My friend, Demise

Chapter 21

I woke up to yelling, rubbing my eyes and walking out into the kitchen. Demise was standing in front of his father, arms tight at his sides. "It's none of your business!"

"Are you angry?"

"Of course I am!"

"Do something about it then."

Demise gently pressed his fist into the taller man's abdomen, punching him gently a few times without meeting his eyes. Within a few seconds though, those punches grew violent and both hands were pummeling his stomach. I could see no trace of pain on his dad's face.

"Azriel, good morning." The man turned to me with a small smile once Demise was done.

"Is everything okay? I heard yelling."

"Everything's fine." I glanced back at Demise, who was teary eyed and angrily staring at his fathers feet. "We'll talk about this later, Demi." His dad headed out of the kitchen, stopping when he saw my deeply bruised arms. He stared at them with an expression I couldn't read. "Don't take your frustration out on Azriel either."

Once he left, I stepped in front of Demise and placed a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

He looked up to me. I saw how large his pupils were, eyes puffy from crying. "I'm okay."

"Your eyes are-"

"Don't say anything, I've heard enough from my dad."

I thought back to him mentioning his relapse, dread filling my chest. I thought he'd mean some form of self harm, I had no idea he was talking about drugs. Before I could think of anything else to say, I pulled his head against my chest and sighed. "I'll talk to him and clear up a few things, okay?"

"Okay."

"Should I give an excuse for the bruises?"

"Nah. Just be honest. I'm gonna go for a drive and clear my head."

When I went to go find his dad, he was smoking a cigarette on the front porch. He eyed me up and down, waiting for me to say something. "Demise isn't hurting me."

"Did he tell you to say that?"

"No. I wanted to clarify. He'd never do something like that."

"What happened to you then? Your lip is busted too."

"I got in a fight at school is all."

"You don't get those bruises from a fight. I know you two are young but he should go easier on you."

"You knew what it was from?!"

"I'm not stupid, I know my son. I want to make sure your comfortable with the things he does to you."

"I am..." I looked down, embarrassed. "A-anyway uh you shouldn't scold him so much."

"He's me kid. I've gotta make sure he doesn't make the same mistakes I did."

"He looked like he'd been crying though."

"I know you care about him, Az'. But at the end of the day, I am his parent. I'm just as worried as you are."

"But don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

He broke his cigarette in half and turned to me, tossing it to the ground and placing a foot on top of it. "He needs to clean up his act and he knows it. Being harsh is the only way he'll listen to me."

"You let him hit you but don't give him the satisfaction of seeing that it hurts...that's not fair."

"Demise is harder to take care of than his sister. She's easy to read and when it comes to being upset, all it takes is a heartfelt apology and some good food to cheer her up. With my son, I have no idea what he's thinking. He's exactly like me, so sometimes he feels like my worst enemy."

"If he's so much like you, why don't you understand him?"

"Because just like me, he won't let anyone into his head. If I get too close to breaking his shell, he'll lash out. He's defensive when it comes to his emotions, but I know that drugs are his only way to cope with them. That's why I'm trying to hard to get through to him. If I can't understand his emotions, I can't help him stay clean."

"Just be there for him."

"That's harder than you make it sound."

"Why?"

"Because," He lifted up the edge of his shirt, showing deep bruises forming on his stomach. "He hates me."

"I don't believe that."

"I'm looking into his life from outside of it." He let his shirt fall back down and sighed.

"It's not fair to either of you if you don't communicate!" I scoffed. "How are you supposed to understand him if-"

"Azriel." He placed a hand on my head and frowned. "I don't think my son will stick around much longer, so please take care of him."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I know this isn't easy." he locked eyes with me, making my own widen as tears slipped down his cheeks. "But don't let him run away this time."