Chemical Kids and Mechanical Brides

“Vic…oh my god…Vic, come on…wake up…!”

My brain was throbbing inside my head, and the person’s voice wasn’t helping much.

What the hell was I doing…? Was I dreaming…?

“Vic…! Come on! Please! Wake up…!”

I opened my eyes to see Andy and Mike hovering over me with worried expressions on their faces.
“Andy…Mike…? What am I doing here…?”

“Vic…what happened? Where’s Kellin? We tried calling him, but he didn’t answer his phone. Aren’t you sick? Why were you walking outside?!” Mike with his questions…

The realization hit me quickly.

I sat up quickly, startling them.
“Ronnie has Kellin! I tried to save him, b-but something happened and…and! Why am I here?!”

“We found you outside. You hit your head and passed out. Wait…! Ronnie has Kellin?!” Andy’s eyes widened with shock as I nodded.

“I had to go save him…! That’s why I was outside…! Please guys…! You have to let me go get him…!”

“We’ll go, Vic. You need to stay here. You’re still sick.”

“No…I’m going with you.” “Vic—!” “No…!” I cut Mike off. They both stared at me in disbelief.

“It’s my fault he went out anyway…I promised him that I wouldn’t let Ronnie hurt him. I have to bear that burden. Now, I won’t ask again. Take me with you.”

They didn’t argue with me anymore. We just left and ran to Kellin’s old house.
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The house was quiet. The door was unlocked. We walked inside and I cringed at the sight in front of me.

There was shattered glass everywhere. Chairs were tipped over, some were broken. Broken picture frames remained on the ground.

When I looked at the ground, I saw a small trail of blood lead to the bathroom. My stomach twisted into a knot.

Please…don’t let it be his…

“Jesus Christ…what the hell happened…?”

After another moment of silence, I hear whimpering coming from the same bathroom.
I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

There was no doubt. Kellin was inside there.

“Kellin…! It’s me! Open the door, please!”

There was no response. I felt tears well up in my eyes.

“Please, Kellin…! I’m sorry…! This is all my fault…! I understand if you hate me now…but we have to get you out of here…!”

Once again, there was no response. Only the click of the lock was heard.
I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned it.

He stood in the doorway, bruises all over his neck, arms and a couple on his cheeks. There were more cuts on his arms and torso than last time.

His blue eyes were lifeless and dull again.

I let the tears escape due to the heart-wrenching sight in front of me.
This…this is all my fault…

He hugged me tightly, knocking me back and causing us both to fall to the ground since I was still weak from being sick. He still clung to me as he broke out into loud sobs.

“Shh…it’s okay…” I rocked him back and forth in my arms.

I noticed a small ‘R’ was cut into his shoulder. My blood boiled and anger rushed through me again.

“Come on, we should go. I have a really bad feeling about this place.” Mike nodded in agreement to Andy.

I nodded as well.
“Kell, where’s your shirt and jacket, love?” “I-in the room…”
His voice was barely audible, but Mike was still able to hear him and went into the room to get those things.

I continued to hold Kellin in my arms, comforting him the best I could.

As soon as Mike came back with the clothes, the front door opened…
…and in stepped Ronnie…

He looked at all of us, anger evident in his eyes.

“What the hell are you doing in my house?!”
Kellin whimpered slightly. I held him tightly against me, keeping my eyes on Ronnie.

There’s no way in Hell I’m letting him hurt Kellin again.

Ronnie’s eyes remained on me and Kellin.

“Trying to take Kellin away from me again…?!” He stormed over to us and tried to pull me away from Kellin. I held onto him the best I could, but eventually Ronnie pried me from him and shoved me across the room.

Andy and Mike stepped in, but Ronnie landed the first blows and pushed them out of the way.

Kellin was huddled up in the corner of the room.

“No more…! Please! No more!"
I got up and ran over to them, standing in front of Kellin to shield him from Ronnie.

“Move out of the way, Fuentes.”

I looked him straight in the eyes with a slight glare.

“No.”

He punched me in the face once, then a couple of times in the stomach.

Maybe I couldn’t fight back, but I still had to protect Kellin.

Another blow to the face, another blow to the stomach.
One more blow caused me to collapse onto my knees. I coughed up a small amount of blood.

“Ronnie! Stop! Don’t do this! Please! Stop hurting him!” Kellin tried begging, but it didn’t work.

I tried to get back up, but Ronnie kicked me in the stomach, causing me to drop to the ground.

He let out a dark chuckle, then continued to kick me over and over again until there was the sound of a sickening crack, causing me to scream in agony. He kicked me in the same place again before he turned his attention towards Kellin.

“You’re next.”

Kellin shook his head frantically, tears spilling from his eyes.

I grabbed Ronnie’s ankle before he went any closer. He looked down at me and sneered.

“Haven’t you had enough.” He stomped my stomach. The pain was unbearable, but I still grabbed onto his ankle.

Before he could “finish the job”, the sound of sirens echoed outside and policemen barged into the house.
They pulled Ronnie away from me and Kellin and forced him against the wall, giving him his Miranda Rights while putting the handcuffs on his wrists.

Kellin crawled over to me and placed a hand on my cheek. “Vic…why…?!”

I smiled slightly towards him.

“I promised you that I wouldn’t let Ronnie hurt you ever again…”
I closed my eyes.

The last thing I heard was Kellin crying out my name and telling me that he loves me before I lost consciousness again.