He Found Me

What Did I Just Say?

Aaron's POV

"T-Thomas!" I sputter out, forcing on a smile. "Hi babe!" I try to hug him. He pushes me away. 

"I can't believe you. Trying to cheat on me. We're going home." He takes me by the hand. 

"Get away from him, Thomas." Alexander steps in. 

"Please." I mutter. "It's not your fight."

"It is my fight. He," Alex points at Thomas, "makes it my fight. My priority." 

I feel my eyes start to sting. "Leave it be." I turn away from him. "Let's go home now, hmm?" I smile at Thomas.

"Let's." Thomas says.  We start walking forward. I feel him turn his head back, probably to shoot a nasty look at Alex, but I keep my eyes ahead. I'm in enough trouble as it is.  Eyes forward. Eyes forward. Eyes forward. The roses. Eyes forward. Thomas put the roses in Alex's apartment. Eyes forward, damnit. 

I gasp, stopping in my tracks. Now I can't seem to put my eyes anywhere but forward. He's using me.

"You okay babe?" Thomas extends a hand. 

"Y-yeah." I say, taking it and continuing to walk with him. Thomas was abusing Alex, Alex dumped him. Thomas felt bad so he kept stalking Alex in an effort to get him back. Enter me. I've been living with Thomas for a month now, and all this time he was using me to get his ex back while not getting arrested. Too late to turn back, we're already in his car. 

"I want to lay down some ground rules." He says, starting the engine. "First of all, no sneaking around."

"But what about-" I start. He cuts me off with a slap to the face. 

"It's not your turn to speak." He says. That bitch. "When we get home I want to go through your phone. I want to go through your dresser and desk, too. I'll pack your backpack every morning. You don't get to have your phone at night until I can trust you, but I'll give it to you in the mornings. I'll do the shopping from now on. You don't get to leave the house unless it's for work, understand?" 

I shake my head. "I'm done."

"The fuck did you say?" He growls. There it is. That fear, the anxiety that comes with defense. But also...the emptiness. The growl echoes in my head like it's suddenly hollow and it turns into a ringing, incessant and cruel.

"Nothing. I understand." I say. 

"Good." 

We pull into the driveway, but something's...off. Then it hits me. 

"Thomas, where's my car?" I ask, shocked. 

"Oh, I sold it. You can take the subway to work, or I can drive you. Since you're not going to be going anywhere else I figured you didn't need it." He says plainly. 

"Oh." I say, my voice devoid of emotion. I can't think of a response. I see spots. Oh my god. I see spots, and that's not good. "Thomas-"

I fall to the ground.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, I wake up in a hospital bed. Thomas is fake sobbing in the corner. Alexander comes rushing through the door, followed by several nurses. 

"Aaron!" He pants. Thomas is up in an instant, standing in front of him. 

"Alex!" I cry. Thomas looks back at me. The nurses flood the room. 

"Sir-"

"SiR!"

"SIR-"

Alex refuses to leave. I try to recap what happened. We were out at the park. Thomas found us, he took me home. He sold my car while I was gone, somehow. I was seeing spots and then I just fell and blacked out. Then I remember. 

Today is Saturday, or Sunday. Maybe even Friday. I don't remember, but it's been at least eight days since I ate anything. Since I was allowed to eat anything. Since I wanted to.

Holy fuck. 

The nurses have finally shoved Alex out of the room, now it's just me and Thomas and a nurse. 

"So, what happened?" The nurse asks. I look at her name tag. Eliza. Thomas starts to fake sob.

"Aaron is anorexic- I keep trying to get him to eat but he j-just won't listen t-to me-" He says. Eliza looks at me. 

"The tests show that he hasn't eaten in several days. What about the bruises on his arm and face?" Eliza asks. Thomas freezes up. He's been caught. Time stops.

After months of seeing nothing but a dull gray, static world, I see color. The emptiness that has been harassing me this whole time vanishes almost completely. I can't say that I feel happy, but I am not sad. My stomach still hurts, my head still hurts, but for the first time in forever, my heart doesn't. For once I know the bruises will heal without new ones coming.

Time resumes and I speak for myself.

"The bruises," I say as Thomas glares at me, "are from him. He hits me. He won't feed me. He sold my car without me knowing. He's overprotective in the wrong ways. He takes my phone and my computer. If I had to pick a single person to be in this room with me, I know it wouldn't be him." I say, looking out the window of the room into the hallway. Alex is sitting on the floor across the hall. My stomach gets butterflies. 
"It'd be him." I smile at Alex. 

Holy fuck. What did I just say?

Thomas is escorted out of the room. Alex is let back in. We embrace. And I finally feel like everything is going to be alright.