23.

"Where are we going?"

Hayes was right on Glen's tail as they walked through the gates, officially marking the end of the school grounds. Her hands were clenching her backpack straps, hesitancy written on her face as she followed her brother.

Hesitant, but submissive nonetheless, she'd follow Glen to Hell and back.

"Away from here." Glen replied, glancing behind him for a brief second to see if she'd challenge him before turning back around.

It didn't take a genius to know that they shouldn't be doing this. In a couple minutes, Colton would ask where he is when he didn't show up to practice, probably question Abe and Theo. They may or may not divulge about the weird lunch moment, making Colton even more frantic if they mention the Bear's name.

Vincent Merling.

Just thinking about his name gave Hayes the shivers.

At the same time, Coach Gordon, the girls' basketball coach would be wondering where Hayes was. It would make no sense that the young girl would miss the opportunity to play ball. He'd probably run over to the boys' practice to check with Colton.

Then all hell would break loose when Colton realizes that they were gone.

Hayes' heart skipped a beat.

Gone.

She didn't like that. Her left hand shot out to tug on Glen's backpack, making him stop.

"What?" He asked impatiently, his body already turning back around to keep moving. The faster they got to the bus stop, the more likely they could escape without being caught.

She faltered at his glare for a moment. "Are we running away?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "No."

"Then what are we doing?"

"Going for a walk." He made it sound so casual, so normal as if they weren't doing anything wrong.

Why? Hayes wanted to know but wisely didn't question him any more. She could see Glen was very on-edge, unpredictable.

When she didn't say anything else, he nodded and started walking again. "Let's go. It said online that the bus comes every 20 minutes."

With no other choice but to follow along, she hustled to catch up to him. If Glen thought they should be doing this, she was going with him. He says jump, she asks how high.

Hayes snickered quietly at her own thoughts. Jokes on him, she'd make him jump first.

Their shoes hitting the pavement was a rhythmic sound, filling the silence around them. Walking at a decent pace, the school was almost a blur in the distance. Cars drove by as students went home after a day of school but no one spared the kids a second look.

Glen pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking for any notifications before turning it completely off.

There. Now no one can bother them.

"Where's your phone?"

"At home." Hayes replied. Where exactly, she didn't know. But that wasn't important.

Glen nodded, satisfied. He quickly stretched out his arm to stop her from walking past him. They'd reach the bus stop.

Empty, good.

"Why'd you turn your phone off?" Hayes asked curiously. She'd been watching him, observing how he ignored his friends' text messages. None from their brothers. Yet.

"No reason," he muttered, taking a seat on the bench. Might as well get comfy, because he had no idea when the next bus was coming.

"Glen, don't keep me in the dark," Hayes said, "I can handle it. We're in this together." She sat down next to him, their shoulders knocking into each other as she squirmed about to get comfortable. Knees to chest, arms wrapped around in a protective hold. "And I'm not stupid," she grumbled, "So please tell me, what are we doing?"

Glen rubbed his face with his hands, feeling all the stress that weighed him down. So much stress. Too much stress. At what point would he stop bending from the stress and just break?

"I just need time to think," Glen finally answered, his words sounding unsure as he tried to figure out for himself the real purpose of this adventure. "And in order to do that, I just need some space away from our brothers."

Hayes nodded, accepting his explanation. It was fair enough considering the bomb dropped on them at lunch. But whereas she subconsciously pushed it to the back of her mind to get through the rest of school, Glen couldn't stop thinking about it. Overthinking was a trait the siblings excelled at. "Do you think they know?"

"Know that we left school? Yeah, by now definitely." School ended more than 10 minutes ago.

Hayes shook her head no, not quite what she meant. "That the Bear has been arrested."

"No. Otherwise they'd have told us." It came out more confident than he really felt. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have found out from Lewis. We should have fricking known before the whole town knew. That isn't right." His voice took on a bitter tone making Hayes frown.

This was what Glen was stuck on. For the Bear to have been arrested, that meant he had to have been found. And if he was found, then it was most definitely on Stephen's radar. Nothing happened in his police department that Sargent Stephan Rayon didn't know about.

How messed up would it be that the man who Glen held to the highest regard would not inform him of this. Glen had the right to know considering it affected his life.

He would have liked to know that he didn't need to be constantly looking over his shoulder for the Bear to appear out of nowhere. That the threat had been eliminated.

Why was that too much to ask?

Because no matter how much he embraced living this new life with his brothers, there was always that little voice in the back of his head taunting him, that this could all be taken away. The Bear held more power over him than he ever wanted to admit.

Before the feeling of betrayal could take hold of Glen's heart and darken his outlook on life even more, he heard the familiar rumbling sound of the city bus.

The kids stood up when they saw the bus rolling down the street. Their student ID badges still hung around their necks, the magic bus pass for all school and city transportations.

Glen nudged her onto the bus before him, wanting to make sure she couldn't back out when her anxiety reared its ugly head because she didn't recognize the bus driver. He didn't need another stressor added to his plate.

Like the bus stop, the bus was mostly empty so Hayes had no problem finding seats for them in the middle. She took the inside seat, eager to look out the window as they traveled. Glen had no complaint, his mind a million miles away from where they currently sat.

"Wait, so where are we going?" Hayes asked again when she realized he never gave her an actual answer. She didn't think he knew the layout of town any better than she did.

Glen barely glanced at her when he said, "somewhere, eventually."

Although that didn't sound too promising to Hayes, she simply shrugged and turned back towards the window. As long as they stayed together, they'd be okay.

------

"Finally," Hayes silently cheered to herself, more than ready to get off the bus and stretch her legs.

She had patiently sat for over an hour, waiting for Glen to decide when it was time to get off. He hadn't spoken a word since they had gotten on the bus until finally, they reached their destination.

The word 'destination' was to be taken lightly, because Glen honestly had no idea where the hell they were. But he noticed a park a couple minutes ago as the bus drove past and figured it was now or never.

A park was familiar to him, almost like a safe haven. Nothing bad ever happened to him or Hayes when on the basketball court.

Well, nothing besides the obvious bumps and bruises from playing basketball.

Almost as if they were untouchable there.

Hayes scurried off the bus behind Glen, thanking the driver as she climbed down the stairs. Stepping in line besides Glen, the two of them headed back in the direction they just came from.

It didn't appear to be the best of areas but it also wasn't the worst of areas. Ironically, it was kind of like their old Florida town. Storefronts lined either side of the street, about half had a 'for sale' sign on the window. The sidewalk remained pretty empty, though the roads were becoming more crowded with cars as it must have been approaching rush hour. People wanting to get home after a day's work. Hayes could only guess that was the case considering neither of them actually knew the time.

"Glen?"

"What?" he glanced down towards his sister, his eyes trailing down to her folded arms, her fingers latched onto her backpack straps. He had been too caught up in his own thoughts to realize she had at some point become lost in hers.

Feeling his stare, she looked up at him. "Why did grandpa get arrested?"

"What do you mean why? He killed mom."

"Nooo, the police think he did," she corrected him, remembering the accusations from the article but nothing was proven, "But, why did he get arrested?"

Glen sighed, "I'm not following."

"Hasn't he been hiding this whole time?"

"That's what Stephen told us. The police must have found him. No one can hide forever." Glen shrugged, unconcerned. It didn't matter to him those details, all that mattered was he was off the streets.

"But what if he turned himself in? What if he wanted to get arrested?"

"Why would he do that?"

"I dunno, that's what I'm asking you."

"I asked you first," Glen retorted, a playful smirk on his face. He wanted to get far away from the 'what if' game as possible. It never ended well.

"No, I asked you first," Hayes replied, hitting him with her backpack. Glen chuckled but didn't bother responding, happy his distraction worked to allow the conversation die out.

The quiet didn't last long.

"Glen?" Hayes spoke up again after 10 more minutes of walking. She couldn't help it, she had maxed out her 'no talking' limit for the day. Her second wind was kicking in and she could feel her energy level rising.

"What, Hayes?"

"What if we were never found?"

"We were found."

"Yeah, but what if we weren't?"

There it was again, the 'what if' game. "Everything happens for a reason."

"I don't like that saying." Hayes scowled, her fingers clenching into fists.

"Yeah, me neither." Glen replied faintly. There would never be a reason good enough to explain why their mother had taken them away. They never should have been hidden in the first place.

Before Hayes could ask another question, a welcomed sight greeted them, 'Benton Park.' Identical small smiles appeared on the kids' faces as they saw the basketball courts in the far corner.

"Race ya!" Hayes shouted, taking off before the words were even spoken.

Their footsteps pounded against the sidewalk as they ran, evenly matched. Childlike laughter escaped Hayes as she ditched her backpack on the bench and jogged over to check out an abandoned basketball sitting along the fence.

A tad flat, but it was good enough for her to play with.

"Come on G! Let's shoot some hoops," She called for her brother but he waved her off.

"You go ahead, I'm okay," Glen took a seat on the bench, next to her backpack. He leaned against the chain-linked fence that surrounded the two courts, resting his head back.

The smile remained on his lips as he watched his sister run back and forth, in her own little world. He was happy that she had been able to retain her childness over the years. It really seemed like a flip of the coin on how she responded to events now-a-days.

Seeing their sister, instant shut down.

Grandfather was arrested, initial panic before it turned into a tiny simmer.

Seriously, like there was no rhyme or reason for her behavior.

Glen couldn't say the same. The fire in his eyes never ceased from lunch. It was in that one second that his mind was made up. When the bell rung, indicating lunch was over, Glen muttered to Hayes to meet him at the gate after school.

Which is how they ended up at this park, God knows where.

Glen sighed, this was so fucked up and it was all because of him.

He kind of wished that Lewis never texted him the news. Then he would have lived in ignorance for just a little bit longer. Long enough for his brothers or Stephan to tell him. The way it should have happened.

He wouldn't have impulsively decided to leave school grounds without telling his brothers, dragging his sister along with him. Now they were both doomed, he could only imagine what the consequences would be.

————

Hayes didn't know when exactly Glen had dozed off, but she figured he could use the sleep. So she kept quiet, entertaining herself by pretending to play against imaginary players. It was an easy way to pass the time until she got bored.

So she sat down on the cracked concrete court and rolled the ball back and forth between her outstretched legs. Hayes never passed up the opportunity to spend time outdoors.

By now, the sun was setting. The court lights hadn't clicked on yet but Hayes guessed it was close to 7pm. She never realized until now, how much of a privilege it was to be at the park during the day considering her and Glen were only able to sneak out after the Bear went to work. What a difference it made, to have the sun shining on your face instead of the artificial lighting.

The privilege of an empty basketball court, too.

Guess no one was fond of shooting hoops on a random Tuesday evening.

A random Tuesday evening where they would probably be eating dinner right about now, tucked in the safety of their home with their brothers. Hayes' lip wobbled as a sudden sadness enveloped her. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted her brothers.

A shiver ripped through Hayes' body, leaving goosebumps in its wake. The seasons were changing as it got closer to October, which meant cooler nights after blistering hot days were more common.

Decision made, Hayes stood up and brushed the dirt off her shorts. Leaving the basketball in her wake, she walked over to where Glen sat on the bench.

"Glen," Hayes dared to disturb the silence that surrounded them, "Can we go home?" She rubbed her arms to try and warm herself up. She was tired, hungry, and their school uniforms didn't provide much protection from the elements.

Glen dropped his arm from covering his eyes and blinked at her, regaining his thoughts. Seeing his sister standing there looking like she was about to cry, he quickly patted the bench for her to sit.

Hayes plopped down, settling into his embrace to take his warmth.

"I'm sorry, HayHay," he apologized, rubbing his hand on her arm. Geez, she was freezing.

"Why? You didn't do anything?" Hayes wrinkled her nose.

Glen didn't respond, tightening his arm around her. He disagreed with her opinion.

"Glen?"

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen to us?"

He frowned down at her, "what do you mean?"

"I don't want to live with grandpa again."

"Hayes, what are you even talking about? Why would you think that?" Glen was confused.

"What do you mean? Austin gained custody of us because the Bear was missing but now they found him so don't we have to go back?" Hayes mirrored his confusion.

"Hell no, Hayes, we're never going back."

"Oh." Relief ran through her as she leaned her head onto his shoulder. "Glen?"

"Hayes?"

"I love living with our brothers."

"Me too." That reminded him. He slid his hand into his pocket to retrieve his phone.

It was time to go home.

Glen turned on his phone, instantly the screen lighting up with tons of messages and missed calls. Oh shit.

"I think we're in trouble," Hayes nervously bit her thumb nail. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly tuck her hands under her thighs. Break the bad habit before it even started.

Glen chewed on his lip, watching as Dakota's name popped up on his phone as an incoming call.

Well that didn't take long.

"I'll take the blame," Glen mumbled, sliding his finger on the screen to answer the call. He put it on speaker phone so Hayes could hear. "Hello?"

"You little dipshit," Dakota's pleasant voice hit their ears making the ends of Hayes' lips tilt upward. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"He answered? Give me the phone." In the background, they could hear Colton speaking before static noise was made as the phone transferred hands.

"Thank God." Colton breathed, "Are you okay? Is Hayes with you?"

"We're fine." Glen replied, making eye contact with Hayes who nodded in agreement. Physically, they were fine. Mentally, eh, not so much.

"Shit Glen, what were you thinking? Wait, don't answer that, we'll talk when we get home."

"Are you coming to pick us up?" Glen was right on the money with turning off his phone. Colton didn't even need to ask where they were because the siblings had shared their phone locations with each other. "Please. Colton, can you please come pick us up?"

Glen didn't even care at this point that Austin was totally going to kill him, that is if Colton didn't kill him first.

"We're 10 minutes away, okay bud? Just hang on." Colton knew now was not the time to get into it with his little brother over the phone. First, hugs. Then, figure out what the hell went through his teenage brain to think that this was acceptable.

Unable to help herself, Hayes took the phone out of Glen's hand and held it close, wishing Colton was already here. "We're sorry, Colton," Hayes whimpered. The realization of their actions was hitting her hard. Disappearing for hours, making their brothers beyond worried. Once again, proving they were the worst siblings ever.

"All that matters is you guys are okay. The rest we can worry about later."

"Please don't be mad at us." Please don't hurt us.

"Shhhhh, deep breaths Hayes. We're almost there. Where in the park are you right now, Glen?" Dakota was tracking their location as Colton drove the car, but 'Benton Park' was all they got.

"The basketball court," Glen answered, his eyes darting to the parking lot, looking for his brother's car the best he could in the darkness.

"I wanna come home now." Hayes sniffled, pulling her legs up to her chest.

"I know, Sunshine. I know." Colton attempted to soothed his sister, "Glen, we're pulling in now."

"I see you," Glen replied. Gathering both of their backpacks, Glen stood up before helping Hayes up as well. He kept hold of her hand, lacing their fingers together as he pulled her along, off the court and down the sidewalk.

Bright lights lit up the parking lot, the sound of a car door opening and shutting filled the previously silent night.

"Glen, Hayes!" Colton called their names as he jogged over to them. Hayes unlatched her hand and ran to Colton.

"Colton," Hayes cried, throwing herself into his embrace. He scooped her up with one arm, her hands going around his neck, her legs dangling around his waist.

"It's alright," Colton kissed the side of her head, before looking over her shoulder at Glen. He held out his other arm in a silent invitation to Glen who immediately hurried over and joined the siblings' hug.

"Everyone has 10 fingers and 10 toes still, yes?" Colton asked, kissing Glen's head. His baby siblings were safe and sound.

"Yes," Glen confirmed as Hayes let out a little giggle at Colton's attempt to keep everyone calm.

"You fucking better."

Hayes looked up at the sound of another brother's voice, seeing Dakota hanging out a few steps behind Colton. A smile played on her lips as she wiggled out of Colton's grip.

"Dakota," Hayes slammed into his chest, wrapping her hands around him. He responded immediately, returning the embrace. His little Sunshine. He could feel the ache in his chest dissolving now. Ever since Colton called him at work to find out if he had heard from the babies, Dakota hadn't been able to take a full breath.

"I thought it was fucking clear that you could never leave me again." Dakota grumbled, hiding his fright behind his gruff words.

"I'm sorry," Hayes replied, snuggling closer to him.

"Let's get you kids home," Colton declared, walking over to them. He had taken Hayes' backpack from Glen and kept his arm wrapped around Glen's shoulders. Almost as if he was afraid he'd run off again.

But Glen already learned his lesson. He never wanted to do this again.

The four of them headed to the car. Hayes was tucked under Dakota's arm, ensuring she couldn't escape them either.

It wasn't long after they got in the car that it was Hayes' turn to begin to doze off. All the adrenaline had left her body. No more energy winds, she was beat.

Not even the ringing phone perked her ears, but Austin's voice sure did.

"You're on speaker, Austin." Dakota greeted him.

"Thanks, Kota." Austin replied, "Kids, you there?"

"Austin," Hayes breathed out, sitting up straight. She wished he was here.

"Glen, Hayes, you need to listen to me." His voice was stern, dripping with disappointment. Or was it distress? Either way, he definitely did not sound happy. "If you ever pull a stunt like this again, you will be grounded for the rest of your life. Do you understand?"

"Grounded?" Glen's eyebrows rose.

"Yes, grounded. No phone, no television, no sports. You go to school, you come home from school. You do your homework, you eat your dinner, you go to bed."

Hayes laughed before covering her mouth when Dakota turned in the passenger seat to stare at her.

"Why the fuck are you laughing?" He questioned. He was pretty certain this was no laughing matter. The kids were missing for almost five hours for fuck's sake and she was suddenly laughing like a little psycho.

Her eyes darted to Glen before returning Dakota's stare, another laugh daring to escape her.

"Sorry," she apologized, sinking back in her seat. Colton's eyes met hers briefly in the rearview mirror before returning to look at the road.

"Hayes, what is going through your head right now?" Austin asked, stumped by his sister's behavior. On par with Dakota, this wasn't exactly what he would deem a laughing matter. Except in Austin's case, he was stuck 2 hours away and could only pray to God that his kids came back home.

"umm, well..." Hayes stumbled, not liking the spotlight.

"We've never been grounded before." Glen said, keeping his gaze on his fingers, "No one's ever cared enough about us to ground us."

Austin, Colton, and Dakota didn't know how to respond to that, so the car stayed quiet for a minute.

"Well, I hope this shows you how much we care about you," Austin stated, "The both of you are grounded for a week."

The corners of Glen's lips rose in a ghost smile, "Yes, Austin."

"I'll be home tomorrow. We'll talk more than. I love you, kids."

"Love you," they mumbled back.

"Dakota, take me off speaker." Austin requested.

Hayes tuned out the rest of the conversation, leaning her head back against the window. Yes, they were in a boat load of trouble and she wasn't exactly looking forward to Austin's talk, but nothing could wipe the smile off her face. They were grounded.

————

"What's she doing here?"

"I asked her for help."

"No shit, but why is she here now? She knows we found them. Time for her to fuck off." Shoo, fly.

"I don't know, Kota. Don't engage, just get the kids inside for me." Colton said. He'd handle this.

Dakota huffed but didn't argue back. He glanced into the back seat to see Hayes still asleep but Glen was slowly waking up. He was lazily glancing around, trying to figure out where they were.

The thirty minute car ride back to their house had put both kids to sleep.

Dakota watched Colton approach his twin who had been waiting for them on the front porch. Rolling his eyes, Dakota got out of the car and sent her a glare that she probably couldn't even see in the limited lighting, before he opened the back door to help Hayes out.

"What," Hayes mumbled sleepily at the change in the air. A breeze hit her face waking her up a little more.

"We're home, go back to sleep," Dakota shushed her, reaching over to unbuckle her seatbelt. It would be better for everyone if she didn't see Charlotte.

Like it was second nature, Hayes wrapped her arms around Dakota's neck, allowing him to carry her like a toddler.

Shutting her door, he walked around the other side and opened Glen's door. "Come on, Smiley."

"Who's here?" He asked, his voice thick with sleep. Glen climbed out of the car and waited for Dakota to shut the door behind him.

"No one," Dakota replied, cupping the back of Glen's neck to force him into the garage.

"Liar," Glen said, turning his head to catch a glimpse of who Colton was talking to.

The moment he did, his blood ran cold, contrasting the fire that instantly filled his eyes once again. There were no more remnants of sleep left in his body. The boy was wide awake now and he had a bone to pick.

"What are you doing here?" Glen broke out of Dakota's hold and stalked over to the porch.

"Glen, go inside," Colton ordered.

"No," he hissed, "What are you doing here? Haven't you done enough?"

Charlotte froze, taken off guard by the intense anger aimed at her. "Excuse me?"

"Haven't. You. Done. Enough?"

"Glen, what the fuck?" Colton grabbed the boy's arm before he could get any closer to her. His fingers had formed a fist as if he planned to punch her.

"Ask her that! Ask her what the fuck is going on! She's probably the one who got the Bear arrested!" Even though that wasn't true, it was all slowly coming together for Glen in a warped way.

"What are you talking about?" Austin never had the chance to tell him. "Glen, calm down."

"You're crazy." Charlotte stated, "Control your brother, Cole. Teach him some respect for his older siblings."

Colton glared at her, wishing she would just leave. This confrontation wouldn't be happening if she didn't come over.

"She knew, Colton!" Glen shouted, trying to get free of Colton's grip. He was struggling, the grip tight enough to bruise. "She knew where we were! Ask her! Ask her why she didn't save us!"

"Glen," Colton tried to grab his other arm but Glen was flailing, "buddy, calm down."

"I saw you, Charlotte. I saw you and I know you saw us. It's pretty fucking hard to miss two kids being held down, huh? Bet it fucking scared you when mom shoved a needle in our arm. Or maybe you wanted to join us for some family bonding." Glen finally ripped his arm away from Colton but before he could take two steps, Colton had him locked down against his chest, his arms stuck by his side, restrained. "Get off me, Cole!"

Colton watched the color drain from Charlotte's face, before focusing back on his brother. Colton was obviously missing something here. This whole time, Charlotte knew?

"Not until you calm down," Colton tightened his grip. He was stronger than the boy but Glen was panicking, making it difficult to contain him. "Look at me, Smiley, you gotta calm down for me."

"Glen," Hayes' frantic cry flipped a switch in Glen's brain, instantly stopping all his movements.

What was he doing?

Glen looked over his shoulder to see Hayes being held back by Dakota. Her eyes were wide, she was so scared. Scared of him?

Feeling the change in his body language, Colton took the chance to escort him to the front door. He fumbled for a second, using one hand to try and unlock the door with his keys, before bringing Glen inside. He needed to get him far away from that scene as possible for him to cool off.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Colton heard Dakota speak as the door closed behind him, "Running away again when things get tough, huh? Guess somethings never change."

"Fuck off, Dakota." Charlotte replied, heading to her car. She needed to get out of here, there was no more trying to fix this. She realized she never had a chance.

They'd choose the kids over her every single time.

Her own fault.

For once, Dakota didn't need to have the last word. He didn't bother wasting a breath to respond, instead holding Hayes tight in a hug. She was breathing fast, her chest rapidly rising and falling as tears poured down her face over what just happened. He leaned down slightly to press a reassuring kiss against Hayes' head while waiting for Charlotte to drive away and hopefully never come back.

What a fucking night.