INNOCENT

BRENDAN's POV

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The next Sunday (2 days later after the incident)

I'VE BEEN inside my house for the entire day. I decided early on to turn off my phone notifications, close the windows, and lay on my bed.

I don't think I have eaten. It's dark in here, just like it is outside - the sun is down, freeze and cold, the September is finally showing off its true colors.

I know I shouldn't be doing this, ignore everyone and everything, isolate myself like I always do when something goes awfully wrong, but, fuck, the whole world just shattered into million pieces in front of my face and I'm not ready to deal with it all.

I thought I could, you know, just for a damn second, ignore that something as horrible as this would happen. At first, I couldn't even believe it when my eyes catch Colber bleeding like crazy.

But they, they wouldn't let me rest, they wouldn't let me forget it, my mind kept racing whenever the investigators asked me those questions. They were torturing me. I tried my best to answer with conviction and confidence, the truth is, that was only my way to defend myself from the cops.

In reality, I don't think I convinced anyone, not even myself, because standing here, alone, inside these four naked walls, the only thing I can remember is his fucking opened empty eyes looking back at me. I still ask myself, of all people, man, why him, why Colber?

Nevertheless, the worst part besides feeling shitty, is that I consciously believe I deserve it, what else it would be if not for the universe to punish me once again?

The thing is, I'm alone on this one, I mean, yeah sure, I never had someone who stood up for me, I always believed If I showed off my hard work, great things would come, my sacrifice will be paid off.

In a way, I stood up for myself, but man, at least I had a friendly hand who hold me every fucking time, who didn't judge me from my past actions, who offered his help whenever he was around, who laugh at me when I started saying a bunch of bullshit nonsense.

He never let me down, not even once. For me to have to accept that he is gone, is...heart-breaking.

It's funny how I keep saying I'm a heartless dude, when in fact, this morning all I could do besides showering, was moving my lips to touch the lighted cigarettes, so I could have some inner peace and strength not to close my eyes and cry.

He has been gone for 48 hours and yet it feels like forever, the sad part is that it is. He isn't coming back, ever. And that's not fucking fair.

My head moves itself to sit on the mattress of the bed, my hands reach the corner of my eyes and cheeks, I let out a deep sigh.

"Man, what have we done?" I whisper into the dark.

I close my eyes momentarily, enough to get back to my thoughts.

"C' mon Rhys, we don't have all day," Jonathan said, looking at me like he was expecting an honest, quick answer. His black hair was cut short than recently, his face looked younger and fresh without the beard he now uses once in a while.

"Nah, I'm not playing this stupid game." My voice sounds bored, the excitement wasn't there, but so wasn't my patience. I touch the bottle that is in front of me and prepare myself to toss it.

"Why? Because we're finding out you actually carry a heart inside that corrupted body of yours?" I looked to my right to see the person's face, even though I knew who the voice it belonged to.

"Of course I own a heart Foster, otherwise I wouldn't be here, talking to your fuckfaces" Colber let out a relaxed smirk in response to my cracked joke because I never say what he wants me to say, just as he would expect. His light brown hair was touching his shoulders, but he didn't seem to care, for eleventh-year student Colber, the more he let his hair grow, the better.

"Fine, don't play then. At least I figured out your secret." He told me, the tips of his lips jokingly forming a confident smile.

"Yeah, what's that?" I asked, sounding indifferent.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Travis talked, with his left hand scratching the back of this head, a confused look covered his features.

"That you have a crush on Cassidy, don't you?" Colber cracks beside me, his eyes are overseeing me as if he had already figured me all out. Travis and Jonathan stayed silent, but their gaze was on me.

"Bullshit." I cursed, stopping eye contact. I couldn't cover the redness that was taking over my skin.

"Don't you bullshit me, Rhys. I saw the way you look at her."

"I don't like anyone, Colber. Literally, anyone. And Cassidy? Yeah, she's pretty and stuff but no, so delete that out of your mind."

Travis grabs the bottle and spins. "Yeah, besides, is the word "liking" even in our dictionary?" He laughs, happy that the bottle had just pointed to Jonathan.

I open my eyes, sighing once again. The liquor that is on my hand is seducing me, calling me to have one more taste. I gulp, before heading the glass to touch my lips.

Things were so different back then. I had just entered Bricklane's High, and one month later Colber was already my friend. He was right, I did have a crush on Cassidy, but I didn't know her as I know her today, or Jonathan, or Travis, for the matter. They changed a lot.

I, on the other hand, was a kid who had just came back from a freaking bad situation in hopes of a new fresh start. I was defeated, demoralized and pessimistic, hell, I remember I wanted to hide from everyone, become invisible. But Colber, he... he had other plans.

I had been playing with the ball on my feet for over an hour. I think there was no one at the school at that point. Convincing the cleaning man into giving me the keys so I could practice my football skills inside the gym was a hard task, but eventually, he got tired of my begging.

"You're Brendan, right? You're the new guy." I heard a voice calling out for me that seemed to have come from the bench.

My eyes traveled to my left side and saw a guy who seemed to have about my age, tall and lean, his hair brown, and on his feet, he was wearing some sick trainers. I looked up.

"Yeah." I said, hugging the ball to my torso. I recognized him immediately, he was the guy everyone at the school talked about, the football team captain and son of the Foster family.

"Nice. My name's Colber. I saw you play, you got some sick moves" He talked, getting closer. I noticed the lingering smile that was on his lips as he mirrored me. I found him so friendly to begin with, which was weird from a guy who had his reputation.

"Uh, thanks." I said, kind of embarrassed, considering I hadn't been expecting anyone to see me play. "Mr. Folks gave me the keys. He's so cool, I fuck with him."

Colber laughed in a relax mode before opening his mouth. "Yeah, he lets me stay here sometimes too. I guess he knows this is my passion. He's always saying stuff like "yo, Foster kid, I bet 20 bucks you are going to score five goals" and he pressures me to do it, he says he cleans the floor, so he needs the 20 bucks back, which means I have to, you know, go at it"

"How has that been working out for you?"

"Well, I'd say Mr. Folks doesn't have reasons to complain." He winked, and I lend him the ball. "You know, for him to give you the keys means he sees something in you" The ball touched his feet and he started to dodge some free kicks.

"Nah, I only play once in a while, besides, I'm not that good."

"I disagree, you surprised me. Hey, why don't you meet the coach next time? I got a feeling he's going to like you."

"Hum, yeah, sure, I guess." I told him, nervousness creeping me out. "Thanks."

"Ah, don't thank me yet, Brendan. Wait until you see how much of a good player you actually are. I'm just the guy who saw it first, cool?"

Colber was just out of this world, a down to earth dude, chilled out, compelling, fun. He would never disappoint anyone, he would always keep his word. That's how I'll remember him, with the same astonishment and the worship I had for him since the early days.

However, I'm not blind to the slightly less comforting feeling I have been noticing growing out inside my stomach—hate, despite, the need for revenge.

It's not fucking fair what they did to him and I'm not his true friend if I let it slide like this, doing nothing, laying on my bed all day.

I'm so going to find out who killed you, Colber, I'm avenging you brother. I swear to God.

My thoughts are interrupted once the flash of my laptop enlightens the room, while notification pop-ups cover the screen. What the hell they want from me now?

My hand grabs my phone that's on my pillow. The first thing I notice is that a bunch of people tried to contact me today. 8 messages and 4 missed calls.

"You okay?", Cheryl

"Brendan, we need to talk.", Page

"Dude, go check the news.", Kit

While reading the texts, I got a call from Kit. I took it up.

"Man, what's up?" I said, sounding calm.

"Rhys, what the fuck are you doing? Go to Twitter, you're on the news!"

"Calm down, what lies are they telling people now?"

"Lies? Rhys the police checked out your phone. You had your GPS on when Colber messaged you Friday night. The autopsy revealed he died 12 minutes later on his bedroom. You were too far away even to have had the possibility to arrive at his house that early on.

"You're clear, Brendan, the police found you innocent."

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To be Continued

Please Don't forget to vote and to comment🖤 BTW thank you for the 1.7K reads!

What are your thoughts on this one? I loved to read the scenes between the two of them when they were younger. AND BRENDAN's boy is innocent uhhhhhhh

NEXT CHAPTER WE HAVE EVREN's POV, she is meeting Brendan for the first time!

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