Save You From Him

I motion for Chase to sit on the floor. He does and leans his back against the wall with his legs outstretched. He opens his legs a little and pats the space between them, gesturing for me to sit. But I shake my head and sit down beside him. I draw my legs up to my chest, wrap my arms around them and rest my cheek on my knee. Chase looks hurt but we honestly need to talk about our problems first before I get comfortable with him again.

"What do you have to tell me about your brother, sugar?" He ask. I know he wants to dicuss our problem. But if I don't tell him now I will never be able to. I'd lose my courage.

"My parents died," I begin softly. "They were on there way home. They went clubbing to feel young again," I say with a little laugh, remembering them looking so excited. "They were stopped at a stop sign. Then a guy with a gun just ran up to my dad side to the window. His window was down so the guy put the gun to his head. Well this is what the cops said happened. They said that the guy told them to get out the car. They said that the guy was trying to touch my mom so my dad hit him. They were wrestling for the gun when my dad accidently pulled off the guys ski mask. They saw his face so he shot them." I close my eyes to will the tears away. I don't want to cry.

"Kyle got into the wrong crowd when he became a senior in high school. He changed. It was all about drugs,alcohol and sex. He started coming home late at night high or drunk, smelling of sex. He still lived at home when our parents died. But he was changing. He talked about going to college with my parents. But first he talked about going to rehab for a little while so he won't be tempted by drugs and alcohol.I don't know what was with the sudden change but we were all happy about it. He started being Ky Ky again. My big brother that I looked up to. Then my parents died and everything he wanted to do flushed down the drain. He became angry. H-he started to beat me."

I hear Chase draw in a deep breathe.

"What?" He ask through clenched teeth.

"First it started with him hitting me once really hard somewhere. But it got worse when he started drinking and smoking again."

Chase jumps up to his feet. I see his hands clenched into tight fist, making his knuckles white. "What the fuck Terry?! He beats you! Why the hell do you stay with that sick fucker! I'm pretty fucking sure Jay and his family would let you live with them."

"You don't get it. He's my only family and he's in pain. I don't want to leave him. Kyle's just lost. So lost. If I leave he'll just end up destroying himself Despite everything he's done to me I don't want my brother to die." My voice cracks. Just thinking about my brother in a coffin being lowered six feet under makes my heart break.

"No Terry! You can't allow yourself to be a punching bag because your brother is fucked up in the head."

I jump up to my feet. "I'm not going to abdandon my brother. He just needs help and support from someone because no one else gives a fuck about him! I'm all he has in this world."

"Well he has a fucked up way of showing that your all he has by beating the shit out of you! You have to leave that place, sugar."

"What if it was your mom?" I ask. "What if she was a drunk? What if you were all she had left in this world? Would you leave her?" He opens and closes his mouth a few times. But after a while he shuts it. He starts glaring at the floor because he knows I'm right. He wouldn't leave her. "Exactly," is all I say.

"But he hits you," he replies weakly.

"I haven't seen him in a couple of days. I'm so scared he's out there somewhere lifeless or in jail."

"Can we talk about something else besides your shithole of a brother?" He ask pleadingly. "Like us?"

I sit back down and sigh heavily. "Did you sleep with someone Chase?"

He stays silent for a long time. That's answer enough. "Yes I did." I put my head in my hands.

"Who was it with." I ask, my question muffled by my hands. But I know he heard me.

"Chloe."

I start laughing humorlessly. I let my hands drop into my lap. "That's great Chase. Fucking wonderful."

"I'm sorry," he begins. "I was just so pissed off. I had hit you. Everyone was ganging up on me. Even my own cousin. Jay was just adding to that anger."

"That doesn't mean you go to fuck someone!" I shout. "I was pissed off too! That doesn't mean I went to a fucking gay bar grab some random guy and fucked him! Goddammit Chase!"

"I was scared!" He shouts back. "Scared that you was going to break up with me! You walked away!"

"Wht did you expect?! It was our first fight. I wanted time to cool off. I had just gotten punched in the face by y boyfriend who was going pshyco because he thinks me and my best friend were a little to friendly with each other."

Chase goes back to glaring at the floor. "So what now? Are we over?"

I sigh and stand back up. I put my hand on his chest. He lifts his head back up to look at me with wide eyes. "No we're not over Chase." He let's out a relieved sigh. "But we need to talk about your jealousy issue and running away from your problems. Your also going to do a lot to make up the fact that you slept with Chloe. For right now though we better get to whatever period it is right now."

"Okay," he whispers. He looks like he wants to take my hand but is hesitant. So I grab his and walk to the door.

"Frankie!" I yell banging on the door. "You can let us out now!"