Broken Together

Chapter 10: Dirty Little Secrets

"Brother? You have a brother? Why don't you tell me?" He asks utterly confused

"I didn't think I did!" I run my hands through my hair confused as I sit on the edge of the stage

"What do you mean? How do you know he's your brother if you did-" he sits next to me

I interrupt him "I thought he died years ago" I shake my head distraught

He looks at me concerned "Why would you think that?"

"It's a long story I don't want talk about it"

"Niall. You brought me into this you have to tell me now" he says gently

I shake my head "I've never talked about my family with anyone"

He sighs "that lady who was here yesterday....she isn't your mum is she?" I shake my head slowly

"No" I whisper

"You can talk to me Niall. I'm your friend. I won't judge you no matter what" he places his hand me shoulder

"I-I don't even know where to start..."

"Tell me about your brother" I nod and take in an uneven shaky breath

"Well Greg is 6 years older then me so I guess he's about 23 now. We use to be really close as kids especially after mum died. We use to have to literally take care of each other because my father, after mum died went down a terrible path. He blames us for her death." I shake my head trying to get through this

"Take your time Nialler" he rubs my back

"He would leave for days sometimes weeks he'd lock us in the house and we'd have to just eat whatever little food was left in the house. When he was actually home he would-d" I struggle to get the words out "he would beat us." I stay tear falls down my red face "especially Greg saying it was our fault mum was gone and he hated us for it. He would wake us in the night and beat us with a belt, his fist, a plank anything. And tell me if i told anyone he would kill Greg " Liam wraps his arm around my shoulders "Greg couldn't take it anymore I guess one morning I woke up in our bed and it was empty. He was gone" I shake my head the memory all too vivid "I have no clue as to how he got out all I knew was he left me with him. This only made father more mad and the beatings got worse. I assumed he was dead. That was the only logical reason I could come up with for why he wouldn't come back for me. I haven't seen Greg since"

"Niall I'm so sorry" he hugs me I stare at the wall behind him feeling too many emotions

We pull apart "how old we're you? When he left?"

"10" I answer softly

"That lady who is she then? You don't have to answer if you don't want to talk about it. I understand" I shake my head

"It's alright. She's my social worker for IFCA"

"IFCA that's?" He asks

"Irish Foster Care Association."

"Foster care? If your in foster care why are you here and not with a family?" He asks confused

"That's actually why I'm here. Every home and group home I was put in I ran from so they stuck me here. Out of sight out of mind ya know?"

"Why would you want to run if you were finally in a home where you weren't hurt?" He trails off not wanting to say it

I shrug "I mean how would you like being thrown into some strangers home and for all you know they could be some serial killer! And the group homes oh god. Group homes are hell it's like a school yard fight 24/7 " I roll my eyes

"Yeah I guess that would be hard" he nods

"I told you my 'dirty little secrets'" I use air quotes and he chuckles "what's yours?"

He shrugs "I'm not too exciting just insane. Literally. When I was a kid there was this voice. I assumed everyone could hear it. Told me his name was mason. He would tell me what to do. At first it wasn't so bad he would just tell me what games to play who be mates with and other things. My parents assumed it was my imaginary friend like all kids." He pauses "then I got older and the voice got louder. He would tell me to do terrible things and if I didn't listen he would torment me. I started stealing, fighting with kids in my school for no reason, shouting at my parents, hurting and starving myself. I tried to tell my parents I didn't want to do all I did but I couldn't help it. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore and I tried to kill myself. That landed me here and I've been here ever since the day after my 12th birthday."

"Sounds miserable. But your parents are still around?" I ask him

He nods "they're divorced but they both come two or three times a week along with my sisters"

"And they understand?" I ask genuinely confused I assumed if parents had a child who wasn't perfect they hated them just how it is

"Yeah they do. They just want me to get help and be able to come home"

"Um we should probably get back to Harry and Louis" I stand up quickly needing to leave

"What? Niall wait" he grabs my arm and turns me around "did I say something? I'm sorry I-"

"It's not you Liam. I appreciate you letting me talk and being here for me" I tell him and walk out needing some air desperately

Hope you liked the chapter! Please tell me your thoughts in the comments and leave me some questions for the authors/Characters  Q&A at the end of the book!! All the love always~HXx