23. The Runaway

3.04.20

Kody's POV

I watched him run away from me into the night on unsteady legs. I had been fraught with worry when he ran before, but now I just felt empty. I, Kody the optimist who could always see the good in bad situations, just felt completely empty. How could he just leave me here, standing in the chilly night air, utterly alone.

"Kodes, close the door! You're letting in the col- what happened?" my father fretted.

"Nothing, I'm fine," I snapped with more ice than the breeze hitting my raw skin. The worst part is that I felt no remorse.

"Don't take that tone with me, Kodes, I'm just worried. Fine people don't stand in front of an open door with nothing on their faces."

"I said I'm fine!" I screamed before sprinting up the hallway. I slammed my door shut, yet the tears that longed to fall wouldn't. I was slowly losing it, and the allusive boy was the reason.

I slammed my head against a wall loudly just before my dad forced the door open. "You can't just disrespect me in my own home!" My father shouted in front of me.

"Fine, I'll leave! Watch me!" I screamed in response. I'm so done with everything, and all of my feelings were coming out on my dad.

"You walk out of this castle right now consider yourself never welcome again!" My father screeched. He's only adding fuel to my flame.

"Fine then! I'll leave and never come back because all I ever do is mess stuff up! It's all I've ever done and all I'll ever do!" I stomped up to the second story window and threw it open before snapping off the screen and jumping out. As soon as I was off of the castle's massive yard, I found a tree. If no one wanted me anywhere near them, I'll just live here in the forest. It'll be safer for me to live here because the sun's guardian would never look for me in the middle of the woods. I sat against the tree and my emotions still wouldn't come out. It was like a beaver had made a dam in my mind that wouldn't let me get the tears or anger out.

That's when the rain began, and I knew it was because I was sad. Since I was the ruler of the night, it was following my emotions. I lie in a little clearing deep in the woods and allowed myself to get drenched. That's also when the insomnia began.

Mason's POV

As soon as I saw him leap from that window I knew that I had made a mistake. He was obviously disturbed by something, and I think that I just made it worse based on the heavy rainfall outside.

"What did I do wrong?" I asked to no one at the dining room table.

"It wasn't you," Kody's friend, Melia, suddenly declared from behind me. I jumped slightly and turned around to face her.

"How do you know?"

"I've only ever seen Kody expload angrily like that once, and I've known him my whole life. That was the very night that I found him alone on a street corner crying his little eyes out. Once I showed up, he was so scared and confused that when his body told him that I was there, he put up this huge barrier. However, he still had so much going on in his head, and later that night it all came out in the form of anger. I didn't leave him alone since I knew what was going on, but it was still hard to get him to calm down and tell me what happened."

I put my head down on the wooden table with a loud thud, and Melia gently rubbed my back. "It isn't your fault, Mason. He got the hotheadedness from you obviously, and that's fine. The worst thing we have going for us is that now we not only have James missing, but Kody's gone too."

"I just feel responsible, Melia. It's raining because he's somewhere out there feeling so much with no relief. I just wish that I was a better father and realized that he was trying to hold in his emotions."

"You aren't a mind reader. Honestly, if I didn't know him that well, I would think that he was being rude, too."

"It's sad that some stranger that he met on the streets knows him better than his own father."

"You'll get to know him better as time passes, Mason."

"Yeah, if he comes back. I told him that he isn't welcome here, so he might never return!"

"Everything will work out, Mace."

***

James's POV (6 months later)

It feels like so long ago that I made that horrible mistake. Then again, it was so long ago. Natalie so graciously took me in, so I was left to mope around in my family home. I knew that our relationship would bend and break eventually, and I knew that when it did, it would be my fault. I had gotten almost sixty phone calls from Mason about three months ago, but I had ignored every single one. If there's one thing that I am, it's a coward. I was too scared to face my consequences for just leaving Kody alone like that.

I had hardly spoken for most of the six months that I was here. I felt like I had done something plainly horrible, and that I deserved to be seen and not heard. My presence in the castle was that of a ghost; I was good at fading into the background and pretending that I didn't exist.

My baby bump was growing, but whenever I though about our little boy or girl, my chest would tighten and my stomach would churn. I hadn't even gone to the doctor to make sure that it was okay. However, I made my choices, and I couldn't just take this one back.

I was eating off in the corner when I suddenly heard Kody's full name on the news. That made my head perk up, and I listened to the news lady on the report. "Unfortunately, King Mason of Urina still hasn't located his son Kody Lamark. We don't know if he's in the urban areas or not, but King Mason will not stop until he finds his son. News 5, back to you, Brian."

I released a quiet sob. You think I haven't noticed that the only night that it wasn't raining was new moon? I know that he's somewhere out there alone and miserable, and it's 100% my fault. However, I know how much of a burden I am. I know that if I come back to him, he will be worse off than he is now. So no, I'm not going back to him just because he's lost and lonely because I'll just make it so much worse.

"James... Don't you think that this feued between you and Kody has gone on for too long?" Natalie asked, suddenly right in front of me. "I mean, clearly you're both miserable, so go find your man!"

"No. I'll just ruin his life again like I have every single time before now. Nat, I'm not strong like you. I'm just an extra weight on his back."

Natalie sighed before patting my shoulder. "Whatever you say, chief."