blood and dreams

sneaking in

The next day, Henry and Ray spent recovering together. Henry was barely sick anymore, but still not feeling 100% normal yet. Ray was tired and still feeling sensitive from his panic attack. They were hanging out in their dim bedroom, rarely speaking.  

"We should play a game." Henry said, hoping to cheer Ray up. 

This caught Rays attention, and he looked up at Henry, forgetting his sadness. 

"Let's play war!" Ray said, getting excited. Henry groaned. 

"That game goes on for hours." Henry complained. 

"Pleeeaaasseee...."  

Henry sighed. 

"Okayyyyy, but only cause you really love it." Henry said, trying to hide a smile. 

"Do you have cards?" Henry asked. 

"Ahh, I don't think so. Do you?" Ray asked. 

"Yeah they're in my-" Henry paused. 

"Yeah?" Ray encouraged him to go on. 

"In my room. At my house." Henry said. He subconsciously gave up any hope of playing the game, but Ray had an idea. 

"So? I can drive you there and you can sneak through your window. Easy." Ray said. 

"MMmmm I dunno Ray, my parents might catch me." Henry said, skeptical of Rays plan. 

"What if I go in for you?" Ray asked. "I can grab anything else you need while I'm in there too."

Henry thought for a moment. 

"Actually, yeah that might work. I'm in." Henry said. He wasn't too nervous about going back to his old house. He had snuck in plenty of times before. 

The two got ready and left. Henry put on a playlist he made while Ray drove. Henry loved driving with Ray. Him and Jasper were the only people he felt safe in a car with, as Piper never even passed her drivers test and both his parents were reckless drivers. When Ray first started driving him places it would make him nervous, but eventually he got used to it and was calm. 

The sight of Henry's old house made him anxious. He never thought it would freak him out this much to see the place he lived- or used to live. He subconsciously grabbed Ray's arm. 

"Henry, it's okay. You stay here. I'm gonna leave the car running and lock the doors. Just listen to your music and try not to stress out. I'll be back in two minutes." Ray said, pulling his arm away from Henry and getting out of the car. 

"Okay." Henry said, hiding his anxiety. 

Ray walked around the side of the house and climbed up the tree towards Henry's window. He tried to open the window. It didn't open. 

Fuck, Ray thought. His parents must have locked the window. 

He tried again. It opened. Ray let out a sigh of relief and climbed inside quietly. 

He tried to walk around slowly once he was in, looking around. He opened Henry's drawer and pulled out his deck of cards, trying his best to ignore the sight of the blade and scissors next to it. Then he went in the closet and grabbed some of Henry's clothes. He was in the closet when he heard footsteps and hurried up. He ran across the room and basically jumped out the window when the door started to open. It was Henry's parents. He didn't have time to close the window, so obviously they knew he was in there. Ray frantically climbed down the tree and tried to sneak around back to his car without them seeing. 

By this point Henry was panicking. Full send. Why wasn't Ray back yet? He couldn't even look up at the house. He just sunk into himself and put his head between his knees to try and calm down. He turned the music up all the way to drown out his thoughts. 

Then he heard knocking at the window. 

Thank God, Ray's b- 

Then Henry looked up. It wasn't Ray. It was his dad. 

Henry let out a scream and backed up as far as he could against the door. He put his head to his knees, he couldn't look. His dad was yelling for him to open the door. His mother was there too now. They were banging on the windows and screaming at him, ignoring his obvious panic and distress. It was clear Henry didn't want them there. 

Then Ray showed up. Henry plugged his ears and whispered to himself as he could tell they were arguing outside. 

"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay." Henry said to himself, rocking back and forth. 

After a few moments that felt like forever to Henry, Ray managed to get in the car and immediately stepped on the gas, not bothering to buckle his seat belt. 

"Henry, Henry everything's okay." Ray said, reaching over to grab Henry's hand as he sped down the road. 

"No its not." Henry choked out, about to cry. 

"Henry, look. I know they upset you, but we're leaving now. You're safe. I promise."

"I won't have to go back there right? They can't make me come back?" Henry asked, now crying.

"It's not like I kidnapped you. You don't have to go back. You'll never have to go there again, okay?" Ray said. 

"Ray I wanna go back, I wanna go to the man cave. I'm scared of them. I need to go home." Henry babbled, tears streaming down his face. 

Ray had never heard Henry call the man cave his home before. It was something that made Ray feel several emotions. He was sad for Henry, but he was also really glad he felt at home with him. 

"We're going home, buddy." Was all Ray said. 

When they got back to the store, they quickly went inside and down to the man cave. once they were there, Henry let out a breath of relief and Ray put the stuff he'd gotten from Henry's room down on the couch. 

Neither of them felt like playing anything anymore. 

"I'm gonna go lay down." Henry said. 

"Yeah. Me too." Ray added, as they walked up the stairs. Henry finally felt at peace again by Rays side in the room.