"I'm not doing this with you today!" Cullens early morning had been interfered by his dad, trying to talk to him and bring up how the school called. "I have no time."

"Cullen." he followed him through the house. "Look, son, i'm worried about you."

Cullen laughed. "You are?"

"I don't know what's going on." Landon spoke, stopping by the kitchen as Cullen got his bag near the door. "I just wanna help."

"Yeah? By sending me away again? That helped a lot." Cullen spoke disrespectfully. Thing was, he knew what he said to his dad was always harsh, and he knew that if anyone spoke to him that way he'd knock them upside the head. But, Landon never did much aside from raise his voice. Maybe that was because, deep down, he knew that he was the cause of all of this.

"I got scared. I didn't want you to go to jail!" he yelled to him, because this conversation seemed to be so recurring.

"I was scared too!" Cullen yelled in return, shoving a finger at himself.

"What was I suppose to do? Let you get taken away?" Landon shook his head at him. "Nothing I was doing or saying was getting through to you."

"What was it you were saying?" his son mocked in return. "That you wish I was a better son? Wish I cared more about my future? So do I!"

He walked into his room, but the hallway was narrow. "You wish I was more like Demetri? So do I!"

He yanked it from the bed, shoving his phone into his pocket. "You want me to be different? So do I!"

"Just w-" Landon started as Cullen went for the door.

"Unlike you, I can't just let my mom go and move on like everything is so perfect." he wanted to slap himself for the way his voice broke and eyes started to get glossy, freezing as he looked back at his dad. "You didn't have to see it happen for years. You never had to experience your mom loving drugs more then you. Demetri never had to either. Or Rose. And that a good thing, you know? Because no matter how much I can't stand to even look at you anymore, I would never wish this feeling on anyone! Especially not a child that is forced to live with his dad, who never gave much of a shit about him in the first place!"

Then, he was gone, with a slam of the door.

The thing was, Cullen knew he should have been at the All Valley, he knew his team was counting on him. But, after what happened this morning, he couldn't bring himself to show up. He hoped on a bus, and he ended up standing infront of a large house. He knew the address from a small instagram post not too long ago, his phone turned off after so many calls came through. The guilt got to him, but Cullen needed this.

"Aisha." he smiled as she opened the door, hugging her tightly.

"How'd you find my house?" she laughed, hugging him back. "When did you get home?"

"Few months ago." he let her go with an exhale. "I went on your instagram post and hit the location, came up in no time."

"What are you doing here? Come in." she encouraged quickly as he walked in, feeling like he stuck out like a sore thumb in such a nice, expensive house.

"I just wanted to see someone who wasn't complete wrapped up in this karate stuff." Cullen said honestly as she frowned. "I don't want all my issues to come back to that."

"So, you took my place?" she gave a teasing look, leading him into the living room as they fell onto the couch. "Sam didn't mention anything about you."

"Sam?" he hadn't expected her to say anything. "I'm not here for karate."

"What's going on?" she looked worried with a nod, encouraging him to go on.

Cullen looked down slightly with a minor shrug. "I-"

She watched, giving him the space and time to find what he needed to say. Cullen exhaled heavily, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "I'm not okay."

Aisha scooted over and held his shoulder. "You can talk to me."

"I feel like all of this isn't right." he admitted honestly. "I just-I don't want to be me."

"What do you mean?" Aisha looked in worry.

When he turned, his eyes were watering. Aisha never saw Cullen cry, she never even thought he had the ability to. But, then he laughed as tears started to fall. "I really hate myself, Aisha."

"Why?" her hand rubbed his back softly.

"I don't know." his head was in his hands, shielded away from her. "I ruin everything around me and I-"

He stopped, shaking his head. "I have something that I don't want to ruin with two people. But, I know it's coming and I don't want it to."

"Hey." she encouraged him to look her way. "You didn't ruin things. You aren't destructive, you're not a bad guy. I know you, and I know you stood up for me when no one else would."

"It's different now." Cullen swallowed as her looked away. "I've been hurting and scaring people for just being different then me. I'm the type of guy i'm supposed to hate and kick the crap out of."

"What are you gonna do about that?" she pulled his chin to look over at her. "You don't have to hate yourself, you don't have to ruin things."

"I really want my mom." he admitted, his voice broke again as his eyes and nose started to burn. "I just need the world to just...understand."

"The world doesn't show mercy." Aisha grasped his hand tightly, making him look at her. He'd heard this before, and he knew what she was suppose to say next. So, neither do you. "Doesn't mean you can't."

It was unexpected, but it hit him differently. Just a change of a saying that was forced into him for so long now, it flipped his stomach and made him sick. "You aren't the problem."

"I am." Cullen admitted.

"Cullen." Aisha got his attention again. "You have to get away from Kreese. I got out of there before things got bad, but I know the type of guy he is. The longer you stay, the longer you're gonna hate yourself."

"He cares about me though." Cullen inhaled as he shook his head. "He cares about me the way I want my mom and dad to."

"If he cared about you, would he make you feel like this?" she looked in questioning. "You're smart. You make reckless decisions and you hurt people that deserve it. It doesn't make you a bad person. But, you have to realize the entire world isn't out to get you. Sensei Kreese is gonna make you believe that and turn you into someone you don't want to be."

Cullen leaned back. "I think he already has."

Aisha nodded. "So, what are you gonna do about it?"

Cullen turned, locking with her eyes. He nodded. "I'm gonna go save Robby and Tory."

•

kylie speaks

I WAS WAITING FOR MY
LITTLE BABY TO HAVE HIS
LITTLE CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT AND REALIZE
KREESE IS HOLDING HIM BACK FROM HEALING!!!