Recovery

Chapter 4

I stand up from the table and push my chair in. "So," I started.

"So," Brent repeated. I study him, trying to determine his mood. His eyes are twinkling so I guess he's feeling pretty good.

"Do you wanna take your keyboard into my room?" I ask, taking a bold step. He studies me, his eyes prying into mine, trying to figure out why I asked.

He nods his head, apparently satisfied with what he saw. "Ya sure, just make sure there's enough room for me to sit down." He's always making jokes about my messy room. Mostly because his room is impeccable. He's a neat freak. He only agrees to go into my room to play music because his room is little more like a closet, with a closet, rather than a bedroom. That and the bay windows, the view looking over a lake behind our yard makes my room better for making music.

He starts up the stairs, and I go up after him, he turns at the top of the stairs but I don't. He goes left, to his room, and I go straight, to mine. I walk in and leave the door open.

I kneel down and start collecting papers, especially the ones near the outlet that Brent will need to plug his keyboard into. Just then, Brent comes waltzing into my room, keyboard slung over his shoulder.

"Hey Lex!" He says as if it were a coincidence that we were both playing at the same time.

I give him a funny look. "Hey Bro?" I look at him quizzically, but he just smirks and winks. He sits down with his legs crossed and plugs in the keyboard. I walk to the other side of the room and pick up my guitar. We start doing scales to warm up both our instruments and our voices.

"So, what song will it be first?" Brent looks at me, his expression saying that he didn't really care.

I look around at the papers littering the floor. I spot one of our favourite songs. "How bout 'Say Something'?"

He thinks for a second, then nods his head and starts looking through his music folder. I start the intro, and he joins with the piano. Since he has the main part at first, I just sing backup to begin with.

As the song climaxes, my brain stops thinking, and here, in this place in time, it is only me, Brent, and the music. It's difficult to explain what goes through my mind when I sing and play guitar. It's exhilarating and calming at the same time.

The volume of the song diminishes, and I finish the last line, strumming a final chord. I breathe and close my eyes. I crack my eyes open and glance at Brent. He's grinning like a maniac, just looking at me. I grin back at him.

"What?" I ask him, wondering why he's looking so happy, and staring at me.

"During the song, it seemed like nothing changed. Like it felt, I don't know," he bites his lip, trying to come up with the right words. "It felt like, it felt like nothing ever happened to you. You've been a bit distant since... What happened."

My smile disappears and I feel a scowl forming on my face. I know that there will be no better time than now to tell him what really happened.

"Brent," I start hesitantly. He looks at me and his grin disappears, replaced with a solemn expression. "Brent," I begin again. "I was walking back from Cass's house, but you know that, and I heard someone call my name. I turned around, and... And I saw, I saw about ten guys in black hoodies. I couldn't see faces, but I knew that they were a gang when they told me to come to them. Of course, I didn't go to them. Instead, I ran as fast as I could, and I took lots of turns, trying to get them off of my tail." I look at Brent, and his eyes had gone soft, as if he felt sorry for me. I feel my eyes fill with tears and see one drop onto my guitar.

I hear Brent get up and walk over to me. I feel his arms wrap around me as he sits next to me. Surprisingly enough, he doesn't push for more. I feel as though I owe him as much though, to finish the story. So I keep going.

"I couldn't get them off my tail Brent! I couldn't! I tried, I really did, but they were too fast! I was running down another alley that I turned down, hoping that I would finally lose them, but of course that didn't happen," I rush on, "and then, I guess my shoe lace untied, and I looked behind me to see how close they were and..." My voice drops, "I tripped on my shoelace." I wipe my tears with my sleeve. Brent's arms tighten around me, and I sniff, gathering the courage to continue. "I tried to get away, but I couldn't. The leader, or I just assume he was the leader, he grabbed my wrists. He said something about how I shouldn't have messed with them, and I was confused. I looked at the other people, who had surrounded me. I saw," I feel a sob wrack my body, and Brent's arms lift me so that I'm on his lap. I look up at him, and try to see his expression. He's looking out of the bay window, but I can tell he's mad by the way the vein in his neck is sticking out. I burry my face in his shirt, "I saw Max."

I feel his body tense, and hear him take a couple of deep breaths and I knew he was going to say something.

"How do you know it was Max?" His voice was tense, and he still didn't look at me.

"His nose. You know how it's really oddly shaped? I saw it sticking out of one of the hoods. It was as if he was looking away like he felt bad." I add that part because I know that Brent is still hurt from Max's confession. "But anyways, I stopped struggling once I knew I had no chance of escaping. Then he-" I shudder, and I feel that I should probably make a mad dash for the bathroom.

I rip Brent's hands off of me, and bolt to the washroom, hurling my contents once again. I hear Brent come in behind me, and he starts making slow circles on my back, just like he did last night. After that episode I brush my teeth to get rid of the taste of bile leftover in my mouth.

I turn to face Brent. "They beat and raped me."