Black and Blue (Roman Angst)

red

Tw // blood, mentions of alcohol, physical abuse, Unsympathetic Remus (this book has a lot of that)

Roman was Red.

He hadn't seen it coming when he had came home from school, Roman had been on top of all of his usual chores, he had followed all of his parents' rules to a T. But that had never stopped them from finding any minute excuse to ruin any form of happiness he had been having.

When he entered his house, immediately he was overwhelmed by the strong smell of the cheap vodka his dad liked to drink wafting through the house. Roman gulped, gently setting his cheap rucksack down on the floor once he got inside. He frowned as the familiar form of his father staggered into the hallway, the man's beady eyes watching him - barely blinking - as he made his way towards Roman. Roman wasn't allowed to run, he had barely opened his mouth before he was on the floor.

He groaned, his head pounding as he felt the impact of every punch and kick until his body screamed in pain at the slightest movement. This wasn't new but Roman knew that it would only be a matter of time until it stopped and he would be left alone to peel his battered body off of the ground.

He wanted to believe his father was good, that he didn't mean to do the things he did to Roman but after years of relentless torment from his family he knew better than to even question their methods of 'fixing' him. It didn't matter if his father was good or not, what mattered was that his father was right. Roman was bad and needed to be punished for being wrong. And if his father was right, that meant that his mother and Remus were right too.

Roman was terribly and horribly wrong in any situation regardless of whether he was involved or not. That was just the way things were, his family treated Remus like a king and Roman like a servant and he had grown accustomed to the rough treatment they had given him practically all of his life.

He wasn't quite sure when the beatings stopped but he realised that he had been lying on he ground for far too long when his father dragged his weak body up from the floor by the chin. His beady eyes glared at Roman's bloodied face watching him warily before flinging his son back down to the floor.

"Clean up your mess." He grunted as he stumbled back through the house away from Roman who whimpered out a soft 'yes sir' as his father faded from his blurry vision.

Roman shakily brought himself up from the floor, pain still burning throughout his body as he stared in horror at the bloodbath staining the floors and oh god it couldn't stain the floors his mother would kill him. Roman rushed into the kitchen and pulled out an old cloth and washing up liquid from the cabinet beneath the sink, quickly filling a pot with hot soapy water before bringing it back to the front room. He fell to his knees and immediately started to scrub the red from the floor, sighing with relief as the blood rubbed away - the water quickly turning red however was a sickening sight that he had never gotten used to, were humans even meant to lose that much blood?

"Oh bro-man..." Remus tutted from behind him, "You've made quite the mess here haven't you? Has mother heard about this?" Roman froze, hands shaking as his scared expression was met with the mischievous glint in Remus' eye.

"Please don't tell her, I'll get this cleaned up before she gets back, I promise." Remus' grin only widened as the familiar sound of their mother's car pulling up into the driveway could be heard from outside.

"Well then Roman, it's good to know that you haven't gotten any better at keeping your promises." He cackled as he shoved Roman down into the wet soapy floor. Roman kept his mouth shut and kept working but blinked back tears as he heard the front door open and Remus leave to greet their mother cheerily.

He already knew that this beating would not be the only one he would be receiving tonight.