In Loving Hands- Anxceit rewritten

Meeting the neighbor's

I feel uncomfortable as the boys and girls stare at me but then the two girls flash me a bright smile. "Cute" Jacqueline says as The guy in white and red still glares at me. "Patton, take your friends down into the basement while we have a chance to meet Mr.Black" Patton's mother says and I hear my dad say "Emile is fine".

Patton nods to his mother and gestures for us to follow him while the four adults follow Patton's mom to what I assume to be the kitchen. I feel my shoulders start to tense even more as I realize I'm going to be in a room with five people I don't know. Only a couple seconds later we are all in Patton's basement, I stand there with with my mouth slightly hung open as the first thing I notice is a flat screen tv on the wall.

I continue to look around and there is a cabinet full of bored games, another cabinet full of Disney and Pixar movies, a fluffy rug covering the middle of the basement floor, a couch, and a couple of beanbag chairs. "It's always a joy being down here with you Patton, I always feel so free" the guy in white and red says going over to the dvd cabinet and looking through each movie carefully.

"Thank you Roman, it's always wonderful to have people over" Patton says and him and the two girls follow 'Roman' to the dvd cabinet. As they are going through the movies I notice the boy with the blue tie is sitting on the far end of the couch with his nose in a book. I smile slightly at thought of him and I have common interests.

As no one was paying attention I quietly make my way back upstairs and sit on the top step and listen to what the adults are talking about. I hear my dad start talking and try to listen very intently. "It's been hard on Virgil, he was being abused by his biological parents so I took him in. He hasn't said a word to me". Emile explains and I hear one of the father's scoff and say "That's no way to treat someone after they save you from abuse, you need to teach him some respect".

I shrink into my hoodie a bit now feeling ashamed for not speaking. "He's not being disrespectful Liam, he's mute, his biological father would beat him for anything he said so he just kept his mouth shut and hasn't said a word since he was nine" Dad explains and I hear a murmur of hushed questions follow.

I've heard enough and went back down the stairs to see everyone watching the little mermaid. "I hate this movie" Jacqueline says and I just shrug before curing up on the far end of the couch away from everybody. "Virgil you don't need to hide yourself away, have some fun while your here" I hear Jacqueline say but I stay where I am and try to keep my focus on the movie.

"Fine, I'll have some fun then" Jacqueline says and just like that, the lights go out. "What's going on?" I hear Patton ask before hearing Roman scoff. "Probably that ugly emo kid you brought here trying to get attention" He says and then the lights come back on and I'm standing in front of Roman with my arms crossed. "Impressive" He says and I raise an eyebrow.

"How did you do that?" Ha asks and I shake my head and point to the light switch that's on the other side of the room. Logan seemed to have understood because he spoke up, "There is no possible way for Virgil to have gotten to the switch and gotten back that quickly". "I was talking to him" Roman says turning back to me.

"He's mute Roman, He can't talk" One of the little girls said. Suddenly I got slammed into the wall behind me. "Roman!" Everyone downstairs yells as he starts to kick and punch me on the ground. I hear footsteps coming but ignore it as I hear Jacqueline's pleas for Roman to stop. Finally the blows stop coming but I can feel the blood running down my face and I'm pretty sure I have a bruise on my stomach.

I feel arms wrap around me and I see Roman yelling back and forth with an older man who kinda looks like him. Emile is whispering calming words in my ear while stroking my hair and I feel my body relax. The older man who was yelling at Roman comes over and starts talking to dad as dad helps me stand.

"I'm so sorry for my son's behavior Emile" He says looking a little scared. I shake my head letting him know it's fine and he has nothing to worry about.

"If your worried I'll press charges I wont but something does need to be done about this. "oh trust me, it will" He says extending his hand towards me but I flinch back scared I was gonna get him again. "It's ok" Dad says as I slowly shake hands with him and dad helps me to get home.

"Are you alright?" Jacqueline asks guilt evident in her voice I slowly nod my head so dad won't catch on and we quickly get inside and he takes me into the bathroom and starts cleaning my wounds.

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