The American Nightmare [BoyXBoy]

.:6:.

The clock had just hit 2 am and I was still wide awake. There were too many things on my mind for me to be able to peacefully sleep. I found myself staring down at my hands for what felt like hours. In the morning, Kellin had helped bandage them but, after having my mind on them for a long period of time, I managed to carefully remove the gauze off of one hand. It was not as difficult as I expected because the only parts of those limbs which were not severely burnt were my fingertips and palms, as the backs of my hands were facing up at the time they were basically being cooked.

About 14 hours had passed and the redness had faded, instead leaving crunchy white patches on my dry skin. It did not hurt as much anymore because I found the time in the day to actually look after the injuries. Kellin still demanded that I should be taken to a hospital, but I was not having it. What would I tell them? 'My mum was mad at me so she poured boiling water on my hands'? She would be arrested and I did not want that to happen. I loved my mother and I knew that she only did it for my own benefit. Her method obviously worked, because now I knew to think twice before disobeying her.

But that did not stop me from creeping out of my room (after locking it securely), and entering the one owned by Kellin. I was not sure why I did it. Maybe it was because I needed his comfort, as I was still very shaken from the events which had occurred. Also, I did a good job at avoiding him; I knew that he would pester me about seeing a doctor, and I was easily influenced. That was why I stuck by my dad for most of the long day. Like Mike and I, he was a quiet one. He obviously noticed my injuries, but did not question me about them. And it was probably better that way because I did not want him to think any lower of Mother. She was a good woman with controversial parenting methods. But her punishment had nothing to do with being a parent, it was much more important than that.

Without making a single sound, I closed the door of Kellin's bedroom behind me and tiptoed over to his bed, looking over his sleeping form. Just enough natural light was shining through the window, to darkly illuminate the room. I could not help but admire his face - it seemed as if I could not look at it for long enough. His cute lips were slightly ajar, letting out soft, long breaths. His perfect eyes were closed, instead showing off his long eyelashes. Annoying strands of dark hair were pouring over his face like a waterfall and I could not help but brush them away so that I could cherish his peaceful expression.

My touch must have triggered his senses though as, a few seconds later, I heard a light groan escape his lips and his eyelids twitched. I instantly tensed up and straightened out, standing stiffly while I watched him slowly wake up. Finally, he squinted at me and I felt terrible for disturbing his slumber.

"Vic?" He murmured, his voice raspy and sleepy, as he sat up. The sound of him saying my name gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. It was the same one from when he kissed my forehead; it felt like an explosion going off inside of my body, making me feel strange. But in the good way.

"Can you...?" I hesitated for a second, not sure if this was a good idea or not. "Can you say my name again?"

For a moment, a confused expression adorned Kellin's exquisite face but he went with it anyway and whispered my name in that angelic voice of his, "Vic."

I beamed at him, my face lighting up at the sound. I just loved the way that little, simple word rolled off his tongue. It was also so special. Kellin Quinn was saying my name and it was the sweetest sound I had ever heard.

But then I remembered what had actually happened, completely changing the mood.

"Sorry for waking you up!" I apologised quickly in a hushed tone. "I just couldn't sleep because I had so many things on my mind and I thought coming here would be a good idea so that I could talk to you about it, but I didn't think it through and now you're awake and you're probably mad at me. Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, please don't hate me. I really didn't mean to-"

"Oh, shut it. I could never hate you," he assured.

Was that true? Did it mean that we were friends? I was actually more than an acquaintance to him? I had never had a friend before because I was not allowed to talk to people outside of the farm for long enough. I hoped he meant it because I would not bear ever having him hate me.

"Do you promise?"

"I promise."

But even I knew that sometimes promises could be broken.

After a while of comfortably staring at each other, Kellin wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me down to sit next to him. However, instead of it being my butt that hit the mattress, it was my left hand as well. I yelped - quite loudly, may I add - and clutched it in my right hand, only to realise that that hurt too.

"I'm so sorry!" Kellin gasped while I forcefully bit down on my bottom lip to avoid any more pained noises from being released out of my mouth.

"It's fine, it's not your fault anyway," I breathed, still proceeding to camouflage my physical agony just to make him feel less guilty.

A long silence consumed us, because I knew what was coming next: the questions.

"Do they still hurt?" He asked quietly, just like I expected him to. I shrugged nonchalantly. Kellin looked down at my bandaged hands and took them in his own gently. He was careful not to put too much pressure on any point, as he removed the gauze off one of the hands and examined it. I imagined that he could not see very well, but it appeared to be enough for him.

"Why did she do this to you?" Kellin kept interrogating. I knew that I could have just left and ignored his question, but I found comfort in his presence.

"Because we didn't come home for the night and she was really worried about us," I replied, slowly climbing under the covers next to him to be welcomed by warmth. I accepted it with a small smile because the room was quite cold. Of course, I gave Kellin the better and more realistic explanation, although it was not the true one.

"That's not a good enough reason," Kellin argued. "She can't just do that to you! Vic, we have to go to the police with this."

"No!" I almost yelled, jumping up slightly. "We can't do that, I don't want her to go to jail."

"Why not? She hurt you."

"No, she didn't," I countered exasperatedly. "It was my fault and I deserved punishment."

What was so hard to understand about that? I was not mad at my mother, because I knew that she only did what was best for me. She was an amazing woman! I was always a bit frightened of her, because of her booming voice and intimidating personality, but I still loved her with all of my heart. She had made some bad decisions, but that did not matter.

"You're wrong, she's brainwashed you into thinking that way."

"Kellin, can you please just shut up," I snapped, surprising myself with the words that escaped my lips. But they kept on coming, almost without my permission. "My mum loves me and I love her too, and I don't appreciate you talking about her in this way."

He looked at me, about as astonished by my words as I was. I had never really used that type of language before, mainly because I rarely talked, but I already regretted it. It was not necessarily very mean, but I still felt terrible. There was no need to be rude to Kellin. The poor guy was just clueless and was probably so accustomed to living in the city that he did not know that, in a place like this, it was normal.

After a few moments of intently looking into each other's eyes, I decided that it was my time to leave. When I arrived in Kellin's room, my intentions were to drop some weight off my shoulders and make myself feel better and less confused about certain things, but now I felt worse than before.

I picked up the used gauze, not bothering to wrap my hand up now because I wanted to get away and I knew that I would end up doing it in my room. Without much hesitation, I sluggishly made my way out of his room. But as soon as I reached my own one, I already regretted not taking one last look at Kellin's gorgeous face so that I would be able to have a good night's sleep (even though I knew that it probably would not happen anyway).

I unlocked my door, stepped inside, then locked it again. Checking if my alarm was set beforehand and wrapping up my fist with the gauze, I slipped into bed. But the sheets were cold and everything felt empty, without anyone beside me.