Sequel: Rocks Painted Gold
Status: As of April 14th 2013 new and improved chapters of Promise Me The Stars have begun to be published on Mibba :)

Promise Me The Stars

Giving Up Isn't So Hard

Forest heard a gasp as he walked noisily past the living room and towards the large kitchen.

"You're home!" He heard Hazel yell from the depths of the living room, he stopped and braced himself. He rolled his eyes playfully and accepted the hug she threw at him as she bounded into the hallway where he had stopped

"Did you get them?" she whispered in his ear as they hugged. He nodded against her head and handed her a large frosty that he had been holding, thanking God that it hadn't been smashed when Hazel had brutally attacked him.

"I was feeling generous. And I felt like laughing my ass off at your self proclaimed 'sugar spaz outs'." Forest stated as she took the plastic cup with the red headed girl out of his hand.

Hazel grinned and grabbed one of the plastic spoons that they always gave you when you went to Wendy's. He busied himself with eating his food as the rest of the guys filtered into the room at the smell of greasy, fatty food. He watched them all come into the room and examined their facial expressions.

Zacky looking like he was worried about something with his hair sticking up as if he had been pulling on it harshly. The rest of the guys that had stayed at the house kept looking at Zacky with a worried look and Forest noticed them looking at him every once in a while with suspicion taking over their gazes.

When he glanced over at his sister he noticed her staring at her frosty barely eating it. She was guilty of something and Forest was going to find out what, he didn't care who heard.

"What in the hell did you do?" Forest asked glaring at his sister. She looked up with a slightly shocked look on her face but a look of guilt evident in her eyes.

"Nothing," she stated as she fingered the burger wrapper near her hand.

"Bullshit," Forest said pushing his chair back to stare at Hazel, the motion of the chair moving sent a scraping sound throughout the room that silenced everything, "They keep looking at me funny. Zacky looks like he's about to pull his fucking head off. So you obviously said something, what did you tell them?!" he yelled.

He was scary when he got mad, Shadow could sneak through when he got mad and Forest didn't do anything about it because it worked to his advantage. Although Hazel wasn't scared, she was used to her brother and his companion that lived in his mind being together when he was pissed, the guys were somewhat terrified of what was about to happen though. Matt, because he had heard about Shadow and figured that Forest wasn't in complete control when he was mad. The rest of the guys, because they knew something was wrong with him but they didn't know what. Therefore he was a ticking time bomb now.

"I didn't tell them anything Forest. Brian asked if there was something wrong with you and I answered. I didn't tell them what, I didn't say anything, I just barely nodded when they asked."
Hazel said looking back down at her ice cream that was slowly starting to melt.

Forest groaned and tangled his hands in his hair before tugging on it so he could focus on the pain in his head instead of what was going on now. He realized it was something he probably inherited from his dad since he seemed to do the same thing, which just made him more pissed off. He hated being here, he hated everything about California and he'll be damned if they send him away to another institution.

"So now because I tell one person it's just time to tell everyone? It's just time to yell out all my fucking issues to them like they've been here our whole lives?" Forest yelled.

"I just answered their question!" She yelled back slamming her cup onto the table and standing up. The frosty spilled everywhere and a bit oozed down Hazel's hand but she thought nothing of it. They were both leaning over the table inches from each other's faces, glaring at each other in a standoff of the Baker twins.

"I fucking hate questions, all they do is get you into trouble so stop answering them." Forest yelled as he turned away from his sister and stormed upstairs.

The last sound before a shrill silence filled the house was the slam of Forest's bedroom door and the click of a lock that shot through their ears.

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Forest couldn't breathe, his chest pulled tight under his skin. It was like the other night was replaying again only this time his room was clean and he had his pills. He sat on his bed and tried to calm down from the anger that billowed lusciously in his chest and mind. He heard Shadow laughing in his mind and it made him want to slam his head against a concrete wall until it stopped. He walking into the bathroom, the only thing he knew that really worked was dangerous and stupid. He plugged the drain in the tub and turned on the cold water, watching as the bathtub filled with icy water that flowed from the faucet.

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Hazel had her head on the table, cutting herself off from the guys. She hated fighting with Forest, Since she had been the only one that could talk to him about anything she knew if they were mad at each other then Forest might do something stupid. Tears couldn't be held back and her shoulders were shaking and tears were falling onto the table before she knew it.

"Hazel," Zacky whispered and he was pulling her into a hug, she wrapped her arms around him and cried.

"I'm sorry." She whimpered.

"Don't be sorry." he said rubbing her back. She pulled away suddenly and wiped her eyes furiously as she thought of something.

"You have to go check on him." she sniffed as Jimmy wrapped his arms around her tightly. She leaned into his hug and looked at Zacky who was just standing there looking at her worriedly.

"Please go check on him dad, he does stupid things when he's angry with me." He nodded and kissed her on the forehead before heading for the stairs.

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Forest didn't know how long he had been under the icy water, his lungs screamed for air and his skin was turning blue.

"You idiot stop it!" Shadow yelled.

Forest's eyes snapped open and he looked above him. Shadow was pacing in front of the tub yelling profanities at him, his figure was a black blob that crossed back and forth near the edge of the tub.

"If you don't get out soon you're going to die!" he yelled, his voice ringing clearly in his mind.

Forest closed his eyes and pushed himself down until his back hit the bottom of the tub, he could feel the mat on the bottom of the tub that kept you from slipping digging into his back through the fabric of his shirt. He tried to block out Shadow, to make his mind clear so he could only hear himself think. But it just wasn't working and his time was running out.

"What do you care Shadow." Forest thought, he felt his lungs were about to burst and he mistakenly opened his mouth and sucked water into his lungs.

"It's my fucking body too! And if you die, I die, and I don't feel like dying today. Now get out of there idiot!" Shadow yelled leaning over the bathtub, if only he could reach in and grab the stupid teenager.

Forest could feel the blackness starting to spread over his body as the water settled in his lungs. Dots spotted his eyes and made him dizzy so he closed them to make it go away but that just made his head spin more. A black tiredness started washing over his body and he knew he had to get out soon. But Forest wanted Shadow gone and he wasn't getting out until he left.

Forest's eyes shot open when he heard something bang, the remaining energy her had going into that action. Shadow was still standing there, Forest watched as he turned and looked at the door. A smile found it's way onto his face and he pointed.

"Hey look," He said in a voice Forest had never heard Shadow use.

"Forest!" A distorted voice yelled from somewhere in the room. Another black blob was standing next to Shadow then a pair of arms were diving into the bathtub, wrapping themselves around Forest's torso and pulling him out of the water. Forest came up sputtering and coughing, air filling his dying lungs and the black in his vision seeping away.

"What in the hell are you doing?!" The mystery voice yelled frantically.

Forest couldn't recognize the voice, couldn't recognize anything, he just focused on getting the water out of his lungs and breathing. The person turned Forest over as he coughed up more water. A warm towel was wrapped around him and Forest noticed he was shivering.

"You know if he didn't come you would have died."

Shadow was sitting on the counter looking at him and leaning against the wall. He just wanted to yell and scream at Shadow. Shadow had never done this before, never been out of his head like this. The cold baths had always calmed him down and made Shadow leave, and it did calm him down but Shadow was still there. Forest turned onto his back and stared at the white ceiling that pulsed with his erratic heartbeat.

"You could have killed yourself." the person said. His voice was panicked and as Forest's mind cleared he knew it was his dad.

"I wasn't trying to." he mumbled as his head rolled to the side, he was too weak to even hold his head up.

"What were you trying to do then?" Zacky asked harshly, he didn't mean to sound harsh. But what are you supposed to do when you find your son trying to drown himself in icy water?

He pulled Forest up, leaned him against the cupboard and pulled his soaking shirt off. Zacky himself was covered in water and it was chilling him to the bone. He couldn't believe his son had been in there for two minutes plus however long it had been before he had come upstairs. A few minutes later and he would be pulling his Popsicle of a son out of the tub dead.

"Trying to calm down, it works most of the time." Forest said pathetically avoiding Zacky's gaze.

"And you almost die at the same time?" Zacky sighed and started drying Forest's hair with a towel.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to go that far, it just wasn't working and I..." he said quietly, cracking open his tired eyes to look at Zacky's worried face. Zacky sighed and pulled his son into a hug, holding his shivering body to himself.

"You ever do that again and i'll kill you myself you got it?" Forest nodded and lay his head on Zacky's shoulder. Trying to suck in all his warmth and make the sharp chill that ran down his spine disappear.

"Come on, let's get you into some dry clothes." Zacky muttered picking Forest up and heading back into the bedroom.

Once Forest was in dry clothes and in his bed Zacky got down to business on finding out what was wrong with him. He sat on the bed and looked at his son. Cold and shivering, pulling the blankets up to his chin trying to get warm.

"Tell me what's wrong with you." Zacky said. Forest shook his head and rolled over like a stubborn child.

"Yes Forest, I just found you trying to drown yourself in icy water. I think I get to know what the hell is wrong with you and why you're doing these things to control it!"

"Why do you care?" he mumbled. He was laying on his side, staring at the wall with his arm over his head.

"Because i'm your father and believe it or not I love you. Everyone here cares for you and do you know how devastated Hazel would be if you died just now? She was freaking out just because you were mad at her. You can't do that Forest, you can't put the people that love you through pain just because you don't want them to know what's wrong with you. Just because you want to keep it all a secret."

Forest didn't turn, didn't acknowledge that he heard anything that Zacky had just said.

"You don't love me." he mumbled finally. Zacky stared at the boy, noticing how skinny he was, how fragile he looked. Like a little kid just waiting to be hit and punished for something he said.

"How do you know?" he questioned moving his head to the side to look at the boy.

He saw how much Forest looked like him. How Forest's hair matched his exactly, his eyes the emerald green he saw when he looked in the mirror.

"You didn't care about us until two days ago, what kind of father does that?" Zacky sighed and stood up. He ran his hands through his hair and then stood at the end of the bed.

"Forest, I didn't know your mother was pregnant and had you and your sister until child services called and told me she was dead. I'm not what you think I am, not the horrible person you hate. I love you, care for you. All I want is for you to be happy and have a father for once." Forest sat up, his eyes holding rage, sadness, and a mess of other emotions.

"You want me to have a father? Okay you're here, we're here, you're our dad. But we had to sacrifice our mom. The woman that raised us, that taught us right from wrong and told us that she loved us even after we did something wrong. She's gone and we're just supposed to come here and accept you like nothing has ever happened? I can't do that Zacky. I can act like i'm fine for Hazel, I can be tough and pretend that nothing ever scares me or hurts me but it does and I can't handle it. Not here, not right now."

Tears formed in his eyes and he fell back, covering his head with his arms. Sadness ripped through Zacky's chest. He knew they were hurting, he had talked to Hazel millions of times about it and she was slowly accepting the fact that her mother was really gone. But Forest didn't talk to anyone, didn't have anyone to share how much he was hurting and it made Zacky feel horrible. He just wanted to pull his son into a hug and tell him everything was going to be okay, that he would take care of anything that happened for the rest of his life.

Zacky slowly turned on his heel and went to the side of the bed. He sat down, the bed sinking down under his weight, and turned to look at Forest. Small sniffs were emitting from the lump that was Forest. He was tangled up, Zacky couldn't really tell where his head was. So he set to work on untangling his limbs and pulling him up. Tears streamed down Forest's cheeks and he tried to wipe them away quickly but it was too late, Zacky had seen them.

"Oh Forest," Zacky sighed before pulling him into the second hug he had ever had with his son.

"I'm sorry, and i'm scared and..." Forest stuttered wrapping his frail arms around his father. Zacky shushed him and rocked lightly back and forth a bit.

"It's fine," he mumbled, sitting there like that until Forest started to doze off.

Shadow sighed, he could tell things were going to be different and he didn't like it, Forest was going soft. That meant therapy and more medications were coming to get rid of him. But Shadow would fight. There was no way that he was going to go down without a fight.
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Sorry it took so long to update. Grounded off the computer + writing contests + absolutely nothing to think about writing about = late updates.
And that's how you do math children!
ANYWAY AWESOME NEWS!!!! I get my braces off soon. And all the people that have braces or had braces know that's a big deal. And if you don't....well try having metal glued to your teeth and then having them pulled into a straight position then having more pain every six weeks when they tighten them. Damn it sucks.

Next update will be.....uhh I don't know. I try to get them out every....let's say Tuesday. Because Tuesday is an unloved day in my book and I call giving it love!!
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If I get two or more comments I'll update sooner.
But don't worry Tuesday I'll still love you. <3