Two Birds On A Wire

ch 28

Julian leaned further against the wall of his room as he sat on his bed, hugging his knees. He had come home that afternoon and walked in without making a sound--or so he had tried. His cat had come to him meowing, making his presence known to everyone.

A fight had broken out in the household and his father had punched him on the face. He had silently walked upto his room as his mom hugged his dad, crying, in hopes that he would calm down. Maybe he did. And maybe he regretted beating Julian. Maybe he wanted to apologize. Maybe that was why he came knocking at his door later.

Julian didn't even care. There was no way he could look at him the same way he did a few years ago. He had ignored everything his dad had said and just lied there in his bed. And at some point, he had fell into a deep slumber.

He checked his phone and saw it was already past 9.

How long had he slept for?

He had  a text notification from Ivan.

Ivan.

He dialled the boy's number and put the phone to his ear, listening to the rings.

"I was wondering when you'd call" Ivan spoke from the other side of the line and Julian wearily said a "Hey". He hated how his voice sounded like rock on sandpaper.

"Were you sleeping?"

Julian just hummed.

"You sure sleep a lot"

"I gotta stay wide awake tomorrow to annoy the living soul out of you. So…" Julian chuckled dryly, trying to ease up his own heart.

The line was silent for a moment. It was suffocating.

"Julian…why do you-- sound like you were forcing that laugh out of you?"

Julian's breathe hitched in his throat.

"When were you going to tell me about all this?" Ivan sighed on the other side of the line  Julian let out a shaky breathe. "Let me guess. You were never planning to, were you?"

Julian spoke nothing as he felt heat rise to his face and tears pricked at the back of his eyes. He felt guilty for some reason. "I want to-- see you" he whimpered into the phone and the line went dead with a sigh from Ivan's side.

He dropped the phone and bit into his thumb, trying to take the pain from his mind into his body. It wasn't helping and he dropped to his bed, clutching his chest, letting himself come apart.

He kept asking himself, how could someone hate themselves somuch?--