Colors

Ten

Trigger warning again guys, this one's a bit more serious. x

"Do you want to come in?" I realised he'd been crying and ran a thumb across his cheekbone as carefully as I could.

"I..." He seemed to debate it for a second. "Yeah."

My hand dropped from his face and moved to clasp onto his hand as I pulled him into the house, checking outside on the off chance that someone could have seen. I locked the door behind me once we were inside and turned to kiss the top of Mitch's head.

"I'll be back in a minute, Alex and Kirstie are over and I feel like I should at least give them a warning."

"I don't-" he started to object then stopped. "Right... Because I'm red." He laughed bitterly. "I always forget that normal people don't mingle around the colours. Just me being messed up I guess."

I shook my head "you're not messed up. Just more exciting than most people." I stepped back and smiled softly as I looked at his still beautiful face. "I'll be back right away." He nodded and I went down the corridor to see Alex and Kirstie on the couch, probably talking about me.

"Oh hey! ...who was it?" Alex looked up at me and his smile dropped when he saw my expression.

"Mitch..." I breathed out and turned my attention to Kirstie. "I know I mentioned him to you, but I think I forgot to mention one thing..." I was stalling, I knew it and so did she. Which is why I shouldn't have been surprised when Mitch appeared in the lounge room, rocking back and forth on his heels with tears staining his cheeks.

"Hey... It's dark back there..." He let out another bitter laugh and I rushed over to hug him again out of instinct and worry.

"What. The. F-" Alex slapped his hand over Kirstie's mouth and pointed to my room.

"You two go work this out in your room? I'll be here if you need me, and I'll explain to this one..." He pointed to Kirstie and I nodded, moving to take Mitch up to my bedroom.

I took his hand and led him up the stairs, trying to ignore the sounds of Kirstie losing her shit. I really just hoped she wouldn't ruin this for all of us. Of course I trusted her, but this might have been the icing on the top of the cake. Mitch wandered into my room, not looking around and inspecting it like he usually would, and just sitting on his bed, tucking his legs up to his chest. I sat beside him and rubbed his back slowly, kissing his forehead while I used my other hand to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

His eyes were bloodshot, but I couldn't tell if that was because he was high or because he was crying. "You want me to tell you everything?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Not if you don't want to... But I can't help if I don't know what's going on." I pulled him to lay down, holding him against my chest as I saw more tears start to fall.

He took a shaky breath and brought his small hands up to wipe his face dry. He sat up to look down at me, crossing his legs. His red hands fiddled in his lap nervously, and I put my contrasting blue one on top of them,

"It's okay." I whispered, not sure what else to say.

"My mother is depressed." He said so quietly I almost didn't hear him. "I haven't seen her smile in months and she's slowly losing all motivation and care for life. As well as her care for the family. My brother and I are on our own most of the time, though I'm pretty sure he blames me for what happened to mom. And my dad-" He clutched onto my shirt as a sob broke through his body. "He... He started to hit my mom and I couldn't let that happen, but then he turned it on me. I'm so scared, Scott..." He cuddled in closer to me and buried his face in my chest, something I wasn't really complaining about.