before passing out was Rowan trying to steady me.

—————————-

I awoke on the living room couch with Rowan hovered over me. I could tell it was early morning, as the sun was peaking through the windows. At closer observation of Rowan’s face, he looked pissed.

“No more of this crap Uriah.” He said. I sat up, wincing, and tried my hardest regain all of my senses.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, trying to play ignorant.

“The gun,” That caught my attention, so much, in fact, that I stood up in sheer shock. “I felt it when you fell out.”

My eyes were large. “Wh-where is it now?”

“In my room. Hidden.” I let out a sigh of relief that I hadn’t realized I had been holding in.

“What have you been doing with that gun, Uriah?” Rowan asked.

“I-”

“Obviously nothing good. You come home late at night looking worse than you had before you left. Whatever it is Uriah, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Rowan, I didn’t have a choice.” Rowan sat down beside me and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Tell me why.” So I told him the whole story. How I had seen Tick dead, how I had been forced do the work for the man that I learned was named Clarke Anderson, Cora’s father, how I had left those men a live even though I was supposed to kill them. Rowan sat there silently, taking it all in.

“That’s it,” I said when my woven tale was over. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“The next time you get called. You’re taking me.”

“Rowan-”

“NO!” My brother stood up in anger. “Don’t you ‘Rowan’ me. One of these times, those targets are not going to be as understanding, and you will die. What do think that will do to this family, Uriah? Huh? We’re already hanging by a string! Archer and I are the only ones that even talk to every one in the house, what with you in the attic being an ass, and Rosi moping over her maternal genetic material. If you get killed, that fraying string is going to completely unravel. You can’t do this to us, Uriah. I’m going with you, or I will follow you! No ‘ifs’ ‘ands’ or ‘buts’ about it.”

I was silent for a while, digesting the wise words of my brother.

“Okay.” I said.

“Okay.”

—————————-

At around noon, the family gathered on the back porch to celebrate Rowan’s birthday. I had been completely against any sort of celebration on my own birthday, though Rowan didn’t mind.  I stood in the background behind Archer in order to hopefully conceal my numerous injuries from the wandering eyes of Rosi and my father.

Rowan blew out his candles and celebrated his birthday by growing older. He looked like our father almost exactly, save for the hair. The rest of my family piled around him and gave him large, warm hugs. When they had at last cleared, I slowly made my way over to Rowan and gave him a hug as well.

“Congrats, man”

“Thanks.” He said, though it sounded colder than usual. Yeah, he was still pissed. My phone took that opportunity to ring, and I gave a fake sheepish look.

“Really Uriah? Now?” Rosi grumbled. I gave a shrug of my shoulders and walked into the kitchen.

“Hello.” I said as answered the phone.

“32 Dolphin Road. Angelo Santiago.” The caller said, and immediately hung up.  I turned to see Rowan staring at me.

“So, where are going?”

——————————–

Rowan’s POV 

I lay in bed until midnight, the time Uriah told me to meet him downstairs. I shared a room with Archer, and a bed. I got the top bunk since I was oldest, but since I had grown, hopefully I would be able to at least get my own bed.

I silently crept down the ladder of the bed after I saw the clock on the nightstand below me flash a green 12:00.

“Rowan?” I heard the drowsy whisper of a child.

Dammit.

“Go back to sleep Archer,” I said. I turned to see Archer, blue eyes large like a doe.

“You’re going with him, aren’t you?” Now, he wasn’t the only one with large eyes.

“H-how did you know that?”

Archer gave me a look that said seriously. I gave a sheepish shrug in return.

“I might be the baby, but that doesn’t mean I am a baby.”

“You know, we don’t enough credit.”

“No,” Archer said, a bitterness in his tone like one I had never heard from a child before. “You don’t. Just be careful. Mama wants you to be careful.”

I sighed when he mentioned our mother, but decided that now what was not the time to fight with him about what he did or didn’t see.

“Okay. I will.”

“And Uriah too. Mama said that he’s strayed.” What kind of child says  strayed? But he wasn’t wrong, even though the word made an amusing image of Uriah dressed as a lamb running with our Daddy in a shepherd costume chasing after him.

“I know he has. I’ll keep him safe,” I said, and as an afterthought said     ” Tell Mama that I promise to keep him safe.”

Archer smiled contently. “I will.”

“Good. Now get back to bed.”

——————————–

Uriah’s POV

I stood in the parlor for about five minutes until Rowan finally decided to show.

“Took you long enough.” I said with a scowl on my face.

“Archer.” Rowan replied, as that was all the answer he figured I required.

“Did he say anything?”

“Just for us to be careful. That kid’s smarter than we give him credit for,” My brother said. I gave a small nod.

“Here, I got you something,” I said as we began our walk to our ‘victim’s’ house. I pulled a gun out of my coat and handed it to Rowan. He stared at it uneasily.

“Where did you get that?”

“I can’t say I didn’t steal it,but not in the way you’re thinking. Did you know that our pristine father own three of these babies?” I said with a smirk as I held the delicate metal in my hand. Rowan took the gun without saying another word and stared at if it would begin to shoot without his help.

“I’m not going to have to use it, am I?”

I let out a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

Rowan was silent the whole way.

—————————–

When we got to the house on 32 Dolphin Road, we stopped to make sure that no one was around. When the coast was clear, I pulled out my gun, and Rowan followed in suit. Together, we silently made our way to the front door.

I went to break the locks of the door only to discover that it was unlocked.  I opened the door and entered the house with Rowan right behind me.  The house was quiet, as if you could hear the sound of a pin drop.

I guess he’s not home…

As soon as those thoughts crossed my mind, I heard the sound of Rowan grunting, and felt the impact of something large jumping on me.

“Anderson wants to kill me, eh?” The man, Angelo Santiago, said as we were finally able to glimpse his face. He held me against the floor, forgetting Rowan completely, and began to punch me repeatedly. The position in which he held made it too dangerous for me to pull the trigger, as it could accidentally hit Rowan in the process.

Angelo finally got off of me, and snatched my gun from my hand before pointing it straight at me.

“It’s not me that dies tonight,” He said, a satisfied smile on his face. I closed my eyes and waited for the end.

I heard a gun go off, but felt no pain other than the bruises and cuts on my body. I opened my eyes to see Angelo slumped over, blood coming out of his head, and my brother standing behind him,  his eyes large like a child who had been caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

“You saved me.” Was all I could manage out, as I was too shocked to say anything else.

“I killed him,” Rowan said. He dropped the gun and started to cry like toddler. It had been years since I seen my strong little brother cry. I got up from the spot that I had been frozen in for what felt like years, and went over to my little brother.

He looked so much smaller now.  I managed to pull myself up and my way over to Rowan, and  put my arms around him as he sobbed.

“I killed him,” He whispered again.

“It’s okay. You did what you had to do. It’s okay,” I tried to reassure him, though it seemed my efforts were in vain. We stayed in that position until right before the sun came up.

Rowan was silent on this walk home, too.

AN:  I’ll be honest, I loved this chapter because you get to see just how much these brothers care for each other. I also enjoyed it because this is the longest I’ve written! Woot Woot!

Generation 2: Chapter 5

I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I awoke with dark circles under my eyes, which, when combined with the bright cut on my cheek, made me look like the nation’s most wanted.

I made my way downstairs where I found Rosi making breakfast aggressively. That’s how she did things now a days. She watered the plants aggressively, read a book aggressively, and even played with our bear-like dog Sunny aggressively. She hadn’t even said a word to our father since she learned the truth.  I probably wouldn’t have either, had I been in her position, but I still didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t acting like her normal, happy self.

“What did the eggs ever do to you?” I asked I went to sit down at the counter. Rosi stopped her violent cooking technique and turned to shoot me a nasty glare.  I held my hands up with a face that said, ‘what did I do’. She turned back the her cooking, though with a softer hand this time.

“I’m just pissed, Uriah. Freaking pissed.”

“You know, I don’t think freaking around with piss involved is the most sanitary thing, Sissy.”

“Uriah, just shut up.”

I smirked to myself went to the fridge to look for something to eat, since Rosi’s food probably wouldn’t be edible anyway.

“What happened to your face, anyway? You look like hell.” Rosi asked.

“Please don’t give me a speech about how you’re worried about me, or any of that crap. I’ve already heard enough from Rowan,” I said as I grabbed some toast and took it back to my counter spot.

“I wasn’t. I’ve figured out that it wouldn’t be effective. I just want to know what happened.”

I took a bite of my toast and chewed it for a long time while I tried to search for a good excuse. “I found a poor, defenseless kitten last night, and I, being the good Samaritan I am, decided to help the creature.  Turned out the creature did not want, nor appreciate my help.”

Rosi rolled her eyes walked over to get a better look.  She looked at the wound in disgust, sighed in defeat, knowing that she wouldn’t get the truth from me.

“Tell you what, since the cat foiled your attempt at being a good person, how about you take Archer to the movies this afternoon?”

“Can’t, I’ve got prior commitments.”

“Prior commitments? With?” Rosi inquired, her interests peaked. I wasn’t normally one to make plans with another person.

“A girl I knew from school.”

I knew I shouldn’t have told her. Her eyes grew large and a smile broke out on her face. She began to squeal, and waved her hands in excitement.

“My Uriah’s going out on a date! What’s her name? What’s she look like? You are changing ,right?”

I put my head in my hands at her questions. Ugh…Women. “Her name’s Cora. Wait, what do you mean ‘You are changing, right?’?”

Rosi looked at me up and down, her eyebrows furrowed. “Well, I mean, you could look nicer.”

“I always wear this.”

“Exactly,” My sister said as she pulled me from my stool and towards Dad’s room. Women…

—————————–

“See! I wasn’t even sure you had the capability of look decent. Except for cut. Honestly Uriah, it’s horrible!” Rosi said, looking over her masterpiece, which was me, multiple times. Really though, I didn’t understand why she made me change. I was a grown man for goodness’ sakes!

“Rosi, we are only going to get coffee…” I muttered as she nipped and picked at my shirt.

“Well, this the first girl I’ve ever heard you take an interest in. I just want this to go well.  Go over there. Pose for me. Hey, send me her picture.”

“Rosi!” At least she was acting more like her old self, even if it did mean she treated me like teenager going to his first dance, rather than a young adult going out for coffee…

———————–

I arrived at the diner a quarter ’til, and anxiously waited for Cora to arrive. I’ll be honest, I was nervous. Like borderline how nervous I was last night. I’d never gone anywhere with a girl before. In school, they had all been the same, and most never looked twice at a bum like me. I tried to calm my nerves.

Think of it like going to hang out with Rosi. This isn’t a date. These are two (friends? acquaintances?) people hanging out together. 

“Uriah!” I turned to see Cora running toward me, and was once again taken by surprise by one of her monstrous hugs. This time, though, I wasn’t as stiff and awkward, and hugged her back.

Then she kissed me on the cheek, close to where the cut was. I froze, but Cora never missed a beat. To her, it probably wasn’t a big deal, but to me, it meant something. She didn’t even mention the cut, knowing her, she might’ve though it rude to ask.

Oh look, Big Bad Uriah getting sweaty hands from a kiss on the cheek. Pathetic!

“You look nice! I’m so glad it stopped raining. Is it fine with you if we sit outside? It’s just so nice.”

“Thanks. You look…awesome.” You look awesome? Smooth…..

Cora just smiled and we went inside to grab our food, after which, we sat outside and ate.

“So, Uriah, what have you been doing since you graduated?” Cora asked after she finished eating. I rubbed my sweaty palms against pants. Dammit Dad! I better not have gotten these large sweat glands from you…

“You know, taking odd night jobs. I go wherever I’m needed,” Not exactly a lie. “What about you?”

Cora scrunched her face up in thought. “Honestly, I haven’t done much. Really, I just want to travel and find out what I want to do. So does Lars. Unfortunately, Papa doesn’t like for Lars and I to be out of his sight for long…”

I frowned at the visible sadness that Cora displayed at the thought.

“He sounds very, um, controlling.” I say, trying, and most likely failing, to choose my words carefully.  Cora shook her head quickly.

“Oh no! He just, oh how did Mama say it? Wait, he likes have his ducks in a row.”

“What’s your Mama like?” I asked, trying to get off the subject of her father.

Cora looked away from me, and I could see that her smile had slipped from her face. “She, um, she fell down some stairs a few years ago and broker her neck. She not with us anymore. Mama was very sweet, and caring, though.”

I cleared my throat a little after she said this and debated whether I should tell her about my Mama or not…

What the hell…

“My Mama died too. I was eleven. Car accident,” I said, looking away. “I’m sorry, I don’t go out with people often and I have a tendency of making conversations head south…”

Cora snapped out of whatever delusion she was held in, as I was, and looked at me with wide eyes. “No Uriah! We’re both just in the unfortunate circumstance of not having mothers. Nothing you can help about that. How about this, tell me about your siblings.”

We ended up talking the whole afternoon. I talked about the distinctive personalities of each of my siblings: feisty Rosi, concerned Rowan, and Archer who beat to the rhythm of his own drum. She told me about Lars and all the trouble they got into when they were younger. She asked me childish things(favorite color: gray, favorite music: rock, etc) and I asked the same in return.

Today was the first time I had genuinely laughed in a long time. All of the worries that plagued me last night were gone, at least for a little time, anyway.

“Uriah!” She exclaimed suddenly, jumping from her chair. “There’s a fair going on! Let’s got to it!”

So we went to the fair.

We played horseshoes, and Cora cheered for me the whole time even though I sucked.

She seemed to know what she was doing.

Cora even managed to convince me to let her do the firewalk, claiming she had already done it multiple times before.

——————————–

When it was time for the fair to close, I drove Cora home and walked her to the front door of her house.

“I had a great time today,” I said truthfully. Cora nodded in agreement.

“Can we do this again sometime, Uriah? I really enjoyed it.” She said. I nodded with a smile on my face.

“Goodnight, Cora.” I turned from her doorstep with the intention of walking back to the car.

“Wait, Uriah,” She said. I turned around to see her right in front of me. She put her lips to mine, and I froze. After a few seconds of me not responding, she broke away, and looked at me with horror in her eyes.

 “Uriah, I’m so sorry I thought-” I cut her off with my lips. Our kiss being something deeper, more passionate than a simple goodbye.  We hastily broke away when the front door opened. AN: They literally moved three feet away just to makeout…Why Sims? Why?

“So this is the man that you were out with, Cora,” A deep, masculine voice said. I looked over at the speaker.

It was him.

AN: DUN DUN DUN! I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I loved writing the Uriah-Rosi interactions and Uriah-Cora interactions! Please comment and recommend! 

Generation 2: Chapter 4

A week later, I had realized that I had become paranoid. I would lounge around and glance at my phone anxiously, waiting for the moment when it would ring and I would have to fulfill what ever task was asked of me. Rowan and Rosi seemed worried about me, though I always assured them that I was perfectly fine, and no one else in the house noticed. Archer was too young and naive to notice anything different, and I had avoided Daddy like the plague since I had been young.Nothing out of the ordinary.

I decided then that a walk in the park might clear my head. Mama used to go out with walks with Rosi and I when we were younger. I hadn’t gone for a simple walk in years, but considering the fact that for the first time in forever, alcohol wasn’t solving my problems, and nice walk seemed like it would cure my anxiety.

The sky was dark and threatened to rain at any moment, but I wasn’t worried. Maybe if it did rain, it would wash away my fears. You know what they say about speaking of the devil. Or rather, thinking. It began to rain, and in seconds, I was soaked. It was then that I was a figure with a mass of black hair quickly approaching.

“URIAH!” The figure yelled. Her voice was high pitched, and very familiar. Wait….

“It’s me! Cora!” She said as she came upon me. Cora barreled right into me, and threw her arms around me.

I wasn’t sure how to react, so I awkwardly hugged her back.

“Oh Uriah, it’s been so long!” Cora said, pulling out of the hug, talking a hundred miles a minute, not even dismayed by the fact that we were both out in a downpour of cats and dogs.

“Yeah, um, it’s definitely been a while,” I said, not exactly sure what to say. Cora had changed. She had gotten taller, and her hair was no longer pilled in a large bun on top of her head. She was actually very attractive. Not that I tell her that…Or anyone that.

“You look so good! We have to go get coffee or something!” She chattered on, though it wasn’t as annoying as I remember it being. It was actually very beneficial…It gave me something to think about.

” Ooh! Let’s go now! I mean, I was going to meet up with Lars, but I’m sure he’d understand!” I gave her a half smile, and opened my mouth to respond, but was interrupted by my phone ringing. My heart stopped.

Damn.

I looked at Cora with a convincing sheepish smile and went to answer my phone. “Hello.”

“27 Winston Street. Elliot Caston. I want him dead. Tonight.” The person on the other line hung up, and I was left with a man’s life in my hands.

“Oh, no, my fridge is not running at the moment. Thank you.” I said into the phone as to not arouse suspicion from Cora.

“Prank call?” She asked, her mouth in a smile.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure it was my brother. Listen, coffee actually sounds excellent,  just not right now. I’ve got somewhere I’ve got to be, and you’ve got to go meet with your brother, so how about tomorrow at 2?” I asked. Cora  seemed like she would a great distraction from all the problems I’m dealing with. Cora nodded excitedly.

“I can’t wait, Uriah! Awe man! I’m all wet!” She exclaimed as if she had just noticed.

“Tomorrow at 2. Bye Uriah.” Cora quickly bounced away, leaving me wet and dealing with the fact that I was about to commit murder.

———————————————

After the sun set, I arrived at 27 Winston Street with a gun under my jacket. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was supposed to do this. The thought of taking the life of another person held no appeal to me. I didn’t have the best morals, but they didn’t include killing people that were innocent in my eyes.

I pulled the gun out and held it in one of my sweaty, shaking hands as I slowly approached the front door. I took a large breath and kicked the door open. The inside of the house was shabby and there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Suddenly, on my right, a strong force knocked me in the face and made me fall to the ground, though I held my gun steady. I could feel blood on my cheek.

“He sent you, didn’t he?!?” A masculine voice said. I looked over to see who I assumed to be Elliot Caston. I tried to get up, a difficult task considering how disoriented I was, and held the gun out in front of me.

“Yeah. He did.” I replied, keeping my voice steady.

“Wants you to kill me, doesn’t he?!?” Elliot came closer towards me, fury and determination on his face.

“Listen, man. I don’t want to kill you.” I said, though I didn’t drop the gun.

“Don’t matter what you want.” Elliot said, popping his knuckles. I held my breath. Elliot rushed toward me, and, on instinct, I  pulled the trigger of the gun. The boom I heard was louder than anything I had ever heard before.  Elliot fell to the ground ,groaning in agony,  gripping his shoulder. Thank goodness I had terrible aim, or else he would have been dead.

I went up closer and put the gun directly in front of him.

He put his hands in the air, though he moaned and winced from the pain in his shoulder. “You’re not going to die since I didn’t hit any vital organs. I’ll wrap you’re shoulder so you don’t bleed to death, but as soon as I’m done you need to leave. Move to another town, change your name, your appearance, everything. I’ll tell him you’re dead. That way we both get what we need.”

“And what do I need, little man?” Elliot choked out.

“Your life.” Elliot said nothing more, and I wrapped his shoulder like I said I would.

I wasn’t a murderer tonight.

———————————-

It was around three in the morning when I got home. I quietly snuck into the house, praying to whoever would listen that I no one would be awake. I passed a mirror and got a good look at my face. A multitude of cuts took up the proximity of most of my right cheek.

Honestly, I deserved it.

I ran my fingers up and down the cuts, dried blood coming off on my fingers,  and winced the whole time.

Just then, I heard footsteps. I looked up to see Rowan coming down the steps, a worried look on his face. His eyes widened in horror when he saw me.

“Uriah. What happened?!” He asked. He put his hand to my cut cheek and I flinched at the touch. “Nothin’ you need to worry about, Ro.” I said, pulling away, and trying to look anywhere else other than his worried face.

“Uriah, Rosi and I are worried about you. Archer and Daddy haven’t noticed anything wrong, but we have, and, I’m not gonna hassle you like Rosi would, but….Don’t do anything stupid.”

I looked back at my wise little brother and gave him a smile.

“You always were smarter than me. You should make that your Senior Quote in the yearbook.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know. Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. I just want to ask you to do something.”

“Anything, Uriah.”

“Don’t try to help me.”