I Dream of Black Roses

Chapter 10

Ethan is finally talking more and he apparently has made a lot of progress at therapy. He's finally happy again. I walk into his room and see him listening to music as he lays on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Hey." I say as I walk over to him and sit down on his bed.
He sits up and smiles at me. "Hey, how was your day?"
"Okay, can I ask you something?" I ask quietly.
"Of course, what is it?" He says, a look of concern on his face.
"How come you don't see your mom anymore?" I ask as I bite my lip nervously.
He doesn't say any thing for a while. "Because I can't...why do you ask?" He says finally.
"When you were in the hospital, she came to see you but said she had to leave before you woke up."
"My dad....he won't let her see me, all those times you skipped school and we're waiting for me out front, the bruises and stuff weren't from the others at school.......they're from my dad.." He says under his breath as tears start to form in his eyes. "He told my mom that he'd kill her if she said anything about him abusing me or tried to take me away."
"I'm so sorry....why didn't you tell anyone before?" I ask as I use my sleeve to wipe the tears that are now running down his face.
"I was afraid of what would happen...my mom can't take care of me, not with her short term memory loss." He says as he looks at the floor.
I stand up and grab his hand. "Come on, we're leaving."
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know, but we are going somewhere else." I say as I walk out of his room, pulling him behind me.

We go to the tree in the back of the park, the same place we go pretty much everyday. We sit on the ground, leaning against the tree, in silence.
"We can't stay here forever, you know?" He says finally, breaking the silence.
"I know, I just couldn't think of anywhere else to go."
"Everything's going to be okay, I think..."
"Everything is going to be okay, I know it will, as long as we stick together." I say as I place my hand in his and look up at the beautiful sky, wishing we could just go live up in the clouds.

After about two hours, we finally walk down to the police station. I tell them about Ethan's father and how he can't live with his mother because of her short term memory loss. They says they'll send a social worker to Ethan's house and if they find anything, they'll have Ethan's dad arrested.

"You realize I'm gone have to live in a foster home now, right?" He says, looking a bit miserable.
"It's better than being stuck with your dad isn't it?" I say, answering a question with a question.
"I won't be able to see you..."
"I'll always be there, I will hide in the dark corner of your heart even if you aren't here with me."
Everything is finally going to be okay. There's no reason to look at the bad side of things now.