17. Shaw

       "I'm telling you, he's hiding something from us," Mercy said as we were walking through the village with Lucian, Castiel, and Kendra. "He's never been so good at hiding things."

       "I know," Lucian said. "Mom, can you tell us what he's hiding?"

       Kendra sighed. "I'm pretty sure your father isn't hiding anything from you."

       "He is," Mercy said. "And you know it." She then gasped. "Maybe he's secretly dating Holden!"

       "No, I'm not," I said. "Holden isn't my boyfriend. Anymore, that is."

       "Whoa, anymore," Kendra said. "When did that happen? And why wasn't I informed about it? I thought we were best friends."

       "Because it was supposed to stay a secret," I said. "We didn't want anyone finding out about us."

       "Why?" Kendra asked. "The village is really accepting to the LGBT community."

       "No, it's not about that," I said. "You know who his parents are. The people that took my in after my mom died. The ones who helped me get my life back on track, get a job, get sober. I didn't want them finding out because I didn't want to betray them."

       "And they found out, didn't they?" Kendra asked.

       "They did, and they weren't happy," I said. "So I broke up with Holden."

       "What?" Castiel asked.

       "Lame," Mercy said. "Just lame."

       "I know, I know, it was pretty stupid of me considering his parents are still mad at me about it," I said. "I want to fix things between me and Holden, but now he won't even talk to me."

       "He will eventually," Kendra said. "If you two are meant to be, he will."

       I really hoped so, but I just didn't see it happening.

        Suddenly, a bit in the distance, a loud explosive-like boom filled the air. I didn't know what the cause of it was, but I was starting to see some smoke fill the sky.

       "What was that?" Kendra asked.

       I just shrugged as we started walking towards the commotion. That was when I saw flamed emerging from the city hall.

       "What happened?" Lucian asked.

       "I don't know," Kendra said. "Come on, we should probably head home."

       I was about to head back with them but nearby, I saw Julian try to head into the building, only to have people preventing him from doing so.

       "You don't understand!" Julian said. "My brothers are still in there!"

       "I know," Enzo said. "But you can't risk your life. Wait for the firefighters to show up."

       That didn't stop Julian from finally being able to push his way through and head towards the building.

       "Julian!" I called, but he ignored me and went into the building, so I followed after him.

       "Shaw, don't you dare go in there!" Kendra said.

       I just pretended I didn't hear her.

       I headed into the building, seeing a lot of damage. Some spots from the floor above us had collapsed, causing large holes in the ceiling. There was lose wiring everywhere from the holes in the walls and ceilings, and small flames were beginning to form.

       There were a lot of people in here, but most of them seemed to be unconscious, just a bit dazed. They were even already heading their way out of the building.

       "Who's in here?" I asked Julian.

       "Noah and Holden," he said, his eyes scanning the building. "We were volunteering with setting up for the Christmas charity dinner, but I left to help the mayor get something from The Gold Mine. I have to make sure they're okay."

       "We'll find them," I assured.

       We started looking around for them, calling out their names, but we weren't getting a single reply.

       It didn't take long for Julian to spot on of his brothers.

       Under a pile of rubble.

       "Noah!" Julian called, hurrying to his side. Noah was unconscious, and he had a large gash on his forehead. Julian tried getting the rubble off of his brother, but if was no use, even when I tried helping. There was just too much.

       We stayed by his side though, trying to wake him up. It didn't take long for the firefighters to show up and come over here. While they were getting the rubble off of Noah, I told Julian I was going to look for Holden.

       Julian told me that before he left the city hall, Holden was upstairs helping out, so that was exactly where I headed. It may have not been the best idea since the floor upstairs seemed very unstable, but I headed there anyway.

       I soon found Holden with some other people, but it was next to impossible for them to leave this way with a large hole in the ground. There was only one narrow piece of floor left, so I told each and every one of them that I'd help them across.

       I first tested the ground to make sure it was at least a little bit stable for them to walk across, and it was, so I helped them across one by one and told them to carefully head downstairs and that there should be a few firefighters nearby to help.

       Holden was the last one to get across. "Holden, come on, it's your turn."

       "I can't," Holden said.

       "Yes, you can," I said. "It's not hard. You have to hurry before the floor collapses."

       "No, I can't," Holden said. "I can't see anything."

       "What?" I asked.

       "I literally can't see anything," Holden said. "It's just pitch black for me. Something's wrong with my vision."

       "Then I'll guide you to it," I said. "Come on, you have to trust me."

       "Why should I trust you?" Holden asked. "You broke up with me, remember? All because my parents are as stubborn as can be."

       "I know," I said. "Look, I've made some pretty terrible mistakes in my past but... Breaking up with you was definitely the stupidest one I have ever made. I promise we can make things work between us. I don't care what your parents think. They turned their back on me, so I shouldn't have to worry about them."

       "Are you serious?" Holden asked.

       "Yes," I said. "I promise we'll start over, okay? Just me and you. No other problems. Just... trust me to guide you through this."

       Holden nodded and took a deep breath before standing up. I carefully told him the direction to go through before he stepped onto the narrow piece of ground left. He was still a bit out of my reach so I had to wait for him to take a few more steps before I can hold onto him to help him over.

       Right as I was able to reach him, Holden stepped on the edge of the floor, causing him to slip. I quickly grabbed a hold of him and was able to pull him over safely to my side.

       "See?" I said. "I said you can trust me. Now come on, let's get out of here."

       Thankfully, some firefighters were heading up the stairs then and helped lead us out of the building before they headed back in.

       A lot of paramedics were here too, and some were loading a very injured Noah onto a stretcher to be placed in the ambulance. Julian was watching, and thankfully Josh had showed up and was comforting him.

       "Where are my brothers?" Holden said.

       "Julian was outside of the building when it happened, so he's okay," I said. "I... I don't know about Noah. We found him under some rubble and he's being loaded into the ambulance right now. And you should be heading to the hospital too."

       I called Josh's name, and he looked over before hurrying over. "Holden, are you okay?"

       "Yeah, kind of," Holden said. "...Who are you, exactly?"

       Josh looked quite confused, so I said, "It's his vision. Something happened to it, and he can't see anything. But other than that, he seems to be okay."

       "Okay, I'll take him to the hospital," Josh said. "Thank you, for going into the building."

       "Yeah, of course," I said. "Do you know if everyone else is okay?"

       Josh sighed. "It's not looking great. There's been one death so far, and by the looks of it, there can be more. Anyway, I should take Holden to the hospital now, and make sure Noah is okay. But... he's in a very critical condition. Things aren't looking good."

       Josh then led Holden to one of the paramedics, and I looked over to see Kendra and our children still nearby so I walked over to them. "You are such an idiot, Shaw," Kendra said. "A brave one, but an idiot nonetheless. You could have gotten hurt."

       "I know, but... Julian rushed in there," I said. "I couldn't let him go in alone. Not only that, but Holden was there. I had to make sure he was okay."

       "Is he?" Kendra asked.

       "Partially," I said. "Something's wrong with his vision. He might even be blind, so I'm going to head over to the hospital to make sure he's okay."

       "Alright," Kendra said. "Tell me how things go, okay?"

       I nodded before Mercy, Lucian, and Castiel all gave me a hug. "And ask him out after," Mercy said.

       I chuckled. "I don't think that will be a problem."

       "Yes!" Mercy said. "I called it!"

       "We all called it," Lucian said.

       I was just very glad my children really liked Holden. I needed to be with someone who my children liked, and who liked my children and both were happening.

       I headed to the hospital where there was a lot of commotion after what happened at the city hall. It didn't take me long to find the Eaton's in the waiting room, and of course, I was immediately welcomed with glares by Holden's parents.

       But hey, what was new?

       "Mom, Dad, don't give him that look," Josh said. "I'll have you know what Shaw went into the building with Julian and he helped get Holden out."

       "Yeah, I know you don't want me dating your son for whatever reason, but I would never hurt him," I said. "And I would definitely not let any harm come to him."

       They both ignored me, thankfully. I wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

       A doctor walked over to us, and it was the one who checked out Holden. He said Holden was okay, and the blindness should only be temporary. There was something from his previous brain injury that caused it to happened, and Holden had to stay in the hospital just for a few days to make sure nothing else happened from his brain injury.

       Holden also requested that he saw me first, which didn't make his parents happy, but it was a patient's request so the doctor couldn't turn it down.

       The doctor led me to the room Holden was in before he left the two of us on our own. "Hey," I said. "Your parents aren't too happy that I'm in here before them."

       "They can deal with it," Holden said. "Were you serious about what you said in the city hall? About us?"

       "Of course I was," I said. "And I was serious when I said that me breaking up with you was the stupidest mistake I had ever made, because it was. I really do want to try making things work between us again. That is, if you'll let it."

       Holden smiled. "Of course. You know, things would be a lot better if I could actually so your face, but I can't. At least the doctor said it's temporary. I... actually have a favor to ask."

       "Anything," I said.

       "Can I move in with you?" I asked. "I don't think I can handle living with my parents any longer. They're way too protective over me, and it's starting to get really stressful."

        "Well, I really shouldn't let you because you're not eighteen yet, but you are turning eighteen next month," I said. "That, and your parents are really pissing me off too. So, yes, you can move in with me."

        "Thank you," Holden said. "Really, thank you. Now that I'm temporarily blind, they're going to get a lot more strict, and I don't think I can handle it. So... How's... how's Noah doing?"

       "We don't know yet," I said. "We're still waiting for the news. He'll be okay, though."

       I hope.

_________________

rip.

lol i mean what?

okay this is a short author's note because i'm quite exhausted and i just need to lay down and rest. (even though ive been doing that for the past three days)

But before I got, two of the deaths will be confirmed next chapter, and one will happen later on as their critical state slowly gets worse.

don't hate me lol

Ooh but I should post a Sholden gif as a celebration that they're back together:

I know I just recently used that one but it's funny and I love it.