Chapter Fourteen: Agonizing Knowledge

Warning: There's some strong(ish) language in this chapter, read with caution.
Also, some of the higher quality pictures are sprinkled into this chapter :) I'm very excited about this!


As Tyson starts to get ready for the day, a wave of apathy washed over him. He doesn't want to get dressed, he doesn't want to bike to school, he doesn't want to do anything. He just wants to forget what he overheard and pretend he's part of a normal, loving, non-secretive family. Tyson stands unhappily, gritting his teeth at the thought of going into school today. He would much rather snuggle with Ro-Ro and sleep the day away then deal with the day ahead.

Though he's already an hour late to school, Ty slowly chews his pancake. "Screw them!" Tyson thinks to himself rebelliously, a small smirk on his face as he gets back into his pajamas.

Suddenly, a furious Ned storms into the room and starts yelling at the top of his lungs. "Tyson Marlin, why are you not at school already?"
"Don't feel like it," Tyson sneers. "I have good grades, one day won't screw it up." He watches in fancinated horror as Ned's face twists in rage.
"Don't fucking feel like it, do you? I don't feel like fishing every god damn day to put food on the table, yet I do it anyway!" Ned screamed, letting out his rage towards everything that's being going wrong lately. His wife has been distant, he loathes his youngest son, and now Tyson is acting out. "Why can't I have the perfect family like everybody else? I'm a failure!" He thinks angrily to himself.

"Well, apparently you haven't been doing enough! Mom's been woohooing with some guy named Hunter while you've been fishing your life away! Thorne's their love child, and you don't have a fucking clue about it!" Tyson screams, and he watches Ned's face go from rage to agony.
"What? But-but she loves me. I love her. What-what did I do wrong?" Ned asks quietly as tears run down his face.

Tyson could curse his hot-headness, as he rushes off to go to school, pjs and all. Being an angry, school-skipping rebel isn't so cool without a family to rebel against. Ned, with his pale, tear-streaked face, forces himself to go fishing. He may not enjoy the task as much as he did firefighting, but it's oddly numbing.

Thorne deals with the growing tension in the house by playing with Rosaline. She's never angry or mad, and she'll play with him for hours and hours without complaint.

Clueless to her secret being outed, Nathalie nearly dozes off during a relaxing bubble bath.

"Hey, who's my big boy?" Nathalie smiles as she picks up Thorne, but it dampens with Thorne's forlorn face. "Let's turn that frown upside down! Come on buddy, Mama wants to play with you!" Nathalie sighs as Thorne looks at her with haunted green eyes. "I'm a horrible Mama, aren't I?" She whispers as Thorne starts wailing on the top of his lungs.

Trying to cheer himself up after his horrible morning, Tyson decides to invite his friend Marilyn Lobos over.

But Marilyn is going to Roxanne Broke's birthday bash, so she can't make it. Tyson wonders why he wasn't invited, he's Roxanne's friend too. Rosaline looks at the deflated boy and wonders what sadness like that feels like.

Nathalie rages against the ghosts she meets at her job. "Why doesn't my baby love me anymore?" She thinks as the Banshee Banisher sucks up another emotionally drained spirit.

With Thorne pouring his emotions into the doll, Rosaline has become much more animated. "Da-dada-ance!" Thorne claps as Rosaline twirls around the room, cheered up for the moment.

Tyson stares blankly at the Chemistry set Ned bought him, wondering why he feels so dirty inside. "Will science cure my family?" He wonders as he jumps into his new lab coat.