Please Don't Leave [n.h] // AU

17

"When I heard his footsteps, she pushed me in the hallway and shut the door. I scurried over to my room and only then I noticed I forgot Mr. cuddles in the kitchen. I tried going back to sleep and pretend nothing happened, but I couldn't. Not without Mr. Cuddles and not with the fighting that was still going on. I heard my name a few times, so I assumed it was my fault." He wiped away my tears that were falling faster and faster the more he told me.

"Please don't cry." He whispered.

"I'm sorry, so sorry. It's not your fault. It's not." I said with a shaky voice and kissed his hand that was still in mine. He let go of my other hand and wiped the tears away the best he could.

"Do you want me to go on?" He said after I calmed down a bit.

"Yes, you can." I nodded.

"I was thinking of things I could do without going down when I heard my mums phone ring in the pocket of my pants. She had put it in there when I went to the kitchen. When I grabbed the phone, it was already too late to answer it. I quietly called 911 with her phone and not much later the ambulance and police arrived at our house. A police officer then came into my room and grabbed me out of my bed. Everyone was asking me questions, but I was too stunned to answer them. I remember a police officer coming out of the door with a ripped Mr. Cuddles in his hand. I don't know what exactly happened in there after she pushed me away. My mum never told me." He was a ten-year-old boy was the only thing I could think of.

"My dad got sent to jail for domestic abuse. I never visited him, or even heard from him in those five years he was there. In the meanwhile, my mum and I slowly got back on track. In 2019 my dad got out on good terms. We got a restraining order against him, so if he ever went near us, there would be consequences. When he first got out, my mum and I never left the house. We were too scared to. After a couple months of nothing happening, we started to live again. I was convinced he wouldn't do anything." He said, trying to sooth me at the same time.

"Please tell me he didn't do anything to you, please." I said through tears.

"Come here." He said and opened his arms, inviting me in a hug.

"I'm sorry." I kept repeating while nuzzling my head in his warm neck. I felt his calm breathing on my shoulder and relaxed into his strong arms.

"There's still a little more I need to tell you." He sighed and kissed my head.

"I know, I just want to hold you for a second." I admitted.

"Please." He muttered and secured his hold on me. After a short silence I finally let go of him, I didn't move too far away though. Our heads only inches apart.

"Two months before we moved, he'd managed to break into our house. My mum woke me up with a look that held so much panic and told me she thought he was downstairs. I quickly texted my nan code red. We had agreed that if he ever did something I would text her that and she'd call the police. But God, those minutes before the police arrived were hell." He said and diverted his gaze away from me.

"He knew we were awake, and he was doing everything he could to make us scared. Scared of him. He knew he had the power to do that. It fed his deranged mind. He crashed things, yelled words and so much more. My mum and I hid in my closet, a bat in my left hand and my mum hugged close to me under my right arm. I'd never ever forgive myself if I let anything happen to her. And I never let him. When he found us and I saw him again for the first time in years, it made me relive that night in my head. I've never been a violent person but at that moment, the only thing I wanted to do was smash his head in with that bat. And I tried to do that, but he was still stronger than me. He'd managed to turn us around and he hit me a few times saying I was the reason he went to prison when suddenly he took a knife out of his pocket. The police came in before he could do anything." He said, his voice cracking a few times from holding the tears in.