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Vic and I are walking through the hall when suddenly I feel the neck of my shirt get yanked from behind.
I feel myself get pushed face first into a locker and I suddenly feel like I’m back at my parents house.
“Alex, get your fucking hands off of him.” Vic yells.
“Why should I? This fuck was screwing around with my girl.” Alex hisses.
“He didn’t do anything with her.” Vic shouts. “He didn’t even kiss her.”
“Bullshit!” Alex spits, slamming my head into the locker.
“I didn’t.” I cry. “I promise.”
“You want to know who kissed her? I kissed her.” Vic says.
Alex’s grip loosens on me but he doesn’t let go.
“You kissed her?” he asks.
“Just ask her. I kissed her. Let go of Kellin because he did nothing wrong.” Vic sighs.
Alex drops his hands and I turn around, wiping the tears from my face in the process.
Vic’s being held back by three of Alex’s friends.
“Go wait by the car, Kellin.” Vic tells me.
“Not so fast.” Alex smirks. “He can watch.”
One of Alex’s friends let’s go of Vic and grabs me from behind, holding me so I can’t move.
“Please just leave him out of this. He did nothing wrong.” Vic says pleadingly.
Alex snorts before he punches Vic in his stomach.
I cry out watching Vic groan in pain.
“Please stop. Please don’t hurt him.” I beg.
Alex punches Vic in the face, a smirk on his lips as he does so.
“Please.” I beg.
Alex hits Vic over and over again until he’s bloody and crying and all I can do is watch.
I notice a teacher come out of a nearby classroom. A small feeling of relief falls over me but it is short-lasted as he looks over at the commotion but retreats back into the classroom, leaving me confused. Isn’t he going to help us?
After one last blow to the face, Alex gives his friend a nod who then drops Vic. I’m finally let free and I rush right over to Vic who’s cowering on the ground.
Alex and his friends are laughing as they leave.
“Vic,” I choke out, tears falling down my face. “Vic, are you okay?”
He shakily pushes himself off the floor enough to sit up. He has blood pouring out of his nose and into his mouth. He holds his sleeve up to his nose and closes his eyes as he nods.
“Yeah I’m okay.” he whispers out in a raspy voice. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head and throw my arms around him.
“That was horrible.” I choke out.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Vic whispers, holding me close to him.
“I hate him.” I sob.
Vic just shushes me softly and runs his fingers through my hair. I don’t understand how he’s so calm. How is he so okay with this happening?
“Vic, we have to tell Mama and Papa.” I sniff.
He sighs and shakes his head.
“It’s fine, Kell.” he whispers.
“It’s not!” I exclaim. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again. And what if they hurt me?”
“I won’t let that happen. I promise.” he says, kissing my head lovingly.
I sigh, giving up.
“Why don’t you fight back?” I ask. “You’re strong. You could probably win.”
“It’s not worth it, Kells. I don’t mean anything. I don’t matter. They can hurt me all they like. I don’t care.” he says in barely a whisper.
“I care. You matter to me. You mean everything to me.” I tell him.
Vic pulls back his sleeve from his nose that seems to have stopped bleeding but there’s still blood covering him.
“As long as they’re hurting me, they’re not hurting you.” Vic says softly. “Come on, we should go.”
I let go of him and stand up. I help Vic up and he pulls me close to him as we walk out of the school.
“Vic, why don’t any of the teachers do anything?” I ask.
“I think they don’t want to deal with it. They pretend to not see anything so they don’t have to make it their problem. I think it might have something to do with my sexuality too.” he shrugs.
I begin to feel really angry. They’re all just as bad as Mother and Father.
Vic and I get into the car and Vic begins driving us home.
I’m fuming the entire way. This isn’t fair. Vic is the nicest, sweetest person I know and people hate him for something that isn’t his fault. They’ve made him hate himself too which is even worse.
“Kell, you look upset.” Vic states as he pulls up in front of home.
My anger quickly turns to sadness as I turn to Vic, looking over his bruised and bloody face.
“You’re a beautiful person. You’re so beautiful Vic.” I choke out as tears start falling down my face. “I wish everyone could see it.”
He pulls me into his arms and kisses my head.
“Baby, don’t worry about me, okay? I’m going to be fine. I have you. That’s all that matters to me.” he says softly.
I sniff and breathe deeply, calming myself down.
“I love you.” I whisper.
“I love you too.” Vic whispers back.
He kisses my head softly and pulls away.
“Come on, looks like Tay’s here.” Vic says. I look up to see that her car is in the driveway.
“Do you think she’s here about the trial?” I ask nervously.
“Yeah, I think she needs to start preparing you for it.” Vic says.
“Will you be at the trial?” I ask hopefully.
“If you want me to be.” Vic smiles and I nod.
“I’m scared.” I whisper.
“I know baby, I know. But you’ll get through this because you’re an amazing boy. You’ve overcome so much in these past few months. You’ve got this.” he tells me and I trust him so I just nod.
Vic and I get out of the car and enter the house. I hear the adults talking in the living room. Vic kisses my cheek softly.
“I’ll see you later, darling.” he whispers and I nod.
I enter the living room as Vic goes upstairs and everyone goes silent.
“Hey Kell.” Taylor grins.
“Hi.” I whisper.
“Come take a seat honey.” Mama says and I nod walking in and sitting next to her.
“How was your day?” she asks.
“Fine.” I whisper just feeling really nervous.
“You know why I’m here?” Tay asks.
“The trial.” I nod.
“Don’t look so scared, Kell. We’re going to ease you into this and once the trial is over, you’ll never have to deal with any of this again.” she explains and I nod.
“I-is there any chance that I’ll have to go back and live with my parents?” I ask anxiously.
“There’s zero chance of that.” Mama says wrapping her arms around me. “You’re all mine.”
I smile and nuzzle my face into her shoulder.
“Even if your parents didn’t happen to go to prison which there’s zero chance of that happening too, they wouldn’t be allowed to see you anyway. You’d continue to stay here. They’re never going to hurt you again, Kell. We promise you that.” Taylor says softly.
I sigh relieved, feeling a lot better about this whole thing.
“This trial won’t change anything. Things will be the same afterwards, it’s just to determine how long your parents are incarcerated for.” Taylor explains and I nod, pretending to understand.
“So what do I have to do?” I question.
“Well we’re going to walk you through what will happen at the trial. We’re going to take some pictures of you, much like we did at the hospital the day you came here. And we’re going to talk about your parents and what they did to you. But we’re going to have to go down to the station to do all this.” Tay explains and I nod.
“Mama, can you come?” I ask shakily.
“I can come honey, but I can’t come in while you’re talking to them.” she frowns.
I sigh softly to myself. I’m just going to have to be brave.
“In that case, you should just stay here.” I smile sadly.
“Are you sure?” she asks and I nod.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be okay.” I assure her.
“I’ll cook dinner while you’re gone. What would you like?” she questions.
“Anything Mama. I’m happy with anything.” I tell her, hugging her tightly.
“Okay. Call me if you need anything.” she says and I nod, finally letting go of her.
“Ready to go, kiddo?” Tay asks and I nod.
I follow her out of the house and into her car. She then drives off and I begin to feel nervous.
“How is Vic doing?” she asks sounding worried.
“He seems to be a lot better. He hasn’t hurt himself since and he’s talking to a therapist.” I explain.
“I’m glad.” she smiles.
“I’m still so worried, Tay.” I frown.
“Have you tried talking to him about it?” she questions.
“No, he doesn’t want to talk about it.” I sigh.
“You need to talk to him about it, whether he likes it or not. You need to tell him how you feel. He needs to see the affect it’s having on you. Maybe then he’ll rethink his decisions.” she tells me.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe if Vic sees just how much this upsets me then he won’t do it again.
“You shouldn’t have to deal with this, Kell. Not right now. Not while you have so much going on. Maybe you and Vic should take a break for a little while.” Tay sighs.
“What do you mean “take a break”?” I ask confused.
“Break up. But not permanently. Just for a little bit. Maybe until after the trial.” Taylor suggests.
The thought scares me but Tay seems to know what she’s talking about.
“W-what if I break up with Vic and he decides he doesn’t want to get back together?” I ask worried.
“Honey, he loves you to death. He’ll wait the rest of his life for you.” she tells me. “But you don’t have to do anything I tell you. I want you to think about it then make your own decision, okay?”
“Okay.” I sigh.
“Oh I forgot to tell you!” Tay says excitingly. “I have a box in my office for you. It’s got some things in it from your parents house that I thought you’d want.”
I smile a little at that.
“Thanks Tay.” I murmur.
She soon pulls up in front of the police station and gets out of the car. I follow and we begin walking up to the building.
“Tay, what exactly is your job?” I ask.
“I’m a social worker but I work for the police and specialise in childhood abuse.” she explains.
“Are there other kids like me?” I ask confused.
“Yeah, I’ve dealt with plenty of kids like you. I’ve never known of a kid who had it as bad as you though. You’re the worst case of abuse I’ve ever come across. I’ve known of kids who have died because of their parents but none that endured your level of abuse and neglect for so long. You’re a strong kid, Kells.” she explains.
I smile at that. I guess I’m somewhat proud of myself
“Thank you for taking me away from them before they killed me.” I smile.
She sighs seeming a little sad and nods. We enter the building and Tay leads me through some doors. We go into a place that looks like an office where there’s a man spinning on his chair.
“Jordan, grow up.” Taylor laughs.
“Never.” he grins as he stills his chair. “You must be Kellin. I’m Jordan. Tay and I work together.”
Nervous about being near a stranger, I just nod, gulping hard as I move behind Tay a bit.
“Take a seat, Kell.” she suggests, wheeling up a chair.
I sit down nervously and she pulls up another chair that she sits in.
“I bought us all hot chocolate.” Jordan grins, picking up a tray of drinks.
He hands one to Tay and then to me, which I take quickly and wearily.
“I’ll get that box.” Tay beams, standing up and taking a box off a desk.
It’s only a shoebox but I wasn’t expecting big. I didn’t have much stuff at all. I was even surprised when she said she had a few of my things.
She hands me the box and sits back down. I open it up, curious as to what’s inside.
“Teddy.” I gasp, pulling out the stuffed bear and hugging it tightly. I never thought I’d see it again.
I place the bear to the side and pull out a small journal. I flip through it, cringing slightly. I used to write in this, usually about my day. It’s not filled with good memories.
“I don’t want this.” I whisper handing it to Tay. “But I think it might help with the trial.”
Tay looks interested and starts looking through the book. Her eyebrows raise as she reads.
“Kells, this is perfect. This will help a lot.” she smiles.
She flips through it more while I look through the box, finding things like my class photos and my school reports and a few baby clothes.
“Kell, did your mom really try to cut your fingers off?” Tay asks, seeming horrified.
I hum and extend my hand, showing her the scar on my finger. She examines it and nods sadly.
“We were under the impression that you slept in one of the bedrooms upstairs and your parents put you in the basement to be cruel. But reading this, it seems like you were in the basement all the time.” she says softly.
“That was my bedroom.” I tell her.
“Honey, I’ve been down in the basement. Where was your bed?” she asks.
“On the floor. On the clothes.” I whisper.
I watch her get a little teary as she stands up.
“This is worse than we thought.” she says seriously to Jordan before she leaves the room.
I frown at that.
“Did I do something wrong?” I ask Jordan confused.
“No, she’s just a little overwhelmed. She cares about you and that makes it hard for her to hear all the bad things that happened to you.” he explains.
“I don’t want to upset her.” I frown.
“You didn’t. It’s your parents that upset her.” he says and I nod sadly.
“How do you feel about you parents, Kell? Do you love them?” Jordan asks.
I shake my head no.
“They were bad people. They hurt me. I feel bad but I really hate them.” I say quietly.
“Don’t feel bad. We all hate them. It’s good that you hate them. It makes things a lot easier.” he smiles.
I look up as I hear Tay reenter the room. Her face looks a little puffy and I feel horrible for making her cry. She has something in her hand and I get excited when I see what it is. It’s nail polish.
She sits back down and gives me a smile.
“We’re going to talk now and we need to record what your saying, is that okay?” she asks and I nod.
She then holds up the nail polish.
“Is purple okay?” she asks and I nod excitingly making her laugh.
Jordan sets up a camera as Taylor starts painting my nails, then we start talking about my parents.
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