Page 3 of Ravaged From Fate

I will never be like that man.

1

CASPIAN

The memory of what happened to Mom that horrible night stays firmly imprinted in my mind for the next fifteen years like a black cloud hovering over my life. Flashbacks of what I saw and what I heard in her dark bedroom come and go in strength over time, but it’s never as strong as the day I suddenly let loose and punch the paparazzi journalist threatening my friend’s fiancée.

The image of that strange man’s hands around my mother’s throat and the anger I felt as a useless ten-year-old boy is the only thing on my mind as I lash out and land a perfect right hook to the so-called journalist’s jaw. He drops down, unconscious.

And then my real problems start.

There are no excuses for my actions. I must be honest about what I did. I punched a man, and I must face up to why I did it. That man had pushed through the rest of my band, Ravaged, to get an up-close unsolicited photo of Maddie Leaver. Simply because her fiancé – my friend and Ravaged’s bassist, Axel - accidentally revealed she was pregnant. The paparazzi journalist wanted a photo of the girl, and I couldn’t let that happen.

Maddie Leaver is engaged to my bandmate.

She’s practically family.

And so I reacted like someone was attacking my family.

Something stirred within me at that moment when the journalist thrust his camera in her shocked face, something I try so hard all the fucking time to keep restrained.

My aggression burst free.

I had to step in. My anger took over. I punched that man without hesitation. It was practically automatic.

The next few hours after the journalist falls down, comatose to the ground, pass by in a crazy blur. Everyone’s trying to repair the damage. Ravaged’s manager, Lucas. Ravaged’s frontman, Drake. Axel. Ravaged’s guitarist, Bishop. My fellow bandmembers all try to resolve what I’ve done, but I know that, despite their efforts, it’s too late for things to change. I did it.

We took the man to hospital. He’s alright, but he’s going to try and sue. Bring down Ravaged.

And he might be able to.

Because of my actions, the journalist might actually be able to turn the media against our world-famous band. I can picture the headlines now. We’ll lose our reputation. Drake, Axel, and Bishop will all lose their image.

All because of me. My violence has brought us to this pinnacle.

I look around the room at everyone as they try to figure out solutions to this unsolvable problem. My bandmates. Lucas. Bishop’s new wife, Chloe. And then at Maddie. A few hours ago, we were celebrating both the shotgun wedding of Chloe to Bishop and of Maddie and Axel’s surprise engagement, and now we’re trying to defuse an explosion.

I know what I have to do, even if they don’t. I know my decision.

I have to go. I have to leave Ravaged.

It’s the only answer.

And that’s when, as everyone’s furiously attempting, in vain, to handle this whole thing, I raise my voice for the first time tonight and clearly state my intentions. I’m the famously quiet one of the group, but now I’m talking. And they listen.

I don’t want to bring down the band with me. They can find a new drummer. I have to go away. Far away.

I need to find a place that doesn’t know who Caspian Ford is.

I don’t tell them where I’m heading; even I don’t know that. They try to stop me from leaving, but they can’t. I can’t allow their careers to get ruined because of my actions. My antagonism.

It’s time to go, and so I leave as they protest. The girls call my name, but I continue out of the house and into the gloomy Los Angeles night.

I head straight to my apartment. I don’t keep much in the way of material things. I’m always – I always was – on the road with Ravaged that I’ve never felt like I’ve needed a solid home. Plus, I don’t need a lot. Growing up, Mom and I never had a lot, and that mindset hasn’t left me. Even if I do now have the bank account of a small European nation on account of being with Ravaged. And so, it doesn’t take me long to pack up my belongings in my truck.

I start driving on the first road out of the city and I start to come up with a plan for my future. No way am I going to let my emotions hurt someone else.

Not again.