Nothing Like You.

“I…I’m not….I’m not.”

He shoved me roughly down on my bed and I could read only one thing in his eyes—anger. I’ve never seen that in him before; the only other time I ever saw eyes that looked like that were my birth parents. I shrank back in fear, curling up as much as I could. I felt more like that lost little boy more today than I have in my entire life.

“Mikey! Stop it!”

Frank rushed towards Mikey and pulled him away from me, locking his arms around Mikey’s. Was he going to hit me? I peeked out from where I had buried my head and noticed that Mikey had fallen to the floor in Frank’s arms still and a complete mess. He was struggling like mad to get out of Frank’s arms.

“Let me go Frank, let me go now!”

I just stared at him in shock. The tears I had thought were going to end now flowed freely once again down my cheeks. I watched as he still struggled to get out of the strong grip Frank had around him. Did he still want to hurt me? Apologize and hold me like he used to when I was little? I did the only thing I could think of.

I slowly moved closer to him, knelt in front of him and muttered a small sorry before I just put my arms around him and hugged him. He stopped struggling but his breath was still ragged and I heard his own mumbled apologies. I felt Frank’s hand slowly unwrap themselves from Mikey’s form; the second Mikey could move his arms he wrapped them around me, pulling me as close to him as he could.

“Don’t you ever say that again…don’t you ever think that I regret bringing you home. I did throw my life away the day I brought you home but it was the life I led before you Tucker. It was everything that had caused me to be put in that center that I threw away the day I brought you home.”

He kissed my forehead.

“I want you to at least try, try to stop hurting yourself. I panicked even more when Ray told me what he had seen. Then I felt so guilty because I couldn’t even see my own habits in you. I felt like a horrible parent, like I didn’t deserve you…like I had failed you. Tucker, I love you so much. You’re my entire world kid; I hate to think of my life before you plonked yourself next to me on that couch. Sure that was eighteen years of my life, but it was all that lead to placing me in that center…placing me in the one place to find you.”

He released me gently, wiping at his eyes and giving me a small smile. He looked at me before he reached down and took off the watch I’ve never seen him without. He turned his wrist over and there on his arm was the ugliest scar I had ever seen.

“I want you to be able to talk to me about things Tuck, I know it’s the teenager thing to avoid your parents, I was there…but I’ve been where you are, exactly in your shoes…I just, I don’t want to see you end up like me in any sense.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the scar that subtly protruded from his skin. A darker shade than the rest of his flesh; forever a reminder of his weakest moment—did I want that too?

“I, can I just be alone?”

I saw the hurt flash through his eyes but he nodded anyways. Before he climbed to his feet I pulled him in for another hug; even moving to hug Frank before they left me to my thoughts.