Locked Away (Ianthony)

Chapter 13

Anthony cried, and all I could do was hold him... I couldn't make the pain go away. Then I just thought over all the years we had together... All he did was hurt me. And he was going to do it as long as I let him. I couldn't just cut him out like that, but I'm hurting not only myself but Hailie. She needs to grow up seeing what's right. Not being abused and neglected. I was still in the shower holding Anthony, neither of us worrying about our clothes. I realized... I forced Anthony into the shower. I forced him. I looked down at him. He'd stopped crying. I sat down in the shower, him in my arms, following through with my actions like a trained dog. The water ran over us like rain, and I kissed his cheek softly, running my hands through is wet, curly hair. He just held his hands around my waist. We sat there until the water ran cool. Everything was still and the poison high was leaving his body. We got out, Anthony still being held. We went to our room, Hallie asleep in hers. I grabbed Anthony some clothes and handed them to him. "Go ahead and get changed..." I said, leaving and closing the door behind me. I walked into the foyer and looked at what was there. Marijuana smoke floating in the air. Vodka on the carpet. Heroin and needles on the couch. I looked at the broken whiskey bottle on the table. I sighed and started to cry. I never knew how bad it was... It makes everything make sense. I picked up the piece of the bottle and threw them away in a bag I'd pulled out. I grabbed the vodka bottle and threw it away. I looked at the drugs. I never connected the hundreds of dollars lost at a time to anything like this. I took the weed, threw it away. I picked up the cocaine and that's when Anthony made himself noticed, crying out.

"No! Ian, I need this!" He walked up to me and knocked the drugs out of my hand, crying. "I need all of this, Ian!" I grabbed him back and walked back to our room.

"You do not need this, it's killing you! It's killing me and it's killing Hallie... You're not the only one affected..." I sighed. He sat back down into the bed and I changed into something dry. I turned around to see him drag something across his left wrist. I walked around to where he was and grabbed his hand. A small razor. I pulled him up and back into the bathroom. I took the razor and threw it in the toilet. I looked in all the cabinets and found a bag of razor blades... I looked at Anthony. There were about ten. I poured them down the toilet and flush.

"Ian! No!" He tried to go save them but I held him back, turning on the faucet. The water was warming back up. I grabbed his arm and put it under the water, watching it run red to clear. I grabbed a bandage roll and wrapped his wrist. He was crying so much. I held him again and slid down to the floor with him.

I rubbed his arms and shoulders, trying to keep him from crying. "We'll get you some help Anthony... It'll be okay..." I whispered, kissing his forehead.