I'd Live For You, If Only I Could (Completed)

Two

A/N
At this point, Mitch is 16 and it's first person POV still

Mitch POV

I sit on my bed with my earbuds in, blasting whatever happened to come on. My door bursts open and Scott walks in, anger lurking in his eyes like demons. He stands there for a few seconds before I notice him and set down my phone, which I was completely occupied with.

"Hi."

"Hi." he says, his voice seething with rage.

"Can I help you? Why are you in my house?" He looks away from me for a second and I habitually readjust my oxygen line while I wait for him to continue.

"I'm pissed." he says when he finally looks back at me. I stifle a snort.

"Hadn't noticed." I look back at my phone, but he grabs and locks it. "Hey!" I jump off the bed and try to reach it, but he holds it high above my head.

"You're too short. Stop trying."

"What's your problem?" I ask, pursing my lips and flopping onto my bed on my back defeatedly. He does the same next to me.

"It's my stepdad." That's all he says, and I wait a second before sighing.

"What about him?" He runs one hand over his face, and I can see that it's serious. "Scott, what about your stepdad?" I sit up a little to see his face, and his eyes are closed. He stays silent. I sigh again and lay back on my back again. "What did he do this time? And who was it about?" He opens his eyes again and they are especially watery.

"You don't need this. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. You have enough to deal with already."

"You're joking, right? I've been dealing with my cancer for three years. Don't let that stop you from telling me stuff. Please. Just...pretend that I'm not sick." He scoffs.

"You know I can't do that."

"Just for right now. Please, I want to know what's wrong." He sits all the way up and glances from me to the door. "Close it if you want." He hops off the bed and I can practically see the weight of his thoughts dragging in his feet as he pushes the door shut. He leans against it for a second before pulling back his sleeve to reveal a dark bruise. An involuntary gasp floats through my lips. His arms fall to his side and pull up the hem of his shirt to show an even darker one. I don't know what to say, so I just stare at him, willing him to say something else.

"It's not that bad." he mutters, dropping his shirt and pulling his sleeve back down.

"I agree that it could be worse, but Scott, he can't do that to you." We sit in silence for another few seconds before I say, almost scared to ask, "Are you depressed?"

"Define depressed." he says, falling back again.

"Come on. You know what I mean by that." He drags out a sigh.

"No. Just somewhat unhappy. I have you and Kirst, and that's honestly all I need. Speaking of Kirst, do you know where she was today? I didn't see her."

"She wasn't in class. I'm not sure where she was. I tried texting her and she didn't answer." My mind slips into my most recent thoughts, the ones that have been haunting me for the past few days.