Watch Your Back

Chapter 16

"Aaron, can you hear me? Aaron, wake up! Please, not again! Why the hell isn't he waking up?!"  Two pairs of hands gripped his shoulders and Aaron was jolted out of his nightmare. His mom had hastily colored on makeup and was being pushed away by a nurse. Aaron blinked and looked around.

"What? Where am I?" Then he remembered. The bathtub. He had tried to kill himself. Aaron bit his lip and started crying. His mom ran over and hugged him.

"Aaron, are you okay? You fell asleep in the bathtub! You almost drowned!" Aaron was fine if his mom thought he just wanted go take a bath. Then he noticed his dad standing by the bed. Aaron frowned. Where the fuck had his dad been, exactly? So, that's what Aaron said.

"Dad, exactly where the fuck have you been?" Aaron said calmly. His parents gasped.

"Aaron! You will not talk to me like that! I am your father!" His dad yelled. The nurse walked out of the room.

"No, I will talk to you like that!" Aaron pushed himself into a sitting position,"I've had a horrible week! I've missed so much school! Hell, I almost died! And where have you been all this time?!" Aaron glared at his dad.

"That's not my problem! If you weren't so damn curious all the time, maybe you wouldn't be in here!"

"How does that have anything to do with this? I was taking a bath!" Aaron yelled.

"Probably trying to sneak off to that fucking asylum! I am your father! It is my JOB to protect you!" 

"No, it's your job to make money!" 
"Aaron! Don't be so disrespectful! Why can't you be more respectable?! Do you need more discipline?!" His dad yelled. His mom was sitting in a chair in the corner.

"You know what, dad? I wish you were DEAD! I wish you were never my father! I wish you were fucking DEAD!" Aaron screamed. HIs dad gasped. His mom went white. Aaron glared at his dad with revenge and hate. His dad stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. His mom sat dumbfounded in the corner. Aaron looked down at his fists and spoke.

"I want to be alone." He said to no one. His mom stood up and walked out of the room. Her heels clicked loudly on the tile floor. Soon, Aaron was the only one in the room. Or so he thought he was.

"My, what a father," Said Dr. Harrison, "he could never understand someone like you." Dr. Harrison paced around the room. Aaron didn't know where he came from, and he didn't care. His shoes softly tapped on the floor.

"Go away." Aaron said. He was still looking at his hands.

"Well, I could, but that wouldn't make any difference, now would it?" Dr. Harrison walked over to the bed and stood beside Aaron. He looked over the boy and sighed.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Harrison's eyes shone. Aaron sniffed.

"Yes, I do." Aaron whispered. Dr. Harrison wasn't impressed.

"But do you really want to? Do you really want to live in this world? Do you really want to keep living like this, ending up in hospitals every week?" Dr. Harrison questioned. Aaron looked up and met Dr. Harrison's eye. His shoulders shook and a tear slipped from his eyelid onto his unclenched hand. Aaron suddenly pulled the closest piece of fabric onto his face and cried into it. Which happened to be Harrison's white lab coat. Aaron didn't care. He hugged Dr. Harrison's slim waist and cried into his lilac shirt, soaking it instantly. Dr. Harrison smelt like rain and lavender and something that smelt leathery and old. He smelt...safe. Dr. Harrison didn't seem to mind. He was like a pillow. When Aaron finished crying, Dr. Harrison bent down and grabbed Aaron's shoulders. He looked into his eyes.

"Come with me. Back to the asylum. You can live with me, and you don't have to worry about being locked away or worried about. Please?" Dr. Harrison asked. Aaron was silent. He stared at the man, then turned his head to look at his parents. They were talking to each other and consulting a therapist that was making small hand movements. Aaron looked back at Dr. Harrison. He sighed.

"Okay, I'll go."