The Lake | BxB

-7- Collapse

Romeo awoke with a start to loud banging. Shooting up in bed and gaining his senses he realised the noise was coming from his locked bedroom door.

"Fucking let me in or I'll break this door down you waste of space!" Mr Swift yelled slurring his words, he was clearly drunk.

Jumping out of bed Romeo shouted back. "Fuck off!"

This however proved to not be a wise move as the banging intensified this time in short bursts, his dad was throwing himself against the door.

Thinking fast Romeo pulled on a pair of swimming trunks not even bothering to take his boxers off first, he then climbed back onto his bed opening the window as far as it'd go. It would be a tight squeeze but a better alternative than being beaten up.

Diving forwards Romeo cleared the window landing with a thud on the forest floor, rolling over then scrambling to his feet. Romeo ignored the fresh cuts on his legs from the scuffle and jogged to the lake immediately plunging into the water. It was ice cold and straight away fully awoke the still slightly groggy blonde.

Silently he swam against the current focusing on swimming rather than anything else. Splashing around he vented his frustration by landing slaps onto the surface of the lake sending freezing water droplets cascading around him like rain.

Sighing deeply Romeo then continued to swim around before lazily floating on his back staring up at the bright summer sky. It was a pretty shade of blue not dissimilar to Gabriel's blue eyes. Romeo shuddered wondering why that thought even came into his head, what did that random kid have to do with any of this?

Eventually after floating around a little bit longer Romeo surfaced back onto shore collapsing on the grassy bank. The birds chirped peacefully around him as the occasional fly buzzed past. A bee even made an appearance landing on a flower beside Romeo's hand and then buzzing away with the pollen it had collected.

Bugs were something that didn't faze Romeo at all. To him they weren't scary at all, his Mom hated them and would always make Romeo kill them, so instead of actually killing them Romeo just started lifting them up. Taking them to his room to 'kill' but instead letting them out the window. There was no point killing the bugs just because his bitchy mother had ordered him too, the innocent little insects had occupied the house in a nicer way than both his parents combined.

Once the sunlight had sufficiently dried him off Romeo paced through the woodland, unfortunately that annoying dog had begun to bark again making Romeo scowl in the direction of their cabin. They needed to learn to control that thing.

The trees in the woods casted quite a cool shade hidden away from the glaring sunlight that occupied the rest of the lake. Staring out at it Romeo and wished he'd brought his phone. It looked really pretty, not that he would've admitted he was a fan of such things.

Eventually he began to get bored, since his dad was drunk at the time of his attempted break in he was most likely passed out asleep somewhere now. Deciding he'd go back to the cabin Romeo trudged slowly in the direction he'd come enjoying the peacefulness of the woods one last time before climbing the steps onto the porch. Taking a deep breath Romeo opened the door.

Immediately he was met with the stench of alcohol, that was predictable. He spotted his mom asleep on the couch an empty beer can discarded beside her, she was snoring loudly filling the air with her noisy breath. Sighing Romeo snuck past her going back into his room. The concealer he'd had on had begun to rub off so he wanted to put a sweater or hoodie on to conceal it before relaying the product over his cuts again. He liked to do that as little as possible so he wouldn't get infected, that'd be an absolute pain.

Carefully Romeo slid his damp shorts off followed by his boxers. He then searched his drawers eventually finding a hoodie, new pair of boxers and jeans. He put them all on quickly still being able to hear nothing but his mom snoring. He couldn't really decide which he preferred, his moms snoring or the Summers family dog barking. Why the fuck did he even remember that families surname?

Sitting on the edge of his bed Romeo scrolled his phone, he didn't have wifi and was hesitant to use his data so instead just scrolled through old photos he'd taken with his mates or of scenic locations. Suddenly this peace was interrupted by heavy footsteps, shit. That must be Mr Swift.

Confirming Romeo's suspicions Mr Swift entered the room practically foaming at the mouth with rage.

"I had to fucking pick your lock you impudent child! Then you weren't even here! What do you have to say for yourself?" He boomed authoritatively scowling darkly at Romeo.

"Nothing, I have nothing to say to you" Romeo snapped back eyeing up his dads anger with amusement. It was kind of funny when his dad got in a hissy fit about something.

"I'm waiting for an apology!" Mr Swift insisted folding his arms crossly.

"You're going to be waiting a while then" Romeo told him distractedly glancing out the window as the dog started barking again, he now had an answer to his question, both his moms snoring and the dog barking simultaneously was the worst option.

"FOCUS!" Mr Swift snapped coldly. "Did you even hear a word that I just said?"

"No, which is probably a blessing for my ears. If I wanted to hear utter shit being spouted by a useless cunt I'd watch the presidential debates" Romeo countered smirking at his angry dad. He really didn't help himself sometimes and he knew it, but it was hard to resist irritating the man that caused him such pain.

Angrily Mr Swift stormed up to him grabbing his shoulder and forcing Romeo off his bed. Stumbling to his feet Romeo faced his dad bravely, he was about to get hit.

On cue Mr Swift struck out, only this time Romeo ducked. This meant his fathers hand connected with the wooden wall rather than Romeo.

Skirting around his dad as he yelled in pain Romeo rushed into the kitchen. He wasn't really sure where he was going but before he had the chance to decide he was pulled back his hood.

Mr Swift was seething with rage as he held one of the logs from the log burner in his hand brandishing it like a weapon.

"Oh no, you're gonna give me a splinter?" Romeo said mockingly.

Not responding Mr Swift swung out. The log met Romeos head with a massive crack as the wood split in half. Romeo felt instantly dizzy as he staggered backwards. That was a lot harder than he'd expected. His dad then pushed him backwards making him fall to the floor hitting his head on one of the kitchen cabinets, as if he wasn't feeling dizzy enough already.

Romeo carefully stumbled to his feet making his way back out of the door, touching his head gingerly, his fingers were now soaked in blood. He was bleeding, his dad had actually made his head bleed. What if it was cracked?

Feeling extremely dizzy Romeo rushed through the woods his vision blurring in and out like an unfocused camera. Eventually he stopped clutching a tree for support and hearing footsteps approaching. Had his abusive father really followed him? Was he not punished enough?

Completely losing his sense of hearing Romeo felt himself falling to the floor his vision being the next thing to disappear as he hit the leaf covered ground clumsily, he lay still on the forest floor unconscious as the footsteps grew closer and small gasp filled the air.