What Remains (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 34

"How old were you back then?" Officer Maxwell asked.

"I was thirteen. Josh was fourteen."

Officer Jefferson wrote something down on the notebook he was holding before speaking again. "Continue your story."

Carter started to feel more and more uneasy as he went on. He could sense that Josh was far from pleased, even though he remained silent. "So, I immediately got worried as soon as my mother told me that. I went over to Josh's house and when I rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. Just as I was about to walk away, something flew through the window. And that's when I heard... everything."

"What exactly did you hear?" Officer Maxwell asked.

A canine dug into Carter's lower lip and he stared at his hands as they were folded on his lap. "The yelling, the screaming, the beating." He took a deep breath before he went on with his story. "I knew that I had to do something. I opened the broken window by sticking my hand through the hole where the glass had been smashed. When I climbed inside I could really clearly hear what was going on. I saw Josh and his father in the living room. Josh had fallen to the ground while his father was beating him up with what appeared to be a frying pan. I grabbed a knife and rushed towards them before shoving Steve aside. I told him to stay away from us and then helped Josh leave the house. Once we were outside I called out to a car that was passing by and asked if he could take us to the hospital. I could immediately tell that Josh's condition was bad and that he needed medical attention. Luckily the car driver stopped and drove us to the hospital. When we arrived, and Josh got escorted away, I called the police."

There was a moment of silence where both the policemen were just taking down notes. Carter looked back at Josh again and he could see another tear rolling down the side of his cheek, over his bruise.

"Is this one hundred percent truthful?" officer Jefferson asked.

Carter furrowed his eyebrows. "Yes. Of course it is," he said. "Why would you think I'm lying?"

"Because Joshua's story is completely different."

Carter glanced back at Josh in confusion. "But... That's what happened. I'm telling the truth."

"According to Mr. Marson here, his father was only yelling at him because he was angry, but never used any physical violence," officer Maxwell said.

"What?! That's... He's in a hospital! He has a broken collarbone and he is covered in bruises!" Carter exclaimed.

"Mr. Marson explained that by saying that he had fallen from the stairs," officer Jefferson said.

Carter turned to Josh again, eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the blond in disbelief. Why was he lying? Why was he trying to cover for his father? Even after all this time, after all the beatings and the horrible things he had done to him, Josh was still defending him.

"But that's not true..." Carter spoke softly. He looked at the arm that was inside the sling, only able to imagine how much it must've hurt to get a broken collarbone like that. He just couldn't understand why Josh didn't want his father to get into trouble, even after all the abuse he had done to him.

"Alright, we'll call it quits for now," officer Maxwell said. "We'll give Mr. Marson some time to revalidate. However, we will continue the investigation. If anything happens, or any of you change your minds about the answers you have given us, give us a call." He handed Carter a paper card with their numbers written on it before they raised from their chairs. They gave Josh a firm nod and walked out of the room.

Once they had left, Carter looked at the blond again and shook his head. "Why did you lie to them?" he asked. "What your father did was horrible. He doesn't deserve to be defended."

Josh still refused to look back at Carter. "You don't understand at all, do you?"

"Then talk to me! Make me understand!" Carter said. "I thought after the talk we had in your boat, after that night, that you had finally completely opened up to me. Why are you still hiding? Why do you still refuse to see the truth?!"

Josh remained silent. He absentmindedly stared into the room without speaking a word, and Carter gave a sigh.

"Forget it," he said. He got up from his chair to get his parents. If Josh didn't want to talk to him, then that was his choice. The truth would come out eventually, whether if he liked it or not. Carter would make sure of that.

+++

The drive to Carter's house was quiet and a little awkward. Carter and Josh were sitting next to each other, but no words were spoken. The brunet wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. He had tried to get through to Josh. He had tried so many times now, but it still seemed as if he refused to let him in completely. He noted to himself to talk with Alyssa about the situation. Maybe she would be able to give him some good advice on how to handle this.

Carter had realized some time ago, that despite his history with Josh, and despite that they were together now, the one who knew Josh's personality the best was not him, but Alyssa. She was with him during the time that everything started to go downhill. She was with him during the five years that Carter wasn't. She was with him during the period when his personality started to develop through his teenage years.

Maybe the gap of five years of their relationship was too large and too deep to fill up again, and maybe there was no way that he'd be able to make up for the time that he was absent from Josh's life.

But he was present now, and Carter wanted to make sure that from now on, he wouldn't leave Josh's side again. He wanted to be the one who was closest to Josh again, and

maybe he was already, but it didn't feel that way when the other was acting like this.

Carter looked outside the window and watched as they drove past the houses and the streets.

How long had it been since had had moved back? 5 Months? He wasn't exactly sure. It felt like so little time had passed since his father had told him that the was being transferred back to the office in Hayland, yet so much had happened at the same time.

Somewhere, it made him wonder how everything would have been if he had never returned. Would Josh still be with Alyssa? Would his relationship with his father have been better? Where would both of them have been right now if they had never met? It was almost scary to think about.