Sons of Night

Andy’s POV
I stood at the front door alone. I’d asked the guys to let me knock and see if they even lived there before they all came barging in. I told them I’d yell for them if it was okay. They were just around the corner. I knew at least one of them could see me standing there in front of the door not moving. I could already feel my emotions starting to get the better of me. I stared at the door that I’d once taken completely for granted. Painted a nice shade of oaken green. A bit more faded than I remembered but that was to be expected. I didn’t know what time it was. Perhaps getting close to ten o’clock. My parents would still be up for sure. I wouldn’t have to feel bad for waking them, plus light were on. My heart pounded in my chest with all the possibilities of what could or couldn’t happen. I almost wanted for them not to be there so I didn’t have to deal with seeing them again. Yes, I missed them dearly, but I didn’t want to see them again like this. The only thing that made knock on the door was CC. The thought of him slowly dying in my friend’s arms finally got me to move my hand.
I rapped on the door with a discomfitingly shaky hand. This isn’t how I expected it to be. I expected to hug them in front of news cameras in broad daylight, full of confidence, with my name cleared. Not knocking on their front door in the dead of night glancing over my shoulder in case someone noticed me. I held my breathe and my stomach did back flips. I pretty sure my heart stopped when the door knob started to turn. The door swung outward and sure enough standing behind door was my mother. She was older, definitely, but her face was so recognizable. Her eyes were still the same color as mine. I think that’s part of the reason why I remembered her face so well, it was one of the only features that we shared.
“Mom!” I gasped, wanting to hug her. I was surprised when her face fell.
“Mom, it’s me, Andy. I’m home,” I said. I couldn’t understand why she looked so devastated.
“I imagined that after ten years the practical jokes would stop, but I guess not. Go home, and grow up. I hope you never lose a child, but if you do you’ll regret this,” She said, I could tell that she was holding back tears. She started to close the door and I panicked. I couldn’t let her walk away so easily. I slammed my hand into the door to stop it from closing. Her eyes turned from pain to rage in a split second.
“I swear it’s me. It really is. I’m not dead,” I begged.
“Why don’t you just shove off before I call the cops,” My mom snapped. She rarely ever yelled at me, I was taken aback.
“Mom, I need help. My friend is dying and I know that you can help him. Please don’t shove me away. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I left you. I’m sorry that you had have a funeral for me. I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner, Please I need you,” I was prepared to drop on my knees and beg. For CC’s sake.
“I don’t believe you,” My mom said. My mind reeled. What could I say? What could I do to make her believe me?
“My room is the first on the right. It’s covered in posters. My favorite bands are KISS, WASP, Motley Crue, and AFI. I love to eat steak. I hate vegetables. You work as an ER nurse. My dream was to be in a band of my own and I never stopped singing. My I promise it’s me,” I finished my rant and her face began to soften but I could tell that she still didn’t believe me. She just shook her head. Those were all things people who knew me could tell you about me. With some digging anyone could know those things
“When I was leaving the school after I killed Cody I crawled out through a window that I broke with a chair. The glass on the window cut my stomach and I nearly bled to death on my way into the woods. I still have the scars,” I said looking her dead in the eye. I knew that the news hadn’t covered my escape well. They said I had escaped into the woods but they never told the public how. She reached over to the side of the door and I heard a flip as the outdoor lights came on, she opened the door a bit more. I could see inside. The family room looked so warm and inviting. I could see pictures of me on the back wall. I was so close I just needed one more thing for her to let me in. My hand’s found the hem of my shirt and lifted it up to just under my ribs. I knew she could see. The jagged white scars that marred my stomach. They conjoined to a center place where I could remember that my stomach had been almost completely cut open so you could see my organs and everything. My mom stared at the scars for what seemed like forever. She reached out and touched them lightly, making sure that they were real. When she looked up her eyes were brimming with tears.
“Andy?” She whispered.
“Mom,” I confirmed. She grabbed hold of my chin and turned my head. Maybe so she could see me in the light. I let her look, she studied my face for what felt like a few minutes.
“It’s really you! You’re home,” She exclaimed her voice breaking. She hugged me so tightly that I could hardly breathe and I hugged her back as hard as I felt like I could without hurting her. She cried into my shoulder and ran her hands through my hair. I’d be lying if I said that my eyes were completely dry.
“Amy? What’s going on?” I heard my dad’s voice. I looked up to see him standing in the open doorway staring at us in shock.
“Chris! It’s Andy. It really is, he’s home. He knows where his room is, and his favorite bands, and favorite foods. He still has the scars from the escape. He showed me the scars. They’re real, he’s home, he’s finally home,” She cried. I looked up to meet my dad’s eyes. He looked how I remembered him too, just older. Still tall and broad with a cropped short hair.
“Hi dad,” I said and he broke into a grin, next thing I knew I was engulfed in an even bigger, stronger bear hug from my father. Last time this had happened I wasn’t tall enough to see over his shoulder, this time I was. We embraced for a few moments before he let go.
“Well don’t just stand out here in the cold, come in son,” My dad said while my mom fussed over me. She looked at my clothes and tattoos, and at one point she seemed to be looking at how big around my wrist was.
“Wait you said you needed help with something?” She said. I had almost forgotten myself. My friends still hidden in the cold around the corner.
“Yes. I can explain more later, but I’ve been living in the woods with a group of friends. They all have committed crimes that they’re still wanted for. I swear to you that they are all just like me, either it was an accident or they were conned into it. They’re all good people and they have become my family, in fact I’d be dead if it wasn’t for them. Now one of them, his name is CC, he’s sick. Really sick and we can’t take care of him. He needs help or he’s going to die,” I said, again I was prepared to beg them for help. They didn’t have a second thought.
“Come on, bring them in, get them out of the cold and we’ll see what we can do to fix your friend,” My mom said without a moment of hesitation. I felt like a thousand pounds was pulled off my shoulders.
“Guys come on!” I shouted down the street. Out from behind a truck a few houses down Jinxx, Ashley and Jake (with CC on his back), sprung out and walked quickly down the street. I found myself hoping that they would be polite. Manners tended to be lacking in the woods sometimes. They came up to the front porch steps and stopped looking up at the doorway, but not coming any closer.
“Well come in, don’t just stand there in the cold, it has got to be close to below zero out there. You can introduce yourselves once you get in and get settled,” My dad said waving us in. We all clambered inside. In the commotion I barely had time to register the fact that I was finally home. The sights and the smells that had hardly changed, the warm and welcoming feel to our house. My mother instructed us all to take off our shoes as we came in. A rule I remembered so well. No tracking in mud.
“That’s CC I presume?” My mom said pointing to CC who was draped, essentially lifeless over Jake’s shoulders.
“Yeah, and he stopped moving about an hour ago. Still breathing though,” Jake reported. My mom nodded grimly.
“Lay him down on the couch, I’ll see what I can do for him,” Jake heaved CC onto the couch and then proceeded to take off his own shoes and jacket and put them away properly. We all stood around awkwardly while my mom started to look at CC. After a moment she turned around and looked at us.
“Do you guys have someone who normally takes care of you when you’re sick?” She said. We all pointed at Jinxx, who had been doing his best to be invisible.
“Mom, that is Jinxx. He’s the closest thing that we have to a medic,” I introduced. Jinxx looked at the ground.
“Jinxx, I need you to help me out here. I need a history on him, I need you to tell me anything and everything you can that could help me figure out what’s wrong with him. The rest of you, go to the kitchen and eat food. I can’t concentrate with five hungry boys staring at me and watching me work. Eat the whole kitchen for all I care, just become less skinny, all of you. Bring some food out for Jinxx here too. When I figure out what’s wrong with CC then we can catch up,” My mom ordered. What mom says should happen is what should happen, so we did. We all went to go get food and hoped that she could fix CC.

Notes

Good news! I have officially started writing the prequel so a lot of stuff will be explained. As soon as I have enough to post the first chapter I will. Anyway please leave me a comment and let me know what you think about this story. Also, I have decided that I'm going to go to school for journalism. That means that if my dreams of being in a band don't work out I'll be an author. Thanks for reading guys.