Three days later
I ran, yep, you heard right, I ran away, like a coward. I went back home, I just couldn't handle everything that was going on and I needed to be in a familiar place, where I felt at peace and back home in New York, was the best place. Also, I couldn't bring myself to tell her that her boyfriend is planning to take away the one thing that she loved, she would have probably thought that I was out of my mind.
I am sitting in the dining room with Charles watching tv, nothing feels like home if I have to be honest.
"Xander, you haven't been yourself lately, are you having nightmares again?" he asks worriedly.
"No, I haven't Charles and I'm fine," I reply, keeping my focus fixed on the tv.
He grabs the remote from my hand and turns off the TV, "Hey, that was the season finale."
"Xander, dude, please talk to me,"
The sound of his pleading voice, makes my heart crack, he is genuinely concerned and I'm only making it worse by not talking and maybe if I tell him, he won't think I'm crazy, right?
I sigh, "Fine but you're going to think I'm crazy."
"No, I won't because you already are baby,"
"Where is Damien?"
"Damien, honey, get your ass in here," Charles calls out.
Damien emerges from the kitchen in an apron, covered in flour, I swear this guy is always cooking or baking, Charles gestures from him to take a seat beside him on the couch.
"What's wrong?" he asks, looking at Charles and me.
"Xander has something that he wants to tell us," Charles replies.
Damien wipes out his warm fatherly smile and looks at me, "What's on your chest buddy?"
I swear these two are going to drive me insane if they keep treating me like their trail baby.
"I recently had an interesting conversation with Aiden, the day before we left,"
Charles furrows his brows, "About what?"
"He wants to take Abrahams Incorporated from Nikki and he said that if I kept quiet, he'd give me shares in the company,"
"What?"
"I knew that shithead was a crook," Charles fumed.
"What do you mean?" Damien questions.
"He has evil written all over him," Charles replies folding his arms, "And the way he looked at the women in that building, just disgusting."
"Charles," Damien warns.
Charles smacks his lips. "Why didn't you tell Nikki?"
"Because I didn't want her to think that I'm crazy or some jealous freak,"
"Understandable," Damien says, "Why don't you try talking to Aiden? Get some information out of him, record your phone call?"
"Yeah, but men like him can smell it when something is fishy so that won't work," Charles points out.
"I agree with Charles, we need to figure something out," I say.
"I still think that we should just tell her," Charles says, "It's the only way, to avoid unnecessary drama."
"Let's all sleep on it, and we can discuss it tomorrow," Damien says getting up from the couch, "Dinner is almost ready, Xander, come help me set the table."
I groan, "Why me? Why can't Charles do it?"
Damien gives me a warning look, "Charles and I clean and feed you every day, the least you could do Mister is set the table."
"Fuck fine, I'll set the table," I mumble and get up from the couch.
I hear Charles laugh behind me, "This is why we treat you like our baby Xander."
I mutter some curse words as I walk into the kitchen, my mood is lifted when I smell the sweet savoury aroma of grilled chicken. I walk to the cabinet and take out three plates and put them on the table.
"Hey, guys, what's Aiden's full name?" Charles asks as he walks in with his phone in his hand.
"Aiden Joseph Tiaz van Rensburg," Damien answers.
"That's a mouthful," Charles chuckles and types away on his phone.
Something about the name Tiaz just sounded familiar, a crashing sound is heard from the lounge, and I immediately look at Charles, he shakes his head and goes to see what's happened.
"What was that?" Damien asks.
"That's what happens when you let Xander do housework, like hanging up a picture frame," Charles teases as he walks into the kitchen with a broken picture of my degree.
"Hey, we all have our talents," Damien laughs, "I can't do handiwork to save my life either."
"You are both pathetic," Charles laughs, he walks to the pantry and takes out a dustpan and a brush to sweep up the remaining broken pieces. I quietly finish setting the table, Charles, and I both know what just happened, but it wasn't something that we wanted to talk about especially in front of Damien.
"Dinner is ready guys, you may take your seats," Damien announces, he puts the grilled chicken and veggies, and he begins to cut the chicken into pieces.
"Mhm babe, which smells absolutely divine, you better dish my plate first because I am hungry," Charles says lifting his plate.
"I have to agree, that really smells good man,"
"Wait until you taste," he smiles, he takes Charles plate and dishes up for him and then he does the same for me.
My stomach grumbles at the sight of my plate, and as I am about to dig in Charles smacks my hand.
"Boy, where are your manners, we need to bless the food first, you know the rules," he scolds.
"Ag, seriously,"
"Don't sass me," he warns.
"Babe, just prays," Damien says.
"Lord, bless this food and the hands that made them, Amen."
"Amen,"
"Let's dive right in," Charles says.
Dinner is absolutely divine, with a light conversation, wine, and good food, I have no regrets about running away from my problems, I just hope there's dessert.
"So, what's for dessert? You on a sliver plater?" Charles's flirts and I choke on my wine.
"Charles there is a minor at the table," Damien laughs lightly, "You're gonna traumatize our baby."
"Ha, ha, very funny guys," I say wiping my chin with a napkin.
"We are having chocolate mousse cake for dessert," Damien says as he gets up from his chair.
"Oh, give it, now please,"
"Someone is gonna have a sugar rush," Charles sings, looking at me.
"Oh, stop treating him like a child," Damien says as he places a plate in front of me. I dig my spoon into it and take the first bite and I moan in pleasure.
"He is a child, I mean look at him, he's messing himself like a three-year-old," Charles picks up a napkin and wipes my chin.
"Babes leave him alone,"
I smack Charles hands away from my face, "Damien is so good, where did you learn how to cook like this?"
"My mama, Geneviève Harris," he says proudly.
"She taught you well, I would love to meet her one day," I say, taking another spoonful.
"Did you put drugs in there?" Charles questions, "He just gave your mother a compliment and said he wanted to see her, there must be drugs in there."
"Charles, he's changing and you of all people should be happy and not questioning it," Damien says, he puts a plate in front of Charles and then himself.
"I am happy, I just didn't think it would happen this quickly," he sighs, "But I'm happy regardless."
Crash!
My body freezes, no, not again.
"Really again? What's going on?" Damien says, we all get up and every picture that I had ever put up of myself and achievements was on the floor, except for one picture of my dad. It was starting again, he's back.
"No," I whisper to myself as I back out of the room.
"Xander, calm down," Charles says to me.
"He's back," I whisper, my back hits the wall and I slide down, I knew my happiness was going to be short-lived.
"Guys, what's going on?"
Charles
Dear God, please, help now, this boy better not have a panic attack.
"Charles, what's happening to him?" Damien asks worriedly.
"Baby let's get him to calm down first and we'll talk okay," I reply, as I walk to Xander, he's got that scared look in his eyes and if you approach him too fast, he'll start swinging.
"Okay what can I do to help?" he asks.
This man chose the wrong time but so damn attractive.
"Let's get him to the couch, I don't want him hurting himself," I say, Damien pushes past me and approaches Xander but in a calm manner, way better than I would have done.
"Go get the water, I'll take it from here," he says.
I go into the kitchen, and I get a bottle of water and his neglected medication from the pantry and walk back into the lounge, Damien has moved him to the couch and Xander seems to be calm, he's hunched over, and Damien is sitting on top of the table in front of him, rubbing his back.
I walk to them and sit beside Xander, I put the bottle of water on the table and Damien gives me a questioning look/
"Are you going to explain to me what's going on?"
"Xander has PTSD and a slight case of mania and I'm also starting to believe that this house is haunted," I sigh, rubbing Xander back.
"You mean you think there is a ghost in this house?"
"Yes, he's the one that's always breaking stuff," Xander cries out, "He's always haunting me and terrorising me."
"I don't understand,"
"We keep his ashes and I think that because we did, we let his spirit into the house and Xander claims to be seeing him and dreaming of him and because of a very traumatic experience he had when he was a child, something he won't talk about, he has developed PTSD," I explain.
Damien looks at me with pure shock on his face but mostly sadness.
"It all started two years after Xander's dad died when Xander started pursuing other things instead of focusing on the business and the country, first I was a nightmare and then it just got deeper and deeper, until Xander had to disappear for a while,"
"That explains the recession a few years back," Damien adds.
"Exactly, we told the media that he was on a sabbatical when in fact he was in this house with me. I took care of him, I watched him scream at the wall, cry, and scratch himself, I watched him as he fell apart and turned cold, his father sucked every bit of light that he had in him. I got him help took him to therapy, got him on meds and that's when he started to get better but here, we are again," I sniff and wipe my tears.
Damien stands up from the table, "We need to get rid of those ashes,"
"No!" Xander yells, "You can't."
"Xander why not?" I cry, "It could be the only solution to our problem."
"He'll come back anyway," he argues, tears streaming down his face.
"Xander, he won't, once he's in the ocean, he's gone forever," Damien reassures.
"How can you be so sure?" I ask, even I wanted to be sure that this problem was solved once and for all.
"That's what normal people do after they burn their loved ones, either bury them or throw them into the ocean," Damien argues, "Personally, I think the ocean is the safest and best bet."
"I'll think about it," Xander says lowly.
Thank you, Lord, we finally have some progress in this boy's life.
"Good but for now, you need to get some rest, okay?" Damien says with a small smile.
Xander nods and I get up, I escort him to his bedroom, and he goes to brush his teeth, as soon as he is done, he gets into bed.
"Good night, Andy," I say.
"Don't turn off the light, please," he says in a soft, yet terrified voice, my heart clenches.
"I won't, if you need me, you know where to find me,"
"Thank you and good night," he says, and he lies down and closes his eyes.
I go back downstairs, and Damien cleaned up the place, I walk into the kitchen, and he's made me a cup of chamomile tea, we sit there in silence, I think we both knew that somehow this ghost was listening and watching us closely, waiting for the right moment to finish what he started and probably, suck the last bit of life left in Xander.