Working For Your Love (PG X PG)

Bad Nights Sleep

Scott's POV

It was the middle of the night. The sound of people shouting could be heard from outside our bedroom window. It was normal for a Friday night. People were bound to go out and party if they wanted to. It was actually kind of relaxing knowing that people were outside. It was much better than the usual deafening silence that we heard in the middle of the night. I moved away from the freezing cold glass, pulled down the blinds, and crawled underneath the covers of the bed. Rio was checking up on Mitch for the tenth time tonight. I didn't blame him. Ever since he walked into his room to fall asleep I felt like I had to check up on him every ten minutes. I was so worried that he would start to cry his eyes out and be utterly alone while doing so if we didn't check on him. What if he had some sort of nightmare and woke up wondering where he was? What if he woke up in the middle of the night needing the bathroom yet he forgot where it was? One of us had to be there for him. And he couldn't exactly 'shout out' to us either. He couldn't talk! Well, he could, but I doubt that he would feel comfortable talking  to us straight away. We probably wouldn't hear him talk for at least another year or so. He might not even talk to us at all. I was fine with that but I was just worried that he wouldn't be able to convey his feelings through sign language. I was so scared that if he ever got bullied at school, he wouldn't be able to tell us. I was probably overreacting but I couldn't help it. He was my child. I was supposed to protect him through everything in his life. How was I meant to protect him if I had no idea what was going on with him? I hoped that he was okay...Rio was taking a long time looking in on him...

I rolled out of bed and looked into the hallway. Rio was standing in front of Mitch's door, knocking like crazy. What was going on? Was Mitch okay? I dashed forward and grabbed hold of his wrist, pulling it backwards. He was knocking so loud that I was shocked that I didn't hear it from my room. Heck, if it was loud in the hallway, what must it be like inside of the room? He must be scared out of his mind! Rio stared at me for a few seconds, mumbled an apology, and walked over to the other side of the hallway. It wasn't that far away to be honest as the width of the main hallway was only half a meter long. If two people walked down it at the same time they would have to be pressed up against each other to stop their shoulders rubbing against either side of the wall. I held my breath and pressed my ear against the door. All I could hear was the sound of muffled sobbing mixed with screaming. What had he done to himself? Nobody would be screaming and sobbing that hard unless they had physically injured themselves. Crap...What the hell had he done? Did he fall out of bed and break a bone? Did he hit his head against something? Did he slice his foot open on a piece of glass? I knew that, on the first day that we moved in here, I was walking around the two bedrooms while holding a glass of water when I walked into this room and, well, dropped it. I'm pretty sure that me and Rio cleaned up all of the glass but I still had a feeling that there must've been a small chip in there somewhere. God, if he had hurt himself because of something stupid that I had done I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.

I pulled my head away from the door, grabbed the handle, and pushed my way in. The duvet was trailing off the side of the bed, one of the pillows were missing, and the teddy bear was lying at the foot of the bed. There was still the sounds of Mitch's sobbing and screaming. The only difference was that it was slightly louder than before. I squatted down and looked underneath the bed. The only thing there was the bag that his two friends gave him along with a box. I presumed it held the gift that he got given. He wasn't underneath there. My eyes turned to look at the wardrobe. He had to be in there, right? He had to be! I ran over to it and flung open the doors. My entire body shook and my heart pounded. Please let him be alright...Don't let him be hurt. He, as a matter of fact, was in the closet. He had stuffed himself in the corner of it. His knees were pressed right up against his chest, his entire body was shaking like an earthquake, his hair was all over the place, and he was sobbing like mad. Why was he crying so much? Rio walked in behind me, placed his hand onto my shoulder, and shone a torch at him. He looked so frail sitting there. He looked so skinny and pale. It was heartbreaking. There was also a pillow on top of his knees which, after a few seconds of staring at us, he pressed his head into and started to scream again. What the hell had happened?