If Red Means No, Invert The Color

Chapter 6

        "Kieran.... What happened?" I ask, reaching for his hand, he winces when I squeeze it; all of his knuckles were freshly bruised as well. On each hand. 

        He sighs and his head drops into his hands, his fingers running through his curls in distress. 

        "My mom." he sobs, his voice indicating anger, but his tears indicating the opposite. "She brought home someone. It was late, after I had already gotten home. One of her.... Clients. It was late, and they were.... Doing stuff. I heard her yell and I came out of my room... and he had her against the wall..... I didn't know what to do! So I just started hitting him and then he had me on the ground and.. He wouldn't stop hitting me.... Over and over again in the same damn spot." He was full on sobbing now. 

      "One of her clients?" I ask, standing up  slowly and sitting on the bed next to him. 

He sighs, wiping away tears from his face and looking me in the eye. "My mom's a fucking prostitute, Ev. I think I've known for awhile.... I've known about the drugs. I've seen the condom wrappers on the carpet, the clothes she wears... But she's never brought someone home before. When I came out of my room and saw his hands around her throat... I panicked. The whole time he was beating me, you know what she was doing? Smoking! Smoking crack! SHe didn't even care about what he was doing..... When he left she told me about it... Apparently he didn't like how she was... performing, and he didn't want to give her the drugs in exchange. When she tried to stop, that's when all.. that happened. I haven't been able to move from this spot all night, my leg hurts so bad.... I hurt so bad. When you texted, I wanted to tell you not to come but I knew that would only make you worry more. I thought I could just lie and say I fell down the stairs or something, but then you got here and I couldn't move... I'm sorry" 

I sat there, dumbfounded, now holding him in my arms as he sobbed quietly. I ran my hands up and down his back in an attempt to calm him. I had only known this boy for so long; yet it felt like I had known him forever. I wanted to do anything in my power to make him feel better both physically and mentally. Then a thought appeared in my head.

"Hey, Kieran." I murmur, getting him to look at me. I place both of my hands on either side of his face, using my thumbs to carefully wipe away his tears. "Lets skip school today. It's Tuesday, I don't have practice. We can spend the whole day doing whatever you'd like. How does that sound?" I look into those deep brown eyes, and it feels impossible to stop. I begin to notice every characteristic of them; the small gold flakes around his pupils, to the small black dimples inside of the actual iris. They were mesmerizing. I could stare into them forever, and never get bored.

He sniffles and sits back, leaving my grasp, and leans back against the headboard of his small bed. I watch as he nods, pulling out a pack of Camel's from his bedside table and places one between his teeth, whipping out a lighter and lighting it. "Yeah... Let's do that." With one drag of his cigarette, it was like the Kieran I had known all these years; emotionless. A stone cold look on his face. That's when I realized it wasn't a Cigarette, it was a joint rolled in a cigarette paper. He takes another hit, and ashes it, shoving the rest back into his pack and pulling out an actual cigarette, lighting it and inhaling deeply. All signs of pain were gone, all stress and anger had receded; this was the Kieran I knew, the high Kieran. Granted, he was only buzzed, but still. I get a week of the vulnerable side of him and just like that, it was gone.

"Sorry. It just helps" he says, taking another drag from his cigarette. "It's the only drug I'll touch by the way.. I'm not a junkie."

I nod. "So, where would you want to go?"

"Your house?"

~~

When we arrived at my house, I had the pleasure of knowing my parents wouldn't be home until around 5, so we had a lot of time.