𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 ~ 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧

𝐅𝗼𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐲

Lisa wraps her arms around Sebastian, pulling him into her chest. Sebastian grips at Lisa's shirt, breathing heavily, shakily. "I'm so sorry, Seb." She whispers.

Sebastian shakes his head and breaks away. "I.. I wasn't supposed to go on the trip.." he continues, wiping his cheeks. "He said no so I forged his signature. And when I got home-" Sebastian's voice cracks. "He was the angriest I had ever seen him. He threw me around as usual, screamed at me.. then... then he did something to me.. he... he..." Sebastian broke down into sobs.

Lisa held him tightly, rocking him back and forth, hushing him softly. "What.. What did he do?" She was beyond scared to hear the answer. He was covered in a cold sweat. Hands shaking.

"He raped me."

Lisa fell silent. She couldn't bring herself to speak, frozen in place. She looks up at her sons once more, eyes filled with tears. Chris was frozen, eyes wide. The colour had drained from his face and left his skin a sickly white. Anger swelled inside of him, pain, sadness. But most of all, guilt. Guilt for not being able to see the signs. How could he have not seen the signs?

"I'm sorry." Sebastian sobs, voice cracking. "This is all my fault."

Lisa shakes her head and pulls Sebastian into her arms, holding him tightly. "No." She says sternly, tears dripping down her cheeks. "None of this is your fault. Okay?"

Sebastian whimpers. "It only got worse from there. It happened.. it happened again."

Chris felt sick hearing this from the doorway. He wanted to go in, hold Sebastian, comfort him, tell him how much he loved him. But he couldn't.

"But this time... this time it wasn't just him.." Sebastian whispers. "His friends.. five of them.. all took their turns.. even when I was unconscious."

Chris wanted to throw up. But most of all, he wanted to kill the man who did this to Sebastian. He could see it on Scott's face too. The anger. The disgust. They had to do something.

"Last night was one of the worst nights." Sebastian continues. "He found my money that my mum had hidden from him in a secret account. And.. he grabbed a chair after throwing me around and hit me with it till it broke."

Lisa was sobbing. How could someone be so heartless to their own son?

"I was on the bridge to end my life. If Chris hadn't shown up when he did, I would've jumped."

Sebastian couldn't handle the weight of his body anymore and tumbles to the floor, Chris racing in and gathering him into his arms. "It's okay." Chris coos, rubbing Sebastian's back. "It's okay. It'll all be okay."

It takes Chris almost an hour to calm Sebastian down, holding him on the floor as he sobs. "I'm sorry!" Sebastian howls over and over like a mantra, gripping at the back of Chris's shirt. "I'm sorry!"

"Shh." Chris hushes him softly. "There's nothing to apologise for, Seb. You've done nothing wrong."

Sebastian shakes his head. "Yes.." he sobs. "Yes I did! I made him angry! I made him want to hurt me!"

Chris didn't know what to do. After all this time, Sebastian's been keeping all of this terror to himself? Chris hadn't a clue how nor did he want to know what Sebastian has done to keep himself numb.