Learn to Love Again - Stampy and Squid

Chapter 4 - Please...?

Stampy's POV

     I open my eyes an immediately a searing pain passes through my arm. I panic. What's happening to me?

     I turn my head to the side and calm down when I see Squid, asleep, leaning on the wall of the bathroom. I smile and brush a piece of hair off his forehead. He murmurs at my touch.

     I stand up and immediately feel a stickiness beneath me. I look at the floor properly for the first time since waking up. Blood spreads all over the bottom of Squid's bathroom, and halfway up our bodies. The walls are splattered with it as if it spurted out from somewhere. That explains the now throbbing pain in my arm.

     I look down at it and find thick bandages, tightly wrapped around my arm. Squid must have done it last night. He even sung to me!

     I glance down at Squid's sleeping body before grabbing the cloth on the near by counter and get to work scrubbing the blood off the walls. My arm throbs even more painfully when I move it and against my will I let out a small cry. I glance down at Squid again and see him opening his eyes. Shoot.

     "You better Stamps?" He asks groggily.

     "Yeah. Sorry I woke you." Without thinking I lean down and kiss him. He kisses me back, surprised at first, but eventually his lips move in sync with mine. After mere seconds I pull back with a smile before helping him up. I lead him into the lounge room and kiss him again, more forcefully this time. After a second he pulls away with a frown on his face.

     "Promise you'll never do that again," he says seriously. I just sigh. I really can't promise anything. I promised myself that I would never cut again, but my mother changed all that. I guess I can try though, for Squid.

     "I'll try," I say tiredly. Squid just nods and gets up. I sigh again and lean back, examining my arm. It doesn't hurt so much anymore. Maybe I'll clean the bathroom as a surprise for Squid, whatever he's doing.

     I make my way back to the bathroom, grabbing the cloth that was discarded on the floor. I wet it under the tap before resuming my scrubbing.

*~.~*

     Thirty minutes and a hell of a lot of scrubbing later I'm finally finished. I stand back and admire my work. Apart from a few marks in the grout that I couldn't get off, all the blood is completely gone. My arm didn't hurt much, either, which was nice.

     Squid still hasn't turned up in this time, which is strange. Surely he would've come to see what I'm doing. Despite reassurance from myself, I begin to worry. I walk out of the bathroom and into the kitchen.

     "Squid?" I call. I even open the cupboard in desperation. I walk down the hall and trip over something soft. "Squid!"

     Lying in a ball in the middle of the hallway, he lets out a small groan. I kneel down next to him, brushing the hair from his forehead as I do. He rolls over and vomits violently all over my lap, but I don't care. What the hell is wrong with him?

     "Squid?" I ask more urgently.  "What the-"

     He interrupts me by vomiting again, this time all over his self.  Without knowing what else to do, I half carry half drag him to the recently cleaned bathroom, propping him up against the bath.  I turn on the tap and just stare at him.  What the hell happened?

     Vomit trails all the way down his shirt and the top of his pants, dripping onto the floor.  Blood drips from his mouth, creating a small pool on the ground beside him.  Large cuts run up his arms and legs, the worst being at least 5 inches long.  Anger swells inside of me.  Who would do this to him?

     My first thought is my mother, but there’s no way she’d know who Squid is.  I didn’t even tell her I was going.  God knows how she knows I’m here.  I shiver.  If she did this to him, then she’ll pay, and I don’t care if she’s my mother.  She’s never been my mother to me, only a cruel person who barely looked after me.

     The sound of the tap giving off a loud burst alerts me back to my senses.  Shaking my head, I turn the tap off and look back at Squid.  His eyes flutter open and he lets out a loud moan before becoming quiet again.  I study him again.  Most of the vomit and blood is on his shirt, with only a few spots on his pants.  If I want to get him clean, I’ll have to take his shirt off.

     Hands shaking, I slowly pull off his shirt uncovering even more cuts.  Some of these, however, were faded, as if they’d been there a long time, leaving small white scars.  He cuts?

     Or at least used to cut.  There were none there that were recent, just scars.  I shudder again at the thought of my best friend and partner injuring himself in a way that’s supposed to relieve mental pain.

     Somehow I manage to haul Squid over the edge of the bath without drowning him.  His wounds instantly turn the water a pinkish-brown colour, vomit and blood mingling in the liquid.  Unsure of what to do, I start rubbing the vomit off his chest, trying not to touch any of his cuts as I do so.

     When his chest is completely clean, I pull the plug out of the bath again.  Murky red and brown water flows down the hole, making a gurgling sound as it does so.  Even though the water washed most of the blood and vomit away, he still looks sickly pale and tired.  I sigh in sadness.  How did this happen to him in just half an hour? 

     I place a towel on the floor and somehow roll him out of the bath and onto it, making him groan again as he lands.

     "Stampy?" he murmurs. 

     "Yeah?"

     "Please don’t take me to hospital."  I hesitate, knowing it would be the responsible thing to do, but if he asked specially he must have good reason.

     "OK," I say.

Squid’s POV

     All I can register is Stampy.  His face stares back down at mine as he replies.

     "OK."

     I sigh in relief, knowing that it’s for the best.  My father would find me there, I know he would.  He’d fled the house after he heard Stampy call my name, fleeing through the window.  Lucky for him, we were on the first floor.  Unlucky for me, he’d gotten away with hurting me.  Again.

     Somehow, Stampy manages to pick my top half up, letting my bottom half drag along the ground.  I lean back into Stamps, letting him drag me into my bedroom.  I suddenly register that I’m shirtless, but for once I don’t care.

     Stampy puts me down next to my bed and I’m able to scramble on top of it.  He pulls the covers up around my neck like a kid before walking straight back out the room.  My pants are still on, but they seem to be soaking wet.  Or maybe they’re not, and I’m just hallucinating.  I can’t even tell the difference anymore.  I move my leg up to my waistband, pulling them down with it.  I kick them off and push them to the bottom of the bed, leaning back into the bed.

     Stampy walks back into the room, holding a glass of water.  I slurp it down greedily, and smile at him in thanks.  My brain seems to have forgotten how to talk.  He plants a kiss on my cheek, moving down to my chin and then finally my lips.  Using all my strength to kiss him back, my mind blocks out everything but his warm lips and his arms as they pull me up again and wrap around my neck.  I kiss him harder for a second before pulling away, my body not being able to take any more.  He kisses me on my forehead this time, but still holding me. 

     "Stay with me."  I find my voice just as I start to drift off to sleep.  Stampy leans in to my ear.

     "Always."

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Hope you enjoyed :D