remember when she left

AIDEN JACKSON

"WHAT THE fork are you doing here?" Frigg gasped as she paled.

Aiden Jackson jumped on the floor and turned to face her, his head still lying on the floor. He blinked and his eyes went from the brunette looking an inch away from having a heart attack to the black haired boy who was supposed to be his best friend.

Not letting your friend's crush enter the room of that friend's dead sister and the crush's best friend when your friend is sleeping in it, is like golden rule in the bro code.

"Are you OK?" Frigg asked him, frowning.

"What do you think I'm doing? Enjoying my life?" He retorted. "Why did you come anyway?"

She softened and walked hesitantly to him. She sat next to him. "I thought someone I care about needed me. That's why I came."

She didn't fucking care about him. She never did. "Well you can go now."

Reece smacked his head. "She won't go anywhere."

Again, bro code means anything? Aiden sighed and rolled on his stomach, hiding his head in his arms. "I hate life," he huffed.

"Who doesn't," Reece only responded.

He could tell them. He could tell them he didn't come here own his own. He could tell them what father did. What he'd done. But he didn't.

"You're both lying. Reece, don't you love life when you're with Chloe?" He didn't say anything so Frigg continued. "And I can't believe you don't love swimming, Birdbrain. I saw you smile and laugh enough to know you like being here."

He turned his head to look at her. "Life sucks, Freya. But somethings makes it worth it," he whispered.

She bit her lip and his gaze was drawn to them. If only he still had the courage to kiss them again... She leaned down and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, making his poor fucking heart go nuts. He could feel her body press against him and he turned to wrap his hands on her waist. "Don't ever think of abandoning me, Birdbrain."

His lips curved in a small smile. "You don't need to worry about that, Freya."

He felt her nod in his neck. "Good."

He closed his eyes, trying to memorise how being there, in her arms, felt. Too early, she got up and smiled lightly at them. "I have to go. I don't want to miss school."

"I'll stay here," Reece informed her.

"OK. Bye Birdbrain."

"Bye, Freya." He looked at her go and rolled again on his stomach.

"Nuh-hu," Reece said. "You don't get to do that." His said best friend made him roll over again with his foot and slapped him on the cheek.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"For being an enormous dumbass," Reece deadpanned. "You worried everyone and then you talked about not wanting to live?"

"I didn't say I wanted to die! I said I hated life." Reece gave him a look. "But it might be pretty much the same," Aiden sheepishly admitted.

"I know a lot of people ready to murder you if you decide to die," Reece reminded him.

"Right. I'll live, then."

Reece sat beside him in a sigh. "Now that's settled, we can talk about the other serious subject. What were you doing here? I let you escape it when Frigg asked but now, you'll have to answer."

"I just... Snapped and had to come here," he lied.

"I see..." Reece trailed off, his eyes wandering around. "And the truth?"

"I just told you."

The boy punch him on the shoulder. "I'm not dumb, Aiden. Someone locked you in here from the other side of that door."

This time, there was no way of escaping the truth. "I..."

"Is it your father or your mother?" Reece asked him.

"My father."

There, he said it. He told someone. And somehow, it just felt weird. It made him nervous too. He looked at his friend. The dark haired boy was still staring at the pictures-tree. "Since when?"

"I think you know that."

"Almost three years, then."

He didn't say anything else. No 'Why didn't you tell me?', no 'Are you alright?'

"Permission to beat him up?" Reece then questioned him, standing up, looking more than serious.

"No. He doesn't mean it."

"Doesn't fucking mean to lock you in your dead twin's room?!"

Aiden shook his head. "He only does that when he's drunk."

He didn't scream at him when he wasn't. He only stared at him and told him to get away, because looking at him was hard. He was to much alike Vivian, she had the same blond locks, although hers had been longer, the same eyes, the same facial structures. Aiden was the nightmare that kept coming back, he was the scar of an old, painful wound, the one you want to badly to heal completely, because it serves as a daily remainder of how hurt you had been.

"That doesn't excuse it. I won't beat him up if you don't want me to. And I won't tell anyone. But promise me you won't let him hurt you anymore?"

"We both know I can't promise that."

"Did he physically hurt you?"

Flashbacks of bottles banging on his skin and knuckles hitting his stomach filled his mind. "He did."

"You can stay at mine instead," Reece proposed. "Your mother's cool. She'll say yes."

"I don't know... And I don't want to-"

"You won't bother us."

"Then, I guess you found yourself a roommate."

"One last thing, I give you a week to tell any adult and if you don't, I'll tell someone myself."