Let's Not Talk About Tomorow

Ben

DING! DONG! Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jon jump at the noise of the doorbell.

"Baby boy? Would you get that?" I asked. After a year of being married we finally decided to get our asses into gear and start decorating our house. Ordinarily, I would answer the door because Jon suffers from severe anxiety and struggles to be around people but I had my hands full painting whilst Jon had just finished making us both a coffee. Besides, the only way he can overcome his fears is by stepping out of his comfort zone.

"Ben, don't make me answer the door" His lip quivered "I'm scared"

"I know, baby. I'm sorry but I'm busy, shout me if you need me" I leaned over and kissed him reassuringly "You'll be okay, if not, you can punch me. I'm not expecting anyone so if it's just someone wanting to sell you something just tell them 'no, thank you', okay?" He gave a small smile and slowly walked out of the room. I sighed.

Life will never be easy when you are in love with a depressed, anorexic insomniac who suffers from anxiety. I know that. Every meal time is a battle and every night is practically sleepless but I wouldn't change it for the world. I don't care if I have to sleepwalk through the day because I spent all of last night comforting Jon who had had a nightmare about his past. I don't care that I have to drag Jon to work with me because he is petrified to be alone. I love him dearly and I would do anything for him. To me, he's perfect.

I bent down to dip my paintbrush in the bucket when a small whirlwind called Jon burst back into the room, trembling. I prised his arm off me so that I could turn to face him. His eyes were bright with tears. I stroked his cheek and kissed him softly.

"What happened, baby boy?" I picked him up and he wrapped his petite, skinny form around me, hiding his face in my shoulder. "Who was it?"

"Lots of people!" He choked out "They kept saying my name and they tried to touch me!"

"Huh? I'm going to go see, do you want to stay here?"

"I want to be with you" He mumbled "Don't leave me"

"I'm not going to, baby" I kissed his shoulder and walked briskly to the front door "They weren't supposed to be coming today" I muttered as I looked through the peep hole. Hurriedly, I opened the door before then walked away.

"Ben!" Mr Homestead (AKA Jon's father) greeted me. Behind him were each and every one of his siblings. I had invited them to stay with us and they were supposed to be coming in 2 weeks time, when the house would be done. Why were they here now? "Our flight got cancelled so they put us on this one. I hope that's alright... Is Jon okay?" At the mention of his name, Jon whimpered and clung to me tighter.

"Uh, it's okay. It's just that we're in the process of decorating so you'll have to excuse the mess. Come in"

They all filed in, looking at Jon nervously. He wasn't the same man they knew, he never will be. As his brother, James, walked in, he reached out to touch Jon but I quickly stepped out of arms reach. Jon hates being touched by anyone but me.

"Don't" I warned "He won't like it"

"But-"

"I need to talk to you guys about him, things have changed" I informed them "Might as well get it out the way now, just dump your bags anywhere. We can sort them later" They nodded. Once we were all settled in the living-room, Jon was curled up on my lap, I cleared my throat and squeezed Jon reassuringly.

"You've got a heck of a lot of explaining to do. I thought he was coming to ours for Christmas the year we finally got in contact but then you told me it wasn't happening with no damn reason. I haven't heard anything for 7 years! Now look at him! What happened to him?! That's not my son!" Mr Homestead exclaimed angrily