Look After You

Chapter 19

Xander limps slightly as he walks down the street. His mom had came back out from her shower and had found him on the ground after Richard had hit him numerous times. She cried and told Xander she would help clean him up but he was too afraid to stay in the house. Lauren understood. She personally knew how terrifying it was to be around her husband sometimes and she honestly did want Xander to leave the house before he could cause any more damage.

Luckily Theo wasn't home to witness it since his other siblings had taken him to a movie he was dying to see while Xande has stayed back to paint with his mom. He had such an amazing time painting with her, but know he was starting to regret not going to that movie. He wasn't sure how many more beatings he could take before he would completely snap.

He had his hat pulled over his ears and his hearing aids were still one though one was slightly crooked from the way he had fallen onto it earlier. Xander was afraid it had broken since he couldn't hear out of it at first. He flicked it once or twice and luckily it started to work again. Xander knew if the hearing aid had actually broken there would have been no way they could afford to fix it. He'd just have to go around with only one until they could save up enough to repair the other

He was on his way to Nolan's and all he wanted was to hug him and just sleep for a long long time. His head was pounding and his face was bruised. Xander just wanted to close his eyes and lay in Nolan's arms while he forgot about it all. Nolan was always the best at helping him forget his shitty home situation and he always appreciated it greatly. Nolan was the only person who seemed to be able to get him to calm down and forget and Xander would be forever grateful for that.

He reaches his house and he knocks on the front door. The cold wind that smacked against his face only made his cuts sting worse. After a moment of waiting Nolan's mom, Cindy answered the door. She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips when she saw Xander's busted up face.

"Oh my god, what happened?" She asks, her voice dripping with concern. Cindy was always a mother figure for him whenever his own wasn't. He appreciated her more than a lot of other people that weren't his siblings. Whenever he was badly beaten she was always there to help him no matter what.

Xander avoids the question. "May I come inside?"

She nods immediately and moves to the side to let him in. "Come to the bathroom so I can clean your face up, sweetie Nolan's upstairs taking a nap," she explains. Xander had learned long ago that arguing with Cindy got him no where. And even though he didn't want her to baby him or worry, he also knew he had to get cleaned up before he saw Nolan.

So he followed her down the hall and to the bathroom and sat down on the toilet. Cindy opens the cabinet under the sink and pulls out a small first aid kit. The ironic thing was that they had never used it before Xander started coming over. Since then they had to buy a new one at least once or twice a year. But Cindy never minded. She always saw Xander as her own son and took care of him in that manner.

"Was it your dad?" She asks softly as she daps a bit of rubbing alcohol onto a gauze pad. She then reaches forward and gently dabs at the cuts on his face.

He winces slightly and gives her a stiff not. "Yeah.. it was my fault though. I just... don't tell anyone but I seriously thought he had killed someone and I got scared. I just wanted to know the truth," he mumbles.

She sighs and shakes her head. "Why don't you spend the night here? You can give your dad time to calm down or leave again and then you can go back. I'll take you guys out to ihop's in the morning for pancakes. Does that sound good?" Cindy offers. She knew it was never Xander's fault. In her mind there was nothing at all that a kid to do that would make them deserve to get beaten or screamed at the way Xander did. It was unacceptable and a part of her felt guilty for not reporting it to someone.