"Welcome home, sweetheart."

Stepping through the front door, Kelsey timidly peeked through her lashes at the familiarity of her parent's house, everything still the same as she remembered.

Nothing was touched; the white leather couches still placed in the shape of an L facing the television screen perched on the white painted mantel to match evenly with the beige walls. Same rosewood coffee table decorated with the daily newspaper and remote control on top.

It was almost surreal to her as if she were stepping foot in a time warp and she was sixteen all over again. Same brown eyes peeking innocently through the lashes decorating her cheeks every time she blinked, her hair sprawled over her shoulders in waves, converses adorning her feet, and a t-shirt hugging her body - yet her mind was torn, the insides of her chest caved in and crushing her heart until her emotions were spilling from the seams.

"Kelsey Anne!" My mother shouted from behind but I didn't give a shit right now. She could rot in hell for all I care. Slipping the key I always held with me in case of emergencies inside the door, I twisted it, pushing the door open before stomping inside.

"Don't you dare slam the car door shut like that again young lady!" My dad yelled as he entered shortly after me.

I rolled my eyes, wiping feverishly at my face to remove the tears. "I don't care!"

"Don't disrespect your father like that Kelsey!" My mom shouted her face red in anger. "You have no right!"

"I have every right!" I screamed, letting my frustrations get the best of me. "It's because of you guys that I lost the one person that meant everything to me!"

"He's a god forsaken criminal Kelsey!" My dad yelled, his eyes wide in horror. "How can you stand there and still be fussing over that boy? He did nothing but bring danger into your life!"

"Kelsey--" James took a step forward upon realizing Kelsey had frozen in a trance, her eyes glazed over as she stared off into space.

"You don't know him like I do!" I spat harshly. "You know nothing about him!"

"I gave him the chance to get to know him tonight and all he did was showed me how he spends his free time—waving that gun around like he has authority to it!"

"He was protecting me!"

"He nearly got you killed Kelsey!" He shook his head, staring at me with a pure look of perplexity. "He's got you brainwashed into thinking he's protecting you! People like that only acre about one thing—protecting them! Don't you see what this whole charade tonight was about? It wasn't about protecting you! It was about having an excuse to not have him taken to jail where he deserves to rot!"

"This just proves my point all along. You truly know shit about him or his life." I hissed disgustingly.

"Look at you, using profanities left and right. You may not be able to see it but as your mother, I do. You've changed. You're so caught up in this fantasy world of your so called boyfriend that you can't see what it's doing to you on the outside." My mom stated confidently, as if she knew what the fuck she was talking about.

I rolled my eyes. "I love him and he loves me—"

"You don't know what love is!" My dad barked, outrageous.

"I do because Justin showed me it." I mumbled, shaking my head. "Love is where you give your all to make them smile. Love is when you'll do anything just to make sure they're happy. Love is when you do the simplest things just to spend some time with your partner. Love is where you'll risk everything just to be with them and that is what Justin did for me. He risked his life for me numerous times. He could've left me a long time ago but he didn't."

"You just met this boy and you already seem to think you know everything about him." My dad retorted distastefully.

"Speak for yourself." I countered in a sneer. "I've known him far longer than any of you but it's funny how he knows and understands me more than my own family does."

"He's filth." He spat.

The anger bolted inside of me, shooting upright and before I could even stop myself, I let the words spill from my mouth. "You think you're so much better than everyone else but newsflash dad, you're not!"

A slap echoed around the house and I gasped, feeling my left cheek burning from the sudden actions that came from my raging father. Looking up at him, tears of hurt engulfed my eyes, blurring my vision. Cupping my cheek, I took a step back.

"Kelsey—"

"Don't." I hissed.

"Kelsey..."

"Don't come near me." I whimpered, not being able to process the fact that my own father laid a hand on me.

"Don't touch me!" Jerking from the touch of her father's hand on her shoulder, Kelsey turned to face him, having not realized she was crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm..." Looking around the room, she tucked her hair behind her ear, wondering how she got here.

She swore she'd never let anything get between them, and now here she was, back to where it all started.

The sneaking, the lying, the pain, and the wishful thinking that she could survive the brutality that her life had thrown upon her since birth.

Kelsey grew up being told that what she said was viewed by others in scrutiny and that she was a young lady and they were to abide by the rules of her elders. She was told to keep her opinions to herself and bite her tongue when things didn't go her way. She was thankful for the life she was given, but at times, she felt suffocated as if someone held her by the neck and refused to let her breathe.

"I'm going to go upstairs," she muttered, rolling her suitcase over to the stairs before carrying it up the rest of the way.

Stepping to run after her, Maria stopped James from doing so, shaking her head, "just let her be, honey."

"She needs us," he countered quietly, his eyes glancing up at the stairs Kelsey had just disappeared from.

"Kelsey needs time to process this," Maria whispered, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder, "she expected to be back with Justin, and being here is a setback. She's been through hell James just let her get settled in first."

"I told you that son of a bitch would ruin our daughter," he hissed in disapproval, "he's been dangerous from the start to not only her but himself. He's a time ticking bomb, Maria, and it was only a matter of time before he blew up and took everyone down with him."

"James-"

"He almost killed himself. What if Kelsey would have been in that house with him?" he inquired sharply.

She immediately shook her head, "he would never hurt her."

"How do you know that? You seem to think you have him mapped out sweetheart, but really, no one knows him but our own daughter, and look at how that turned out."

Looking up towards the stairs in fear that Kelsey would come down and overhear their conversation, she grabbed onto her husband's arm before pulling him further down the hallway. "He's in trouble, James."

---

Everything has changed. Nothing is the same. Nothing will ever be the same.

It all continuously flowed in and out of her canals as Kelsey stood in the middle of her decrepit bedroom, wondering how she went from the innocent little girl hidden from the world's cruelty to being thrusted upon it at first glance.

None of this was supposed to happen.

All she wanted was to escape the world for a moment, embrace what she had claimed at a young age, and dwell in the chaotic occasion of cold beverages, audio erratically playing from inside the cars surrounding the perimeter and casual movements from her peers. She wanted to wake up the next morning with a migraine and find herself releasing the contents of her stomach into the bowl in which she would have kept beside her bed in moment's notice.

Never had she ever expected to wake up in the bed of someone she had never encountered before in her life, taken into the world of violence, disheartening nature, and rancor.

A blessing and a curse, and yet, in the midst of all the drama, she found herself reaching for the sanity she had bottled deep inside the roots of her intuition. She wanted it all to stop in order for her to keep her head from spinning off the top of her shoulders, but the more she tried, the more it became out of reach.

It made her sick to her stomach realizing that things just weren't in her favor anymore, not that they have been, but for the sake of it all, she would say a good portion of the time things have fallen into luck's side.

Not this time.

"I'm really not in the mood for this, mom." Kelsey sighed through her nose, her lips parted as her tongue flicked across the dryness, wanting nothing more than to turn around and go to sleep. "Can you just shut off the tv? I wanna take a nap."

"Sure, babygirl," smiling small, she leaned over to press a soft kiss to her temple before rising from her seat and grabbing the remote in order to do as she was asked.

We are outside the Bieber residence--

Snapping her head up, Kelsey immediately sat up in bed, "turn up the volume."

Officers say Bieber was inside his home late last night when the entire place had erupted into flames. Bystanders say things seemed to be okay, but before they knew it, a fire had started in the midst of the night. Some believe it was a careless mistake, others are beginning to think the young man had asked for a death wish. The fire department had arrived several minutes after the explosion and are now searching for any remains, but have come up with nothing."

Breath hitching in her throat, Kelsey immediately felt lightheaded. Water. She needed water.

Latching onto the cup as soon as her mother registered the idea, she nearly gulped the entire thing down before reaching over and dialing a number she knew off hand.

No answer.

Trying it once more, she was determined to get a hold of them, always too stubborn to quit.

"Hello?"

"Please tell me it isn't true," she rushed, her voice small, but the person on the other line didn't have to question who it was. No. Of course they already knew.

"I can't."

Silence.

Tears whelmed up in her eyes and for the first time since arriving there, she allowed them to smear across her cheeks in front of another, her bottom lip quivering with the idea that Justin had tried to kill himself. "Why?"

"You know why."

"John," she gaped, her heart swooping low, constricting violently in the midst of her chest, "tell me he's not dead."

"Sometimes I think he wishes he was," he murmured quietly as if speaking in secret and maybe he was. No one knew he kept tabs on the younger girl while everyone else tried to make sense of everything.

"I wasn't there."

"You didn't have to be."

She didn't have to be. Oh how the words should have eased the pain, but nothing, no matter what was said or done, could take it away.

It hurt. The truth hurt.

He wouldn't allow her near him and it pained her even more that he refused to get help. He needed her. He needed a guide to get better, but instead of finding it, he searched elsewhere to release it.

Big mistake.

She tried getting through to him, God, she did. She begged and pleaded, dropped to her knees and willed him to listen to her, but he wouldn't dare do so.

He couldn't.

Not when his heart was shielded for years.

The wall was back up, it kept him locked away, and hid the part of him no one ever got the privilege of holding--except her.

She was a special one. Their love was one for the books, and she hoped, somewhere down the line, that she could find their happy ending.

---

"What the fuck are you doing?" Bruce barked as he stepped foot into the hospital room, setting some papers down before immediately pushing Justin to lay back down.

Growling in anger, Justin shoved his hand away, "I'm trying to stand. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Yeah well you shouldn't be," he snapped. "Cut the fucking attitude too. You're not sixteen years old with your first cut. You know how this works."

"I also know I have to get the fuck out of here already."

"Trust me, we want you out. We know how much you hate hospitals, but if you're going to keep pulling shit like this, you're never going to go home."

"The more time I spend in here, the more time it gives the Snipers leverage to get a stand on my city."

"The Snipers already made their move, the moment you set that house on fire. You gave them everything and they took it all and more."

Sneering, he looked away.

"But that doesn't mean we can't gain it back."

Raising an eyebrow, Justin turned to look at him in question, watching as Bruce sighed before turning back around and grabbing the papers he set down prior.

"I shouldn't be doing this with you still in here, but if this helps us and helps you stay put, then..." taking a seat, he opened the file. "Prince came by, talked to me about word on the street and the Snipers moved in pretty quick. They got about every dealer, going in and out of Stratford to bring back more from New York. They keep growing their contacts and it's not looking good for us."

"Careful Bruce, I was starting to think we were getting good news," Justin drawled in sarcasm as he rolled his eyes to cast his attention elsewhere.

"He also told me that people are looking for retaliation and not against us," he continued despite Justin's obvious displeasure. "They want in and they'll stop at nothing until the Snipers are gone."

"What are you talking about?"

"They want to join us, to bring the Snipers down."

"Who's they?"

"Me," stepping inside, Andrew closed the door behind him.

---

Fingers gracing the soft texture of her comforter, Kelsey felt a tug pull at the core of her insides, the dwelling sensation that she would have to settle in her old life dawning tremendously over the female.

How could she resort back to the past when she had moved on so long ago? It just didn't make any sense to the brunette. She had wished to be on her own, away from her parents, and the countless nagging and push to be perfect, but ever since the accident, they refused to let her out of their sight.

In their own words, she would be kept until they felt she would be safe again without them, not that she ever was according to her father, but they had made a deal, and it meant something to her.

It gave her time to think, but most of all, it gave her time to get back the things she had lost--her life; the part of it she actually enjoyed, and for that she would be grateful, but only for a little while because she didn't have to worry about getting shot as soon as she walked out the door, or suffer due to the strangers she would magically bump into. She could wake and take a deep, longing breath, and reach over... nothing.

She would have no one to turn to, no one to hold her, and no one to guide her, and suddenly she felt sick all over again.

Quietly opening the door, Kelsey bit her lip, glancing behind her to make sure no one else was around before walking all the way in and closing the door behind her.

Looking over, she could feel her heart skip a beat at the sight of him lying there, peaceful almost, like nothing and no one could touch him. She wanted to be the one to do that. She once did. The thought alone pained her.

Being in the same room as him shouldn't have been difficult. She should have been here since the start, holding his hand and assuring him that everything was going to be okay and that he had to come back to her like he had so many times before.

Sighing, Kelsey built up enough courage to walk over to him, almost fearful of him to wake up but nonetheless she's reaching over, desperate to feel the warmth of his skin against her own.

All memories flash in her head of the times spent together, all the love they shared, torn apart by one night of pain.

They stuck with pain, they loved through the pain, and now the pain was taking over. It was destroying them inside out.

Fingers gently feathering across the hollowness of his cheeks, Kelsey exhaled sharply, fighting the urge to collapse on top of him. "Why would you try to leave me?"

Shaking her head, she grasped his hand with both of her own, squeezing it gently, "I need you."

Snapping her head up, seeing him shift, Kelsey held her breath in that moment, too afraid to move. Watching as he fluttered his eyes open, she pressed her lips together, palm caressing his cheek once more, "hey baby."

Blinking past the sleep crusts practically having sewn his eyelids together, Justin groaned, his entire body aching upon the amount of rubble that had fallen on him during the fire. He felt at ease for just a moment at the touch of her hand before realization dawned upon him, shaking his head. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you."

Shaking his head again, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist, pulling her hand away from him, "don't."

"What?"

"You need to go," he croaked, his throat feeling as if it were on fire and the image of her in the room brought a comfort he knew he shouldn't be feeling, especially if he wanted her safe.

"Justin—"

"This doesn't change anything, alright?"

"You need me."

"I don't need anything."

"There is no reason for you to be like this. I'm not the one hurt here, alright? That's you. Let me take care of you, you don't have to worry about me anymore."

"That's the thing!" a sudden anger rose inside him. "Not even a week ago you were in a hospital room nearly beaten to death because of me. I'm not going to let that happen again."

"Is that why you nearly killed yourself?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The house didn't just catch on fire itself, Justin. You need help, let me help you."

"You want to help me?" he spat, "then get the hell out."

"Hey, Justin." Prince stepped inside, his head down as he fumbled through a few papers, closing the door back behind him. "I got a few things in today I thought you might want to check out—"

"God, Justin and I don't care about whatever crisis you guys are having at this hour! It's not important!"

Silence.

"Actually," Justin interrupted, lifting his head to gaze at her. "I care."

There's a long pause as Prince steps over to the side, his eyes traveling from both parties, unsure of what to say or do. He knew it wasn't his place to interfere, and so he stood there, wondering if this is what it felt like to be in love.

Looking over at him, taken back by his reaction, Kelsey took a moment to herself as she chewed on her bottom lip, wry laughter parting past her lips. "You can say you didn't mean that," she negotiated and when Justin didn't say anything, she laughed. Sincere, genuine laughter that bled with despair.

Nodding her head, she inhaled deeply, "alright. I tried, God, I tried to get through to you. And I cried and I begged and I'm not going to make this easy for you anymore, so this is your last chance to make sure because if I walk out that door..." she paused, swallowing. "I'm never coming back."

She prayed to God he would make amends, realize he was making a huge mistake and take her back. She needed him as much as he needed her and he knew that too, deep down inside, she could feel it. He loved her, he always would, and damn it, she loved him too.

However it was apparent things would never be the same again for the two of them, the constant battle he faced one she felt inside her chest. They were at odds with one another, unable to deal with the truth— they were falling apart.

"Say it to my face— tell me to go and I'm out."

"Go," he murmured.

Tears surfacing, Kelsey pulled her bottom lip into her mouth as she allowed herself to break in front of him, the last she ever would.

Anger settled in the pit of her stomach, having been through this one too many times.

"You once said that you wish that I hated you, that hating you would make this so much easier for me. Well guess what? — I hate you. You are going to regret tossing us aside like garbage." Wiping her cheeks, she choked on a sob as she turned, walking out the door and making sure to slam it behind her.

"Can I come in?"

Looking up to see her mother standing in the doorway, peeking her head in through the small space she provided herself, Kelsey nodded.

Flashing a small smile, she stepped inside before closing it behind her, leaving the two in much needed privacy.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"You've been saying that every day since--"

"Since what?" Kelsey pressed on, challenging her mother to see if she'd actually have the guts to say it out loud.

"Since... everything's happened," she said quietly. "I'm just worried about you."

"Well, don't be. He's out of my life and I'm trying to move past it. At my own pace. You and dad keep forcing me to be alright with all of this and I'm not. I'm never going to be okay and you're just going to have to accept it." Sitting up now, she laughed sarcastically to herself as her eyes roamed the perimeter of her bedroom, "I mean, this bedroom, all these memories... they're driving me up a wall. I feel like no matter what I do, I can't escape him."

Sporting a knowing look, Maria didn't hesitate to take a few step closer, "honey..."

"No," she forced through numb lips as tears blurred her vision once more. "It's not fair, this is not fair. We were supposed to be planning things, our wedding, and our life together, and now... I can't even see him. He can't even look at me without blaming himself and I'm just so tired..." she sobbed. "I'm so tired."

Wrapping her arms around her daughter's waist as soon as she dropped down beside her on the bed, Maria pulled her flush against her chest, allowing her to deal with her emotions however she saw fit.

"Love is a painful yet powerful thing," she murmured quietly.

"Love sucks," Kelsey whispered as tears sunk into the material of her shirt.

"I know," she murmured quietly, "I know, sweetheart."

It didn't take long for Kelsey to fall asleep in her mother's arms, her breathing calming as memories haunted her dreams. Tucking her in, Maria watched as she cuddled into her pillow, fingers digging into the material of her sheets, almost afraid of the things going on through her head.

"Get me out of here," Kelsey rushed, pulling on the cords as she tried to make out of the bed before her mother pushed her back down. "I need to see him."

"Not now, give it a few seconds. Kelsey, you're still recovering."

"I don't care!" she exclaimed, pulling away from her as she sat back up on the bed. "Did you not just see that? I have to see if he's okay, I have to see for myself. I need to talk to him."

"Baby-"

"No," she spat, having had enough of everyone making decisions around her. She was grown, she was old enough to decide what she wanted and nothing anyone said or did was going to change that. "I am tired of everyone telling me what I can't or cannot do, what I should or shouldn't do, what's right or wrong. I am going to see him whether you like it or not."

Sighing, her mother nodded after a few moments, helping her stand to her feet. "At least let me walk you over to make sure you're safe."

Kelsey didn't say a word as she began making her way towards the door.

Passing through the crowd, Kelsey grunted as a gentleman stumbled backwards into her shoulder before pushing past him and towards the room. They were all there.

"How is he?"

Silence followed as John took a step forwards out of the guys, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. He had ashes all over him like he had been the one in the fire. Kelsey's heart stopped.

"How is he?" she repeated, taking in his appearance with a look of anguish coated on her features. She was desperate and she knew it, but at this point, there was nothing she wouldn't do.

"It's not a good idea."

"John," she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "I need to see him."

"It's just not the time right now. He just got admitted, they're still checking on him. We're not even allowed in yet. Give it a day or two, please. That's all I'm asking for."

"I waited long enough—"

"So you can wait a little bit more," Bruce interrupted, his gaze hard though soft enough to allow Kelsey to know he meant well.

Pressing her lips together, Kelsey shook her head before scoffing as tears threatened to surface. "This is not fair. A couple of months ago, none of you guys would have stopped me from walking into that room. Now all of a sudden, I'm a risk?" She paused, "why do things have to change just because Justin believes this is what's best for me?"

"Because he put himself in this position for a reason, Kelsey. He was hoping to go out with the flames, not survive them."

"He wouldn't leave me."

"Maybe not but sometimes people in this life think there's only one way out."

s-yk