Vaughn shook his head quickly. “Maybe- Maybe if I tell you they’ll stop,” he stammered. He reached out, gripping onto Kaz’s hand as a way to anchor himself to reality. He was fine, everything would be fine. “I can’t get attached to people because-..” he took a moment to breath in sharply. “When I was thirteen, my dad came home wasted one night. Worse than I had ever seen him. My mom, she told my little sister and I to go hide in the upstairs closet. He got violent when he was intoxicated, and she didn’t want him hurting us. As I was taking my sister up the stairs, we could hear yelling, and then there was a gun shot. Then another, and another, and another.” Vaughn shuddered harshly, remembering it like it was yesterday. “We didn’t know what happened, but we heard my dad’s footsteps come towards us. I had picked my sister up, trying to get up the stairs quicker, but he grabbed me and I fell backwards down the stairs. I remember hitting my head when I reached the bottom, but-.. I was still awake long enough to see him throw my toddler sister against the wall before he shot her too.”
He could have continued, but he couldn’t say anything else. Sharp sobs racked through him at that point, his whole body trembling. “If I can’t trust and love my own father, then who?”