You're A Steal- Dyle

Chapter Eighteen

Once they are all home, Dan lies with Kyle tightly in his arms. The sun has long since set over the city and they have eaten and are lying in bed with full stomachs and content in their heart. His hands run through the taller of the pair's hair peacefully, both of them just lying and holding one another. Dan has missed this way beyond what his simple words can explain.

The drive back to the Simmons' house didn't feel long at all. Since they have been reunited, everything has felt as though it's going three times faster than usual. Even though Kyle has checked his phone and clearly read them, Kyle hasn't mentioned the text that Dan sent him- the sender is thankful for that. Now that he thinks of it, he finds the text slightly cringey. He decides that if Kyle won't mention them, he definitely won't.

"Do you think this has helped you?" He decides to strike up conversation with Kyle as they shuffle around slightly. He hasn't let go of Kyle since he saw him and he never intends on it again. He loves the boy dearly, and spending another day without him would be horrible.

The other teenager can only remain quiet as he has a moral debate. He doesn't actually think the weekend has helped him in the slightest- in fact, here, lying with Dan, has been the quietest the voice has been so far. He knows he needs some more help to find the solution of the problem, but he doesn't want to go away again. He's so glad to be home...

"Yeah," he says through gritted teeth, crossing his toes since Dan is holding his only free hand, the other one tucked away beneath him, unmoveable. "I haven't seen or heard from the voice in ages."

It's a lie. Kyle knows lying is horribly wrong, but he's been doing it for so long even he doesn't trust himself most of the time.

Dan smiles, kissing Kyle's temple. "Charlie seems like a nice kid, by the way. Why was he there?"

"He can't sleep. Nightmares and all that, he said," Kyle explains to Dan, "He was a nice kid, too. His parents just left him there and never went back, though. I said I'd try and get someone I know to look after him, but the only person I can think of at the minute is my Aunt or something..."

The teenager's face drops. "What... Just abandoned him?" Dan echoes, "Like a dog?"

Kyle nods with sorrow on his features. He hopes and prays he can find somewhere for Charlie. He knows it would be horrible to just lie to him and leave him there...

"That's sick. People like that should be arrested..."

Downstairs, in the room below them, Kyle's parents hug each other. Mr Simmons is crying into Mrs Simmons' shoulder, and she is comforting him, rubbing his back. It's the only way she can think to support her husband at this time.

"He will get better," she whispers gently, drawing slow circles and hearts on his back. Their family isn't religious, but Mr Simmons has prayed all the time that Kyle has been away for him to just have his son back. He wants nothing more than that, yet he fears he will never get it. "Something has to help him, Love. He can't stay like this..."

"But what if nothing helps?" The man questions with a voice equally as quiet as his wife's, tears falling down his face. He misses the times when he would tuck Kyle in at night and he would be fast asleep, or they would go out together and Kyle would be okay. Now he can't even spend a day without the voice interrupting them. "What if we never have our Kyle back?"

Mrs Simmons doesn't reply to that. She doesn't really know what to say because she is equally as scared as her husband- she's just better at keeping her emotions. "We'll all be okay in the end," she says quietly. I hope...

Charlie sits in his doctors office, sobbing his heart out. He didn't mention anything else to Kyle- he didn't mention the pretty red lines that are painted on his legs, he doesn't mention that it's actually his parents that keep him awake in his nightmares. He doesn't like the fact that they are his demons.

"You didn't tell him?" The doctor asks Charlie, rubbing his back. Charlie shakes his head.

"If I told him, he would have thought I was a freak," Charlie tells the doctor, "I can't handle anyone else calling me a freak..."

His parents used to hate him. He lied about them actually caring to Kyle- in fact, the only true part about them was that they left him here and never came back. He suspected they wouldn't, anyway...

"Charlie..." The doctor says, at a loss for words, a frown on his face. He's heartbroken for the boy. He wishes he could take him in himself...