Hide Away

14

"What?"
"She says she wants to talk to y/n, and then you." Roger says, opening the door.
"I'll go talk to her first love, you clean up in here." I say to John and he nods, looking nervous.
"We'll be fine, I promise " I say to him and hug him.
"I know, love." He says and smiles weakly.

I walk into the living room and sit beside John's mum.
"Hello, I have some bad news for you, dear." She says and gives me the same weak smile John just gave me a second ago.
"Yeah?"
"Well, your dad killed your mum, battered her to death just a few days ago. I thought you would come to the funereal and I'd get to take John home again, but I had to track you down to get my John back."
"Is he in jail?"
"Yes, now can I speak to John."
"Yeah, I'll go get him for you." I say and walk out. Is she taking John home? Now? She can't.
"John, she wants to talk to you." I say.
"You're paler than what you were, are you alright love?" John asks me, leading me over to a chair.
"He killed her." I half sob out." He killed my mother. She was a bad mother, yeah, but I love her, you know, and now I'll never see her sober again like she was after my dad left. She died at the hands of him, John, that could of been me." I cry and he hugs me tightly, telling me its alright, but it's not. She's taking John away from me. It would of been alright if he was here, but he's being ripped away from me, the one person I care about.
"I'll go talk to her, you go lay down in our room I'll be down in a minute, ok love?"
"OK, don't take to long."
"I won't, I promise." He says and walks me to our room. I walk in and lie on the bed, just crying. An hour goes by and he's not here yet so I sit up and I notice one of the teddy's we won at the funfair the day we met Roger. I pick it up. It smells exactly like him and I don't know why but that alone makes this little ball of fluff very comforting to me. I hear the door softly open and close and light foot steps getting closer to me.
"We have half an hour and then she's making me leave." He says, sounding like he's been crying.
"What?" I say, now on the verge of tears again.
"I tried to convince her that I'm OK here, but she said 'I'm too young and immature' to be away from home." He says and I pull him onto the bed.
"I see where she's coming from, she's your mum, your her only son, she's bound to have missed you."
"I know, it's just I don't want to leave you here with Tim, and I hated the last few weeks, we didn't talk and seeing you all cuddled up and kissing around me made me feel jealous and I don't know why, really." He says and the bedroom door opens. Its his mum.
"I really do hate to intrude, but we're leaving now." She says, giving me a dirty look.
"Give us a minute." He says, sitting up.
"You've had 15 minutes, I need to lift your sister from the shopping center down the road."
"Go get her then I'll come out to you, ok?"
"Alright." She says and walks off.
"Come here." He says, opening his arms for a hug which I gladly accept. I don't know how much longer he's staying for, so I don't let go. I feel myself start to cry and he pulls back a bit to wipe away my tears.
"I don't want you to go." I pout.
"6 months. I'll be back I promise, and I don't want to go either, I'd kill not to leave you."
"Please don't kill anyone, jeez." I say, laughing a bit and he joins in. He pulls me closer to him again, and I Bury my head in the space between his shoulder and neck.  There's a gentle knock on the door and Roger comes in just as we break off the hug, his arm still around my shoulders.
"What's the verdict?" He asks.
"I have to go, but I'll be back when I'm 17." John says and Roger hugs him aswell.
"We'll miss you around here, you know."
"I'll miss you guys, some more than others." He says smiling a bit.
"If you dont leave now I'll tie you to that bed and keep you here." I say to John, looking out the window where John's mum is waiting in her car.
"I know, come on." He says grabbing my hand.

We walk to the carpark in silence, hugging our goodbyes at his car. He gets in the back seat, beside his sister who hugs him as the car pulls away. He waves out the window to us and we wave back.
"He'll be back, you know."
"I know, rog, its just that he's saved my life and I don't think he knows it."