Baby of the Family

Chapter 8 : Bottled up emotions

Chapter 8

A few days later...  

Ross POV

It's been a few days since the whole Riker running away from home incident. Rocky and Ryland haven't done anything else to him since then. But Riker's been acting a bit weird ever since.

He's just gotten extremely quiet and I keep asking him if he's ok. He says he's fine but I don't believe him. I feel like he's just bottling up his emotions again. And I'm worried.

"Riker, go do the dishes," Rocky said, walking into the living room.

"I did the dishes last night," Riker said.

"Well go do them again," Rocky said.

"It's your turn to do them," Riker said.

"Well I have a headache, so mom said to tell you to go do them."

"That's not fair."

"Just go do the dishes, Riker."

Rocky sat down on the couch and started playing video games with Ryland. Riker didn't move.

"Riker, come do the dishes!" Mom called.

"I did them last night!" Riker called back.

"Well come do them today!"

"That's not fair!"

Riker stormed upstairs. I sighed. I don't want to get in the middle of this... But I feel like I should. So I got up and went into the kitchen and did the dishes for Riker.

I also really don't feel like going upstairs. But I know I should check on Riker...

So I went upstairs. He wasn't in his room. But the bathroom door was shut.

"Rik?" I called, knocking on the bathroom door.

I didn't get a response.

"Riker?" I called, knocking louder.

"What do you want?"

"Open the door."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Riker, we need to talk."

"I'll be out in a minute."

I sighed and leaned against the opposite wall and crossed my arms, waiting for him. He came out a few minutes later.

"What were you doing in there?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Riker-"

"Nothing, Ross."

He tried to walk past me. But I grabbed his arm.

"Ow!"

"Ow, what?"

I pulled up his sleeve and his wrist was bandaged up.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Nothing."

I started pressing on his arm.

"Stop! It hurts!" Riker said, squirming in his spot.

I led him into his bedroom and undid the bandages. Riker had 6 slice marks on his wrist. They weren't very big and they weren't very deep.

"Riker, you can't do this kind of stuff."

He sat down on his bed, not looking at me.

"Riker, I'm serious. This is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

I sat down next to him. Even though he was looking away from me, I could tell he started to cry from the way he was breathing.

"Riker."

"Please don't tell mom and dad."

"I won't if you just talk to me."

"Ok, fine! I did it!"

"Why?"

"Because I was really mad."

"At Rocky?"

"Yes. And Ry. And dad for not doing anything. And mom for making me do the dishes again even though I already did them last night. And the fact that I'm the youngest, and I was an accident, and nobody even wants me-"

"Stop. That's not true. I'm glad you're here."

"Well I'm mad that they're not treating me nicely. And I'm mad dad is acting like this is all my own fault."

"He's not. I think he's going to talk to Rocky and Ry about it, ok? You're not in trouble for last night, and you should be. So the fact that he didn't punish you means he knows that you only did it because you couldn't take it from Rocky and Ry anymore."

"Yeah, maybe..."

I got up and got the first aid kit from the bathroom. I bandaged Riker's wrist back up again and pulled his sleeve down to cover it.

"You really promise you won't tell mom and dad what I did?"

"I promise. This time. But I'm serious, Riker. Don't do it again. It's dangerous. Like so dangerous that you could end up in the hospital or die."

"Ok. I'm sorry."

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"No... I have to go do the stupid dishes before I get in trouble with mom."

"No, I did them for you before I came up here."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Are you feeling any better now?"

"Yeah. But I wish we shared a room. It would just make me feel better."

"How about I ask mom and dad at dinner tonight?"

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Yeah. To be honest, I think it would be a lot better if we roomed together and if Rocky and Ry roomed together. I think you'd feel a lot better."

Riker nodded.

"It'll be ok. I'll make sure they don't bother you so much anymore, ok?"

"Thanks, Ross."

Riker hugged me tight.

"You're welcome."