Oh, and one more thing

 "I don't even want to live here," her words still burned his ears when he could hear them even from the front step. Tristan always knew there was friction between his parents. Although, he'd always slacked it off as if it was his mother's fault. But she spoke of his father's guns in the house.

"Oh, you don't care if the place falls apart!" She spoke of how awful the kitchen was. They needed new pipes. The house was cold in the winter. Hot in the summer. But what mattered the most was that his father had a place for his guns in the basement. This much Tristan knew. Of course, most of the guns his dad inherited were from his father, Grandpa Liam. 

Of course, there had been so much gun violence these past few months. Possibly, Tristan was the only human on earth that felt sad for the active shooter back in Texas. Tristan couldn't explain it, but he really felt no one was there for that guy. And he probably had a lot of problems everyone was ignoring. Maybe, his family just couldn't handle it. They probably had no idea.  

True, it had all ended horrifically. Evidently, that guy did have a plan. This sort of thing struck Tristan as if everybody was watching him now, as if he might be the next to go bad. What was he going to do? He'd spent weeks getting counseling. New medication and then, of course, worked his ass off somewhere in some little town, digging holes, rebuilding buildings, and even a house or two. It was the kind of work that most wouldn't do. But it had felt pretty good to accomplish something. He'd stayed focused. And now it all turned out to be, "Well, you were only tackling your sister in a grocery store." It wasn't that big of a deal, obviously. The truth was, they had nothing for him. His time was up. Of course, he'd been on his best behavior.

A counselor had told him he could make it on his own. He'd been mindful. He worked well with others. Most likely he could get a job. They would help him get back in at the University. "You just have to make every day count and work on you, being the best you."

Possibly, it was just a bunch of positive shit, but he'd go with it. They would even help him find a place to live. That's why that day on the doorstep, he decided not to tell his folks he was back. He didn't want to be any trouble to anyone.