Him and I

chapter 18

TW- abuse that's a little more detailed but not too detailed!

the pain.
it was the worst pain he'd ever felt in all the years of being abused. his cries were so loud you could probably hear them from outside. his father didn't risk people hearing though, so he shoved a cloth into his mouth to muffle the screams and crying.

he wanted to run. he wanted to get up and run out that door and never come back. but he couldn't. he was tied to the poles attached to the radiator, his bare back facing his father.

his father brought down the belt to connect with his back over and over again. each time a loud whipping sound echoed from the connection of the belt to his back, and his muffled cries and screams were agonising.

remus' eyes were fuzzy by this point. he looks down towards the ground, panting from how much pain he was in. his father was stood behind him, slowly pulling back. he throws the belt onto the bed and walks out towards the kitchen.

"i'll be back." he growls.

remus glances around to the mirror. his eyes were still streaming tears, in amongst being hazy too but he could just about make out what was on his back.

numerous gashes. dripping with blood, some dry, some still fresh. they felt as if to be throbbing and the pain was unbearable to him.

he leans his head forwards and let out a sob. had his father really been gathering all his hatred towards him just to cause him this much pain?

his head lifts suddenly as he hears a car door shut outside his house.

TW- ended

TW- abusive behaviour

"remus?!" he hears someone yelling.

"l-lily?" he muffled around the cloth.

if his dad found out she was here, he'd hurt her. but how did she know where to find him.

he pushes the cloth quickly out of his mouth, pulling at his hands to get them unattached from the pole. he pulls until he finally hears a loud snap. the pole had come loose. he slips his hands out, just in time to hear the door knocking, frantically.

he quickly unties his wrists and grabs a shirt, wincing as he throws it on and runs to the door.

his dad was stood at the end of the hall in the kitchen, drinking another can of beer.

remus opens the door just a crack and yawns looking at lily.

"keep it down will you? it's late" remus says rubbing his eyes.

he then glances up to see james, sirius and peter all stood with her. they all looked concerned. remus' face drops.

"rem... your eye" she whispers and remus looks down at her.

he pauses and then clears his throat. before he could reply however, he hears a voice from behind him.

"who's that remus?" his fathers voice says.

he turns around to see him stood right behind him. unable to reply or move, his father quickly opens the door. he looks remus up and down and then looks to the others.

"i apologise for my son's behaviour. what he meant to say was that he's rather clumsy." his tone was soft and stumbling. he was putting it on. but it was still obvious he was drunk.

sirius was unable to meet remus' eyes but wasn't able to take his eyes off of remus' dad. lily had told him in the car to not say anything until he felt right. he knew there was tension and didn't want to make it worse so he kept quiet. instead, he glared at the man stood in the doorway before him, feeling nothing but hatred towards him.

he looks at remus and smiles. remus clears his throat and looks at lily nodding.

"yeah like i've said lily i'm clumsy, you know that" remus says trying to hide the fear in his eyes.

"no remus i'm sick and tired of the lies!" lily says, worry in her voice.

remus takes a step back and his dad looks around at the others.

"i didn't know you had friends" he says with a smile, words stumbling "why do you never invite them ov-"

before his dad can finish james speaks up.

"oh i wonder why." he says glaring at him in the eyes.

remus gulps and puts his hand on the door handle.

"guys i appreciate you being here but it's late. dad has work in the morning and i need sleep" remus says with a reassuring smile. her eyes search remus' for some sort of help sign but she finds nothing.

remus' dad pats his shoulder blade, causing remus to quickly turn away wincing from pain. his dad raises an eyebrow.

"oh dear boy what on earth did you do?" his voice was still mumbling over the words.

remus moves round the corner out of sight and falls to sit on the floor, covering his mouth quickly. sirius looks up from the floor, at first unable to even say a thing, still afraid that remus blamed him.

sirius quickly rushes past the man in the doorway and searches round the corner until he sees remus.

"let yourself in then" the man says, words stumbling.

james and peter go to follow but lily looks back at them as if to tell them to let sirius deal with this one.

he falls to sit next to him and cups his face in his hands. remus pulls his face away, tears streaming down his cheeks. sirius moves his arms to pull remus to his chest but as he goes to pull him close, he hears him wince again.

he raises an eyebrow and immediately moves his arms away from remus' body, looking for the source of the pain.

he searches over remus' shoulder blade, before seeing darker patches covering remus' dark blue top. remus was still crying, wincing more when sirius began to lift the shirt.

sirius' eyes turned to horror as he saw exactly what was causing him so much pain. his eyes begin to water, tears ready to spill as they trailed over the gashes.