Teenage Troubles (Prequel for Teenage Baby)

Chapter 24 | Leo

Chapter 24 | Leo

The first person Leo saw when he woke up was Cara, and upon first look, through the disorienting blur of the sedative, he thought he'd died and met his mom.

For a second, everything was silent: no reaction, no crying, no aggression. Just staring. He watched her hair. Yellow like the sun. Yellow like the lamp.

"Hello, baby."

Soft voice. Leo tilted his head slightly. "Dead," he finally murmured. "Eliza's dead." He blinked abnormally fast, reaching a hand forwards until his fingers grasped a strand of her hair. "Six foot under the ground."

Leo let go of her hair and stared into her eyes. Green like the grass he'd tasted once. Eliza's were blue but prettier than his own. Jayden said that. So this wasn't Eliza. She was dead. He killed her, and he hadn't died because killers like him were bound to eternal suffering. He should've known.

"Not mom." Leo's fingers had been delicately tracing the skin beneath her eyes but now he shoved her back roughly like he was disgusted, or scared, or both.

"Yeah. I'm not. I'm Mommy, baby."

Leo looked down, only to realize he was sitting on something soft. It was Dom and Cara's bed but he'd never seen one. He'd only ever slept on the hard plank flooring. His heartbeats sped.

Dominic came in. "He woke up?"

Cara nodded then looked at Leo. "And this is Daddy, baby. We're your family."

Leo's head snapped up, eyes fixing on Dominic. And in that moment, seeing two foreign people, he remembered what'd happened. He remembered people in the basement stalking in the darkness. He remembered the creeping fear and unrecognizable voices and noises.

The rhythm of his heartbeats and breaths matched that of a chaotic un-synced orchestra. He scooted back, away. Foreign people. He wanted Jayden back. At least he knew him.

"Uh... careful, I think he's gonna burst."

Cara shook her head, dumbly reaching out to touch Leo. "What's the worst he can do—"

Leo instinctively scratched her arm, hard enough to leave a mark. "Don't touch me." Voice lower than a whisper, vocal cords straining. He pressed himself against the headboard, hoping he could camouflage or disappear. Anything to get away.

"Well." Cara pulled her hand back. She inspected the red splotch. "He's scared. We can handle him. He's just a baby."

Dominic hunched over the edge of the bed, tried curling his arms around his baby but Leo flinched and punched his shoulder. The brief proximity made Leo's pungent smell more tangible. Dominic almost gagged. "He needs a bath as fast as possible."

"Is it that bad?"

"Yeah it's that bad. I can't imagine what he's feeling, having to live with that filth. The bath will make him feel better."

"I'm gonna fill the tub. You try to hold him."

"It won't work." Dom grasped Cara's arm before she could leave. "We should've bathed him while he was drugged. He won't let us. Maybe we should drug him again—"

"No! I'm not gonna drug him again. What kind of mom would drug her baby for a bath?" she spoke quickly and desperately then turned and left for the bathroom. At the threshold, she glanced in again. "It won't take long. I won't put too much water because of his stitches."

Dominic sighed. He stared at Leo cowering back, blue eyes wide and frightened. He seemed painfully confused, unable to process. Dominic smiled and slithered a hand nearer to Leo. "Come on, baby. Come with me. I won't hurt you."