Runaways

North

"You'll never be worth it! You don't deserve anyone! You're a worthless human who can't do anything!" the mystery voice yelled at me from across the room.

I tried to cover my ears from all his harsh words, but I couldn't. I was tied down to a chair.

"Someone help me!" I yell but then am slapped across the face by another mystery figure.

"Shut up you worthless piece of sh*t!" he says as he continues slapping and punching me.

"someone please just help me," I whimper.

"PLEASE, Please, please, pl-,"

I can't anymore. I can't continue fighting. I need to give in. I need to accept my fate. No one will miss me. I need to die knowing how worthless I am. I need to p-

'North! Wake up!' I hear someone say.

No. Stop! I need to give up.

'Wake up!' a voice says as someone starts to shake me.

No. Stop! Please. I can't deal with my life anymore. The memories continue haunting me.

"NORTH TAYLOR YOU WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!"

Jerking up and out of my nightmare, I see Silas, Luke, and Uncle standing over me looking scared out of their minds.

"What's wrong?" I try to ask them, but the words get stuck at the back of my throat. I realize that I have sweat dripping off my forehead and I'm shaking.

Luke's the first one to speak. "Oh my god North! You scared the living hell out of us!"

He then hugged the life out of me. I wrapped my arms around him and didn't let go. No matter how much his hug was hurting me, it was nothing compared to the nightmare I just had.

'You're not worthless. You're loved and wanted in your family. You deserve happiness.

You will never be like your father.' I remind myself.

A few seconds later, Silas and Uncle join in on the hug. It's then and there that I realize this is the best moment of my life. Because for the first time, I actually felt wanted and loved. I build my walls up so high and act with anger because I hide my broken life. When I yell, it's me showing that I care for someone. I yell when it becomes hard to hide my feelings.

Regretfully pulling back, I ask,"What happened?"

Silas is the one to talk this time. "We all immediately came into your room when you started yelling for help. You started to shake and kept talking about letting yourself die. You then proceeded to take out the knife from under your pillow and tried killing yourself."

It was after he said that, that I realized he was holding a knife in his hand. How he managed to hug us without stabbing anyone was an important question, but I decided to not ask anything seeming it wasn't as important.

"I tried to kill myself?" I ask with disbelief.

"Yeah," they all reply in unison.

"Wow," I mutter while looking around the room.

While looking around, I noticed a few things. I noticed that it was 3 AM. I noticed the tired looks Luke, Silas, and Uncle had from today's nightmare and probably all my previous nightmares. And I finally noticed my emergency backpack in the corner of my room. I realized what I had to do.

Getting up, I walked towards the bag and slinged it over my shoulder. Turning around, I gave an answer to their questioning glances.

"I need to leave," I tell them.

"I've been waking you guys up everyday in the middle of the night. You all have bags under your eyes and look so tired in the mornings. I can't continue dragging you down with me. You all deserve to not have someone sinking you down. You guys are all in a boat floating on top of the ocean and I'm the anchor that's sinking you. I have to deal with my troubles by myself," I finish off.

"That's some bullsh*t you have right there North," Silas replies immediately.

Before I can respond, he cuts me off.

"You said that we're in the boat and you're the anchor sinking us. Well, you see North, an anchor doesn't sink a boat, it stops it. We're all stopping here, waiting for you. We're here to help you, and we'll stay here helping you until you recover."

They all agree with him.

"I'm sorry, but you can't stop me. I'm leaving no matter what. I need to find a key to save me from my nightmares and I'm going to keep searching until I find him/her," I respond.

"Fine, you can do that," Silas says.

"Wait really?" I ask in surprise. I thought it would be harder to convince them.

"Yup. But don't think you're going alone," Luke says.

And with that the two leave the room and come back a few seconds later with their emergency bags.

"Don't think that you're the only one with a packed emergency bag," Silas says as he sees my shocked expression.

"Well, I actually didn't have one so I just packed random stuff into a bag I found in my closet. It's basically only you and Silas who have one packed in the house," Luke says.

"Ow!" he yelps out in pain as Silas hits him on the back of the head.