𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖊

𝔣𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔫 𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔩

An itch had struck through his forsaken body. Throbbing throughout his head. Busting into something mean. It was prominent. The smoke usually diffused his thoughts, yet today they played fog. One thought prominent. Sharp at the edges. The more he seemed to speak, the more he laughed and relished in the lavish life he set out for himself, the more taken aback he felt. If it were any other day, he would have taken the time to smile and admire the girl he dared to call his best friend, yet today? Today everything fell flat. His feet scattered on the road headed to nowhere. The clouds still, not dancing with the breeze. The moonlight hitting his glass face as if it were coated with tears. He stood. A boy in the middle of the town, headed nowhere, still, chaos aching to break him apart.

He sniffed, eyes glazed over the cityscape that twinkled miles away. He held his arms up, tilting his head back at the blow of the breeze. Her honey voice bubbling through his ears, yet her words weren't coherent. The only thing he could make out was his fate that stood ahead of him. A fate worser then death.

He gulped dryly, tears pricking his eyes, as his breaths were scattered. He dared to yell. He dared to buckle over with that anguish of fear. To scream, veins taut, ear shattering. Yet he couldn't. He couldn't even place what it was. The only thing he could place was the road ahead and he couldn't tell if he fancied it. If the immensity that overtook him was an adrenaline rush or if it was the weight of fear.

He turned his head, eyes on the convenience store that stood desolate besides him. His eyes lit up with an image of him. A faded image of himself in the store's glass windows.

He ached to spill his guts to the girl next to him, moonlight staining her russet skin blue, yet held her golden essence and her white curls that bounced as she spoke from not the force of substances but pure joy. Something he could never do. A wave crashed through him, had him begging for something, something that would be enough to leave her satisfied. An extra push that would ease every racing thought in his head.

Yet she denied. Moonlight glinting against her silver snake bites she shook her head. Hayden would have crumbled right then and there if she hadn't pulled him with that bright laugh. The two jogged to nowhere, her mouth racing with all the possibilities Hayden couldn't see. His breaths heavy as stared at the growing immensity of trees past the houses ahead. His feet thumping heavy against the road. His light jog had snapped into a heavy sprint. Hair leaping into the hair as he dashed past. Every push in acceleration, his heart eased. His heart rejoiced, pushing him further, faster. His eyes shut tight. His mind easing for it knew that five more miles and he'd be away. He wouldn't be nowhere, because he'd escaped. He'd rejoice that he finally made it. Lips tightening in a smile at the thought of it. Yet he'd fallen to the ground with a grunt. A chill sinking into him.

She laughed and helped him up. She dusted her hands as Hayden studied the forest. A place so immense. A place so comforting to his torn heart.

"Beautiful." Her voice raspy. "Isn't it?"

Hayden stood and faced the forest, dusting his hands. "Not as beautiful as the ocean."

"Did you find the answer?" she turned. Those husky eyes filled with life and jovial face putting his strained smile to shame.

Hayden nodded his head and folded his arms with an exhale. She grabbed his wrist, pulling him to face her. "Hayden I asked you a question."

The smoke whisking away from his mind, blurring into the night sky. "Yes Kota," eyes lingering on his. Searching for anything but the bitter pleas Hayden's offered. "I found something to do with my pathetic life. Thanks for asking."

She leaned back with a scoff. "That's not what I mean."

"I'm gonna go to the army,'' Hayden said, words spewing out, each edge sharp, "Think I'd enlist and do something for my country. Dandy idea, don't you think Dakota?"

Dakota eyes stabbed into Hayden's, mirroring the rigidity he hoped he stood composed with.

"Are you fronting with me?"

Hayden rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair. "Didn't I tell you I stopped?"

"Hayden,'' her voice the rustling trees. "I told you... you can tell me anything that's bothering you."

As he wished, Hayden's body did buckle over, not by the immensity but the sheer force of rage. "Nothing's wrong... I would have told you if there was."

Dakota's eyes shifted to the forest, a wind rustling through her deep pink curls. Hayden's blood sunk at her silence, his head throbbing. He sighed, stumbling back.

"I'm... I'm sorry,'' his breaths shaky. "It's just... You know I'm a man of my word right?"

Dakota turned. Amber eyes dulled. She jerked back and forth, clapping Hayden's open hand. "I have to go see Imogen... she's been feeling,'' her lip twitched into a smile. "A little frustrated lately.''

"She's missing you?" Hayden's mouth raised to his coy smile.

Dakota tightened her hand, shaking his. "How couldn't she?"

Hayden let out a husky chuckle as Dakota brushed past him. He sniffed and turned his head, eyes on her walking figure. That thump. Banging his body to life. Banging to be let loose from the door that Hayden kept locked.

"That's it?"

Dakota turned, every step Hayden took forward, she took back. Wind blowing past the two of them. Her voice a hot rod of iron. "The devil doesn't bargain Hayden,'' she turned her head, running her two hands through the curls. "But I do."

Hayden rolled his eyes at the sight of her licking her upper lip. "You're such an idiot, Kota."

She chuckled. "Can't be more of an idiot then you Park."

Hayden rolled his eyes. She turned, pacing fastening, head down, moving intention. That laugh intact.

Something throbbed through Hayden. His mind ready to let loose of the mess he looked over. Yet he stood still, each step she took to the turn right, his heart cracked. He held his chest, yet it hadn't held sufficient support. He nodded his head, swaying back and forth, allowing himself to absorb the sight of the forest one more time, before walking into the suburb of Qaquois.

His steps lit the ground on fire. His eyes on the ground, jaw clenched as he held his body composed. It seemed that one more push and he'd snap yet that was everything he hadn't planned to do today.

He wondered if the thought of where he was headed or the thought of choosing his fate kept him composed on his last stop. For a minute Hayden allowed himself to ease at the thought of letting go of the rose's thorns that clung to heart yet he knew that it wasn't the root of the problem. It wouldn't ease the immensity. Standing at someone's house, ready to plead for mercy wouldn't solve all his problems. Standing in the house of someone he'd hurt too many times to beg for something wouldn't clear the mess in his head, yet by the time he'd reached his front door, the smoke had worked its way into his blood. Spreading like a virus as his lips stretched into a silly grin.

One knock. Silence.

He grunted with a rub of his jaw. He dropped his shoulders and glanced at the windows.

Two knocks.

The living room light was on. He laughed at how he knew that that was the living room. He felt a fool, yet before he could walk away, the door swung open, his nose lit with the husky scent of cinnamon and smokes, the man's presence churning his stomach. Hair releasing from the gel's hold in tight strands. Muscles tight against his black shirt. Eyes slitting against Hayden's thumping body. Mouth flat. Tone sharp. "You're alive."

Hayden groaned and rolled his eyes. If he was sober, he would have said something snarky yet today he pushed past the man's stoic figure. His figure that stopped everything but the one prominent thought in his mind.

"What Hayden?"

Hayden's breaths were whispering incoherent mutters of leave me alone. The man cleared his throat.

"Hayden you better answer me before I tell your mother that you're breaking and entering, and high as hell well you're doing it."

Hayden rolled his eyes, seething as he folded his arms. He'd expected to stutter. He'd also expected it to be a surreal moment yet it wasn't.

"Where's... Do you know where Quentin is?"

His scoff was heavy. "Shouldn't you know this?"

Hayden rolled his eyes, throat dry. "Can... I... Where is he?"

He folded his arms with a bounce. "I don't know. Left for the bonfire thing a few hours too early."

Hayden rolled his eyes. "Can you just be sincere for a-"

"No but like how much do you wanna bet that he isn't okay?" those eyes burning into Hayden's tilted figure. "Like if I were a serial killer-"

"Can you just answer the fucking question?" Hayden's loud voice had merely earned a smirk from Quentin's step-father.

"I still see you have that impatient thing going on,'' he widened his eyes. "Nothing ever really changes, hey?"

Hayden took a sharp breath. "So he isn't here?"

He shook his hair with a forced frown. "Breaking my heart too man."

Hayden tightened his eyes and clenched his jaw. He stepped off the veranda. He turned, stomach racing. "Can you not mention this when he... when comes back?"

He scoffed. "You really think Quentin,'' voice sharp. "Would be worried about someone pathetic as you," Hayden tilted his head. " You're high, you're sloppy and aggravated." He scoffed. "A literal degenerate."

Hayden shook his arms and groaned.

"He has bigger fish to fry my dear,'' he tilted his head. "Shouldn't you know that by now?"

"What's it to ya?" Hayden's voice laced with cracks.

He shrugged. Eyes breaking through his soul. Tone rather too sticky for Hhis liking. Burning. Grating his every vessel. "I mean after all the trouble you've caused him."

Hayden rolled his eyes and turned. He walked out the gate. His step-father's gaze heavy on him. He turned and saluted him yet he'd pulled out his middle finger before bringing it down. He bounced back with a measly smile.

He'd shot another lazy remark, yet Hayden's brain was so scrambled that he couldn't even place it. He couldn't place anything but that immensity that thumped through him.

The Park family was cursed to tell you. Apparently some witch had visited one of their ancestors and given them a douse of poison that had the ability to induce a high rate of adrenaline before allowing them to crash into a dull dark abyss and never wake-up if they took too many hits. The Jareaus being the intelligent people they are, discovered a way to escape the abyss but still have the intensity of the adrenaline rush. If you take the sugar out of it, the Parks had a history of drug addiction. The whole bloodline up to Hayden, because Hayden dared to break the curse.

His feet had come to an abrupt halt at the worn house on 22nd Vincent Street. He tilted his head back, running a hand through his hair. His heart pounding. His head racing not with the bitter pleas of remorse, but the bitter burns of pride. The ego and normal mind blurred into one thumping immensity.

Hayden's breaths hitched as he dragged himself to the door. His teeth gritted as he reached for the handle. That immensity dulling with the shut and cold embrace of the house.

Hayden stumbled past the living room that tumped to life with the sound of his mother's heavy breaths and the incoherent mutter of the TV. He turned his head to face her, his nose burning at the scent of that Chardonnay.

He stopped. His eyes lingered to the kitchen on the opposite end. His stomach grumbled, yet he bit it down. He walked past the lounge and into the narrow hallway. His shoulders at ease.

His breaths hitched as he banged into the bathroom door. His eyes heavy, yet blood racing at that immensity. He banged his head against the door. He sniffed and wiped his face. A weak attempt at easing himself. He pushed all the happy memories out, yet the more he thought of them, the more immense he grew. He grunted, body taut as he restrained his scream. He ached to pull away, to break free yet the shackles held him. Every turn, every grunt, every strained breath, the shackles clanked in his ears. He closed his ears. His breaths tight.

After all the trouble you've caused him.

Hayden gritted his teeth as he fell silent. His brain still at his movements that were swift. Tears staining his cheeks as he rummaged through the cabinets. Everything easing as he picked up that forsaken tin. He dropped it with a clank. It couldn't be the only way. He turned to the door, breaths scattered. That immensity thumping through him. Hot. Slow. Painful. He shut his eyes. Aching for a vision that would ease him.

After all the trouble you've caused him.

His head jerked back and forth, fingers scratching his skin. Tears welled in his eyes, his body ached to go limp, his mind ached to rejoice as Hayden shook. His breaths scattered as he shook his head. That hot icky thought branding its way onto his brain. Grating against his ears.

After all the trouble you've caused him.

He stood and walked to the bathroom door. The tears vanishing each slide against it. He straightened his back, opening the tin. That immensity pounding throughout him, leaving him breathless. He'd loathed to admit that that pesky blade brought his mind still. In a moment, his brain raced with that one burning phrase. Thumping through his skull. Chanting it.

After all the trouble you've caused him.

The blade glistening against the white tiles. His breaths hitched as he covered his head. For a minute, he'd felt himself fall. For a minute he'd felt the house of cards collapse at the weight of that immensity. Yet he was struck with a desire of pure will. Before he knew it, the blade was whispering sweet nothings into his ears. Each whisper the deeper the kiss would grow, oozing, staining his hand with that forsaken fluid. Those nothings spun around his head, soothing every aching inch of his forsaken vessel.

He sniffed, wiping his nose and stood. He slid the tin back into the cabinet and stumbled to the shower. The floor stained red as that cold water ran down his back. His body ached. It stung. Ringing discordant pleas of suffering. Yet Hayden didn't pay it any mind. His mind fell limp. Twisting back and forth, eager to retch, yet for one minute. For one forsaken minute, Hayden stood composed. He stood, his mind conquered. The shower cleansed Hayden of any doubt he'd felt prior. It cleansed his soul of those demons that pulled him back and forth.

He nodded and switched off the faucet. He'd roughed his body up in the towel. He pulled on a pair of boxers and stumbled to the cabinet. He reached and placed a bandaid on his aching wounds. Silencing any plea that strummed throughout his head. That immensity diluted at each ooze of blood. He grabbed a damp blue shirt and allowed his torso to drown in it. His body felt limp at the sight of that gold rosary.

He traced his fingers on the cross. His eyes fell flat. He licked his lip and stumbled back. His hair falling in clumps to the side. He sighed. It was husky and bounced around the room. He shook his head and opened the door.

That Chardonnay scent heavy in the air. That immensity thickened at the sight of his scattered mom. She moved with no drive yet her actions had purpose. A purpose that grated Hayden's skin.

"Eomma?" his voice hoarse in the heavy haze of her dusk.

She kicked the clothes on the ground at the edge of the hallway. Hayden's legs fell to the ground. His hands raced to touch the heap of clothes on the floor. His eyes met with a Metallica shirt, next a Deftones and then tons of cargo pants. His signature fit.

Hayden clenched his teeth. His breaths hitching. He busted into his room. Eyes to slits at the sight of the books scattered on the floor, the bedding tossed around and the misplacement of his furniture. He turned and took a step. His eyes met with the throbbing figure of his mother. Her hands pulling his clothes, emptying his closet and drawers of its contents.

Her breaths were sporadic. She huffed and brushed past him yet Hayden pulled her close to her by her wrist. His teeth clenched.

She tilted her head. Her faux blond locks falling to the side. Her lips bright with that smile. She scoffed and pushed herself back. She dropped the clothes on the floor and dusted her hands.

"I hope you found a better house to stay out while..." she turned, her smile brightening at the sight of Hayden's muscle clench and teeth gritted figure. "You were out being a degenerate."

She clapped. Slow and restrained. Hayden shook his head. Body daring to break at that hot flush of heat.

"Was it fun?" she stepped closer to him.

Hayden chuckled. A measly attempt at holding the tears that dared to break out of his eyes.

"Being intoxicated.'' Voice flat, every edge spiked. Voice reeking of that forsaken Chardonnay. "Disrupting the livelihood of other people."

Hayden gritted his teeth and glanced at her. She was fighting for balance with every jerk, her eyes wide and puffy. Lips stretched into a smile.

Hayden didn't know a lot of things and he certainly didn't know what overtook him. Hands clenched, body ready to leap.

"You're one to fucking talk."

She stumbled and straightened up. "Is this really the son I raised?"

"But..." that pounding at his head. "He called you?"

She held her finger to her mouth with a chuckle.

Hayden clenched his teeth, taking a restrained breath. He rolled his shoulders back. She was drunk, why would he want to start something with another intoxicated person? Fuel to a flame? To energy sapping for the thighs that burned. He snapped and bashed himself against the wall. The frames heaving. He banged his arms and legs with heavy grunts.

"You performing for me...isn't gonna change a damn thing." Her scoff grated against his ears. "And you know it boy."

"Why?" Hayden snapped to a still figure.

She glanced at him, those pesky eyes burning against his body. Those stretched rods of crackling pain burning against his thighs.

"I said why!" Hayden bent from the force of his voice.

She shrugged. "I'm fucking tired of your shit."

Hayden lunged, breaking the barrier she planted. His voice pulsing. "Is it because all I ever do is cause trouble?"

She groaned brushing past him. "Tell me something I don't know."

The heat sunk into his head as he stumbled. Tears pricked his eyes. His tone soft. The breeze in the desolate moonlit field.

"Ma please."

She laughed. Tears stained Hayden's cheeks. He wiped them yet the whispers increasing. The volume loud. Booming through his head.

Hayden couldn't place whether she'd said something to aggravate the raise in his voice, the haze had grown too hot. The voices too loud.

"Ma please!"

She grunted and pushed past him to kick his clothes out the hallway. Hayden gritted his teeth.

"Everyday you wanna make my name, your father's name dirty,'' her voice was shrill. Her liquor breaths staining the air.

Hayden clenched his hands. His body breaking at the weight of sorrow.

"You're just a degenerate!"

Breaths strung, pulled out of his lungs leaving them tight.

"A no good recluse!"

Hayden shook his head and huffed. It seemed by some force that Hayden had the nerve to push his mother. The wall banged as she grunted. The frames slanted. Hayden held her shoulder to the wall. His breaths sporadic. Hand clenching against her daint shoulder. This was where he'd say something to ease the tension. To have the two continue regardless, yet today his brain was too scattered. Today he moved with the force of that immensity banging through him.

"Hit me,'' her hands clenched. That stench nauseating at the nose. "I can see it in those fucking deviant eyes."

Hayden raised his hand, palm stretched out. Senses warped. Heart beating in his head. One thing prominent.

She scoffed and pushed his clothes onto him, pushing him back out into the lounge. Hayden stumbled yet held his ground. She threw more clothes at him.

"Maybe you'll learn to respect the people who give you everything once you have nothing out in those fucking streets."

"Ma!" Body jerking back and forth. "Ma please!"

She pushed him yet that wasn't enough. She pushed him past the lounge. Each push, Hayden's body dared to crumble, his cuts stinging. His teeth clenched, as he fought. He fought for the bane of silence.

"Look at what you've become!"

Hayden kneeled, hands above his head. "Ma please. I'll do anything.''

"Get out of my house." Her teeth gritted.

"Ma!" his voice rattled the house.

"Get out of my house!" Her hands banged and banged. Hayden's arms the nails to her hammer.

Hayden shook his head, tears welling in his eyes.

With a snap, she sneered to Hayden's flinch. "Will this make you move faster?"

His breaths scattered. His heart pulsating. A broken record. "Ma... ma.''

She towered over him. Hayden had fallen from predator to prey.

"I said get the fuck out of my house!"

Hayden jerked. Teeth gritted. Everything throbbing, yet that burn centred him. That burn pushed him to his feet. Eyes tight. Voices screaming. Smoke oozing throughout his body. Blood moving too slow for the beat of his heart. He pushed past her.

She stumbled. Hayden squatted, rummaging in the pile of his clothes. He'd managed to pull out a pair of cargo shorts and his volleyball kit. Her eyes lingering on his thighs.

"You still-"

Hayden jumped, tightening his pants. His face fell flat. His eyes stinging as he jogged to his room. He pulled on his trusty crimson converse and grabbed his backpack. He grabbed his walkmen, a few cassettes, his stash, a pair of cargo pants that held the money he'd forgotten about and his sacred band shirts. His breaths ready to pop his lungs. His body easing.

He turned to his bookshelf, grabbing the pale denim Dodger's cap on it. He closed his eyes, pushing it down. A crown as he smiled that infamous deviant ridden one. He nodded his head and busted into the living room. He sighed as he pushed past his mother, embraced in the same crisp husky air as he opened the door.

"Hayden." Her voice soft.

He shut his eyes from the starry night and glanced at her strained face. Sorrow laced through the cracks as she reached for him.

"I'm giving you what you want,'' Hayden gulped dryly. Tears pricking his eyes.

"Hayden." Her voice hushed.

Hayden shook his head and shut the door with a pop of his shoulders.

The wind nipping his body. That immensity banging through him. His breaths hitching as he walked onto the street. His vision blurred. The moonlight illuminating the tears on his cheeks. His hands clenched tight. Feet headed to nowhere. Eyes lifted to the sky. Tonight they shined the brightest.

Hayden eased his breaths and shook himself into composure. The immensity was still at the heavy hits of his steps. The wind had nothing against him. Today was a day for the history books. Today Hayden strutted, held high, claiming the crown he'd made for himself. The king of everything.

Parasites. The claimed witch that cursed the Park name endeavoured person specific parasites to cling to each person who had fallen victim to the volatile Park name, to slowly deteriorate them from the inside out. 

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐀'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄

Uhm. Hi. I hope you're doing great.

The way I relate too much to Hayden, it's honestly getting scary.

This chapter is dedicated to ForeverSoyoung  Other than her relentless support, there's so many times I wanted to fall into the traps Hayden fell into, there's so many times I was him and if she wasn't there to pick me up most of those times, I most probably would be worser then him. So bruv all I can really say is thank you, thanks for your endless support, your amazing character and always being there to help pick up the pieces <3

This one's for you champ, as if they aren't all for you😭

Anyways, damn that was a ride. I hope you enjoyed it as always. Don't forget to drop a comment and stay slick and safe. Love you <3