"You sat on my brother's seat...that is what they meant by that but the rumours aren't true. I didn't kill him," His voice sharpened "Even though I started to hate him, I would never kill my brother. I hope you know that,"

"I...believe you Chase," I placed my hand against his, making his eyes widen of utter shock "I'm sorry about your loss," I muttered unable to stop shuddering from sitting on his deceased brother's seat

Everytime I sit down on that chair, I see his muscle from his jaw twitch and tightly clentch, he would sometimes pout his head down in a atrocious way fighting back his anger.

I know it haunted him, terrorised him. I heard the gossip hovering across the hallways, giggles and glimpses passing an innocent boy who was supposed to have a great future.

Who knew such a mysterious, unsociable creature could hide a gentle, magnificent person who is stuck in his own defensive bubble

I wish that the old Chase could just escape from that terrible prison, unleashing the guilt passed down to him. He never deserved this, not even now.

"I'm sorry for everything I said to you...I'm not that great at handling things that much any more but I'll try to improve. I...promise," He broke down at his final words, traumatised from one of his mother's last words which wasn't fulfilled by his dead brother

"Chase, It's fine. Don't blame it all on yourself, it's not your fault!" I made sure those words stay with Chase by slightly raising my soft voice hoping he would drop the raw, fresh memory from his infested mind.

"Huh, did I hear sympathy in Miss Quill's voice?" He changed his somber mood into his usual sarcastic voice which was merged two years after his family's death, a small part of acceptance. I, of course, presented myself in a irritated state, making him chuckle lightly "Don't worry, I'll be fine," He reassured me and patted me on the back which made me roll my eyes but simply smile

Chase broke the silence from where I was supposed to respond and leaned back, swinging his legs out of the rim of the school building "So, what about you? I could sense you were upset before you came here, anything happened?" He could just feel the tense aroma circuling me

"Oh, as we're talking about family well...Yeah, it's not good for my mother, the doctor's don't expect her to live that long, probably in the next call I get they'll tell me to say my final goodbyes." I gave a simple sigh

I would have to accept it, being alone. I'm at the upcoming age of practically becoming an adult, It would be my time to live all by myself. When my mother goes, I would need to pay the rent meaning I should look for half time jobs after school, I'm not sure how Chase adapts to his life but I guess I'll have to figure it out the same way as him.

"What about your father? Could he not assist-?" Chase immediately chose to stay silent after he saw my angry expression and gave me a questioning look

"Oh, I don't think I need assistance from the man that left me the responsibility to take of my mother many years ago, what a jerk he was," My jaw tensed, blinking continously to avoid the angered tears about to thrash down upon my clear skin

"Oh, I'm sorry for bringing that up. It must've been hard taking care of your mother whom didn't tell you how serious her condition was until this year, from keeping you from worrying all this time. It was quite selfless of her to do such a thing. I wish my brother was like that, he didn't even try to take care of me, just wanted to end his apparently 'hard' life without thinking of mine. Alas, that was his decision and there's nothing I can do about it." He shrugged in staggering approval, tensing himself from shedding a weak teardrop that would turn into a quick waterfall

He was hiding his true emotions, all trapped and prisoned for another time he is isolated. Nevertheless, this was freaking life, he has a right to trap it, however I could sadly relate and it wasn't alright.

I would see my father on the streets who moved on from his past horrid family life, wearing a fancy suit and premium shoes which looked like millions gone away, I couldn't have even dreamt having such a posh and pleasant life and forget about a broken past. He was a new person, married to a definition of a expensive wife who he probably found in a bar full of drunken people. I see him in rare occasions and...after all those years he would try to apologise and make amends with me but the only thing in my mind would just be of what an arsehole he truly was, leaving a broken yet perfect family for a money maker. After, I would run home, lock my bedroom door and cry myself to sleep and move on for another day.

I didn't realise I let out a visible tear that was racing down my cheek, giving Chase my full attention with an concerned face

"Oh..sorry," I lightly chuckled and dabbed my bare fingers on my wrinkled eyes

I know he was questioning me, with his normal outside structure but inside a confused and slightly bothered individual

Before he would inquire my small breakdown the school bell from underneath the concrete setting inside the school, rang in its screaming manner

"Well..we should go to our lesson,"

************

The door let a small sigh and an upcoming creak as it slid open banging a near tired wall and then came a injured, exhausted boy who quickly turned innocent while entering his household

The fresh scars on his weak body made him scoff in rushing pain, he held the closed door's handle and slowly knealed on the ground

Then came an older woman, before living a wonderful life but seeing that boy made her happiness disappear and out came a disappointed, angered sigh

The boy glances at her, scoffing, scared for life but his pain over took the lifetime horror and forced him to let out a soft, quick tear

"Where on earth have you been boy?! Getting into even more fights? Ugh, why do I even bother with you...You're freaking useless," The mother let her nasty, usual voice towards her son, with a fresh, new bottle of liquid...another wine bottle for that hungry woman with no soul which has been sold to the devil himself

"Don't you care for your own son...?" Dwayne softly snapped in a weak, unbothered manner

"It's not my fault you're a worthless piece of sh**," She raised her hellfire voice which didn't belong to a normal human being, taking her first sip of her expensive wine bottle "By this rate, you'll be just like your father,"

A loud bang came from another door which his mother rushed to, to escape her son's pain, not even helping him in

"What a mother,"

************

Seeing him, holding a fresh paintbrush waiting to be dipped in a endless amount of vibrant colours, going into his new universe made me smile but also an amount of worry

He makes masterpieces but with every single one he makes, is another lump of guilt hovering and entering him like a welcomed house being trapped and not finding a key to get out

Art was probably his favourite subject before the demise of his parents but now he doesn't even want to touch his paintbrush and now being to forced to do something by the teacher which shattered his memories

"Uhm, what a unique piece of art you have there," Chase awkwardly grinned after getting out of his seat to view my painting, which made me escape my thoughts, I returned the smile the same as him

It wasn't exactly a masterpiece but I did put...some effort into it

"What even is it? A cow with antlers?" He looked hardly into my highly given effort painting trying to figure it out which made me have a mad, wrinkled offended scoff

"No! It's a reindeer, for crying out loud!" I quietly yelled, pointing at the 'extremely easy to realise' painting

"Sure."

"Alright class, clean and pack everything up, the final bell of the day will ring any second," The teacher shouted while clapping her hands continuously like a toddler while closing her paint infested laptop

After packing up and getting our bags, the bell yelled once again and everyone made a leave. Chase decided to walk next to me for some reason and I just accepted it as none of my other friends were attending the same class as us and Everest and Marshall were being extremely suspicious recently

We exited the school which made Chase give a stammered sigh, the last time he walked out here was in a fight which made him a old and also recent villian once again

More students mumbled and gossiped around us which gave an unsettling atmosphere

"Hey, how are...Marshall and Everest?" Chase let out in a questioned glance as he streched out his words

"They seemed quite different," I responded, pacing slower on the pavement, wondering what happened to them too, they seemed scared in our last talk

"Oh...they didn't happen to mention me in that exchange did they?" Chase asked in a dark tone

I wondered if he knew something, I didn't.

"Yes...how did you know?"

"Oh, just a hunch," He muttered in a lenghy, possible 'not just a hunch' kind of tone while shrugging his guilty shoulders, avoiding staring at my pupils

"Just a hunch you say? Well, they sure seemed quite..I don't want to be rude or make it seem like something else but I think they were scared. Maybe it was because of the fresh memory of what happened a few days ago, I hope it's not something else..." I moved my whole body to just look at his eyes but yet again they trailed off knowing something, I don't. "Right Chase?!" I set myself back in a worried tone, about to hold both of his shoulders trying to get something off of him

"Skye, It's nothing and you're probably right. It'll take them some time, especially Marshall to deal what happened there. I'm sure they will recover, maybe," He streched his words while swallowing his mouth while his eyes were unable to find a spot to rest

"Fine. And by the way, you got my name right once again. Wow, quite exceptional work Grumpy," I let a banging applaud and nudged him where he almost tipped over

"Hah, got sick of the nicknames I guess..." He forced a smirk and returned the pushy nudge causing me to hit some tree making my wavy hair into a 'lovely' scenery of nature

Nevertheless, something was wrong.

"Oh wow, your hair is an astonishing masterpiece, ever thought of showing that to a museum?" Chase teased in a blissful tone as his nose crinkled and upcoming twitching grin coming from his smooth, tanned face

"Woah, never thought about that," My eyes uncontrollably went in a circle and a sarcastic snarl came from my bitter lips

We continued to walk until it was our to time to break free and go to different paths, one spikey concrete and a smooth road.

I wanted to know more about Chase, he told a great load of things about his past but it seems like there's something more. Last time I tried to join him in his travel home, he sent me to return home in just a snap.

"Chase. Can I tag along? Uh, please?" I pressed my lips together, getting firmer from each second he stood there without an answer

"Skye, I told you..." He gave a long sigh, trying to move to his side of the path, waving his hands goodbye and in disagreement

It hurt, that I couldn't see what he was hiding but it was his life but it seemed to hurt him, the longer he was alone the more damp he gets, I couldn't allow that. Although, I still need to respect him.

"Chase!" I yelled until he gave me his gaze "Do you wanna hang out in my house? I mean...If you wanna, I guess, like it seems like you do...Urm, I'm blabbering but do you want to?" I stuttered, making my arms wonder. My face glowing in bright red, gazing at the ground

Wow, the ground looks nice today.

I heard a chuckle and steps coming closer to me as he pulled my embarrassed face upwards to stare into my eyes

"Sure."

  **********

Pots and pans cluttered on my small counter making them topple on the ground causing a clanging, sharp bang. My hands were carrying a bit to many for my usual strength, dropping another one as I stuffed them in my cupboard

"Ah, sorry," I muttered, picking up another metal pan from the floor and immediately dropping it once again

I'm alright at cooking but I just felt a feeling of embarrassment and clumsiness when I'm around someone and you have to make everyone perfect and yet it's the opposite of what you planned.

COME ON SKYE, GIVE YOUR GUEST A MEAL AT LEAST

"Uh, should I cook?" Chase asked while getting up from his seat and moving hair strands off his face

"No, no! Sit down, you're my guest!" I snapped while pushing him back to his wooden seat and grabbing his shoulders and placing it down on the seat cushion

"It seems you don't have a lot of experience hosting something,"

"Noo. Okay yeah, I'm guilty," I lifted my arms over my head and stared down yet again at the interesting flooring

A soft laugh filled the room as he flicked my lowered head up causing me to freeze and slowly patted me on the back to get a move on

"You don't want to leave your guest hungry, do you?" He greatly smirked, sitting back on his chair and huffing

I rolled my eyes and opened the fridge releasing the cold mist, I scoured through the shelfs and pulled out some ingredients that seemed regular in some cooking. Closing the fridge, I streched my arms towards the cabinets and gathered a few sauces

I had no idea what I was making but that's the fun of cooking, It'll either turn bad or perfect.

I placed almost everything on the table. A great range of fresh vegetables, garlic cloves, an onion and ready made tomato sauce. After looking at all of those ingredients, I felt a certain piece was missing in this quick dish. The pasta.

I slammed my wooden cupboard open and shoved through all my supplies until I reached a rectangular box, I slid it through everything until I was fully holding it. I first grabbed a pan and lit the bottom and dosed a fair amount of oil which caused a loud sizzling sound, I chopped some dark purple onions on my chopping board and let the knife slash them off my tray and land on the pan, I added a small layer of salt for taste and grabbed the pan, lifting it up in the air and making it jump and land on the pan once again.

"It needs a few minutes to fry, I'm sorry if you have nothing to do in the meantime," I said while flipping the onions once again on the pan, a bland smell before turned into a creative scent filling the whole room

"It's quite alright. Say, I'm curious. What are you making?" Chase inquired with his usual airy and luscious voice, lightly sniffing the onion aroma

"Ah, Mr Gunn. Why don't you guess later on?" I tried to copy his airy voice and chuckled afterwards causing him to pout

When the onions looked quite golden in colour, I added a few chilli flakes for more spicy flavour and peeled a small garlic and placed it on the pan and shook everything for a few more minutes.

I stirred olives, red capsicum into the same pan as the onion and dolloped tomato sauce into the frying pan. I reduced the heat and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

I heard Chase grunt slightly and turned to him to see what's wrong, his eyes wondered around the pan

"That smell...seems familiar." He let out, moving his eyes back to me and bit his upper lip when he tried to return back into the old Chase "Uhm, sorry,"

I nodded as a sign of acceptance and swifted towards the pan and shook some seasoning into it. I took another pan and washed it, then, adding water with a large shake of salt and boiling it. I viciously ripped open the pasta box and dumped most of it in the pot. After a few minutes, I drained the pasta water and dropped the pasta into the sause pan, swishing it together with my wooden spoon.

It smelt amazing.

I got my nicest looking plates and poured the pasta on them, adding some parsley at the near top. And there it was, a rolled pasta, swirled upwards, with the sause gushing down to the bottom of plate followed by lumpy vegetables visible in the pasta's edge and the flick of parsley.

I swished around to face Chase whom suddenly was holding my cutlery and banging it on the table like some child, I lightly chuckled and placed the pasta in front of him

"Ta da!" I shook my hands up in the air while tucking myself in my chair, grabbing my silver fork

"Oh wait!" I said while pouncing out of my chair and pulled the fridge door open and got out a packet of parmesan cheese, I reached for my grater and let the cheese slide down on Chase's plate and stopped to do mine as well. After I finished grating it, I turned to Chase who was clentching his jaw

"Do you want extra cheese?"

"W...Wha-" He took a bite of my pasta and stared at me when he heard my words. He shook, locking his eyes shut and dropped his head on the table, letting his hands touch his head

"Chase?!"

He finally tilted his head up "That's what my mother used to say. She would always give me extra cheese and...somehow the pasta tastes just like hers.."

Oh shoot, I forgot. I thought bringing him here would calm him for everything that was going on but yet now I just made him memorise his past again and he doesn't need to remember that. He thinks he's guilty for his family's death. Not being able to have his mother's food, hanging out with his brother, paint his family portrait every single year filled with happy memories but I just reminded him how happy he was now and the difference of Chase now.

A loner.

  ************

Wow, who knew this episode would be a cooking tutorial haha.