⌜ chapter twenty-three ⌟

"Scarlett?" Turner gets her attention as she walks through the hallway, and she turns to him instead of going to her locker.

"Yes, Mr. Teacher, sir?"

"Stop calling me that." He says, and she chuckles.

"Sorry. What's up, Jon?" She asks as she adjusts her English textbook and her notebook in her arms. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm worried about Shawn." He tells her, and her expression falls. "He's not applying himself in his work, and I'm not sure he has any idea what he's gonna do after high school."

"Well, he still has another year. I mean, I'm going on a little over a month left, and I'm still figuring out what I'm gonna do."

"Yeah, I know. But you're putting together a portfolio, right? You plan on trying to get into school for your photography?" He asks, and she nods. "I just think that Shawn could use a little more help. Nobody knows him like you do."

"Well, I'm always here for him." Letty says. "I'll talk to him." She tells him, and he nods.

After school, Letty's doing homework at her house, and there's a knock at the front door. Alec goes to answer it, and Cory bursts in yelling that he needs to talk to Scarlett.

"Scar, your little brother's wacked out friend wants to see you." The older boy says as he walks into the kitchen.

"What's up, Cor?" Letty asks as she turns in her seat to look at him.

"I-I don't know how to tell you this." Cory says as he looks between the siblings that are on opposite ends of the island counter that separates the kitchen from the living room.

"Well, you can start by spitting it out."

"Shawn joined a cult." He tells them, Letty sits up straight as she looks at him, then she turns to her older brother.

After talking some more to Cory, Letty goes to tell Turner everything that she just learned. He asks her to let him talk to Shawn first, and she agrees, not knowing what she would say to her brother in this situation anyway. This is definitely way out of her area of expertise.

The next day, the brunette walks up outside of Turner's classroom and she hears his conversation with her younger brother. "Okay. Why do you feel you need to be a part of this place, Shawn?" Their teacher asks.

"Okay." Shawn nods. "All my life, I have felt like there was some part of me missing, and- and I felt like everybody could tell. You know, like there was some hole in me, and everyone could see right through it. Like I wasn't finished or something." He tells him, and Turner stands up.

"I never saw that, Shawn. I mean, if you would've just told me, I could've done something about it."

"Let's not dwell on what people did or did not do for me."

"Yes, Shawn, let's dwell on that." He argues. "That's what makes you a person — how you relate to the people who really care about you."

"But the Centre is filled with people who care about me. And who make me feel like a person." Shawn tries to hug him, but he puts his hand on his shoulder and stops him. This hugging thing is something he learned at the Centre from these people who are filling his head with nonsense.

"The Centre is filled with lost souls who have no belief system, who are targets for some guy to bring over to his way of thinking." Turner places both of his hands on his shoulders as he looks down at him. "The Shawn Hunter that I know...is one of the most unique individuals I've ever met. And if you let this place take away who you really are, Shawn...then you've made the worst judgment you could make. You made the judgment." He tells him.

"I don't know who I am, Jon." He starts past him.

"Shawn." Letty reaches her hand out toward him, but he shoves past her. "Shawn!"

"Scarlett..." Turner walks over and rests his hand on her shoulder, knowing how worried she is about the younger boy.

"Everything that he said...about feeling like he wasn't a finished person, like he had a hole that people could see through..." She turns and looks at him. "He could've been describing me. How could I not see that he was hurting just as I was?"

"For the same reason that I couldn't." He says as she wipes tears from her cheeks.

"I am not going to let that brainwashing sociopath hurt him more. Shawn is my little brother, he is my family." She clenches her teeth. "And he is not joining a cult."

"Scarlett." Turner grabs her arm before she can walk away from him. "We are going to figure this out, okay? I promise."

"I'm supposed to protect him." She chokes back a sob, and he pulls her to him, wrapping his arms around the young girl that he thinks of as a daughter as she tries to regain her composure.

—

"You know, guys, I'm his best friend, and it's like he doesn't hear me anymore." Cory says as he walks over to his parents and Feeny in their backyards. "Okay. I mean, why does he have so much faith in this Centre?"

"Because that's what people like this Mr. Mack do." Letty makes her way over to them. "They prey on kids who think they're going nowhere fast, and they make them think that they're the only ones who can help them."

"Have you talked to Shawn?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"I can't get near him. Every time I try, that little...girl..." She clenches her teeth as she looks down; that wasn't what she was going to call her, but she restrained herself.

"Sherri." Cory nods. "She's always with him, and every time I try to talk to him, she walks over and puts her hand on his shoulder and says that they need to be going now."

"Alright, let's get in the car, go down, and drag him out ourselves." Mr. Matthews says.

"I'm going with you." Mr. Feeny tells them as he opens the gate. "I'm well-acquainted with the Centre. I've been trying to close it down for some time now. This Mr. Mack is a frightening man."

They hear footsteps approaching and all turn to see Shawn and Eric walking over to the five of them. "Hello, Mr. Feeny. Cory. Scarlett. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews." The younger boy greets as Eric walks over to his girlfriend.

"He wants to go back to them. This is the best that I could do." Eric whispers as he rests his hands on Letty's waist and kisses the side of her head.

"Shawn, are you alright?" Mrs. Matthews asks as she takes a few steps toward him.

"Of course I am. I'm totally centered." He says, and Letty grinds her teeth. "Eric said that you wanted to talk to me." He looks at his sister.

"I've been trying to talk to you for days." She says, and he nods. "What's so different about now?"

"Mr. Mack wanted Eric out of the Centre."

"Oh, he did, did he?" She nods. "Never mind that your sister has been trying to talk to you, that I have been worried. Mr. Mack wanted Eric out."

"Yeah."

She takes a deep breath as she tries to stay calm. "I went down to the trailer park this afternoon to see your parents, ran into Eddie instead. He told me that they're out of town again. That makes you my responsibility, and therefore, you're staying with me and Alec." She says. "You are not going back to the Centre."

"Your family's here, kid." Alec says as he walks over with Tyler and Reggie. "Not with some creepy old man and the children that he's brainwashed."

"Mr. Mack told me that people like you would try to talk me out of my beliefs." Shawn says as he looks around at the people in the backyard.

"Shawn, we love you." Mrs. Matthews tells him.

"He said you'd say that."

"Alright, fine, that's enough." Mr. Matthews interjects. "Get him in the house and tie him up."

"Shawn, these aren't beliefs." Mr. Feeny gains his attention. "This is just a way to escape a life that doesn't have beliefs."

"That's a judgment." Shawn says accusingly.

"You're damn right it is."

"What's wrong with me trying to find something to believe in?"

"Look, Shawn, I'm all for your search for spirituality, okay?" Feeny tells him. "But you don't seem to realize that Mr. Mack is conducting his own research...for lost souls that he can influence and manipulate."

"He said you'd say that." Shawn says, and he nods.

"Yes. I'm sure that he has given you a thought for every occasion." He says, and then his phone inside starts ringing. "Excuse me." He turns to go inside.

"Not this one." Letty walks over, and Shawn looks at her. "We were in the bookstore, and you were hounding me to tell you what I thought about that game show. I told you that I didn't want to hurt your feelings. And do you remember why I said I didn't want to hurt you?" She asks, and he looks down. "Why, Shawn?"

"You said it was because you love me." He says, and she nods.

"And you made a comment about how I'd never said that to you before. I know that I just brushed it off like it was no big deal, but that's because I don't do this well. I never have, and maybe that's part of the problem now... But it was a huge deal for me, because I haven't said that to anyone in thirteen years. Before I said it you, the first and last time that I ever said it was to my mom." She tells him, and he looks back up at her. "I love you, Shawn. You're my family, and this is what's real. Not Mr. Mack and the Centre. He doesn't care about you."

Mr. Feeny rushes back out his backdoor, gaining everyone's attention, and he puts his hand over his mouth, trying to process whatever news he just got. "George, what is it?" Mr. Matthews asks.

"Uh, Jonathan Turner... He's been in a motorcycle accident." He tells them, and Letty looks back at her younger brother.

"Oh, no." Mrs. Matthews mutters.

"Is he okay?" Cory asks.

"Uh, no, he isn't." Feeny says. "Alan, would you give me a lift down to the hospital?"

"We'll all go." Mrs. Matthews says, and everyone turns to leave.

The only one who doesn't turn is Letty, who's still looking at her brother. She takes a step toward him. "Shawn?"

"I'll meet you guys there." He says, and Cory turns back to them.

"What do you mean?" He questions.

"I'll meet you guys there." He turns and walks in the opposite direction.

"Come on." Letty says as she turns to Cory, and they follow after the others.

They get to the hospital, and everyone sits in the waiting room for more news. Letty's pacing back and forth until Eric reaches out and grabs her hand, and she looks down at him. The brunette takes a deep breath and then sits sideways in his lap. It's not the most comfortable position, but that's not the kind of comfort that she needs right now.

Topanga suddenly walks past the couple and sits on the table between them and her boyfriend. "How's Mr. Turner?" She asks him.

"The doctors are with him. We're waiting to hear." He tells her, and she nods as she looks around the room.

"Where's Shawn?" She asks, and he shakes his head.

"I have no clue."

"Well, Mr. Turner and Shawn are like brothers. How could he not be here?"

"I don't know." He says.

Topanga looks over at Letty, about to ask her what's going on with her brother, but she thinks better of it as soon as she sees her. The older girls' eyes are closed as her temple rests against her boyfriend's forehead, and his arms are circled around her. Her fingers are clenched in tight fists around the sleeve of Eric's sweater as he rubs her leg.

"Shawn." Cory's voice makes Letty look up in search of her brother. "Mr. Mack." And then she's on her feet.

"Shawn thought I could be of some help." The man says.

"And I think you need to stay the hell away from my little brother." Letty says, now standing between him and Shawn, and the older man looks at her as Eric stands as well, keeping his hand on her arm.

"You must be Scarlett. Hello, I'm Philip Mack."

"I don't give a shit if you're the pope. Get lost."

"One of my children invited me here, and as always, I'm here for him. As well as any other child who calls for me." He tells her.

"That sounds a little too...pedophilic to me. You touch my brother, and I will kill you." Letty says, and Alec, Reggie, and Tyler all get to their feet as well. Mr. Mack looks at the three men who aren't standing too far away, and he knows that their intent is to back anything that she says.

"Scarlett—"

"You wanna talk about always?" She turns to Shawn. "Who was there for you when you dropped a cherry bomb in a mailbox? Who gave your share of the money when you couldn't afford five bucks to go toward Feeny's Christmas gift? Who found you a place to stay when your parents bolted? Who opened up their homes to you when you had nowhere to go? Who annoyed a cult leader until you needed to chaperone him out?" She questions. "Sure as hell wasn't Mr. Mack."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Shawn argues. "The people at the Centre care about me. They love me."

"Love?" She echoes. "What they're doing isn't love... You keep talking about judgment. That girl who introduced you to Mr. Mack — she made the absolute worst judgment of you that anyone ever has. She saw you, and she judged that you were alone and lost, and that that made you easily manipulatable."

"No—" He starts, but Mr. Mack's voice catches his attention.

"I just want you to know that I forgive you for trying to shut us down." He tells Mr. Feeny and then walks past him.

"You forgive me?" Feeny questions as he stands up and turns to face him.

"Whoa, easy, George." Mr. Matthews stops him from advancing. "Come on, he's just trying to get a rise out of you."

"What they're filling your head with isn't love, Shawn." Letty continues, and she looks back at her brother. "It's conditioning, it's abuse. And I will be damned before I'll let this sick son of a bitch victimize you."

"Look, you're not dealing with gullible little kids here now, buddy." Mr. Matthews says, talking to Mack, and he regains everyone's attention. "Now, you brought Shawn down. Thanks. Now, why don't you just take a hike back to Conland?" He starts to turn away from him.

"Now, do you see how judgmental these people are—" Mack's interrupted when Mr. Matthews shoves him against the wall, cutting him off so that he can't say another word to Shawn.

"No. No, listen, you see." He's furious as he looks at him. "The judgment that I made a long time ago is that Shawn Hunter is the best friend that my kid ever had, and I will kill to protect Shawn Hunter from people like you."

Mrs. Matthews puts her hands on her husband's arms. "Alan, he would love a lawsuit." She tells him.

Mack straightens his jacket as he pushes his back off the wall and looks around. "I think there's a lot of anger here." He says as he walks around Mr. Matthews, putting his back to the kids. "And I don't feel that this is a healthy environment for Shawn."

Letty turns to her younger brother and his friends. "Turner's room. Go." She whispers, and Cory pulls his arm. Shawn turns then and he, Cory, and Topanga leave the waiting room.

"Well, I really don't—"

"Look, I know you don't respect my philosophy," Mack cuts off Mr. Feeny. "But for kids who feel lost and have an emptiness in their lives, I'm here...to give them a sense of belonging."

"You can't have Shawn!" Mr. Feeny tells him.

"That's up to Shawn." He argues. "And in any event, there are many more just like him."

"You son of a bitch." Letty shakes her head, and Eric rubs her arm as his other hand settles on the small of her back.

"So, come on, Shawn, let's go." Mack turns and sees that he's gone. "Shawn?"

"Scarlett?" Alec gets his sister's attention, not taking his eyes off of Mack.

"Oh, he's all yours." She tells him, and her older brother crosses the waiting room to get to him.

Cory and Topanga walk out of Turner's room, and Letty moves past them to go inside. She closes the door behind her, and Shawn looks over to see who came in. "Hey, kid. Can we talk for a minute, no yelling?" She asks.

"I don't really know what I'm supposed to say." He says, and she shrugs.

"I get by alright without having much of a clue, but there was something that everyone was talking about that I wanted to touch on." She says, and he nods. "They kept talking about beliefs and all that, and I... I've given it some thought in the past myself, and I made a decision for myself on that front, but... What you told Jon about feeling like you had a hole in you — I felt like that too for most of my life." She tells him.

"You did?" He asks, clearly surprised, and she nods.

"Yeah. It's why Eric and I broke up, why I let you push me away when I should've fought for you that much harder." She sighs. "What I've been doing since the day that Alec came back, since the day that I moved in with the Matthews... I've been filling that hole. I've forgiven Alec for leaving, and I forgave Danny for hurting me, and I let go of my anger at my mother for abandoning me. I let myself feel the scariest emotion that I know — love. And little by little, I've gained these pieces that have filled that hole. It hasn't been easy, but it's possible."

"So, what do you believe in?"

"I believe in what I can see."

"You can't see love."

"You can if you know where to look." She says, and his eyebrows furrow. "Shawn, I don't yell at you 'cause it's fun. I do it because I care about you and about your future. Jon calls me into his classroom when he has a concern about you because he's paid enough attention to see what you and I mean to each other. Whenever anything in Cory's life...just happens — good, bad, or he breathes — he has to tell his best friend all about it. When Topanga was too afraid to tell Cory that she was moving, she went to the next person she trusted the most. Eric spent the day annoying a cult leader to get you out of there and back to your family. Mr. Feeny forces knowledge into that thick skull so that you'll be better off in the future. Jon opened his home to you when he had no reason to — we were just two kids who showed up on his doorstep, and he decided he wouldn't let us be alone. Mrs. Matthews treats you like her own son. Mr. Matthews just threatened to kill a man to protect you. And I have no idea what Alec's doing right now, but I know that when you and I walk out that door, Mr. Mack will be gone. That...is love, Shawn."

"If we walk out that door right now, and Mr. Mack is gone, I'll listen to everything that you say for the rest of my life." He tells her, and she chuckles.

"No, you won't. But if he's gone, you come and stay with me and the guys until your parents are back. How's that sound?"

"You're willing to bet that much on Alec?" He asks, and she nods.

"Yeah, I am."

"Then let's see." Shawn says, and they walk out of Mr. Turner's room.

"Well?" Cory asks as they all stand up, and his best friend looks around.

"Where's Mr. Mack?" He asks, and Reggie and Tyler both start laughing from where they're sitting in the waiting room.

"Probably getting a clean pair of underwear." Reggie tells him, and Letty looks over at Alec.

"He's gone?" She asks.

"For good." The older boy tells her, and she looks back at Shawn.

"How did you know that Alec could get rid of him when Feeny and Mr. Matthews couldn't?"

"Well, because taking care of the children is our job." She tells him.

"That's what Dean used to say." He says, and she nods. "My friends and I aren't scary. We just don't scare easy because we know what scary looks like." He repeats her words back to her.

"I wouldn't let you join a gang, I won't let you join a cult." Letty says. "This is where you belong, with people who love you no matter who you are. Not with some sleazy cult leader who wanted to brainwash you and take advantage of so many children... It's okay to feel lost, Shawn, everyone does at one point or another. That's how we find ourselves."

"How can you be sure?"

She smiles. "Well, in the words of the man who threatened to kill to protect you — love is faith, and I have a lot of both when it comes to you." She tells him. "I believe in what I can see, and if you let me, I'll help you find what you believe in."

"I can stay with you and Alec until my parents are back?" He asks, and she nods.

"There will always be room for you with me."

"The more, the merrier!" Reggie yells.

"And by that, he means — someone else I get to drive nuts." His older brother says, and Letty laughs as she looks at the Price brothers.

"Can I have a few more minutes alone in Turner's room?" Shawn asks as he looks back at his sister, and she nods.

"'Course." She offers him a small smile and then heads back into the room.

Letty takes a deep breath and then walks over to Eric. He wraps his arms around her shoulders as her arms wind around his torso, and he presses a kiss to her forehead. She closes her eyes as she leans into him, now letting herself worry more about Turner than she was before.

"You learned that from Dean? As in Winchester?" Reggie asks, and Letty nods as she looks over at him.

"I learned most of what I know about being the older sibling from watching Dean and Miller, and the way that they raised Sam." The brunette tells him. "Which probably explains why it's borderline unhealthy sometimes."

"Yeah... You older siblings do tend to take on more responsibility than you should have to." He says as he looks over at Tyler.

"Well, someone had to keep you from setting yourself on fire when we were kids." His own older brother muses, and he gets laughs from most of the others, but something about Reggie's expression seems odd to Letty. Not that she'll question him on it in front of everyone else.

"I have a favor to ask from the older siblings of this incredibly unhealthy set-up that we've got going on here." The brunette says, earning her brother's and his best friends' attention.

"And what can we do for the squirt?" Reggie asks.

"Shut it down."

"Oh, I'm way ahead of you." Tyler tells her. "Shawn was one teenage runaway hiding out with the creep. I'm sure he wasn't the only one. Cops and CPS should be raiding the place soon enough. I have a feeling that the next time you see Mr. Mack, it'll be his mugshot on the evening news."

"Wait... How could you manage that when Mr. Feeny's been trying to shut down the Centre for years?" Eric asks, and Letty shakes her head as she looks up at him.

"Trust me, baby. The less we know, the better." The brunette tells her boyfriend, and his eyebrows furrow as his gaze meets hers.

"Let's just say...we know a guy." Reggie chuckles, and then Alec punches him in the arm. "Ow!"

"We know a cop." He explains, looking at Eric. "A buddy we went to school with works for the Philly PD. He knows all about the Centre, was more than happy to push the case when we told him what was going on."

"It helps that we have sticky fingers." His best friend says as he turns around and walks away from them. "Anyone seen a vending machine around here?"

"Have I ever told you that your friends scare me?" Eric asks as he looks down at Letty, and she nods.