If someone asked him three months ago, "Are you going to survive this?" He would have said no. Honestly, he hadn't thought that he would live through this, he still doesn't know if he will. Having fixed things with her however, gives him hope. She's looking up at him again, and he remembers when he first realized he loved her. It was his sixteenth birthday and his father had beat him and his brother senseless. Unbeknownst to them, Iris and her best friend Aster had heard the whole thing.
His father had never been a kind man, as a child he and his brother had sometimes seen the beatings he gave their mother out of "love". His father would beat them often; if he thought they looked particularly week, if they were caught crying, if they weren't manly enough. The list goes on, that man would use any excuse to put his hands on them.
One day when he was nine his father had gotten upset with Adonis and him for breaking a glass. He had never seen the man so angry; he ended up in the hospital with a black eye and a broken arm. As they got older the beatings slowly stopped but their father still had outbursts. As a result, he never brought his girlfriend or his friends home.
He and Iris had been dating for a year now today, and she bought him a silver chain and bracelet. A set he had been wanting for months, but never got around to buying it. It was hidden in a cute little gift basket, which honestly had him lost for words, he had never gotten anything so expensive or thoughtful. She'd gotten everything he'd ever mentioned in passing to her.
He saw the slasher shirt he showed her months ago, and the cologne they saw at the mall on one of their dates. She had also written him a poem... which made his heart skip a beat. She was always writing in one journal or another, but never let him see. He still couldn't believe she put so much time and effort into his birthday gift, or how much she got him.
"Junebug, you didn't have to get me anything or so much baby."
"Silly boy, you have never celebrated your birthday, nor had a gift. Lucky for you, gift giving happens to be one of my special talents."
"Iris."
"Atlas, I love you. I love showing you that I love you, and this is how I'm doing it right now. Besides, it was from all of us and Aster, Dahlia, and Magnolia all helped make this annndd, we made Adonis one as well."
"I love you my sweet summer flower."
"I love you, my greek good."
He did love her; he had just never said it aloud. It felt right though, he wanted to do everything in life with her, his light in a dark room. She was his everything, he can't image his future without her. He thought about bringing her home to meet his mom, she deserved to meet her; and he knew she felt a way about him sneaking her in and out of the house all the time.
Thinking about his dads work schedule, he shouldn't be home till after their planed celebration. Could he risk it was the question, Iris knew about his fathers violence but thought that it had long since stopped. She never seen the man and he intended to keep it that way. His mother was home and knew they were planning to celebrate. Mulling it over he finally said;
"Hey, lets move the thing tonight to my place, you could meet my mom."
Her eyes light up and the world around them dims as she blinds him with her smile. That is until, his dork of a best friend Jax came crashing into him with the rest of their friends crowding around them.
"Who ready to party?!?!"
Jax said, shaking him by the shoulders.
"Will you let go of my boyfriend, chem boy."
YOU ARE READING
Finding Home
RomansaAnd she had realized then that for those six long months as she was slowly bleeding out and starting to suffocate, it was because she was holding her breath. Scared that she was going to lose the only breath of fresh air she'd ever known.
