:January 16th, XX47; Thursday.

:BIG TWIST.

•~~~•

Joe glanced towards the kitchen as his dad pulled his father in there, the two beginning to talk in low, hushed voices. He just stayed laying on the couch, picking at the fabric beneath his hands.

So much had happened in the past twelve hours- his random, stupid thoughts about maybe stabbing his best friend through the heart with a pair of scissors had turned into thoughts about definitely doing said thing, and sadly, Joe had listened to them. Now, Sage was probably off at school, either telling everyone what he had done or forcing himself to stay quiet. And to make it even worse, Remy had very suddenly blocked his number.

He discovered the latter that morning- all he wanted to know was what his parents were talking about. But the messages he sent wouldn't deliver, and when he tried to call him, the phone hung up itself after one ring. All signs of being blocked. So... that was what had happened.

Of course, Remy had ghosted him in the past. Maybe they'd talk again. Emile was the type of person that would at least try to reach out to Joe and tell him everything was going to be okay and that neither of them were pissed at him, right? Surely they weren't mad at him. And Emile was a therapist- plus, if he could go and marry Remy he'd understand Joe's emotions. Or maybe Joe just had to get Sage to talk to him and then they'd all be friends again.

...No, that wouldn't work. Sage wasn't in the wrong. If Sage never wanted to talk to Joe again, then that was what Joe deserved for stabbing him through the heart with a pair of scissors.

Maybe Joe could go and find his dead, yet non-murderous uncle. Or- was he non-murderous? He sure didn't seem to like Remy, but that was because Remy killed him. Had Janus ever murdered anyone when he was alive?

Joe looked to his parents, still talking in the kitchen. They told him one new thing today, and he was grateful for it, but still Joe suspected he'd never know much else.

With a sigh, he realized that he hadn't even yet gotten his breakfast, because that was still being made- in the kitchen. Maybe he could ask them what they were talking about when he went to get it. So, he decided on just that.

"Is everything okay?" Were the words he chose to use as he entered into the room. "What's going on?" His parents stopped talking and looked at him, his father's face blank but his dad's uncertain.

"...It's complicated, Joe. Your father might have to stay home from work for longer than we thought."

"Or perhaps I'll go to jail..." Joe's father muttered. Joe coughed.

"Woah- what?!"

"You're not going to jail, Logan, it's okay."

"What the hell is going on?"

If both of his parents had killed someone... wow, that would just be something.

His father sighed, and looked at his dad, who stared sympathetically- empathetically?- back.

"...You might as well tell him, honey."

"Alright. I suppose so," Joe's father cleared his throat. "Uhm... son. You know who Rachel is, correct? My mother?"

"My only grandparent that I don't call a grandparent? Uh, yeah, why?"

"I killed her."

"...O-Oh."

"I-" He sighed, again. "I'm sorry, that was very forward of me. Perhaps I should explain myself?"

"No, no, you don't have to, it's- fine. It's fine."

"Ah."

Joe stared at the floor. He was right. Both of his parents were murderers.

"...Maybe I was just meant to be like this, then," he mumbled. His dad sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Kiddo, I- I know this is all very weird and sudden but it's not like our family is just genetically murderous, or anything. It's not a disease we all caught from each other, it's just... very highly coincidental."

"And you also have to understand, Joe, most of this stuff wouldn't have ever happened if it weren't for Re-"

"-My Uncle Remy, yeah, I get it," Joe furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "He's the cause of all our problems."

"Well... yes, he is, Joe."

"He's not, though! I'm telling you guys, it's not his fault I did what I did! I still don't know exactly what happened when you three were in high school, but would our lives really be that different if he were never around?"

Joe raised an eyebrow at his parents, but they just sighed. It almost seemed like they didn't know the answer to that question themselves.

"There's certainly a lot of things we wish we would have said at that age, Joe," his father mumbled. His dad's eyes widened a bit.

"Oh... that reminds me, dear, we need to tell him to..."

"To..? Oh. Oh, goodness, yes, we do."

"Tell me to what?"

"Uhm, let's go sit down in the living room."

"Okay then."

Joe just guessed breakfast was abandoned at that point- not that he was even that hungry. The three of them sat on the couch together, Joe in the middle of his parents. They both stared at him, and kept motioning to the other person as if telling them to start talking. Eventually, Joe's dad was the one that accepted the offer.

"...So, Joe," he began, "there's... as your father said, there's some things that we know now that we both wish we would've known earlier."

"That's pretty vague."

"Well- they're about us, and our lives. And our relationship, we feel, would've been a lot better earlier on if we would've known these things about each other."

"What are you saying?"

"We're, well..." Joe's dad grabbed his hand, "...we're saying you need to tell Oliver what happened."

"No," Joe answered immediately, without hesitation. "That is literally the worst thing I could do right now."

"Just listen to us for a second, okay? If you tell him it might be better down the-"

"How about you two take your own advice and tell me what these things even are?"

"We- you're not ready to hear them, Joe."

"Then Oliver's not ready to hear what happened last night."

"This is different."

"It's not! His parents are getting divorced and Sage is probably gonna drop out of our friend group now and Oliver gonna be moving thousands of miles away from here in who knows how long, that's a lot for him to handle all at once, I can't just go telling him I stabbed Sage!"

Joe's father sighed. "That's about what we were thinking at the time these things happened to us as well- excuses. But they're only that, excuses. This is the right option."

"What if he blocks my number, too, huh? Who will I have then? No Sage, no Uncle Remy, no-"

"He was never your uncle-"

"Joe, you have us, sweetie, we'll always be there for-"

"Do I?"

That sure seemed to shut up his parents. They raised their eyebrows and glanced at each other, and then they grew noticeably sad, not sure how to respond to that.

"...You guys did tell me some new stuff today," Joe continued, "But I really would've appreciated it if I knew some of this earlier on. And now you're saying that's what you wanted with each other, too? But I can't have that with the same people? It doesn't make any sense."

His father was in danger of going to jail, too. That just made all of this worse. His parents continued staring at him, and then they both took a quick, deep breath.

"We're sorry, Joe," his dad began to say, "we... don't have any real reason to explain most of that. That is on us. But..."

He trailed off, eventually just ending the sentence with a weak shrug, prompting Joe's father to rub his back. The two then held hands after a moment. The conversation moved on.

"So, uh... how long does it take to process finger print scanning?" Joe's dad asked.

"Three to seven days," his father answered. "It's a shame we don't have a lawyer in the family anymore..."

"It's a shame that you guys can't see ghosts," Joe mumbled. His dad perked up.

"...Joe, have you met your Uncle Janus?"

"Yeah, once. But he just got into an argument with Remy and then left. That was a couple months ago."

"Oh. I didn't know he still hung around here," he nodded a bit, sounding mildly jealous. "What did he look like?"

"Uh, I can't remember that much. I remember he was wearing a bowler hat and he had this giant scar down the side of his face, and there was this really bloody spot on his neck. I think he was wearing a hoodie."

"Hah... almost exactly like I remember."

"I'm sorry I never got a picture of him, dad. I only ever got ones of Remy and Emile."

"Emile? Oh, right, his- yeah. Wait, how'd you get pictures?"

"Sage had a camera that could detect ghosts and let you hear them speak, too, it was set up last night but I think it broke when it got knocked over, otherwise you two would've been able to hear them. I have a picture or two of them saved on my phone from that but I doubt you guys would want to see it."

His parents both vigorously shook their heads. His dad sighed. "Enough about Janus, I guess... I mean- Logan, do you think you will have to go to court?"

"I'm not sure. Remy did- god, why does the conversation keep directing back to him?"

"Well, regardless, he didn't really have a lawyer but you can get one, right? A good one?"

"I'm a murderer, Patton- if the law is going to catch me, then it will. I'm sure they've figured out Susan is dead by now as well... at least I was wearing gloves at all times dealing with that- they'll only have one source for finger printing."

Joe blinked. "Huh? Who's Susan? Wait, what is your body count, then?"

"That's, uhm... greater than or equal to two, Joe."

"Wha-?"

"So, we have three to seven days to figure out the situation with your mom, you're saying?"

"I suppose... I can promise you now- no, I can promise you both it's not happening again at the very least. I wasn't careful and if I were to do it again, the consequences would not be good."

"You... father, do you not wanna be a murderer so you won't go to jail or because it's, like, super morally wrong?"

Joe's father blinked a few times, only staring.

"...I don't know."

•~~~~•
Happy whatever-day-you're-reading-this-on!

See ya in the next chapter!3️⃣
   ~Maxx(SanderShipper)