‹ Prequel: Promise Me The Stars
Status: This story is on hold right now as i'm in the process of editing the prequel Promise Me The Stars. Check it out for better chapters!
Rocks Painted Gold
Bittersweet Nightmare
Forest woke up in his old bedroom. Panic surged through his blood for a few moments before he remembered why he was in the room. He sighed and sat up, feeling the panic flowing away as his heart kept beating. He had thought he was having another nightmare. That Domino was going to be hovering over him with that demonic grin that chilled his blood and made any rational thoughts flee the scene.
His blankets pooled around his waist revealing his bare chest, the tattoo lower down on his torso peeking out at the world that his room housed. He heard noises from downstairs and guessed he was the last one to rise from the death that sleep took him to. He pulled himself out of the bed and stumbled towards the door, his shorts hanging off his hips dangerously.
“Morning!” Uncle sang from the stove as Forest walked in, tugging on the yellow gym shorts so they wouldn’t fall at any moment.
“Morning Forest.” Kylie said, smiling at him from the table where she sat next to Shadow, who was indulging himself in, Forest guessed, his third cup of coffee. Shadow didn’t send him any greetings except for a small salute as he sunk down lower into his chair, neither of them were morning people.
“You have a tattoo?” Uncle shouted, running over and gripping Forest’s shoulders firmly so he wouldn’t move as he examined the blackened skin.
“Yeah…I got it when Grandpa Frank died.” Forest stated.
“You were what, fourteen and a half when he died?” Uncle asked, looking up at him.
Forest smirked and shrugged, “Something like that.”
Uncle laughed and patted Forest’s head before he squealed and ran to the stove where he was cooking eggs that were starting to look a little brown around the edges.
“Forest, God dammit! Go put a fucking shirt on so Kylie will stop blushing and looking at you.” Shadow yelled, a balled up paper towel hitting him in the back of the head.
“Well excuseee…” Forest started but the shrill screech of the broken doorbell stopped him.
“What the fuck! Someone should fix that.” Shadow commented as he covered his ears from the high-pitched noise.
“Yeah, yeah.” Forest said waving his hand as he headed for the front door right as Uncle started setting food on the table.
“And don’t eat my food while I’m answering this!” Forest yelled after yanking the door open, his head angled back down the hallway so he didn’t see who was at the door until he turned again.
When he turned his head he froze, the words he was going to speak stuck in his throat as he stared at the mass amount of people standing at the door. Forest sighed and rubbed his eyes with balled up fists.
"Come in," he mumbled, standing aside and motioning for them to enter the house. He received odd looks as they all trailed in.
"Living room." he stated, pointing through the doorway as he headed back for the kitchen, a glum look on his face.
"What's wrong with you?" Shadow asked once he spotted Forest in the doorway again.
"They're here, Hazel, all of them." he said, leaning against the wall.
"Why do you look so...not mad?" Forest shrugged and scratched at his elbow.
"I'm going to get dressed.," he said, turning and rocketing towards the stairs to escape them all for a little bit longer.
Forest slowly descended the stairs like a timid child going down to receive a punishment. He stopped and sat on the stairs, listening to the 'pleasant' conversation that was being exchanged by Forest's half and Hazel's half. He didn't want to enter the room and look at them all, have them all look at him. He sighed and tugged at his hair, something he hadn't done in so long because it was something he got from Zacky, and he wanted nothing to do with him.
After tugging on his scalp a bit more Forest pulled himself up from the wooden seat he had acquired and headed for the living room.
“There he is.” Uncle stated looking up at the doorway as Forest filled it. Everyone’s gazes drifted to him and he forced a small smile before sitting between Shadow and Kylie.
“So Forest…” Val trailed off looking at him. Forest looked up expectantly but Val didn’t go on.
“I…Thanks for coming.” Forest finally got out, avoiding their gazes, “And sorry…for being a dick every time I saw you.”
“It’s okay; we understand that you were confused and going through a lot.” Forest scoffed and looked at Kylie.
“Did you apologize for punching my sister?” he asked letting everyone clearly hear him.
“Not really.” she shrugged and Forest laughed before looking at Shadow.
“And do you they know who you are?”
“Eh…” he wiggled his hand to say ‘don’t know’.
Forest then turned to Uncle who was sitting in an armchair in the middle of the room practically.
“And do they know about Aunt Maggie?”
“Hellll no.” Uncle said, snapping his fingers at him. Shadow, Kylie, and Forest laughed, as the others looked on confused.
“Well since you’re all here I guess it’s major confession time.” Forest sighed and stood up, hoping he wouldn't regret this all later but knowing he probably would.
“Kylie punched Hazel and she’s not going to apologize so don’t expect it. Uncle Mavrix shadows as Aunt Maggie…well I don’t know when but don’t be surprised if one day you see him in a wig and heels. And this guy right here,” Forest stopped and looked at Shadow for a moment before pulling him up next to him, “This is Shadow. Real Shadow.” he pinched Shadow’s arm.
“Ow fucker,” Shadow hissed punching Forest’s arm. Everyone looked at him as if he had just said Santa Clause was real. Which in this situation it was kind of the same thing, only worse.
“Yeah I know, scary as hell but it’s true so deal with all this or you can leave.” Forest said pushing Shadow back down as he went in for another punch. Forest dealt with a couple more playful punches before he turned to Shadow.
“Bitch stop punching me!” Forest yelled tackling him. They started wrestling and Kylie stood up, sighing, and went to sit on the other side of the room near Matt.
“You two are like long lost brothers.” Kylie mumbled. Uncle gasped and stood up.
“Maybe they are!” he squealed.
“Mavrix they aren’t brothers.” Kylie said before standing again.
“Does anyone want a drink?” she asked, smiling nicely at the group.
“Um water will be fine.” Zacky mumbled, looking frazzled. The others murmured at the suggestion and Val stood up.
“I’ll help you.” she offered.
“Thanks.” Kylie said leading Val out of the room. The others watched as Forest gained the upper hand for a moment before Shadow flipped him over and pinned him down.
“Can we just agree that I’m the winner you weakling?” Shadow asked.
“Get off me!” Forest hollered before kicking Shadow in the stomach and stumbling up after Shadow fell off.
“Winner!” Forest announced throwing his arms in the air. He watched as Hazel giggled and covered her mouth to hide it. It sounded just like when they were younger and he had always made her laugh at something stupid.
Forest sucked in a deep breath and sat down on the couch again, his head felt light and Shadow looked barely better then him.
"You know I hate getting weak." Forest commented, witnessing Shadow's head turn towards him and Shadow gave him a look meaning they had to talk later. Forest couldn't wait for that sincere conversation. Note the obvious sarcasm.
"Here we go." Kylie said happily, as she trailed in with glasses of water on a cookie sheet.
"What in the hell is that supposed to be? A tray, a poor boy tray?" Shadow asked as Kylie handed a glass of water to him and Forest.
"Shut up Shadow it's the only thing I could find to carry them all." Kylie stuck her tongue out at Shadow and went to hand the other glasses of water to Matt and the others.
There was a chorus of thank ‘you’s’ from the group and then they sat in an uncomfortable silence that made Forest start to fidget in his seat.
"Can someone talk? I can't take silence since Byte City." Forest said rubbing his forehead and knowing Shadow was the only one that would understand.
"What's Byte City?" Johnny asked.
"Only the funnest section of hell that Forest and I have ever been in!" Shadow exclaimed before downing the rest of his water.
"We were there when I was in a coma or whatever. Hell it was probably my mind but oh well." Forest shrugged and smirked slightly at the group.
The awkward moment remained until a ringing started in the kitchen.
"That's my phone!" Uncle yelled and ran through the door into the kitchen, escaping the situation.
"Nice guy." Zacky commented.
"More insane then anything." Forest said back, "Must be where I got it from right?"
"You're not insane..." Hazel murmured looking at Shadow who raised his eyebrow at her.
"That what we're saying now? I'm not insane? Then what am I?" Forest asked. Shadow let out a squeak and everyone looked at his red face as he tried to suppress a laugh.
"You're unique." Shadow exploded before busting out laughing harder then Forest had ever seen before. Forest covered his eyes and shook his head as he chuckled lightly and it progressed to laughter like Shadow's in a moment.
"Guys calm down." Kylie said, giggling at the scene. She covered her mouth and tried not to laugh anymore but it wasn't working.
"Yeah i'm real unique Shadow. So unique they'll lock me up for it." Forest said sitting on the floor after he slipped off the couch.
"No worries I’ll come visit you. Maybe they'll let you wear a special jacket that says 'unique' on the back." Shadow said sniffing and wiping his eyes.
"That would get me raped." Forest said laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. There was a water mark in the shape of a T-rex, well in his opinion anyway, and he remembered making it with a cup of apple juice on accident once.
Forest sighed and rolled over, even the carpet was bringing back memories that infiltrated his mind with memories of his family.
“This house is a bittersweet nightmare.” Forest groaned covering his head with his arms to block out the feeling of everyone around him.
Shadow glanced up and saw Hazel fidgeting around like Forest had been doing. The house was doing the same to her that it was doing to Forest. Although he had been present for a few years in the house also, he wasn’t there for the twelve years before that they had been in it. And he would never know what happened during those times.
“Why don’t we go for a walk or something? Catch up in…a different environment.” Kylie suggested.
“Sounds good.” Shadow said looking around at all the others. Who seemed very nervous around Shadow, but he couldn’t really blame them.
“Where could we go?” Val asked, who seemed to be the only one brave enough to talk more then a word or two.
“Anywhere really,” Forest said sitting up and scratching his head, “I mean it’s Colorado, it’s a tourist state, there’s hundreds of things you can do.”
“So lets go do them!” Jimmy yelled, causing a small smile to form on Forest’s face.
“Yeah Forest,” Shadow said standing up, “Lets go do Colorado.” He walked out of the room and started yelling at Uncle Mavrix for something or other.
Forest stretched as he got off the floor, “Well come on.”
His blankets pooled around his waist revealing his bare chest, the tattoo lower down on his torso peeking out at the world that his room housed. He heard noises from downstairs and guessed he was the last one to rise from the death that sleep took him to. He pulled himself out of the bed and stumbled towards the door, his shorts hanging off his hips dangerously.
“Morning!” Uncle sang from the stove as Forest walked in, tugging on the yellow gym shorts so they wouldn’t fall at any moment.
“Morning Forest.” Kylie said, smiling at him from the table where she sat next to Shadow, who was indulging himself in, Forest guessed, his third cup of coffee. Shadow didn’t send him any greetings except for a small salute as he sunk down lower into his chair, neither of them were morning people.
“You have a tattoo?” Uncle shouted, running over and gripping Forest’s shoulders firmly so he wouldn’t move as he examined the blackened skin.
“Yeah…I got it when Grandpa Frank died.” Forest stated.
“You were what, fourteen and a half when he died?” Uncle asked, looking up at him.
Forest smirked and shrugged, “Something like that.”
Uncle laughed and patted Forest’s head before he squealed and ran to the stove where he was cooking eggs that were starting to look a little brown around the edges.
“Forest, God dammit! Go put a fucking shirt on so Kylie will stop blushing and looking at you.” Shadow yelled, a balled up paper towel hitting him in the back of the head.
“Well excuseee…” Forest started but the shrill screech of the broken doorbell stopped him.
“What the fuck! Someone should fix that.” Shadow commented as he covered his ears from the high-pitched noise.
“Yeah, yeah.” Forest said waving his hand as he headed for the front door right as Uncle started setting food on the table.
“And don’t eat my food while I’m answering this!” Forest yelled after yanking the door open, his head angled back down the hallway so he didn’t see who was at the door until he turned again.
When he turned his head he froze, the words he was going to speak stuck in his throat as he stared at the mass amount of people standing at the door. Forest sighed and rubbed his eyes with balled up fists.
"Come in," he mumbled, standing aside and motioning for them to enter the house. He received odd looks as they all trailed in.
"Living room." he stated, pointing through the doorway as he headed back for the kitchen, a glum look on his face.
"What's wrong with you?" Shadow asked once he spotted Forest in the doorway again.
"They're here, Hazel, all of them." he said, leaning against the wall.
"Why do you look so...not mad?" Forest shrugged and scratched at his elbow.
"I'm going to get dressed.," he said, turning and rocketing towards the stairs to escape them all for a little bit longer.
Forest slowly descended the stairs like a timid child going down to receive a punishment. He stopped and sat on the stairs, listening to the 'pleasant' conversation that was being exchanged by Forest's half and Hazel's half. He didn't want to enter the room and look at them all, have them all look at him. He sighed and tugged at his hair, something he hadn't done in so long because it was something he got from Zacky, and he wanted nothing to do with him.
After tugging on his scalp a bit more Forest pulled himself up from the wooden seat he had acquired and headed for the living room.
“There he is.” Uncle stated looking up at the doorway as Forest filled it. Everyone’s gazes drifted to him and he forced a small smile before sitting between Shadow and Kylie.
“So Forest…” Val trailed off looking at him. Forest looked up expectantly but Val didn’t go on.
“I…Thanks for coming.” Forest finally got out, avoiding their gazes, “And sorry…for being a dick every time I saw you.”
“It’s okay; we understand that you were confused and going through a lot.” Forest scoffed and looked at Kylie.
“Did you apologize for punching my sister?” he asked letting everyone clearly hear him.
“Not really.” she shrugged and Forest laughed before looking at Shadow.
“And do you they know who you are?”
“Eh…” he wiggled his hand to say ‘don’t know’.
Forest then turned to Uncle who was sitting in an armchair in the middle of the room practically.
“And do they know about Aunt Maggie?”
“Hellll no.” Uncle said, snapping his fingers at him. Shadow, Kylie, and Forest laughed, as the others looked on confused.
“Well since you’re all here I guess it’s major confession time.” Forest sighed and stood up, hoping he wouldn't regret this all later but knowing he probably would.
“Kylie punched Hazel and she’s not going to apologize so don’t expect it. Uncle Mavrix shadows as Aunt Maggie…well I don’t know when but don’t be surprised if one day you see him in a wig and heels. And this guy right here,” Forest stopped and looked at Shadow for a moment before pulling him up next to him, “This is Shadow. Real Shadow.” he pinched Shadow’s arm.
“Ow fucker,” Shadow hissed punching Forest’s arm. Everyone looked at him as if he had just said Santa Clause was real. Which in this situation it was kind of the same thing, only worse.
“Yeah I know, scary as hell but it’s true so deal with all this or you can leave.” Forest said pushing Shadow back down as he went in for another punch. Forest dealt with a couple more playful punches before he turned to Shadow.
“Bitch stop punching me!” Forest yelled tackling him. They started wrestling and Kylie stood up, sighing, and went to sit on the other side of the room near Matt.
“You two are like long lost brothers.” Kylie mumbled. Uncle gasped and stood up.
“Maybe they are!” he squealed.
“Mavrix they aren’t brothers.” Kylie said before standing again.
“Does anyone want a drink?” she asked, smiling nicely at the group.
“Um water will be fine.” Zacky mumbled, looking frazzled. The others murmured at the suggestion and Val stood up.
“I’ll help you.” she offered.
“Thanks.” Kylie said leading Val out of the room. The others watched as Forest gained the upper hand for a moment before Shadow flipped him over and pinned him down.
“Can we just agree that I’m the winner you weakling?” Shadow asked.
“Get off me!” Forest hollered before kicking Shadow in the stomach and stumbling up after Shadow fell off.
“Winner!” Forest announced throwing his arms in the air. He watched as Hazel giggled and covered her mouth to hide it. It sounded just like when they were younger and he had always made her laugh at something stupid.
Forest sucked in a deep breath and sat down on the couch again, his head felt light and Shadow looked barely better then him.
"You know I hate getting weak." Forest commented, witnessing Shadow's head turn towards him and Shadow gave him a look meaning they had to talk later. Forest couldn't wait for that sincere conversation. Note the obvious sarcasm.
"Here we go." Kylie said happily, as she trailed in with glasses of water on a cookie sheet.
"What in the hell is that supposed to be? A tray, a poor boy tray?" Shadow asked as Kylie handed a glass of water to him and Forest.
"Shut up Shadow it's the only thing I could find to carry them all." Kylie stuck her tongue out at Shadow and went to hand the other glasses of water to Matt and the others.
There was a chorus of thank ‘you’s’ from the group and then they sat in an uncomfortable silence that made Forest start to fidget in his seat.
"Can someone talk? I can't take silence since Byte City." Forest said rubbing his forehead and knowing Shadow was the only one that would understand.
"What's Byte City?" Johnny asked.
"Only the funnest section of hell that Forest and I have ever been in!" Shadow exclaimed before downing the rest of his water.
"We were there when I was in a coma or whatever. Hell it was probably my mind but oh well." Forest shrugged and smirked slightly at the group.
The awkward moment remained until a ringing started in the kitchen.
"That's my phone!" Uncle yelled and ran through the door into the kitchen, escaping the situation.
"Nice guy." Zacky commented.
"More insane then anything." Forest said back, "Must be where I got it from right?"
"You're not insane..." Hazel murmured looking at Shadow who raised his eyebrow at her.
"That what we're saying now? I'm not insane? Then what am I?" Forest asked. Shadow let out a squeak and everyone looked at his red face as he tried to suppress a laugh.
"You're unique." Shadow exploded before busting out laughing harder then Forest had ever seen before. Forest covered his eyes and shook his head as he chuckled lightly and it progressed to laughter like Shadow's in a moment.
"Guys calm down." Kylie said, giggling at the scene. She covered her mouth and tried not to laugh anymore but it wasn't working.
"Yeah i'm real unique Shadow. So unique they'll lock me up for it." Forest said sitting on the floor after he slipped off the couch.
"No worries I’ll come visit you. Maybe they'll let you wear a special jacket that says 'unique' on the back." Shadow said sniffing and wiping his eyes.
"That would get me raped." Forest said laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. There was a water mark in the shape of a T-rex, well in his opinion anyway, and he remembered making it with a cup of apple juice on accident once.
Forest sighed and rolled over, even the carpet was bringing back memories that infiltrated his mind with memories of his family.
“This house is a bittersweet nightmare.” Forest groaned covering his head with his arms to block out the feeling of everyone around him.
Shadow glanced up and saw Hazel fidgeting around like Forest had been doing. The house was doing the same to her that it was doing to Forest. Although he had been present for a few years in the house also, he wasn’t there for the twelve years before that they had been in it. And he would never know what happened during those times.
“Why don’t we go for a walk or something? Catch up in…a different environment.” Kylie suggested.
“Sounds good.” Shadow said looking around at all the others. Who seemed very nervous around Shadow, but he couldn’t really blame them.
“Where could we go?” Val asked, who seemed to be the only one brave enough to talk more then a word or two.
“Anywhere really,” Forest said sitting up and scratching his head, “I mean it’s Colorado, it’s a tourist state, there’s hundreds of things you can do.”
“So lets go do them!” Jimmy yelled, causing a small smile to form on Forest’s face.
“Yeah Forest,” Shadow said standing up, “Lets go do Colorado.” He walked out of the room and started yelling at Uncle Mavrix for something or other.
Forest stretched as he got off the floor, “Well come on.”
♠ ♠ ♠
SO!!! Yeah I'm sorry for not updating...for like three weeks. Maybe one and a half i'm not sure but whatever it's been too long! Sooo people who comment get a chapter preview for chapter 16! And oh is it dramatic...Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter and the next one should be up on Thursday. If not i'm a failure and it'll be up some time soon after Thursday.
So enjoy and if you don't then who cares about you?! Okay that was rude, hehe.