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At Last I See the Light

Summary:

“Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“Do you want your brother back or not?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Those things are unimportant. Do you want your brother back?”

Zoe paused for a moment. He had hurt her so much. He was a monster, and now he was gone. She should be happy. But she wasn’t. Why was it that she missed that monster? No, she didn’t miss him, she missed the Connor she had known when they were little; the Connor who had been her best friend. Slowly, she nodded her head.

“I will give you the chance to get your brother back, the brother you used to know. I only have one condition.”

“And what’s that?” Zoe inquired, stiffening as she grew more suspicious.

“You have to save him.”

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

That day started out normal, or at least as normal as things got in the Murphy family. Zoe had woken up to the sound of her alarm. She was tempted to just hit snooze, but couldn’t because she had to be the responsible child. With a sigh, the brunette forced herself from her warm bed and placed her feet on the ground. Slowly, she walked towards her closet and began getting ready.

Despite how crappy she felt, Zoe forced a smile and walked downstairs to the kitchen, taking a seat next to her father. Her brother was sitting across from her, his head on the table and his hair covering his probably red eyes. Zoe almost threw up inside her mouth, she could smell the weed on him. Yup, leave it up to her brother to get high before school started on the first day of the school year.

“Morning, sweetie”, her mother chirped, setting down a plate of waffles in front of her. “Are you excited about your first day back?”

Zoe sighed, cutting her waffles. “Not really, mom.”

Cynthia frowned. “Cheer up, kiddo, you’ll have a great day. How about you, Con? Are you excited for the first day?”

Zoe glanced at her brother, trying to make it seem as though she were looking at her plate. It took him a minute to answer. “About that, I think I’ll just stay home. I’ll go tomorrow, I promise.”

Zoe saw her mother frown again, a look of disappointment threatening to creep onto her face. ‘Mom is not going to let that fly’, Zoe said to herself.

“It’s your senior year, Connor. You have to go to school”, Cynthia responded.

“C’mon, I already said I’d go tomorrow.”

Of course he would try to get out of going to school. She looked at Cynthia, nervously awaiting would happen next.

“I- Larry, get off your phone. Tell your son he needs to go to school.” Cynthia demanded.

“Listen to your mom, Connor”, Larry replied, not looking up from his phone.

“That’s all you’re gonna say?” Her mom asked, upset by Larry’s apathy towards the situation.

“What do you want me to do? He’s probably high.”

“He’s definitely high”, Zoe agreed, rolling her eyes.

Connor looked up and glared at her. “Screw you”.

“Screw you too!” The sixteen year old retorted, getting up from her chair.

“He’s not high”, her mother defended. Connor looked up and giggled in response, causing Cynthia to grow more frustrated. “Connor! We have talked about this!”

Connor rolled his eyes and got up, walking upstairs.

Just another typical morning. How how she wished he would just disappear. Their lives would be so much easier.