Swallowed in Grief, Healed by Time

Brian and I sat outside just talking as I allowed myself to calm down around him. Any sudden movement that he made still put me on edge but I was doing better. Braden was going to have my hide when I get back though. I'm sure he's out of his mind with worry and I left my phone in my bag so I don't have it on me. Actually I'm not even sure it would work. Aaron is the one who paid the bills and he probably didn't pay for this month. He didn't care about anything that we did. Mom always paid the bills before he destroyed her. She got us both a cell phone because she wanted to make sure that we were safe and had a way to contact her whenever we needed to. I never really understood her thinking in that until Aaron came into our lives. There was a history there that mom wouldn't speak of but it was clear it existed. Aaron wasn't someone mom would ever go for.

Mom wasn't someone that would take abuse from anyone, least of all a jerk like Aaron. She never seemed the type to bow down to anything but Aaron clearly had something on her. As much as I want to deny it, I believe he used my brother and I to get mom to do what he wished. We were a very close family, being all each other had, until he came into the picture. Then he ripped mom from us and proceeded to destroy our family until he just took our mother from us. The bastard that he is, couldn't even stay and fight he just ran. They still haven't caught him. Personally, I don't think they will. I mean, I pray that they do but honestly don't think that they will.

"Hey, are you alright?" Brian asked.

"Fine," I responded wiping the tears that had started to fall away.

"What's wrong?" Brian asked leaning closer to me.

"We should probably get back," I said standing up quickly.

"Elise, what's going on?" Brian questioned standing up and grabbing my arm to stop me from bolting away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just thought I saw someone hanging around. You don't want to get caught by fans do you?" I asked.

"No one can get back here, and that's not what has you crying. Elise what's going on?" Brian asked.

"Just leave me alone," I said getting frustrated that he wouldn't forget about me and go back to his daughter.

"Elise calm down, just tell me what's going on," Brian stated. "I want to help."

"Just go back to your precious daughter and forget about me. I'll stay out of everyone's way and you won't even know that I'm there. Please, just leave me alone," I told him.

"No," Brian said pulling my fighting figure towards him. "What's going on? Gerard mentioned something about someone you know being killed but this reaction is way beyond that."

"Leave me alone," I yelled trying to fight him off.

"Elise, knock it off," Brian said as he wrapped his strong arms around me holding me still. "Elise, you're going to hurt yourself. Please stop fighting."

"Get the fuck off me," I growled trying to fight my way out of his grip.

"What's going on?"

I looked over to see Matt coming up behind Brian and I. Matt walked up to us and shot a questioning look at Brian before looking back at me. Then his eyes got really big and he started looking back and forth between us rather quickly.

"Matt?" Brian questioned. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Matt said shaking his head before looking back at me. "Nothing."

"Ok, well can you help me get Elise back to the bus?" Brian questioned.

"What'd you do to her?" Matt asked taking a protective stance.

"Nothing, I was just talking with her then she started freaking out," Brain stated defensively. "She's wacked in the head or something."

"Just let me go," I screamed fighting still to get out of his grip.

"Calm the fuck down," Brian growled. "God, just stop."

"Brian, knock it off," Matt said.

"Why are you yelling at me? I'm trying to make sure she doesn't do something stupid," Brian said.

"She's scared out of her wits right now. You're only making it worse by yelling at her," Matt pointed out as he caught a look at my face.

"What the hell does she have to be scared of?" Brian yelled.

"Look Brian, just give her to me and go see Angelica," Matt said as he reached out and gently grasped my arms.

"Whatever, see if I try to be nice to her again," Brian mumbled as he walked away.

"I'm sorry," I whispered looking down at the ground not being able to face Matt.

"You've done nothing wrong," Matt said gently. "Brian's just PMSing."

"Brian's always PMSing," Jimmy said as he walked up to us. "What did he do now?"

"Scared Elise here to death," Matt said as he let go of one of my arms.

"He scared her or someone else did?" Jimmy questioned looking at me closely.

"Leave me alone," I whispered not entirely sure what to do in my position.

"Brianna Elise Conley you are so dead! Next time you leave like that I'm going to kill you myself," Braden yelled as he came around the corner looking very red in the face.

"Brianna Elise?" Matt whispered looking down at me.

"I go by Elise because Brianna is too preppy. Not that Elise isn't but at least I can be called Eli or Ell instead," I whispered as Braden stomped over to us.

"You are so dead missy. You have no idea how worried I was," Braden said. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"I'm sorry," I whispered still looking down.

"Wait," Matt said still holding on to me. "Brianna Elise?"

"What is the matter with you?" Braden asked look at Matt with an irritated expression. "You have a problem with her name? Cause her mother named her and I won't let you talk bad about our mom."

"What's your full name?" Matt questioned.

"What is the deal with you?" Braden asked.

"Just answer the question," Matt snapped.

"Braden Matthew Conley, why?" Braden questioned.

"Who's your mom?" Matt asked.

"Elisha Conley?" Braden questioned. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Elisha?" Matt asked almost depressed.

"Yeah," Braden said.

"Her name wasn't Angel?" Matt questioned.

"I don't know anyone named Angel," Braden said. "Sorry."

"It's fine, I just thought you might be-nevermind," Matt said. "Let's get back to the bus now. I'm tired."

Matt gently pulled me back to the bus with Braden following behind us. I could tell that Braden wasn't comfortable with the events that had just taken place, hell neither was I. However, it wasn't like there was anything we could do about it so there really is very little use being worried about it. Then again, these are the people we are staying with so we need to get along with them. Guess I blew that with Brian. He's probably never going to speak with me again.