Overcome

Chapter Eighteen

It was around 11:30 pm when I finally woke up. At first I was really confused, but the everything clicked in about a minute later.

"Ugh" I lay back down and try to go back to sleep but I'm wide awake.

The mumbles start. Should I?

I slowly get up still hesitant on what I should do.

I sneak open his door and he's sleeping but his head is slightly moving from side to side. I move closer to hear what he's saying.

"Stop it! I cant take it anymore. I'm leaving!"

 Suddenly his face gets angry, yet he looks miserable.

"STOP!" He screams! "NO!"

"Justin" I speak, "Justin wake up!" I try to say calmly.

But the screams continue.

"Justin wake up!" I say again. I put my hand on his face. "It's just a dream! Wake up!"

His dark blue eyes pop open. He's breathing hard and looks like he's about to explode.

"shhhh" I coo trying to calm him. My hand is still on his face. "It was just a dream, shhhhh"

He sits up and smiles sheepishly, embarrassed. He is still breathing really hard.

I get up from kneeling and sit down next to him. I give him an awkward side hug not really knowing what to do. I'm awful at comforting people. Usually when I see someone upset, I turn around and keep walking. Its bad, I know.

"I'm gonna go get you some water okay?" I say sweetly, he dosn't answer but I go anyway. "I'll be right back"

When I get back to his room I find Justin's head in his hands, doubled over, crying his heart out.

"Heyyyyy" I say worriedly, walking over to him. "Whats wrong?"

I sit down next to him and hug him, trying to calm him down. He leans into me still crying.

For five minutes I just say that he's going to be okay over and over again. Finally, he looks up. His eyes are all red and puffy and other than him being upset, I c=notice something different. He usually walks and talks with his head high, even when he messes up. But now he lost all of his confidence and he looks vulnerable, like I can see strait through him.

He opens his mouth to speak but only crys come out.

"Shhhhhh" I coo.

"C-can I-I tell you something?" he asks softly, trying to avoid crying again.

"Of course" I smile hoping to encourage him.

"W-when you h-had your acci-ident " he crys a lttle more, then continues. "your mom d-didn't take me for 'moral support'" he sobs. "I can because I-I ran away from home. A-and since I had nowhere to go, y-your mom said I could stay here." His voice clearing up a bit. " I ran away because my parents have been fighting and it drives me insane! Every second of the damn day!" He sobs a bit more. "I learned how to deal with it, but soon they were fighting about me over me, right in front of me."

I listen to every single word he says, encouraging him to go on.

"So one day they were fighting about who would take me. Not like the way you would think, they were fighting and yelling at each other that the other one should take me. Not themselves. I finally had enough."

He looks at me. " that's what I dream about Gina, me leaving that day" Tears start to roll down his face again.

"The last thing I said to them was I can't take it anymore! I'm leaving! You don't have to worry who get me, because I want neither of you!" He lets out a loud sob and starts crying as he talks again. "And I walked out with my pre- packed suitcase" He pauses and starts again more calmly this time.

"Even as I walked out the door they were fighting. They never even skipped a beat. Your mom called mine and they agreed to give me space and time to get away from them. But they don't call to check up or say Hi. Its been almost 7 months damn it! And not one single call!"

I wipe away some of the tears on his face with my thumb, then I hug him. He leans into me sobbing.

"I'm so, so sorry Gina! I should've told you earlier but I just couldn't!"

I hold him even tighter, "Its okay, lets not worry about that right now"

What else could I say? I wanted to say something but I couldn't. So I lead upright on the wall behind me and just hold him, even as the sobs faded and breathing slowed. I don't even notice that I was drifting off to sleep as well.