Locked Away

Chapter 3

Shane stood up and punched Kier, aiming a few more at him before Laurence managed to pin him to the ground. "This is all his fault! It's all his! If he wasn't here then Drew would still be standing right here! It's your fault!" Shane screamed at Kier as he buried his head into Laurence's chest and sobbed loudly. Laurence rubbed his back and kissed the top of his head.
"Hey it's okay... none of this is his fault. If anything it's this Williams. We will find Drew and we will make sure he comes home safely okay?" Shane sniffled and nodded, watching Kier leave the kitchen and curl up on the couch. "We will find him. Tomorrow. But for now, you need to be as strong as you can." He carried the exhausted Shane to his room and curled up against him as he clung to Laurence, crying himself to sleep

With an ear splitting shriek Kier found himself tackled to the ground, a slim tangle of blonde hair ripping at his skin as he slammed him against the cold bathroom tiles. Kier struggled with Shane and kept trying to kick him off, slamming him against the wall to get him to loosen his grip but he persisted his attack. He ripped at his crimson hair and bit into his arm with his teeth as the shadowborn howled, blood dripping down Shane's chin as he pulled away, sobbing wildly as he still screamed about this being all Kier's fault. As he kicked Kier in the the chin, knocking his head against the tile floor, causing him to blink for several second as his head pounded in protest. A dark haired figure barrelled into the tiny bathroom and tried to wrap his arms around Shane, unsuccessfully restraining him as he broke free and grabbed Kier's hair, smashing his face into the bathtub as he heard a crack that was presumably his nose. Blood splattered the white bathroom as Laurence begged Shane to stop. Shane looked at him with madness burning behind his eyes as he snapped.
"This is his fault! If he wasn't here then Drew would still be with me! Drew wouldn't try to attack me and he wouldn't have left me all alone and confused and- AND YOU DON'T CARE! You love Kier so you're blinded by it! You're blind Laurence! How can you be so trusting? He's vile!" Laurence backed up with tears in his eyes and shook his head as he wiped them away.
"You're wrong! He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... This isn't Kier's fault he's just misunderstood, trying to survive and-" Shane cut him off as he smeared blood across his face.
"Aren't we all? He's dangerous and he hurt you. He also inadvertently hurt Drew, how can you stand him?" Laurence took a step forwards to help Kier but Shane grabbed his wrist and snapped at him to step away. Laurence nodded and stepped back then caught Shane as he fell towards the floor, Kier standing behind him with a soap dispenser he used to bludgeon Shane with.

As Shane sank into unconsciousness Kier disappeared.
"Where are you- Kier come back and help me!" Laurence looked around the bathroom wildly as he pulled Shane over his shoulder, carrying him to the couch and setting him down carefully. He sniffles and looked to the table where Drew still had his medical equipment laid out. With shaking hands Laurence picked up the iodine and poured it on a cloth, biting his lip as he applied it to his friend's wounds. It was a good thing Shane was asleep or else it would sting immensely. A smiled curled across his pale lips as dark eyes watched his friend sleep somewhat peacefully. He studied his injuries as he slept, eyes skimming over his body which Laurence was covering in bandaids and bandages to attempt to stop him from bleeding. A cut across his left cheek prompted him to stick a little Spider-Man bandaid over it as he muttered about Drew only having kids bandaids left. He carefully lifted up as his shirt as he laughed quietly to himself. Shane would never let anyone take off his shirt and wouldn't do it in front of them so this was the first time Laurence would see his bare chest, if only Shane knew what he was doing. He would several protests no doubt.

Laurence continued to patch his wounds, eventually resorting to pink and purple my little pony bandaids for Shane's little cuts. He knew Drew worked mainly with children but why couldn't he have anything else at home? He smiled as he remembered Drew coming home with the boxes and dumping them on the table.

"What are these?" Laurence's voice echoed around the apartment in confusion as he seized the box and opened them, pulling out the rows of pink and purple bandaids.
"They're a gift! Everyone needs bandaids so I figured I'd keep some from work here at home." Shane shook his head as he picked them up.
"There's no way I'm using these." Drew snickered as he watched them and wrapped his arms around Shane's shoulders, resting his chin on his neck and taking a bandaid from his hand as the quiet blonde haired boy frowned. "I was looking at those..." He muttered seemingly to himself as Drew ignored him and stuck on his cheek to Shane's protests as he tried to push him off.
"You look beautiful! Aw come on don't pull it off!" He was besides himself with laughter as Shane ripped off the bandaid and stuck it on Drew's forehead.

With a sigh Laurence pulled a blanket over Shane and carefully tucked his pillow underneath his head. "Kier... Where the hell have you gone?" He jumped as the doorbell rang and carefully approached the door, looking through to see a police man. He cracked open the door and watched the man's face light up in delight.
"Are you Laurence Beveridge?" Laurence nodded stiffly and let him inside, the cop immediately spotted Shane on the couch.
"What happened to him?"
"I uh that shadowborn he dragged me to my house to try and um rob me and well Shane attacked him so um he uh attacked him back and left with my- my other friend Drew I don't know where he is but I-" He stopped with his obvious lie, knowing he was going to be found out but was surprised when the policeman nodded and wrote down everything he said.
"That solves all of the questions I had for you and takes you off the missing persons list so thank you."
Laurence stammered as he spoke. Couldn't he see that he was lying? Well of course he could. If he wasn't why would Shane have bruises from where he grabbed him and why wouldn't Laurence have a mark or call the police immediately? He watched the officer. Of course he noticed. There's no way he didn't see he just didn't care. Kier was a shadowborn after all and Laurence wasn't. Even if Laurence was lying his word was still held above Kier's because he was more important. He filled out a missing persons report for Drew and watched Shane as the officer left.

"What the fuck?" Laurence screamed as Kier stepped out of the shadows. "You're seriously blaming this all on me? I thought you cared about me!" Laurence tried to grab his hand but he pulled away and stepped backwards.
"I- Kier I thought you abandoned us! I thought you left." He floundered around trying to explain himself as Kier ignored him, black eyes burning with anger and betrayal.
"So it's okay to throw me under the bus because I wasn't there? Because I left you to fix my broken nose!?"
"I didn't know! You didn't tell me where you were going you just left!" He desperately tried to explain himself but Kier kept pushing him away.
"I'm a shadowborn. They'll hang me anyways. But you don't care do you?"
"Of course I care! I care about you but they would've hung you with or without my blatant lie. If I didn't care I would go tell that officer you're here now. I do care. I do." Laurence smiled and stroked Kier's hair as Kier closed his eyes and leaned into his touch.

"I've hurt you. I've hurt both of you too much. I'm a monster just like the world portrays me." He spoke in a sullen whisper as Laurence sighed. He started to speak but was cut off by a groan from Shane as he sat up holding his head. He opened his eyes and they immediately landed upon Kier.

"Come back for more have you! Was taking away Drew then smashing me in the head not enough? Are you here for Laurence too?" The normally quiet man spoke in a harsh, cold tone as he snapped at Kier. Kier stood his ground and growled.
"No! Don't you dare pin this on me. You attacked me and then Laurence dragged me under the bus so I will be publicly hung in the square for sticking around! Don't you dare call me a bad person because I'm risking my life to be here right now."
Shane glared at him and turned away, sniffing. Laurence ran to him and wrapped his arms around him.
"Shane... It's okay. Kier didn't mean to hurt you." Shane tried to push him away as he shut his eyes to force the tears to stop.
"He did. I miss Drew I just wish he was here."

Kier looked down and shuffled his feet as he replied in a quiet voice,
"I could maybe find him... I know where William might be."