Teenage Baby

Bonus Chapter

"I think you dropped your keys?" Aaron questioned, but then his polite smile faltered as the person right in front of him became clearer; the moonlight accentuated the familiar contours of his face like it had to his keys, reflecting off his sharp, slightly stubble-riddled jawline and amber eyes that bordered at deep brown with the dull, dim lighting around.

Lou.

"Oh, God. Aaron," Lou mumbled as he retrieved the keys, his eyes never once leaving Aaron. "Okay, shit. Uh... I'm sure this isn't pleasant for you right now. Hi?"

"Lou?" Aaron's voice was low and disbelieving; the question came out of him almost robotically, not quite whole-heartedly. He wasn't sure if he could trust his eyes to be truthful, or his psychological state to be stable enough for him not to be hallucinating that Lou—the previous captor he'd last seen with a bullet wound in his shoulder—was now standing before him randomly after two years. "What- what are you doing here?"

"I live here. I rented a shitty flat in the first building in the block here. I-I wanted to see you, actually, but... not like this," Lou said, voice soft and tentative. "Look, I don't want to creep you out. I'm better now. I'm legally out of the mental hospital, if it makes you feel better. I know you're shocked right now. I want to talk to you, but I can't force you I don't want to. If you ever decide you want to talk to me, my flat's on the second floor. I swear I don't want to hurt you—Aaron? You're paling."

Impossibly, Aaron's face was actually paling, more so than his skin naturally was. He blinked multiple times, his fingers reaching out to pinch his wrist as he fought to believe what he was seeing. And when he did—when he pinched so hard his flesh reddened significantly and blinked enough for Lou to have disappeared had he been a mere hallucination—everything settled and stone-hard blows came pummeling against his chest. Flashbacks filled his sight and danced menacingly along his eyes, the ghostly humiliation that he'd undergone returning once again with its haunting whispers brushing against his ears.

Lou frowned worriedly, and he knew he'd hit a raw nerve in Aaron. "Okay, uh... My bad. I'm sorry. Wrong timing, wrong place." He took a step forwards, intending to help Aaron but he moved back.

"Don't," Aaron mumbled, his stomach churning and knotting queasily; acidity lingered at the base of his throat. "Step back."

"Aaron, please calm down. I promise I don't want to hurt you. I'll go, just... don't panic."

"I'm not panicking. You don't get it." Aaron subconsciously pressed his arm against his abdomen, very well aware of what was about to happen. "I just- I'm going to throw up."

Aaron turned then, racing towards the nearest bin he could find before hunching over the edge and retching into it. Lou watched for a second with wide eyes, walking over but hesitating as he saw a feminine figure frantically barge out through the front door, followed by Leo, whom he quickly recognized.

Aaron took a quick glimpse back, his heart pounding as he spotted Leo; he knew it would cause him so much trauma, to see Lou in such a sudden. "Go," he whispered to Lou, turning to look at him again. "Please go. Leo can't see you now, not like this. It'll shock him."

Lou nodded, his lips pulled down by the force of the sadness that grasped his sharp features. He turned and walked away and disappeared into the darkness. Erika stood beside Aaron, watching him retch a little more into the bin.

"Aaron? What happened?" Her voice was filled with worry as she rubbed his back, her other hand brushing his hair away from his face where it had fallen. "Did that guy do anything to you?"

"No. Nothing. I just wasn't exactly feeling good since the beginning," Aaron said after he'd finished and wiped his mouth off. He smiled at her, then at Leo, who stood beside her as he frowned unsurely.