I was in a deep sleep that night. Chris was sleeping over. I was awakened by the sound of him crying. "I just can't believe I did that." I heard him. "She almost got raped, Teddy. And I seem like I didn't even care. I freaked out and left when she did. I didn't even follow her. I feel so stupid." "Calm down, Chris. How about you guys talk it over tomorrow morning when she wakes up? Try and get some sleep right now. Before you know it, we'll all be up." Teddy said. "Alright." Chris sighed.
I woke up the next morning expecting him to be sitting there waiting for be to be up. He wasn't. None of his stuff was sitting near Teddy's bed either. He had already left. He must've gotten nervous and just took off. Damn it.
It was quiet that night. Teddy was staying at his friend Gordie's house. My mother was of course, at the bar. I was sleeping, until I heard someone trying to pick the lock on our apartment door. I hopped out of bed and tiptoed to the door. I looked through the peep hole, and opened it. "Chris?" I said rubbing my eyes. He pushed the door open and and headed straight out the back door. "What're you doing here?" I ran after him. "Em, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I just walked away after what happened. I should've made sure you were alright, which you weren't. I'm just-" "Shhh hey come here." I said. He was hesitant, but he came closer and hugged me. "Emily... Can I talk to you about something?" He pulled away from the hug and stepped back. "Y-yeah, go ahead." I said. "Have a seat."
"I don't know how exactly to say any of this." He sighed. "My dad hits me, Emily. And I'm not sure how much more I can take of it." "What do you mean?" I asked. He raised his left sleeve. He had bruises all the way to his shoulder. "No one knows." He said. "Lift up your right sleeve." I said. "I only cut on my le-" "Lift up your sleeve, Chris." He did. It was much worse than the left. I looked away. "I'm sorry, Em. I shouldn't have told you." "I would've found out anyway. It's hot out here, and you're wearing long sleeves. You would've wanted to take it off at some point." I said.
"How long has this been happening?" I asked. "A year. Somehow I got good at applying makeup to the bruises. My mom left a pallet behind when she left." He said. "You're really good at hiding your pain, Chris." "I know. It's a gift." He got up and sat on the edge of the balcony. I went over and sat beside him. "I could push myself off right now. How easy it would be to leave right now. And it's all at my fingertips." He said. "But you won't." I said. "Better watch what you say, Em." "Chris," I got up. "Please step away from the edge."
He got up, and walked towards me. Our hands interlocked, and he pressed his forehead against mine. "I really want to kiss you." He said. I was confused on why he wouldn't. "Kiss me then." I said. "I just... I can't right now. " he said. "Why can't you?" "It's just everything is so crazy right now. I don't want to hurt you." He said. "But you won't hurt me, Chris. I've loved you for so long." "Then why didn't you tell me sooner?" He asked confused. "Well you didn't exactly show any signs. You hated me." I smiled. "Yeah, sorry about that." He smirked.
"Let's just... Give everything some time right now. Okay?" He asked. "Okay." I signed. "Are you staying or are you going?" "Going." He said. "You can stay here tonight, if you'd like. Teddy's staying at Gordie's. You can have his bed. My mom's not home yet." I said. "Alright." He followed me into my room. "Good night, Em." "Good night, Chris." I said.
I was awakened by the sound of Chris shaking a little, and groaning. He was having a bad dream. I heard him startle awake, and start to quietly cry. I lay there for a minute, not sure what to do. But I eventually got up and got into bed with him. "Hey, what's wrong?" I whispered into his ear. He shook his head, and turned over facing the wall.
I turned over facing the other way. Whatever it was, it was obvious he didn't wanna talk about it. I couldn't go back to sleep. It must've been an hour. But then... Chris turned over, and wrapped his arms around me. It wasn't even a minute before I finally fell asleep.
A few hours later, morning came. Chris and I were sound asleep. But I heard the scariest 5 words that I most definitely didn't want to hear at that hour.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"
