Ch.1 Part 2: Blood is thicker?

(Continued from part 1.)

Some time after the execution was done that day, Shark popped up back at the mansion, they said.

He told me, he was so confused at what happened. He said, a few hours before, the place was loud and full of bickering relatives. And when he got back for the day the place was...silent. He said that was never a good thing at his house.

Given what transpired, I have to take his word for it, because in this case, he was right.

By the time he got there, he remembered that the pool had already been blocked off. They didn't want anyone to mess around in the scene, I'm guessing. At this point, the cops came to see if he'd come back.

When they found him, they took him back to the station. After he found out what had happened to his relatives, well...

In no uncertain terms, he lost it.

He just couldn't believe that someone would do that to his own loved ones. Especially someone of their same bloodline.

The sounds he made were basically like a wounded animal. I didn't realize a person was capable of making those kinds of noises.

But he was. And he made those noises as he was going out of the station. I can only imagine how much of a slobbering mess he was when he got home.

Shark told me after that, he ended up living with his Uncle Dudley. It went about as well as one might think, at first.

Shark admitted he...wasn't exactly the nicest guy to his uncle. Apparently, he'd always lash out at Dudley, insulting him, saying he hated him, all that stuff.

Apparently, between them, there were bad days, and then there were really bad days.

Shark said at one point, if he wasn't ignoring Dudley, he was yelling at him. I guess...I guess I could sympathize with Dudley in that area.

You know, in that we both got screeched at by the same guy at some point. But apparently at night, it got so bad, it woke up the neighbors.

One night, the old dude was working overtime, and of course, yours truly was chilling in the usual cell. The whole time he seemed unusually antsy, whenever I looked over at him.

There was just something going on that was making him uncomfortable. Sometimes he kept pulling out his phone and looking at it, like he was waiting for a call or a text.

He didn't tell the others what he was worried about, though. As soon as the graveyard shift ended, he bolted.

I don't think I've ever seen a guy of his age and figure run so fast. It was like someone lit his ass on fire. I asked Shark what might have been eating him that day.

Shark just kind of got all...embarrassed, before telling me why he might have been like that.

At some point, he ran away from home.

It had gotten so bad between the two of them, Shark at some point snuck out of the house. Dudley was worried sick about him.

Of course, Shark was a big boy, and he could take care of himself. Dudley still had to go to work, even though he was probably wanting to take the day off.

Eventually, though, he found him.

 

 According to Shark, Dudley found him at the cemetery. He probably expected him to wind up there, but he had to check everywhere else first, just to be sure. That's where Shark was told everything about the "family business".

See, Shark had never been really told what exactly it was his family was known for. All he knew was that it brought in a ton of money. 

He had wanted to follow in his dad and grandma's footsteps, he said, even though he had no idea what the hell they did for a living.

When Dudley told him, Shark said that he was shocked. He had never realized that his relatives, save for Dudley himself, were essentially Twinbrook's version of the freakin' Mafia.

But he knew now. He knew what they did, and he knew why they had to die. He promised his uncle that he would never go down the same path they did.

It also dawned on him that Dudley was all he had left in the world. The whole time, he'd been belittling him and pushing him away.

Now he knew that they were all each other had of the Rackets. When the both of them got home, well... Let's say the neighbors finally got a good night's sleep. But of course, it wasn't like that for long.

I mean to say...their little family ended up adding a new member.

At some point, Dudley's boss Scout divorced her first husband Bobby. She never really gave a reason, just said that they didn't really work together that well anymore.

Bobby had apparently gotten too invested in the military, and she said she felt like she was holding him back. So, divorce was finalized, Scout talked of her feelings, Dudley listened, and well...

You know the rest.

The two of them never had kids of their own. I don't know why they didn't, and Shark wasn't sure, either. Whether they were getting too old, or Scout or Dudley weren't able to have them, I'll never know.

Shark asked them about it, and he told me that they were okay with it. That even though they didn't have children, they cared for Shark like he was their own son.

They loved him, and he loved them back. For one, they actually paid attention to him. He apparently didn't have that back with his own parents. They were their own little family for Shark during that phase of his life.

Heh heh.

Speaking of phase...

(A/N: End of Chapter 1, Part 2.)