Teenage Troubles (Prequel for Teenage Baby)

Chapter 14 | Leo

Chapter 14 | Leo

When thirteen-year-old Leo's meek body recovered from the anesthetic, he woke up to some form of pressing weight on top of him, a little to the side.

It hurt his chest, his ribs. He coughed helplessly, eyes still blurry. Something or someone? The weight suddenly lifted and he let out a strained breath. Beside him, Jayden scurried away, face set in a stone-hard expression, hand tugging his hair like he was confused.

Leo slowly sat up, propping an elbow against the floor. The moment the muscles in his waist flexed, he cried out and slipped back down, banging his head.

His hand touched around the area, only to feel something thick and cottony. A bandage right over the stitches, stitches right over a stab wound and a scar combined.

He remembered in fragments what'd happened the night before. Or was it several nights before? A knife twisting in his waist, his father angrier than ever, then a man he'd never seen before dressed in white. He remembered shouting and don't let him die!

He pressed both palms against the floor and forced himself to move until he could lean his upper back against the wall.

When he turned his neck to glance at the door, he let out a groan. His neck hurt. But not all of it, just a small patch of skin. Leo reached up, feeling around until he went over the throbbing spot right beneath his jaw, in the area of conjunction between his neck and jawline. A bruise, purpling and sore.

A bite? Leo figured that maybe his Dad bit him as punishment to biting him back when he'd taken his crayons. Maybe he decided to get him back now.

Maybe, maybe not. Leo couldn't know.

The door creaked open. Amy peeked in at first, standing still by the threshold, then finally stalked in. She'd aged pretty bad. Not that she was too old, but mutiny and greed and underhanded cruelty had no mercy. The stress lines in her forehead looked like trenches in the street.

"Oh, you woke up," she mumbled, holding a hand to her chest. She crouched down beside him. Leo didn't seem to acknowledge her existence. She was about touch him when something caught her attention, making the relieved expression falter.

"What is that?" The tips of her fingers brushed along his chin, turning his face aside until the side of his neck was on full display. Her jaw unhinged. "Who did that to you?"

"Don't know," Leo dismissed. "Hurts. Maybe dad. Maybe he wanted to punish me."

"Why? What did you do?"

"Because I bit him. When he took my blue, remember?"

"That was three years ago! He already punished you for it— oh my God, oh my God. This is sick." She leant forwards, squinting, wishing it wasn't true. Wishing what she thought wasn't true. "That's a hickey. He- he gave you a hickey. That pedophile. That- that bastard."

Leo didn't care about what she said anymore. She was annoying, at least to him. All she'd do was either cry even though he was the one hurting or (as of recently) yell at him. Always the same thing, same mannerisms, for years.

"Jayden!" Amy screamed, pushing herself up to her feet. Just as she stood upright, the roar of an engine sounded from outside. She ran to the window. Jayden's car was a shadow speeding off the road underneath the inky night sky. "You're sick!"

The hypocrisy was tangible. Wasn't she sick too for watching it happen whilst trying to victimize herself on Leo's expense?

Leo whimpered when he felt a pang of pain in his waist. He held the bandage and looked up, unintentionally searing his eyes with the light that the choppy lamp dispersed, the only source of illumination in the room.