Wake Me Up

Note- Trigger Warning Physical Abuse. And if you're still upset about the death of Dobby and Sirius Black.

“You deserve this Kellin,” a voice snarls at me right before a sharp blow forces the air out of my lungs. My fingertips grip the ground, pulsating under the pressure.

“No, please,” I cry out. He kicks me in return; he hates it when beg, it only makes him angrier. I grit my teeth, forcing my mouth to stay closed as jolt after jolt wrack my body. I will not cry out again. I will not let him see my pain. He will not win.

“It’s all your fault! All of it!” he yells, this time when his boot meets my ribs I hear a crack, one I’m sure will never get taken care of. “If I didn’t have to take care of your whiny little ass I could’ve had a great life!” I want to yell at him, to finally get it through his stupid little brain that it can’t possibly be my fault I was born. I didn’t impregnate anyone. Instead I stay quiet, letting out the occasional grunt.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” he yells, and I’m almost sure he doesn’t want an answer. His foot touches my shoulder, pushing it until I lay flat on my back. Then he places his foot on my chest, but applying no pressure.

“Why don’t you just let me go? I could leave and never come back. You wouldn’t ever have to see me again,” I say, looking straight into his eyes. I don’t know where this confidence has come from, but I’ll try anything to get him to stop.

“What’s the fun in that, Kelly?” he asks, right before pressing his foot down as hard as he can.

I shoot forward, now sitting in an upright position, gasping. I can feel sweat beads drip down my forehead, like my body was providing me with my own personal raincloud. I place my hand on my chest, trying to steady my breathing. I jump when I feel a hand being firmly placed on my back. I turn around to see Vic staring at me with wide eyes.

“Hey,” he says softly. He begins to slowly crawl over to me, never breaking eye contact. When he gets a few inches away from me he reached up, cupping the sides of my face and rubbing his thumbs along my cheekbones. “Look at me. Breathe.”

For a moment I can’t breathe. It feels like my father’s foot is still pressing down on my chest, still suffocating me. So instead I stare at him, focusing on the way the brown in his eyes gets lighter the further it spreads out. I release a breathe I didn’t know I was holding.

“Good, just like that. I want you to breathe with me, okay? Do you think you can do that?” he asks. I nod my head lightly, gripping the comforter in my hands beneath me. He breathes in deeply, audibly. I repeat him, breathing in and letting go at the same time he does. We sit there for a few minutes, just breathing. “See? Everything is fine. You just have to remember to calm down.”

“Thank you,” I whisper when I calm down enough to talk. He smiles at me and nods his head.

“Anytime Kellin,” he says back, still moving his thumbs against my face. I shift a little bit, noticing his hands are still on my face. They make my stomach feel weird and knotted.

“Um Vic?” he just look at me like nothing is out of the ordinary, “You can let go of my face now,” I whisper.

“Oh, yeah, yeah right,” He says, dropping his hands. He lowers his head, letting his hair cover his face. If I didn’t know any better I would have sworn I saw him blush.

“Where did you learn to do that?” I ask, raising my eyebrows. Vic raises his head and smiles.

“Mike used to have really bad nightmares when we were kids. We shared a room, so it was easier for him to come to me than our aunt. I got pretty good at calming him down,” Vic shrugs like it’s nothing.

“Aunt?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, um,” he pauses, scratching the back of his neck, “my parents died when I was little. My Aunt Dria has been taking care of us ever since. I’m sure you’ll meet her later,” he shrugs then, looking anywhere but me. I don’t push the topic, hell I don’t even know him. Is it really my place to be asking personal questions?

“I’m sorry,” I say, taking a deep breath, “That’s none of my business, it was rude of me.”

“No, no. It’s okay. If we’re going to be friends we have to learn about each other, right?” Vic says, now looking up at me with a smile. I smile back and move closer.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s talk about you. I don’t know anything about you,” he says, shifting closer. We both sit criss cross with our knees touching. I place my elbows on my knees, reaching my hands up to thread themselves in my hair.

“Um, okay. What do you want to know?” I ask, shifting a bit. I don’t like talking about me, even when it’s not about personal stuff. I just feel ridiculous.

“Why did you move here?” Easy.

“My dad got a new job,” which wasn’t a lie, but it definitely wasn’t the whole truth.

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Nope, just me,” thank God, I think, I can barely take care of myself.

“Why were you walking around in the middle of the night?”

“I like walking around then better; it’s peaceful and you don’t have to worry about running into anyone,” I stop, smirking at him, “Usually.”

“I’m starting to think you’re going to use that against me forever,” Vic says, laughing at me.

“Well I mean, you did hit me with a car. That’s kind of drastic,” I say, smiling.

“You’re sure you’re okay though, right? No injuries?” he asks, looking me up and down.

“Totally fine,” I try smiling back though it doesn’t feel real.

“Are you ticklish?” he asks, out of the blue. My eyes widen as I shift away slightly.

“What? N-No.”

“You are!” he laughs, leaping forward and landing on me. The force of it is enough to make me want to cry out; it felt like I was being kicked all over again. I stay quiet. His fingers reach down, brushing my lower abdomin. I can’t help the laugh that chimes out of me; Vic laughs on top of me. His fingers start tracing higher and higher; soon to a place that doesn’t tickle.

“Ow, ow!” I shout, pulling away from him, “Stop!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just, I mean...What happened?” Vic asks, flustered. He sits upright and shuffles closer to me. “Kellin?”

“I’m sorry. It was nothing, it just hurt for a second,” He raises his eyebrows at me, clearing not believing.

“Lift up your shirt,” he says, moving closer to me and reaching for my shirt.

“What? No,” I say, tugging the end of it down. He frowns at me and places his hand over mine.

“Kellin just do it. I want to make sure you don’t have a cut or something,” he says, peeling my hand from the shirt. I keep a firm grip though.

“No,” I say through gritted teeth. He sighs.

“Why are you making this such a big deal?”

“Well sorry if I don’t want to take my shirt off in front of a complete stranger,” I say angrily. I just met him and if I say I don’t want to take my shirt off then I don’t want to take my shirt off. He has no right to make me. He has no right to care.

“Fine,” he snaps, yanking his hand away, “Be like that.” We sit in an awkward silence, staring at each other, until Mike comes barging in.

“Hey,” he says and then evaluates the tension in the room, “Everything all right in here?”

“Fine,” we both say at the same time.

“I was just wondering if you guys wanted to watch Harry Potter but if you’ve got some things to work out I can leave you alone,” he says, glancing in between us.

“No, we’ll come,” I say, jumping off the bed, in turn hurting my ribs. I try not to show it though, especially since Vic was already on the lookout. I turn back and look at him, “Come on Vic.”

He gets up and the three of us make our way to the game room. My eyes go wide because woah they must be loaded. A huge flat screen was on the wall with every game console on the ground beneath it; from the nintendo 64 to the playstation 3. They had shelves full of games and movies and leather reclining chairs with cup holders in the middle. I want to stay here forever. Mike claps his hands and all but runs over to the dvd case.

“Okay so we’re starting with the first because we have to go in order,” He says, grabbing the Sorcerer’s Stone and popping it in the dvd player. The leather chairs are all set in a row, three connected to each other. I sit on the far left one while Vic sits on the far right. When Mike returns he looks between us and then at the middle seat; the only seat left. Then he steps to the side so he’s standing in front of me. Gently, he grabs my arm and pulls me from my spot, pushing me to the side and onto the middle chair before sitting back in my chair. He does all of this without saying a word, while both Vic and I stare at him like he’s crazy.

“What the hell?” I ask, though Mike just shrugs.

“I didn’t want to sit next to him,” Mike says, sticking his tongue out at Vic, “I thought you would like it better.”

“So much for brotherly love,” Vic mutters under his breath.

“I didn’t have to invite you to this. I could’ve just invited Kellin and we could’ve had a Harry Potter date,” Mike laughs, grabbing a blanket from the side of the chair.

“Thanks Mikey,” Vic says. He places his hand on the large armrest that sits in between, leaving enough room for me. I place my arm parallel to his with my palm flat on the surface. Our pinkies sit less than an inch apart. By the time Harry gets to platform nine and three quarters Vic has placed his pinky on top of mine.

And I curl mine up; they are now wrapped around each other.

~*-*~

“Wait, I don’t get it. Why is the weird elf thing trying to keep him from the school?” Vic asks in the beginning of The Chamber of Secrets.

“Because he’s trying to keep Harry safe,” Mike says without looking away from the screen.

“From who?”

“His owners,” I say, looking at Vic. He rolls his eyes; obviously not as into the movie as Mike and I.

“Why is so weird looking?” Vic asks. Mike finally looks up, glaring at Vic.

“Do. Not. Make. Fun. Of. Dobby,” Mike growls before muttering, “Shit head.”

“He cried when Dobby died,” Vic whispers, leaning closer to me. Mike turns so his whole torso hsi facing us. He looks pissed.

“It was because of that bitch Bellatrix. Dobby was a free elf, he was finally a free elf and he still just wanted to help Harry Potter and she killed him. How could anyone kill Dobby?” Mike shouts, turning back around and muttering, “Stupid soulless fucking death eaters.”

“I think I’m more upset about her killing Sirius Black,” I say, because he was possibly my favorite character in the whole series.

“Hey Kell, it’s getting kind of late. Do you want to stay?” Yes.

“Nah, I should probably go,” I say, pulling my hand away from Vic’s and standing up. He stands too, looking at me.

“I’ll drive you.”

“You don’t have to,” I say, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. He shakes his head, forwning.

“I’m not going to let you walk home in the dark. It’s dangerous.” It’s more dangerous in my house.

“Okay,” I say, because it’s nice. It’s nice to pretend that he cares, it makes me feel warm.

We drive to my house in silence, though not for long. I only live a few streets away from his, so in less than five minutes we’re already back. He stops on the curb in front of the house before turning to look at me. I don’t want to get out. I don’t know him, I don’t what he likes, I don’t even know his last name. But I know that I like being around him; especially compared to being at home. I sigh and unbuckle my seat belt, turning to open the door. Before I can step out Vic grabs my arms, turning me back to him.

“You’re going to be okay right?” he asks, staring at my jaw. I shift uncomfortably, turning my head down so he can’t see it.

“I’ll be fine,” I say and I hope it sounds as confident as it’s meant to. I start to pull away but he tugs me back again.

“Do you want to hang out again tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” I smile, looking back up at him, “Come by around 10.”

“Okay,” he whispers. He lets go of my arm but keeps his stare. Softly, he reached his hand up and caresses the side of my face, rubbing his thumb lightly. I don’t know what is going on. I don’t know why he’s doing it or how I should react to it. But I like it. He lets go, “Okay. You should probably get going.”

“Okay,” I whisper, finally getting out of the car and walking inside. I stand out the door and stare out the window until I can’t see his car anymore. All of the lights in my house are turned off; my father won’t be home for a few hours. I walk to my room and shuffle out of my clothes before climbing in to bed. This is the first time in a long time I’ve gone to bed excited to wake up.