Annie stared at me with wide eyes for an eternity, saying nothing.

Then, she said, "You're- you're angry. You don't mean this."

"Ann-"

"Shh, there's no need for you to say anything, okay?" Shaking her head, she began backing away from me. "Go to your room and clear your head."

"I assure you-"

"We'll speak when you're levelheaded-"

"You have till six am tomorrow to pack your things and leave or I'll have security throw you out."

"I'm your guardian, you can't throw me out-"

"I'm eighteen, remember? Legally speaking, I'm free from your care, aren't I?"

My lips stretched into a grim smile as her feet automatically stopped in their tracks. Another long bout of silence occurred, but unlike prior, I walked past her, heading to the dining room.

"Angelo, you can't be serious."

"On the contrary, I am. Would you like me to ask Tony to send someone up to help you-"

"No! Fuck no, because I'm not leaving!"

I froze, then looked back and snarled, "Unfortunately, you don't have a choice. You're leaving. The only options you have are whether you're going to leave willingly, or not."

Her mouth hung open momentarily, letting out silent words that only she could hear. I quickly turned and continued on the path I had been before any cracks could manifest in my resolve.

Not too long after, she scoffed, "Wh-what? This is it? I make one mistake and suddenly you want to kick me out?"

"Mistake?" Heat rushed over my skin, burning through me as I roared, "You had an innocent woman shot!"

"I did it for us! He was my twin-how could I sit back and let his death go unavenged?"

"You had no problem before you found out about the waiter's identity!"

"Yes, because I was too cowardly to admit that my moping wasn't going to do anything to bring Max back! I can't believe this, first, you were mad at me for not doing anything about Max's death, but now you're angry because I did do something?"

"Hey, what's going on?" Tony said as he rushed down the stairs to Annie's side. Aimee had been behind him, but she chose to stay up the stairs.

Annie whirled her head. "Tony, thank goodness! Please, let Angelo know that no matter what he says I am not leaving this house!"

"Leaving?" Frowning, Tony looked at me. "What's going on? Why would you want Annie to leave?"

A humorless laugh left my lips. "That's a great question! Annie, would you care to answer it?"

When she didn't reply for several seconds, I said, "No? What's wrong? Why don't you want to proudly admit that you had an innocent woman shot?"

Aimee gasped. "Wait, what? Do you mean Dylan's mum?"

I nodded at her. "Yes, I do indeed."

Shock outlined her features as she looked at Annie. "B-but why?"

Annie's mouth dropped open, but once again no words came from them. Not too long after she pursued her lips, but they trembled slightly.

"Ann-"

"No."

Her eyes flashed to mine, sending out the plea that she refused to allow past her lips. Consequently, keeping my eyes on hers was a struggle.

I can't...

Gulping, I said, "I'm sorry that I drove you to do what you did. Truly, I am. If I could turn back time and change my words, I would. However, I can't ignore what you did, so-"

"Please, don't."

My heart plummeted at the tone of her voice, but my voice said, "Six am tomorrow. Don't forget."

Annie's legs were trembling so much that Tony had to wrap an arm around her to support her balance. Her face had gone slack and her eyes remained wide as her eyebrows slowly rose upwards. I turned away and walked into the living room, but even that was not an easy feat – my body seemed to get heavier as I walked away from her, and the image of her expression began to weigh on my mind more.

Nevertheless, I kept going.

Tony said, "Come on Annie, let's go up to your room."

Annie didn't give a reply, but the sound of their footsteps started up, then slowly faded away.

It was only later that I remembered that I had been planning to go to the dining room. In other words, I felt lightheaded as I walked into the living room like I was not quite sure what to do. I barely even remember willing my body over to the couch I plopped onto soon after I entered.

Fuck, fuck, fuck...

"A-Angelo?"

I turned my head over to the doorway, where Aimee stood.

Slowly, she walked into the room, keeping her eyes trained on me. "H-hey. Can I sit?"

I nodded.

She did. She silently observed me for a few seconds before asking, "How...how are you feeling?"

"How...how am I feeling?"

I let the words roll off my tongue as if I was saying them for the first time. They awakened something in me, bringing me back to full awareness.

As my mind processed the concerned look on Aimee's face, a chuckle broke out of my lips. "How am I feeling?"

My body began to shake even more as my laughter increased.

Rubbing her neck, Aimee let out a strained laugh. "I guess that was kind of a dumb question-"

"No, no, no, it wasn't! I understand why you asked it." Grinning, I got up and spread my arms. "With all the shit that life has thrown at me, why wouldn't I be okay?"

"That's not what I meant-"

I shook my head. "You don't understand, I'm not angry at you! I genuinely see your point! Things like this shouldn't get to me, right?"

"Uh-"

"Wait, watch this."

After briefly scanning my eyes across the room, I walked over to a ceramic little statue of an elephant. Picking it up from the table it stood on, I tossed it in my hands severally, then hurled it across the room as fast as I could.

Aimee jumped in her seat as the statue collided with the wall, smashing into several little pieces.

She gasped, "Angelo-"

"No, no, there's no problem, see? Why would I be affected by its destruction, when I can simply buy another? In fact-" I grabbed onto a small diamond-encrusted mirror, then tossed it to the ground, "-I should break some more stuff!"

"Listen-"

I frowned when I realized that the mirror hadn't shattered, because the floor was carpeted. Thus, I smashed my shoe onto it, grinning as I crunched the glass under my foot.

"Stop!"

Aimee grabbed my shoulder, hence my brow furrowed. "What's wrong-"

"This, this is what's wrong! Can you seriously not see anything bad with what you're doing?"

"I've told you-"

"And I say bullshit. Someone who is close to you did something terrible, so you're kicking them out of your house-can you tell me that doesn't bother-"

"That's enough."

All traces of laughter had left my system by then, chased away by the harsh reality that Aimee's words presented. Emotions began surfacing inside me, stinging any surface of my mind they touched.

The effect her words had on me didn't escape her notice, so she said in a much softer tone, "Do you remember the agreement we made when we had our first meeting at The Eatery?"

"No," I mumbled, even as the memory began forming before my eyes.

"You agreed to show me the real Angelo Smith-"

No.

"So now I'll ask you again: how are you feeling?"

I refused to meet Aimee's eyes because I thought that as long as I kept away from them, I could keep my composure. I could simply take a deep breath, then declare that I was alright, and that would be it. I could go back to pretending.

However honestly, I was tired of pretending at that point.

Staring at the ground, I mumbled, "Do you believe that the universe, or whatever invisible force you believe is out there, could hate an individual so much that it could force them to continuously live their life in misery?"

"I...I believe that bad experiences are created in order to let help people grow-"

"Then when does it end?" My eyes flew up to hers. "First my parents, then Max, then Annie-why must I suffer so much?"

"You-"

My fingernails bit into my palm. "What have I d-done to deserve this?"

I looked away from Aimee as my vision began to blur, not wanting her to see my last piece of dignity being stripped away.

A while later, she said, "Honestly, I can't answer that for now. All I can say is that I'm here for you-"

"No." I shook my head furiously. "Please don't say that, unless something terrible would happen that'll force you out of my-"

The scent of vanilla flooded my nose as she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me against her.

Resting her head on my shoulder, she murmured, "Again, I can't answer that. All I can say is that I'm here now, and have no plans on going anywhere else."

A sob built up in my chest, but I quickly caught it before it slid out of my mouth.

"It's alright to cry, you know."

"O-okay."

Therefore I, Angelo Smith, cried in the arms of Aimee Jacques that day. It started off as a few low sobs, but soon I was wailing like a newborn baby. Although that hadn't been my intention, it felt incredibly freeing as I did, like I was letting off the various weights that had been on my mind.

That day, I cried for several reasons: my parents, Max, Dylan's family, even Annie, because of her loss and the amount of pain I imagined she must have been going through.

Most of all, I cried for the little boy I'd once been. The one who said whatever was on his mind, drove his mother crazy, enjoyed spending time with Dylan...

Because I knew that no matter what changed, there was no chance of me getting back that kind of innocence again.