Drunk Without Cause

Thirty-Six.

After all of the initial chaos began to simmer down, Nessa found himself laying in his bed again. It felt almost as though he were still stuck in the month of June rather than November. Back when it was all fresh in his mind and all of his friends seemed to abandon him. Now he knew that it was probably partially his own fault for never answering their calls or texts.

He hadn't seen anyone for a few days. He hadn't texted nor called. Was he any different than he had been? Probably not. All he knew was that he was never going to allow another person to fall for him unless he loved them back. Besides, he was already fascinated by someone. He didn't need that old satisfaction to quench his boredom any longer.

Kris was going to go to prison. Of course he was. There were still trials to be had and a hearing to await, but Nessa already knew that Kris would never make it out of the life that he made for himself. It made him content to be so sure for the first time in an eternity.

Because Kris had done that twice, he was considered a repeat offender. He could get up to twenty years for that alone. Possibly even more due to the offense carrying over state lines. He had originally assaulted Nessa in California, and attempted it again in Illinois.

He caused for Nessa to gain short-term memory loss. He groomed him, been his teacher, invited him over to his house, put cameras in Nessa's home and some of the gifts that he had given him. He illegally changed his identity and whatever else he may have done to get hired as a substitute again.

Kris was supposed to go to prison the first time that it happened, but he had managed to escape before the Californian police arrived at the scene. Perhaps he had done other illegal things during the period of time where Nessa hadn't known he was back.

Those were numerous charges to have against himself, and they were just the ones that Nessa had written down after a little bit of research and a few sleepless nights. The lawyers would most likely come up with far more. Kris was going to rot just like Nessa wanted him to.

He taped a paper that he wrote all of the charges that he could think of on the wall beside his bed. The minimum and maximum number of years for each illegal act was marked down beside it. He wanted to make sure that justice would be served, and he didn't want to forget any of the possibilities

Nessa climbed out from beneath his bedsheets and sat down on the floor. Pressing his ear to the ground, he peered underneath the frame of his bed. A teddy bear stared back at him. It was missing an eye. He had stitched the hole back together many months ago.

His hands wrapped around its tiny torso, and he pulled it out to further study it. There was a red ribbon around its throat. Otherwise, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. He remembered when Kris had given it to him. They were at Kris' house a week before Christmas. Nessa had told his parents that he was going to Danny's house.

He remembered the way that Kris' lips felt on his skin, the way that his arms held his waist as they laughed and flirted. Nessa was still deeply in love with him at the time, entirely convinced that he was the one in control. How foolish he had been as a sixteen year old person in a secret relationship with his twenty-eight year old teacher. Kris would have been graduating high school right as Nessa was graduating kindergarten.

It was only a couple of months before the end of it all came. Nessa wondered what would have happened if Danny had never made the suggestion that Kris was not all that he said that he was. Nessa sometimes missed Danny, but it was too late to talk to him now. He didn't think that Danny would pick up the phone if he called.

"Magnus!" He heard his Mom's voice, causing him to toss the teddy bear back under his bed and jump to his feet. The fish in his tank stared at him lazily as he went out of the room to see what he was needed for.