Help Me (sequel to Save Me)

Chapter 19

It's been a while since Remington has had a nightmare, and unfortunately, tonight is one of those nights. He isn't sure why it happens, because it's not like he had a particularly bad day or anything, but he bolts up with a gasp and slides out of bed. He paces the room and tries to work out why he just had a nightmare.

It was a vivid one, too. Like the ones he would have every night just after the hotel incident. One where he can hear the water, feel the pain as she stabs him, see her dark, ruthless eyes as he fades.

Andy wakes at the movement and the noise, switching on the light by the bed and sitting up. "Remington?" This hasn't happened yet, not since they started living together, but Andy knows better than to try and make him sit down, or to touch him.

The boy stops walking for a moment to look at his boyfriend. He shakes his head, as if communicating that he isn't okay, and begins pacing again, not saying a word.

It's not just the nightmare that's scaring him, it's the fact that he had it. He hasn't had one, specially not like that, since the hospital. Perhaps he's just in a bad mindset, or maybe he's getting sick. Or is it something else?

Frowning, Andy can see him scratching at his wrists. "Remington, what's wrong? Do you want me to call Abigail?" It's no secret that the young man is attached to Abigail, that he trusts her. Sometimes she's the only one who can calm him down.

Remington hears what Andy is saying, and shakes his head. "Sorry, I-I woke you," he mumbles, coming to a halt by the bed.

The man shakes his head. "It's alright, princess, you okay?" He watches the singer sit back in bed, still scratching at his wrists, and carefully takes his hands as the boy shakes his head. "Nightmare?"

With a nod, Remington sighs. "Don't want to talk about it," he whispers, "I'll tell Abigail."

"That's okay, sweetheart," the man soothes, turning the light off and lying down. "You don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with."

Remington smiles and snuggles up to his lover gratefully. Every time they're in bed like this, all warm and sleepy and safe with eachother, he thinks back to how it used to be. On the occasions where Holly let him sleep in the bed, the thought of touching her terrified him. He didn't sleep well. He hadn't slept well for years. And finally, finally, he is with someone who genuinely and unconditionally adores him for him, and who takes care of him, and makes sure he's alright, and if he isn't alright, he helps him to be alright. Holly never did that. She didn't give a shit about how he felt. She couldn't have cared less about what he was thinking. All that mattered was that she wanted him, and she had him, and he couldn't get out.

He couldn't fucking get out.

"You're mine," she kept saying, "Remington, you're mine." It made him sick. Her voice, her smile, her eyes, just everything. It made him so fucking sick. And tired. All the time; just tired, sick, and so so lonely. He didn't realise how alone one could feel until he felt that alone.

Meanwhile, Sebastian, in his house on his own, tips his head back and gulps vodka down, cringing and the taste, but doing it again anyway.

He isn't sober, obviously. He never went sober.

He goes to rehab every two weeks, lies straight to everyone's faces, and drinks his way through the amount of alcohol that should last him more than a month in one week. Why?

Well. He misses Remington. It hurts him how much he misses his brother. It's funny how close the two got when Remington was living with him. Sebastian became Remington's safety net, and the singer valued that so fucking much. At some points, Sebastian was the only reason that Remington wasn't dead.

But now the boy is gone. He's with his soulmate, his love, and Sebastian is left with no one. Not Larisa, not anyone. Sometimes, when he's drunk, he calls her and begs her to come back. She never does. She always tells him to get help, and he says every time that he will, but she knows he won't.

And his brothers are so blissfully unaware.

Sorry. Short chapter.