speechless | roger taylor

twelve

//tw, speak of emotional abuse 

Elise walked up to the door of her childhood home with her bags in hand and her heart racing faster than it ever had. She turned her head to look at Roger, who was stood behind her, almost as if she was asking if they could go home. He held both of his bags in one hand, placing his free hand on the small of her back.

"You'll do okay. I'm here," he reminded her, leaning over to press the doorbell. Elise smiled at him and waited for someone to open the door.

"Ellie!" Mason exclaimed as she opened the door, a wide grin on her face.

Elise dropped her bags on the ground and launched at her sister, quickly enveloping her in a hug. "I've missed you!"

Mason giggled as she looked at Roger, who was somewhat chuckling at the two girls. "Is that your boyfriend?" she whispered, keeping her in her hold.

"It is," Elise replied, pulling away from her grip. She bent down and picked up her bags once more before glancing at Roger, smiling.

"Come in," Mason said, moving from the doorway and letting the two travellers into their home. Roger followed Elise in with his hand still on the small of her back, excited to meet her family. 

As Mason showed the two of them their way through the house and into Elise's childhood bedroom, she whispered in Elise's ear, causing her to laugh. "He's very handsome, you know?" 

Elise nodded, turning to Roger and winking before looking back to Mason. "He is, isn't he?"

Elise laughed as they made their way into her bedroom, a sigh falling from her lips as she placed her bags down, releasing the strain from her muscles. Roger placed his bags beside hers and sat down on the twin bed that was by the window, bouncing up and down as if to test the mattress.

"I'll leave you two to it, then," Mason said, stepping out of her bedroom. "Mum and dad should be home in a half an hour. Come down when you hear them arrive, please." 

The scared look in Mason's eyes was one that Roger knew all too well. He could feel himself get angry at the memories and at just the mere thought of it, but he tried to calm himself for the sake of Elise. 

Elise nodded and Mason shut her bedroom door behind her as she left, leaving her to her thoughts, and Roger. She turned around and looked at him, the small smile on her face quickly disappearing as soon as her eyes landed on him.

"Roger, what is it?" she asked, sitting down beside him. She turned her body to face him, crossing her legs and resting her hands in her lap. 

"The reason why you were so nervous..." he asked, trailing off as he tried to think of his words. "Is it because of your parents? Did something happen?"

Elise felt her heart stop at his words. She hadn't necessarily been planning on telling him much about her father's ways, as she didn't want anything to go wrong while they were there. She hadn't opened up to anybody about the things she'd been through in her childhood except for John, and she wasn't really sure how to talk about it.

"I—yeah. Kind of," she whispered. Her voice was small and she was looking down at her hands in her lap, and it was as if she was scared to talk about it. "It's not my mum, it's just my dad."

"Has he ever hit you?" Roger was scared of what he would do if he found out that anybody had laid a hand on her. He turned to look at her and felt his heart break at the small tear that was rolling down her cheek. 

"No," she said, "no. He's never hit any of us. It's not physical."

Roger shifted on the bed, sitting with his back against the wall. He pulled Elise onto his lap softly and just held her for a moment, brushing her hair out of her face as she told him everything she could.