Here We Are (boyxboy)

Here We Are part 5

Here We Are Part 5

 I lay flat on my back in the guest bed, staring at the ceiling,until an uneasy sleep overtook me.

Seven Years Earlier

One. Two. Three. Daddy’s heavy footsteps pounded down the hall. It’s eleven to my room, fourteen to his.

Four. Five.

Maybe he is just coming to tuck me in. Or maybe to make sure I’m okay.

Six. Seven. Eight.

Please… let him be tired tonight….

Nine. Ten. Pause.

My breath hitched and my body started to quiver. The doorknob turned and a sliver of light danced into the room as Daddy slipped inside. He shut the door behind him and crept to my bed, his breathing deep and shallow. He pulled the Superman covers I’d received a week ago for my eighth birthday away and slid next to me.

He turned me on my side and yanked my pajamas down as my tears streamed silently into the pillow.

Present Day

A hand brushed my bare arm and I jerked, whipping my arm away and screaming. My breath came in gasps and my eyes wheeled, searching for the invisible hand in the dark.

“Th-Theo! It’s me, it’s okay!” Lucas’s voice whispered, clearly shaken.

I drew in a shuddering breath, trying to stop my shaking hands. I felt Lucas lean across the bed and blinked as he flicked on the bedside lamp.

His face darkened as he took in my wide-eyed expression.

“Theo… you’re terrified…”

I shook my head, unable to speak. The memory had been so vivid… so painfully clear… I hadn’t had dreams with such clarity for years.

Lucas sat across from me, his arms frozen in midair, afraid to touch me.

In that moment, I needed his arms around me. I jerked forward and crawled into his lap, burying my face in his shoulder.

Lucas folded his arms around my body and held me as I tried to control my shaking.

“He used to touch you, didn’t he?” Lucas asked flatly.

I nodded. I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. That would have made it too real.

“That’s it. We’re reporting him. That’s the final straw.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but I choked.

 Words were locked inside.  It had happened to me after Dad… you know… every night, and I’d spend all that night and all day trying to find the key to let them out again. Now I struggled to open the box, but it was shut tight. I gripped the back of Lucas’s shirt with my fingers even tighter, making them turn ghostly white at the knuckles.

Lucas ran his hand over my hair, smoothing it down. “I know you don’t want me to, but it has to be done. He can’t keep hurting you like this. I won’t let him.”

After realizing that all I was capable of doing was nodding, Lucas turned off the light and lay down. I rolled to face him, bringing my hand up to cup his cheek. He mirrored me, brushing his fingertip across my lips. He entwined our fingers together and draped his other arm around me, holding me securely.

I drifted to sleep, finally at peace.