A NEW JOURNEY, WITH NEW LEADS, CANDICE AND EDWARD. HOPEFULLY, YOU CAN GIVE THEM JUST AS MUCH LOVE AS YOU GAVE JOHN AND ASH <3

"An escape from your miseries, is the gate to love."

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Ed's P.O.V.

"When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate . . . but yourself."

"Here Lies Howard Franklin Young."

"1936-1983"

I felt my heart pounding loud as I read those words on my father's grave. A guilt was what he left behind. A mistake was what he left behind. I was the mistake. I was the sin. And though he had never hated me, somewhere I knew that he was guilty about me. I was a mistake nobody could change. My father had died today due to AIDS. One day, I'd die the same death and nobody would ever even know. A silent, lonely death with nobody I loved around me.

Two years ago this disease was discovered in the United States of America. Nobody had ever imagined that something so deadly could live inside them. We hadn't either. But when my mother passed away due to this disease last year, an atmosphere of stress took its place in our house. My father had a check up about a week later, and it was confirmed that he was going through the same disease, and that this was the reason he had been extremely sick since the past 3 years.

It had a treatment, yes. There weren't medicines which could heal you but there were medicines which could fetch you a few more years of life. Maybe four to five years; more in some cases and less in the others. But there were two problems about it. One- the medicines were expensive, Two- we were broke. So my father remained without any special treatments, and the basic ones weren't helping, causing him to eventually die.

Today he left all of us. He left back a family to mourn over his absence. He left back a son who- when little- used to look for his arms when he wanted to cry in pain. He left back a wife who would look for his smile when sad. And he left back a mistake who would look for his words of wisdom when in doubt.

No, his wife didn't die. Yes, my mother did. I was an illegitimate child.

"Edward what are you doing here?" I heard Elvis' clearly outrageous voice from behind. I gulped as I stood up on my feet, giving a last look to my father's grave. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I tried to move ahead without having to meet eyes with Elvis. A sigh of relief left my mouth as I successfully managed the escape.

"Wait." I heard him call me.

"Uh- yes?" I said, turning around with my fingers crossed.

"I think its high time you leave, Edward."

"Elvis can we please not talk about this right now?"

"Why, are you scared?"

"Elvis try to understand the gravity of the situation. Father just passed away and-"

"Exactly Edward. Father just passed away. Which means we have no biological connection left with you."

"He would never want this, the separation I mean."

"But he isn't there anymore, Edward."

"I think we should go to mother." I said, avoiding the topic.

Edward left at that, giving me a look as if he was calling me a coward. I didn't hesitate to except that. I was scared of isolation. At one hand I wanted to be alone, away from people and their questions and judgement, while at the other I feared solitude.

I turned around to take a last glance at father's grave and then left the graveyard. Outside stood a Chevrolet, with mother inside it. She was crying, while Elvis was trying to calm her down. I tried to sit beside her, but Elvis didn't let me. Not wanting to create a drama, I sat on the front seat as we drove back home. After stepping in, Elvis started shouting again.

"When are you planning to get out of here, Edward?"

"Elvis, not now."

"I am not going to listen to your 'not nows' for the rest of my life! When are you leaving?"

"Not in front of mom goddamn it." I clinched my teeth and whispered to him. As we both turned to look at her, she was holding her head in her hands and crying.

"I am trying to keep you both together and you- you just want to fight all the time." She cried.

"Why do you want us to be together, huh?" Elvis asked her. "I am sorry mom but every time I see him, I am reminded of how my father cheated on my mother! Doesn't it remind you about it? About how you were cheated, and how he is the repercussion of dad's mistakes?"

"It was not his fault in any way, why don't you understand? You'd know if you had kids Elvis."

"Oh please don't start with that now. You have loved him enough all your life. I just can't stand this illegitimate piece of shit any longer."

"Mind your language Elvis!" She shouted.

"Fine you want me to leave?" I interrupted.

"YES I DO!" Elvis shouted at the top of his lungs. "I CAN'T STAND A GUY WHO HAS AIDS, IN MY HOUSE!"

"I'll leave then." I said as I caught a glance at mom. She was looking at me, her eyes full in tears which were running down her cheeks, pleading me to stay. But I couldn't. I had heard enough, and I didn't want to be insulted anymore. I went towards mother, knelled down where she was sitting, wiped her tears and said, "I can't. I just can't."

That was enough for her to know that I needed freedom. She wasn't my biological mother, but she understood me more than anyone else. Sometimes she pampered me more than her own child, and even though there was a guilt about that in my heart, I felt blessed to have such a woman as my mother.

She stroked my hair and said, "Go, but don't forget me." A last drop of her tear fell on her dress in front of my eyes. Not being able to see them, I stood up and walked towards my room to pack my bags.

Candy's P.O.V.

"Have you lost your mind Lily!?" Anna yelled.

"No I have not, just listen to me once." Lily tried to explain.

"What do I listen to? How could you possibly bring someone here?" Anna told her, taking a glance at me.

"She has a story Anna."

"What story?"

"I found her near the bridge, depressed." Lily explained.

"Depressed?" Anna raised her brow.

"Yes."

"Well . . . then go call Aidan and your boyfriend." A now calm Anna told Lily.

"Bruce is not my boyfriend." Lily defended herself.

"Indeed?" Anna smirked.

Lily didn't reply. Annoyed, she went behind the bushes apparently to the lake which was scarcely visible from where I stood.

"Sit here." Anna told me, pointing to a rock, as she sat on one herself. I did as she said.

"So what's your name?" She asked me.

I cleared my throat and said, "Candice Hemingway."

"Well, that's a beautiful one." She smiled. "I am Anna Williams."

She brought a hand forward, and I shook it. 

Meanwhile, Lily came along with two guys, both of them fair. 

"Well this is my boyfriend, Aidan Blake." Anna introduced me to one of them. 

"Anna I need to talk." Aidan said in a soft tone. 

"Wait Aidan. I know what I'm doing." She told him.

"And this is," Anna came back to me. "Lily's b-"

"Uh- This is my childhood friend Bruce Parker." Lily interrupted her.

Somewhere deep inside I could see Lily blush, and while she was lost in her thoughts I saw a blushing Bruce look at her in the most loving way possible. He looked at her as if she was her world, his teeth biting his lips like he wanted her desperately.

"Well so I'll start with why you're here. But you gotta swear you won't ditch us." Anna told me, as all of the rest sat down on the rocks.

"I have been ditched enough to ditch someone else." I told her. As those words left my mouth, Anna looked at Lily, now believing that I really was depressed.

"Well okay then. Do you know what's the one friend of the depressed?" Anna asked me.

"Uh- Love?" I answered, not prepared for an interview.

"No."

"Well, tears?"

Anna sighed at that. "No baby. Anti-depression tablets."

"What?" I said, confused. "When'd that happen?" 

"Ever since heroin, cocaine, LSD, and marijuana were invented."

I didn't say anything. I just realised where I had stepped. Into a hellhole, with a one way route. These people were into drugs, and an escape was impossible.

"We aren't dangerous or cruel people, don't worry." Bruce said, in the most vivid British accent I had ever heard.

"B-But-"

"Relax, Candice. We all have a story." Anna told me. "You know I was five when I started hating people. My mom and dad were wealthy and successful people. Dad owned a factory, and mom was a journalist. Ever since I was young I went through a detailed phase of the 'how my parents were in the childhood versus how I am in my childhood' series. And after eighteen, when I had to look for money myself, things started to suck. Comparison became shittier and life became a burden. So I left home with Aidan five years back. My brother gives me money sneakily from their house and that's how we manage to buy all these for ourselves. A year after the escape we met Lily and Bruce exactly where you met Lily, standing at that bridge. Lily was almost unconscious from starvation that day. So we approached them, and when we knew their story we decided to have them join us."

"Yeah well, I was super lonely all my life." Lily told me. "I and Bruce had been living in an orphanage when we were little. Just that I was an abandoned kid and Bruce was actually an orphan. I remember we had escaped when we were fifteen, and then we worked in a store until eighteen. Then we started working in a cafe but life was shitty because we didn't get enough money so we left our job and headed here."

"I think Lily's company was what brought me so far. I am not proud of being an addict or something, but life is better without these problems you know." Bruce said.

I turned to look at Aidan, expecting he'd speak his part of the story.

"What?" Aidan said as he noticed. "Don't give me that look, I've got no sad stories. I am here just because I love my Anna." He looked at her.

"Stop lying Aidan." Anna said. 

"He does. We all do." She told me.

There was silence in the atmosphere after that, until Anna put her hand on his leg. He looked at her, took a deep breath, and started. "Well yeah. We all have a story. Mine being the death of my mother. I was ten when she passed away of Cancer. My father became abusive to me since then, so I escaped with Anna."

"Mine is half similar to yours." I told Aidan.

"What is it?" Anna asked.

"Well my mother ran away with a guy a few years ago. My father could not handle the pain, so he started drinking every now and then. Initially things were okay, but then the situation worsened. He started becoming violent towards me. That is exactly why I left my house last night."

"Well that sucks." Lily said.

"Hmm."

"But you know what doesn't?" Anna asked. "Cocaine."

She removed four small packets of powder, obviously Cocaine. 

"Try it." Lily told me. "It'll give you the feeling nothing else can."

"No that's obnoxious." I said.

"Its not obnoxious. It's the fantasy that'll make you escape from the reality. And it's the dream you would want to live." Aidan told me.

"Let's get in the car, we better not consume it here." Bruce said.

"Yeah right." Lily said, as they all stood up.

"I uhm-"

"Just try, Candice." Anna insisted.

"Okay." I said, as I stood up and sat along with them in the car. 

As we reached their apartment, they all started on their doses, as if it were their lunch.

"Here." Lily offered me some. 

I knew I shouldn't be trying it, but I wanted to, so I slowly followed their actions.

Slowly, I took some powder out of the packet, gathered it with a piece of paper and brought my nose near it. 

My heart thumped, as I slowly breathed in.

.

.

.

Heaven . . . had come to take me in it's embrace.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Phew, where do I start? Firstly, the amount of people I have killed in this story, God forgive me for my sins 💀

Secondly, I MISS JOHN AND ASH ALREADYYYYYYYYY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I MISS WRITING THEIR POVs 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

But I'll manage 🤧🤧🤧 Because I love my Ed and Candy as well, and I'm sure you'll love them too. 💞

Also, does any of you remember the part where Aidan spoke his story? It was one of Ash's flashbacks :D

Anywho, I need some help from y'all. Now that there is drug-usage in this book, I think I should rate this book mature. But the fact that only this and one more chapter has drugs in it, I feel confused as to what I should do. My book has no other mature content, and rating this as mature might lead to loss of readers 💀 So do I just mention "Slight drug usage" or something like that in the description, rate this mature or leave it be?

TPWK.
Vreha x