psychotic; jmb

chapter five

"joey i deserve to know the answers to all my questions!" i shriek at him as we walk into a house.

he keeps walking, but his pace slows. almost as if he wants me to tug at his arm. so i grab his sleeve and stop in my tracks. joey keeps walking and i move a little with him.

his eyes stare at me with passion as he responded, "you need to go rest, you're weak."

i shake my head. joey walks towards me and picks me up.

"joey stop! i don't have pants on," i giggle.

he places me on the floor again and runs upstairs. while he's upstairs, i play with my nails. dang, i need to get to a nail salon fast. joey walks back downstairs with a pair of sweatpants and underwear.

"here," he tosses them to me.

he sits down at a barstool by the kitchen island as i teased, "if i just wear the underwear, will you tell me the answers to my questions?"

"do you remember what i said in the bar?" he frowns.

of course, "no questions." but how am i supposed to understand why i had to witness a guy being shot or being kidnapped.  i'm only sixteen.  this is too much to handle at this age, especially since it all happened in one day. 

"i want to tell you rose," joey gets up and walks over to me, "but you can't handle this."

"can't handle it?" i croaked, "i'm handling it just fine!"

tears threaten to come pouring out and my nose has a tingling sensation.  he looks at me with compassion, but his heart is probably empty.  it has no emotion.  and his brain has no filter.  how dare he try to tell me what i can and can't handle. 

joey touches my cheekbone with his thumb and his palm rested on my face. he stared into my eyes just like he did in the bar. it was the same look, but also incredibly different.

why did i leave my home? there was no point to it. it was a terrible mistake and should have never happened. i wouldn't have met joey, or bryce. so much has happened from that one mistake.

i grasp the clothes and walk away from joey. he calls after me but i don't listen. for a few minutes i wonder around the huge house, in need for a bathroom with a shower. eventually i find one and start a warm shower.

the shower runs for a bit before i remove joey's sweatshirt from my body and set it on the counter. i stare at myself in the mirror. all the new scars and bruises that cover my body make me feel ugly and unwanted. the tears come back once again, but i just shake my head and step into the shower.

once i step onto the white tiles, my body feels refreshed and relaxed. the warm water pelting on my back makes me feel happy. i let it run down my face and wash all the dried blood, dirt, and actual blood off of me.

a little knock on the door causes me to jump.

"rose can we talk?" it's joey.

i grab a bottle of shampoo and squirt some into my hand, "no, i don't want to talk to you."

"i'm coming in."

"joey!" i shriek and pull the shower curtain over as he opens the door.

"i've already seen you naked," he sits down on the toilet.

"i told you i don't want to talk to you, now leave!" i rub my scalp with the shampoo.

he places his hands on his knees, "your going to have to like me. you will be here for a long time after all."

"no i won't. i'm leaving the minute i get out of this shower. it's only sunday, so i'll just go back to school and no one will notice where i am," i hold the conditioner bottle in my hand and shake it to get the substance out of the bottle.

"what did you say?" he gets up.

"i'm leaving."

"no, do you think it's sunday?"

"yeah, isn't it?" i plop conditioner onto my hand.

he rubs his hands together, "um rose, it's thursday."

i drop the bottle of conditioner.

"what!" i sputtered.

"what do you mean 'what'?"

i continued with my hair as i replied with, "i woke up today, and thought it was sunday."

"wait so the last thing you remember is us in the room?"

"yeah."

he pulled the curtain back and i was quick to cover my body.

"what the hell did charles do to you?" he screamed and turned off the water.

i grabbed the towel that was hanging on a rack and shrugged while wrapping it around my body.

"shit. i cant let anyone hurt you, i'm not allowed to let anyone hurt you!" he paced around the room.

"why! why aren't you allowed to, joey?" i whimpered.

"because i-" he pointed his finger at me, "i cant tell you that. don't use my vulnerability against me."

joey frowned and walked up to me, looking at all the bruises and scars forming on my arms. he bit his lip and shook his head. with a sigh, he walked out of the room and slammed the door.

"jesus."

i grabbed the underwear and stepped into them, as i did with the sweatpants right after. joey's sweatshirt went onto my body next. after searching the drawers for a few minutes, i found a brush and took it through my hair a few times to get all the knots out.

slowly, i opened the door joey had slammed and made sure the coast is clear. i started down the stairs and saw tayler sitting on the couch watching friends in the living room. he looks like he needs some company so i sit next to him.

"where's joey?" i ask after a few minutes of watching joey, the actual character in friends.

"right there," he points to the tv.

i giggle, "birlem, dummy."

"oh, i don't know," he laughs.

the front door bangs open and joey walks in with charles tied up.

"the hell?" i scream.

joey throws charles on the floor and shuts the door.

"karma's a bitch, you bastard," joey kicks charles.

charles groans lightly as joey smashes his yellow vans into charles' face.

"joey stop!" i wave my hands at the distracted boy.

he stops at the sound of my voice and i walk over to them. i pick charles' head up by his hair and stare at his bleeding nose. the many scars on his face don't compare to the ones i have on my body. my hand hits his hard as i slap him.

"why are you doing this?" i look up at joey.

he laughs, "it's not like you're not hurting him."

"why?" i drop his head and cross my arms.

joey's laughing stops and he mumbles, "your mom wants me to protect you."

"my mom! oh, of course she does. like she gives two fucking shits about if i'm protected or not, joey."

"she actually loves you."

"bullshit, a load of fucking bullshit. she's a whore and a terrible mother. she never cared about me or my dad. or herself for that matter. a whore, joey."

"that's no way to talk to your mother young lady."

shit.