Truth Or Love

1

It was quiet. His family was out and about, Russel didn't know what they were doing exactly, he didn't care. The house was quiet finally. Being the youngest of eight siblings meant there was rarely any silence in the house. Russel laid on his bed, enjoying the sweet sound of nothingness. It made him smile.

He didn't even realize he fell asleep.

Russel was drowning. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. The tub began to to turn red, a thick blood red. Russel looked around, panicked. What the hell was going on? Suddenly, he heard banging from the bathroom door, people yelling for him. Russel felt like he was floating now. He didn't hear the door open, someone broke the lock on the door. "Russel?!" He heard his brother scream for him. Why was he being so loud? Everything was okay. He was pulled out of the bathtub, he was wearing his clothes still. Red spilled from his wrists on to the bathroom floor, his brother was screaming for someone to help, though Russel was certain there was no one home moments ago. The world slowly began to fade around him, everything was going black, the sounds were fading in the background. "Russel! Russ! Russel!"

"Russel!" Austin yelled, shaking his brother. Russel groaned, opening his eyes to glare at the intruder. "You have school. Wake up before I get a bucket of ice water and pour it over your head." He said before leaving the room. A huff left Russel's mouth as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He truly hated mornings, why couldn't school start at a later time? Like 2:30 and end at 3:00? That would be ideal. He slowly got out of bed, running his fingers through his untamed hair. He wasn't worried about fixing it quite yet. He walked over to his dresser, opening it to get a pair of jeans for the day. He paused when he saw his wrists. That damn dream plagued his mind every night. It was getting close to the anniversary. His siblings gave him looks, his brother kept looking at his wrists. They thought he didn't notice, but he did. He noticed everything.

Things were quiet when he went downstairs, dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. His siblings were all sitting around the kitchen table, not saying a word. Which meas they were just talking about him. Russel sighed and shook his head. "You guys are honestly the worst at hiding stuff. Just talk, I don't care what your talking about." He walked into the kitchen to get a granola bar fr breakfast. Everything was still silent and to say it was pissing Russel off was an understatement. "Guys, just talk. Please." He said, irritation growing. He hated when tings got too quiet around the house. Luckily, they started talking again, not about whatever they were talking about before, it was obvious that the subject was changed, Russel didn't mind too much. He started eating his granola bar, walking back into the dining room. His sister, Roberta, stopped him, grabbing his arm. "Hey, Russ... We know what's coming up. And if you need to talk to anyone about it, you know we're all here to listen." She said softly, as if trying to coax a wounded animal. Russel wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew how worried they all were about him. He nodded, offering a smile. "Thanks. I'll come to one of you if I need to. Promise." He said and she seemed pleased with his answer. He grabbed is shoes and put them on quickly, a very old pair of converse from years ago. They had holes in them, they probably should've been thrown out. He got up and made sure he had everything he needed, his phone, headphones, ID. Everything was there. "I'll see everyone after school!" He called, not waiting for a response before he left the house.

No one knew the reason why Russel tried to kill himself. He never told anyone and that was something that bothered them. All of his family blamed themselves. They probably always would. Russel wouldn't tell anyone, though. It was no ones fault but his own. He was pushed out of his thoughts by a honk of a horn. He looked at the car and glared, seeing it was Tyler, that asshole that harasses him in school. Tyler stopped the car next to him and grinned. "Hey, Douche Waffle." He said, his friends in the car laughing. Russel rolled his eyes. "So nice to see you, Tyler. I see you're still as original as ever with those nicknames you're so fond of using on me." Tyler didn't really seem like he cared about what was saying. "You want a ride? We can tie you to the hood of the car." Russel really tried not to roll his eyes at the other."I would love to insult you... but that would be beyond the level of your intelligence." The boys in the car laughed and Tyler glared at him. "Fuck you!" He yelled and sped off. Russel simply sighed and decided to put in his headphones and start walking towards his school. He didn't let anyone get to him. That would be letting them win and he wouldn't let that happen. He put on some Lady Gaga and started walking, humming along to 'Million Reasons.'

Tyler made it to school, steaming because his teammates wouldn't shut up about what that loser said to him. It wasn't even a good comeback. Did they not hear Douche Waffle?! "Get the hell out of my car!" He yelled and they were quick to listen to him. He got out and closed the door, huffing in annoyance. "Come on, Ty. Why are you so angry? We was just teasing." His closet friend, Darwin, said, wrapping an arm around his friend. "Gimme a smile." He said, pinching Tyler's cheek. Tyler glared and shoved him off. "Piss off, dude. You guys wouldn't shut up about what the twerp said, of course I'm gonna be pissed. You guys are assholes." They all laughed and decided to leave Tyler to throw is temper tantrum. Tyler leaned on the hood of his car, a 2004 Honda Civic, and waited for Russel so he could give him a good piece of his mind before he walked into the school.

And by that he meant he was going to punch him in the gut a few times.

When Tyler saw him, he jogged over and punched him without warning. "Hey, pal! Good to see you! I was starting to worry!" He kicked him again and again, not stopping until he heard someone yell. Then he ran.

Russel held his stomach, groaning in pain. He watched Tyler run off and felt a strong pair of hands on him. He was listed off the ground. "Hey, you okay?" Sebastian asked his friend. Russel nodded, still holding his stomach. "Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks." Sebastian was his one and only friend. He didn't really talk to anyone in school, many because he didn't know how to. Everyone in his school were just a bunch of preps that thought they were better than everyone else. It was hard to make friends. But Sebastian kind of just sat down next to him and started talking. And he didn't shut up or leave Russel alone. He was happy he had friend. "You have to stand up to him, I know you can knock him on your ass if you tried. Why do you let him hurt you?" Sebastian asked, looking over him to make sure he wasn't seriously hurt anywhere. Russel just shrugged. "I'm a pacifist." He said simply, Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You better past your fist across his face the next time he tries to kick your ass. Come on, we're late for Mr. McLaughlin's class." He said and dragged him into the school so they could go learn things they were never going to use in real life.