Ericson's Care Home

The Nightmare

I'm sudden shaken awake. I look around my room and I'm met by a worried violet looking me in the eyes. After a few seconds I notice that I've been shaking, crying and whimpering. "Hey. You're okay. You're fine." Violet offers. I'm not. I'll never get him out of my head. "Yeah. Okay." I say unconvincingly. "You wanna talk about it?" She offers as she puts an arm around me. "Not yet, I need to see AJ." I say as I stand up and basically run to the door. "Clem?"

As I reach AJ's room I give a light knock before I hear a few soft whimpers coming from inside. I rush in and see AJ squirming in his bed.

I run over to him and shake him awake. "Hey. Hey I'm here. Its over. You're okay." I soothe the child as he curls up into a ball into my arms and let's the tears fall from his eyes. "Let it out. I'm here goofball." I add as I see violet peek in through the door. "Tell you late." I mouthe to her as I hear the cries of the boy silence.

"Its today. You know that right." I say in a quiet, saddened tone. "I know. Two years right?" He replies. "Yeah. Two years since, since he happened." I hesitantly say.

We stay like this until the sun comes up and we both head downstairs looking tired and sad. "Hello Clemmy!" Louis says as he walks into the kitchen and pours himself a bowl of cereal. "Hi." I say quietly. "What's wrong? Ohh. Is that today?" He realises. AJ and I both silently nod. "You okay? Want me to do anything for you?" He offers. "I think we're good. Thanks though." I answer.

"Awww, is Clemmy sad?" I hear as I walk through the halls. I turn around and see a certain redhead staring at me. "Not today Minnie. For fucks sake, not today." I answer her. "Why? What you gonna do, get Lee on me?" She mocked. "Last fucking warning. I swear to god." I raise my voice at her. "Fine. I'll just ask your dyke friend what's going on." That's fucking it. I run at her and hit her in the face as I pin her down on the floor. "Don't fucking talk about me or violet like that ever again!" I shout as I punch her in the stomach and keep going until a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me off.

"Let me fucking go!" I shout as I'm basically dragged into my room. "Vi? Shit, I. Shit." I panic. "What the fuck is going on today clem? Why did you just attack her, aside from the obvious." She questions. I look at my hands, they're bruised and there's a bit of blood on them. "I can't. I can't do today. I'm fucked Vi." I almost cry out. She wraps her arms around me again, I do the same to her.

"Tell me. If you don't explain it then I can't help you." She says as I look up. "I. I don't even know where to start." I admit. "Wherever your most comfortable with. I won't force you to tell me anything." She soothes me. "Remember when I told you  how me and AJ got here?" I start as she nods. "That was only really half of it. They already fostered AJ, but I was just happy to be out of my old care home. We were fast friends."

"Yeah, I was definitely happy when I moved here from my last home." Violet says. "Turns out they were actually pretty abusive. Didn't feed us much, constantly putting us down, sometimes even physical. Nobody knew because they put on a happy face when the inspectors came." I was crying into vi's shoulder. "Jesus Christ clem. I'm so sorry." She says as I feel her rubbing my back.

"About a month in the 'father' came home drunk. He got real physical, he. Vi he fucking." I stop as I can't finish the sentence. "Its okay clem. You don't need to say anymore." She says as I lift my shirt up to reveal a scar on my shoulder. "Fucking hell clem. I'm so sorry you had to go through that." She says as she embraces me. "AJ has a similar one on his leg, from two years ago today. That's why I had to check he was okay. I had to know." I admit. "I get it. No need to tell me anymore." "Only you and Lou know. And I wanna keep it like that." I say sternly.

"You sure? Shouldn't Lee know." She protests. "I promised AJ that I wouldn't tell anyone." I explain as I finally pull away from the hug. "Fine. You okay?" She asks. "Yeah. I think I needed that. Thanks Vi." I confess to her. "No problem. Plus I know that now might be a bad time but you're insanely hot." She says making me blush intensely. "I uh. Thanks Vi." A knock on the door comes and Lee comes in.

"Clementine what happened? Why?" He asks. Violet is about to speak up before I stand up. "Stay here Vi. I'll tell you. You'll wanna write this down, and get AJ too. Its pretty big." I say as I walk towards AJ's room.