the dark you fear in the night // gawsten

seven

"what's wrong, what happened?" geoff asked in a frenzy as he gathered his things and prepared to leave to get his best friend. 

awsten was quietly sobbing into the phone, unable to control his emotions. right now, he was feeling scared and worthless and unsafe and upset and angry and all of those feelings piled up and all he could do was cry. "i'll tell y-you when you get here," he whispered, "p-please, just hurry." 

"text me your address, i'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"it's a half an hour drive-"

"i don't need to follow traffic laws right now, you're clearly not safe," geoff told him as he got into his car and started it. he backed out of his parking space as awsten texted him the address. geoff opened the text and read it quickly, knowing exactly where to go and how to get there the fastest way, "i'll be there soon, hold on tight. be strong." 

awsten hung up the phone and waited on a park bench with an advertisement for a skin care product. 

---

fifteen minutes later, geoff was honking his horn to get awsten's attention, who quickly got off of the bench and runs to his car. he opens the door with his hand that isn't soaked in blood. "holy fucking shit, did he hit you?" geoff asked, pulling into an empty space to make sure that his friend is okay. 

awsten can only nod. geoff reaches into his glove box and pulls out a wad of napkins from a dunkin donuts and gives them to awsten. geoff takes a few and wets them with a half empty bottle of water, cleaning awsten's blood soaked hand. "i'll clean your jacket for you tonight, alright?" 

awsten mutters an, "okay," and looks at himself in the side mirror. he laughs and mutters, "i'm a mess, i'm sorry."

"you didn't fucking do shit wrong, you don't have anything to apologize for," geoff gently takes awsten's chin in his hands and looks at his nose, "it's not broken, it'll be bruised, though. what started this?" 

"my dad's a homophobic asshole who gets angry after taking a sip of wine, calls me a faggot, then throws his wine glass at me," awsten says in a barely audible whisper. 

geoff shakes his head, "i'm gonna go in there and fucking talk to him." 

he unbuckles his seat belt and awsten grabs his wrist, "no, no you're fucking not, he'll kill you, then come out here and kill me."

"i want to fucking snap his neck and make him eat his own asshole, but alright," geoff growls, punching his steering wheel out of frustration with awsten's father. awsten jumps at the sudden action and looks down. geoff notices he's startled the younger boy and apologizes sincerely. 

awsten nods and twiddles his thumbs after he cleans the blood off his face. he takes a small breath, "my father's the reason i can't sleep at night," he tells geoff, "he's the reason i'm afraid of the dark. after he started treating me this way when i was fifteen up until i was seventeen, maybe even eighteen, it's all a blur, it all just comes back to me in dreams. i dream that he's stabbing me, hitting me, just treating me like shit, people screaming at me that i'm worthless and he's all of the people, dreams he's killing my friends and forcing me to watch, dreams he's killing my mother. i don't feel safe when i fall asleep, so, i don't sleep." 

it's silent in the car as geoff pulls out of the parking space, before everything he's said settles in and the only thing he can manage to say is, "holy shit."

he wants to say so much more. he wants to tell awsten that he'll protect him and try to make him feel safe if he can. he wants to tell him that what his father did to him and how he's treated him doesn't devalue him. he wants to tell him that he's loved by so many people. but, a lot of that doesn't seem relevant, and that's all he can manage to stutter out. 

"it's not your fault," geoff tells him. 

awsten sniffles and wipes his teary eyes, "geoff, shut the fuck up."

"it's not your fault, believe me on that."

"geoff, shut up, please." awsten whispers weakly and looks out the window, his hand gripping the arm rest near the center console. geoff reaches over and gently places his hand on top of his. "i'm not going to let him hurt you anymore," he whispers. 

geoff calls the police later that day, and it is informed of him that he was taken into police custody after neighbors saw  the bloodied and bruised awsten leave his house. he was reported with charges of assault.