Teenage Bones

Hide Away.

The colors of the current sunset feel sweet as the car pulls up to a small block of flats in a crowded block full of shiny new cars. The flats were tall and sand color, pretty. Starr was sure to check her handgun was loaded, putting on the safety and chucking back into her jacket pocket. Somewhere in these flats was Tyler, a male who ridiculed me because he thought I cheated on his very dead sister and my first love.

"You can relax," Starr sighs, pulling out the keys, "he volunteered to keep you here with him. He's not holding grudges." She reapplies lip gloss in the reverse mirror and throws it to the back seat. 

"You ready?" Starr doesn't wait for me to reply before she opened the door and jumped out. Automatically I follow her and she locks the car once I'm trailing behind her. The door buzzes open without her touching anything and it's a smooth ride up to the top floor. My stomach starts to rumble and I feel sick.

Starr pulls out the keys to the apartment, unlocks the door swiftly and walks into a spotless flat with wooden floors. It doesn't look as if Tyler had been here long as it was still clean and two bags were still in the entranceway as well as Hope's old Build-A-Bear rabbit called Mery.

We continue to walk down the entrance hall to a living room with dull yellow sofas and a fifty-inch TV mounted on the wall next to large windows accompanied by creme curtains that reach the floor. From the sofa, I could see Tyler's back in the kitchen.

"Sit down and rest," Starr slung her coat on the arm of the sofa, "I need to tell Tyler the situation." She walks out to Tyler as I sit on the sofa, back to them both. It felt like hours since I felt relaxed and surrounded by any familiar people. Letting myself relax and eyes slowly flutter shut, it was like a weight lifted off of my chest. Just to have a moment with no needles.

"Esmé."

Opening my eyes, Tyler is standing over with eyes that nearly fell out of his head and almost completely clouded in disbelief at my appearance. tyler was in black ripped jeans, a black tee, and messed up hair. His lip ring looked sore and his eyes look wild as he took all of me in. I wave.

"What did they do to you?" 

Just as his jaw started to drop, Starr walked in, Jace only wearing a nappy on her hip. He was placed gently into my lap and smiled when he saw me, hugging my hands into his chest. "Emmy!" He giggled. There was a gash on his head with four stitches keeping it together and bruising around his ribs, hips, and shoulders. There were no other gashes or cuts, just deep purple, black, green and yellow marks.

"Did you tell her?" Tyler asked Starr as I inspected Jace's condition. "Or am I going to tonight."

"It's better you tell her while she well- I'm not staying for that though. I need to get this warehouse going." I hear Starr put on her jacket as I ticked Jace, earning laughs before painful breaths. He gives up and lays on me, head on my chest. 

"Well?" Tyler's concern sounds.

"Yes. She's already feeling ill and the only thing I can think of is that she could be going through withdrawal. I know what she's on, I just need to do my research to make sure it won't kill her." Starr makes her way through the hallway, "Call if anything happens."

And Starr was gone, leaving Tyler to collapse next to me and now a sobbing Jace who was silently crying himself to sleep as I rubbed very gentle circles into his back. For a second, it's nice to have him in my arms. 

"How did you get the bruising on your throat?" Tyler askes, still eyeing my neck.

"I lied to a guard where I was."

"Wow. Touchy dude." Tyler's attempt at a joke meant well but just came out bleak and full of concern. It could be he was worried they still hurt or the sandpaper of my voice, or it could be the hushed attempt he made to keep Jace asleep. "We have your clothes by the way."

"Thanks." For a second I thought I was going to be sick before the feeling subsided. Tyler looked at the now asleep child who I was still rubbing.

"Let's get him to bed." Tyler takes the sleeping form from me and disappeared into another room. The apartment was warm with a cozy hue that held around the room. Tyler comes back with first aid and takes his seat next to me, more gentle than the first time he had. 

"Starr wants me to check you over." He looks down at my neck again, "Everywhere."

He draws the curtains quickly and helps me out of the grey 'uniform' that was the baggy and thick clothing. Tyler sucks in a sharp breathe once my forearms are in display and somehow had black marks on my stomach, ribs, and collarbone. Another nervous glance at the sore scar above my belly button and as I took of the baggy bottoms, his relief on his face was almost like an orange sign.

"Did they do anything... Sexually?" When I shake my head, he visibly relaxes. 

"Okay," he inspects all the way around me, checking everywhere, even kneeling as I just stand, in my underwear.

"Okay."

"I'm going to bandage your ribs. Just for support." And with that, he gets to work and sets it together with a safety pin. He then disappears and runs back with fluffy Winnie the Pooh Pajamas and a dorky smile on his face.

-*-

"There is a double bed with Jace in, I can take the sofa." Tyler puts the small bottles of new baby food into the cupboard as I sit on the tops. "It's not a problem."

"But what if someone gets in?" I have tried to stop gnawing on my lip three times, so this time, I just let it happen. Tyler jumps up on the counter next to me and looks at me.

"No one would get in- No one even knows we're here."

"I just- don't know."

"I know." He puts his arm around me and pulls my light body into his chest and at this moment, it feels like before I even met Hope. I feels like how he was when he was my best friend and not Hope's brother. The heartbeat in his chest was calm and relaxed and maybe a little jumpy from time to time. 

"You could sleep with me."

I'm pulling back before I decide that's definitely what I want to do and he takes it all in stride. Tyler looks exhausted, rings under his eyes and drained posture.

"What?" That was it. That's all I could think of?

"We used to do it all the time," Tyler says, "And that way, if someone does get in, I'm here for you and Jace."

His surprised face mirrored my feelings when I nodded and followed him into a fairy-lit bedroom with a double bed and wooden cot less than a meter away.