Into Oblivion

The Boy Next Door

My name is Eren Jaeger it's the summer of 2009 I had just turned ten. My best friend's names are Armin Arlert, and my adopted sister Mikasa. Armin's birthday is a week after mine and Mikasa's had already passed, she's one year older than the both of us. Armin's birthday changed him, not completely but to the point where it was noticeable. That day started off great, we spent the night at Armin's house, that morning we woke up to the smell of breakfast. That morning we had bacon, pancakes and blueberry muffins. We played all day and got cupcakes, but that night was one night we will never forget. Mikasa, Armin and I slept in the same room, we had Armin's dad move around the furniture around and collect all the pillows and blankets in the house so we could put them on the floor and have a real sleep-over. Mikasa and I were always terrified of Mr. Arlert he was a heavy drunk at night and he would leave bruises on Armin sometimes. We stayed up that night, just the three of us. It was about ten o'clock when I checked the time our bed time was at nine. We must have been loud because Mr. Arlert opened the door and yelled at Armin for being too loud and not being sleep.

"You know the rules, in bed by nine!" he yelled

Once we thought the coast was clear I started to talk "your dad is the worst!" Armin smiled and looked down as he was always so positive in the worst situations "naw he's alright he's pretty nice actually. " I opened my mouth in awe "that's because you're used to being around him! He scares me." Armin and I shared a laugh as the door opened again. It was Mr. Arlert, He held out his finger and signaled Armin to come here with his finger. Armin looked concerned as he hesitated to walk over to him. I gave him a reassuring smile and whispered "its ok just go so you can come back faster and we was talk more" his face didn't change. Armin stood up from all the pillows he was leaning on and walked over to his dad as his gray sweats dragged against the floor. The door shut behind them and I hear their footsteps leading into his father's room. The talking was muffled but we could still hear

"Um yes dad?"

"Why the hell aren't you guys sleep this is a privilege for them to be over you know that." He yelled

Armin always had panic attacks when he was yelled at but we still heard his voice "t-they never get t-to come over so we j-just were talking and-"

It was quiet for a long time. Mikasa and I didn't share a word. Eventually Mikasa and I grew tired; I laid my head down on the pillow and we waited and waited. I hadn't noticed I fell asleep until I heard a muffled scream. I wondered if I was hearing things or not. I shook Mikasa awake to ask if she heard it to, then I went over to where Armin was sleeping to ask if he heard the scream too but when I looked over to where he was sleeping he wasn't there. I remembered that he was with his dad but why hadn't he came back. I heard the scream again, and again. I covered my ears with my pillow; by this time I knew it was Armin. His voice had always been naturally high-pitched. His screams weren't as loud as before but I could still hear it loud and clear. It went on for five more minutes until it turned into just crying. When the door opened I closed my eyes tight trying to act like I was sleeping. My heart was pounding in my chest. When I heard the light slow footsteps I opened my eyes and saw Armin coming back in the room I whispered to him

"Hey Armin, what happened?" Mikasa tried to talk to him too

"Armin, are you okay?"

He let out a choked sob, I could barely see him because of the darkness around us, we didn't dare turn the lights on but he sounded really sad. He laid down in his spot and cried some more but it was faint and quiet. Before I drifted to sleep I whispered "goodnight buddy and happy birthday" still no response.

Armin and I became brothers that year. When his dad became abusive Armin was taken away and my father fought against the state to adopt him. We were inseparable; Armin still hadn't told me why he would act weird around some people or on his birthday but if he didn't feel comfortable telling us what happened then I figured we didn't need to know. During school Armin grew shy and refused to talk to people. During this long year I made a promise that I would never leave him no matter what. I meant what I said to him. Life hadn't sucked so bad at least I still had Armin and Mikasa. During this year Armin had took up the habit of holding my hand when he was stressed, nervous or scared; I didn't mind I noticed that it gave me great comfort too. It wasn't like I was the only one whose hand he held whenever he was with our mom or even Mikasa he would be holding one of their hands, he would hold mine more often because I was always with him. Mikasa actually acted more protective towards him than she did towards me.