Criticism spot! :)
Crutchie's POV
I woke up and felt Jack running his fingers through my hair, making me smile. I wasn't able to relax for long, though, as I quickly remembered where I was. I sat up and looked at the door, my heart pounding.
"Jack you need to go," I looked back at him now, terrified.
"Hey hey, it's alright. He isn't up yet. We'd hear him." He tried to smile, but I could tell he was extremely worried about my health, both physically and mentally. "So... You lived like this for years?" He asked, and I just nodded, sitting against the wall. "We're gonna get you out of here." I chuckled as he spoke, my eyes burning from tears.
"It's useless," I mumbled, looking straight ahead of me. "He'll just look for me again."
"It ain't useless. I'm meeting with a few fellas tonight and we're gonna figure out how to get you outta here." Before I could even look at him, footsteps began pounding down the hallway, and I panicked. Jack got up and ran to the closet again, and just in time, my Dad unlocked the door, walking up to me.
"So where did you run off to, Charlie?" He asked, and despite the fact that it was early in the morning, he was clearly already drunk. "Fuckin' answer me." He towered over me and smelt horribly of beer, and even though I knew I should answer, I couldn't. I was too scared. "Get up." I tried to stand, using the wall to help me, but my Dad shoved me back to the floor. "On your own!"
Slowly, I stood up, not looking at him as I did so. He studied me for a bit, staying silent while he walked around me a few times. I could almost feel Jack's fear coming through the closet slats, and it took everything in me not to look at the doors and hope to see him.
"You still pretendin' to be a crip?" He asked, and once again, I remained silent. He grabbed my face and forced me to look at him, clearly getting angrier. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" I tried as hard as I could not to cry, but a few tears eventually streamed down my face, and my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. "Why the hell did I get stuck with you?" He let go of me, walking out of the room quickly. I nearly collapsed under myself right then, but Jack ran out of the closet to help me stay up.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I whispered to him, feeling destroyed.
"You have nothing to say sorry for, alright? Breathe." Then, the stomping began again, and I let go of Jack so he could hide. Jack ran back to the closet, and my Dad appeared moments later, holding a new bottle of beer.
"Walk." Was all he said, beginning to drink. I froze, staring at the ground and wondering how I could possibly do this, especially considering my foot was worse than when I left. "Did you hear me, dumbass?!" He screamed, getting in my face.
"Yes, sir," I managed to say back, making him calm down a little.
"Then walk." I took a deep, shaky breath, slowly putting my right foot out.
The second I tried to put pressure on it, I fell to the ground, screaming out in pain. I immediately felt him standing over me, and I braced for whatever was to come. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back violently so I was looking at him again, and he was inches away from my face.
"Are you that fucking useless?! Get up!" He yelled, and I stood as quickly as I could once he let go. "Just walk! It's not difficult!" I tried again, and had the same results as before. He kicked my side so I fell down completely, no longer holding myself up with my arms. I looked up to him and saw that he was getting ready to hit me with his now empty bottle, and I put my arms up over my face to protect myself. Pain shot through my back just seconds later as the bottle shattered over me, only making me cry harder as it hit the spots that he had whipped yesterday. He knelt down beside me, grabbing my hair again. "If you woulda walked, you would've gotten food. Guess you don't deserve it. Actually, you don't deserve anything. You fucked up this entire family, so I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you go through what you made me go through." He threw me down to the ground, leaving and locking the door behind him.
Jack ran out of the closet again and knelt beside me, brushing away the broken glass. I was on my side now and clutching my stomach, my foot burning as I laid there. Jack pushed my hair from my face gently, clearly upset.
"I can't breathe," I said through gritted teeth, looking at him.
"I'll help you sit up," he put his arms around me and tried to do just that, but it only made everything worse. I pushed myself away from him, closing my eyes tightly.
"No, don't," was all I got out, feeling completely defeated.
"Where are you hurting the worst?" Jack asked, looking me up and down.
"My foot," I continued crying I laid there, finally looking back to Jack. "Just go," I mumbled, seeing that he was crying, too.
"I'm not gonna leave you like this-"
"Jack, go, I don't want to risk you getting hurt." I begged, and he sighed.
"I'll come back tonight and tell you what we come up with, okay?" I nodded and he stood, hesitating before he left. He managed to close the window on his way out, too, which relieved me since I wouldn't have to stand.
Jack's POV
"Is Race on his way?" I asked Romeo, sitting anxiously at the table. It was starting to get late, and I knew that Crutchie's Dad had likely already beat him again, and I wanted to get to him as soon as possible. On cue, Race came into the room, sitting down at the table. "Let's figure this shit out." I had gathered Race, Romeo, Specs, and Fitz to help with whatever grand-plan we came up with, and we all went silent for a second while we thought.
"Youse all know I grew up with a bad Dad, too, and I know that if he catches us in the act, it'll likely get Crutchie killed." Race said bluntly, looking at me. I felt sick to my stomach, realizing he was right.
"Then is this really a good idea?" Romeo asked innocently, also looking at me.
"If we don't get him outta there, he'll die." I said, my eyes burning with tears. I refused to let them fall, though, instead taking a deep breath and looking at Race. "Any ideas?"
"Well, two of us could help get him out of his room and down the roof." Race began, and Specs grew confused.
"Why two?" He asked, clearly nervous about what we were doing.
"His Dad tossed his crutch. We have it for when we get him back, but he can't walk on his own, and really needs help." Race explained, knowing that if I did, I'd break down.
"Oh, sorry," Specs looked down, reminding me of Crutchie right away.
"Hey, you didn't know. Don't worry." Race reassured him, and I began to lose attention in the conversation as I thought about Crutchie. "Jack, hey," Race pulled me back in, smiling kindly. "So, it'll take two of us to get him out, so I'm thinkin' we have one lookout, and the other two distract his Dad." Romeo nodded, sitting up a bit.
"Who's doin' what?" Fritz asked, seeming ready to enact the plan right away.
"Well he's seen Race and I before, so it's probably best if we don't distract him. I don't want to risk him knowing that we're friends with Jack, because that'd make things go south real quick." Romeo said, pushing his hair back.
"So what will Fritz and I do, then?" Specs still seemed nervous, but was beginning to calm down a bit while we set out a plan.
"Oh- what about this!" Race began, his face lighting up. "You two knock on the front door, and when you do, you'll signal to Romeo that it's time for Jack and I to get on the roof- oh, yeah, you're the lookout by the way Romeo." Race joked and we laughed a bit, making us loosen up. "Anyways, you tell his Dad that someone at the nearest bar wants to fight him. Theres no way he won't eat that up and follow you to the bar without question!" I couldn't help but smile a little, thinking about how close we were to saving Crutchie.
"Why don't we just get him out while his Dad is at work?" Romeo pointed out, and Race clearly didn't have an answer.
"If we get him when it's dark out, it'll greatly lower the chances that his Dad somehow sees us. We can't risk that happening." Romeo nodded, understanding.
"Tomorrow night, eleven o'clock, be here." Everyone got up and left, besides Race, who walked over to me.
"If it's alright with you, I'd like to come with and check to see how any cuts n' bruises he has are doing." I smiled at him, nodding.
We walked in complete silence, and I felt worse with every step, wishing I had stayed with him all day. Before I knew it, we got there, and Race went up the side of the house first. Instead of climbing all the way onto the roof, though, he froze, staring at the window.
"Go up," I whispered, and he shook his head.
"Stay there." I grew angry almost right away, but at the same time, felt overcome with worry.
"Let me up there, now," I demanded, but he didn't move.
"You can't see this, Jack." He glanced at me before looking back at the window, and I felt my heart plummet when I heard Crutchie's muffled screams. "Oh my god," Race let slip, seeming to forget I was there for a moment. I heard a door slam seconds later, and Race took off to his window. I followed close behind, but Crutchie didn't come to open it. "We need to open it ourselves, there's no way he can get up at all." I stared at him, terrified.
"What the fuck did he do to him?" I asked, panick present in my voice.
"I- just help me open this." We turned our attention to the window, both struggling to get a good grip on it since there weren't any handles on the outside, obviously. We managed to open it, though, and Race ran over to Crutchie, kneeling down beside his foot. I sat down in front of him, putting my hand out for him to take. He didn't say anything, instead just taking it and sobbing. "This is gonna really hurt, Crutchie, get ready." Race said, and I looked to see what he was doing.
To my horror, it was clear that his Dad had given him multiple cigar burns on his foot, and I couldn't stop myself from crying while I looked. I looked back to Crutchie, trying my hardest to smile at him. Race then began to clean up his foot as gently as he could, and it was beyond obvious that Crutchie was trying not to scream. He squeezed my hand tight, his breathing sharp. Finally, Race had finished, and backed away from Crutchie.
"Go," he whispered to me, my heart breaking as he did so.
"I ain't leaving you." I said firmly, but he shook his head.
"Please, please go," he begged me, and I knew he wouldn't give up until I left. Before leaving, however, I kissed him on the forehead, and he managed to smile a tiny bit at me.
"Tomorrow at eleven at night, we're gettin' you outta here. Okay?" He nodded, not saying another word. We left and closed the window, heading home in silence while we prepared for tomorrow.
The entire day, I couldn't stop feeling nervous, but also a little excited, as Crutchie would be home soon. After what felt like an eternity, night had fallen, and it was nearing eleven. I waited at the lodging house as everyone slowly showed up one by one, and we looked to Race.
"I'm gonna go over the plan one more tme," he said, and we nodded to show we were listening. "Fitz and Specs, you guys go to the front door and tell his Dad that someone said they'd 'easily' beat him in a fight. Romoe, you watch from nearby, giving us a signal when you see him answer the door. Jack, when Romeo signals, we immediately climb the roof, and get Crutchie out as soon as possible. If anything goes wrong, you three run. Jack and I are going to stay back with Crutchie." Everyone nodded again, and without further discussion, we took off.
Once we had reached the house, we stopped in a nearby alley to calm ourselves. It felt like I was having a heart attack from how scared I was, but nothing would stop me to help him, especially not now.
"You all ready?" Race asked, and the three others nodded. I stayed still, however, feeling frozen. "Jack? You ready?" He asked again. I took a deep breath and nodded, and we separated. Race and I climbed the side of the house, peeking over the roof so we could see into Crutchie's window. As we did, however, we stopped, horrified.
Crutchie's dad was kicking him as hard as he could, and I could tell he had also whipped him before we got there. He was just barely holding on, covered in bruises and blood. His Dad then backed up from him, picking up his belt that he had previously thrown on the ground. Without further hesitation, he suddenly began to choke him with it. Crutchie was clawing at the belt, trying desperately to get it off of him and breathe.
"This'll teach you to run away from me!" We heard his dad yell, and Race finally turned to look at me.
"Jack, get down," he said, but somehow Crutchie's Dad managed to hear him. He got off of Crutchie and stormed over to the window, looking at us. He then took off, and we knew he was obviously coming after us. "Go! Go!" Race said to Romeo, and the three of them took off down the nearest alley. I couldn't bring myself to move, though, as I saw Crutchie laying on the ground and clearly in a lot of pain. Race had climbed down and tugged on my arm, but I stayed put. "Jack, we need to go!" He said in a panicked voice.
"I can't leave him," I looked at Race now, my eyes burning as tears threatened to fall.
"We have to, I'm sorry," Race tugged on me harder now, forcing me to get down. I followed him, feeling horribly guilty with each step we took.
We reached the lodging house quickly, and we sat down at the table we usually played cards at, catching our breath. Before I knew it, I was sobbing, putting my head in my hands as I did so. Everyone waited to see if I would calm down, but once it was clear I wouldn't, they all tensed up and clearly didn't know what to do.
"Jack, it's alright-"
"No it's not," I cut Race off, looking up at him. "We just left him there!"
"We had to," Race tried, making sure to sound as kind as he could.
"We shouldn't have ran," I continued sobbing, my chest feeling tight.
"If we stayed, he would've easily caught us, and that would've made things worse for both us and for Crutchie." Race remained calm as he spoke, moving closer to me. "We'll get him out tomorrow night, alright?" I nodded, putting my head back in my hands. "Guys, leave us alone for a bit. We'll meet at the same time tomorrow." Everyone got up and left, leaving just the two of us. Race came even closer to me, pulling me in for a hug.
Crutchie's POV
I had passed out at some point in the night, and only woke up from my Dad slamming my door as he came in. I couldn't even move to put my arms up and guard myself, as I was far too weak and needed to focus my energy on staying alive. I had been at this point once before, and it was the day I ran away. I knew I was running out of time, but my foot was in far worse shape than it was the last time I ran, and it was clear that it was useless to try. He grabbed me by my hair and forced me to look at him, clearly angry, as always.
"I know you can't do shit right, but for once, if you could not be a burden, it'd be great." He let go of me and threw a list of chores on the ground, leaving without another word. I began to cry as I laid there, knowing that there was no way I'd be able to do a single chore he had listed.
I sat there for a few minutes and cried to myself, wishing I had never run away to begin with. I then heard a knock at my window, but I couldn't even turn my head to see if it was Jack, Race, or both, as I was too weak. The window then slid open, and the two of them appeared in front of me.
"Here," Jack set down a piece of bread, but I didn't move to take it. "Please, you need to eat."
"I can't," I said with all the strength I had left in me, and Jack gently pushed my hair back.
"He left you chores?" Race asked, but I didn't respond, not even nodding. "Jack, let's get these done right now." Race got up and left the room, Jack close behind him.
A few hours went by before they were back in my room, Race looking me over while Jack held my hand. He tried to smile at me, but was clearly struggling to do so.
"We're gonna get you out of here tonight," Jack finally said, trying to hold back tears.
"Just hold on, okay?" Race added, standing up. "Jack, his Dad will be home soon. We need to go." Jack got up after a bit of hesitation, and I soon heard the window close.
Jack's POV
We did the same routine as yesterday, except Race and I didn't climb up the side of the house, instead deciding that we'd just wait until we got the signal. I could only hope that since we had finished Crutchie's chores, that maybe his Dad hadn't beat him tonight. Finally, we faintly heard Fitz and Specs knock on the front door, and Romeo gave us the signal to go. We climbed as fast as we could and struggled to get the window open, likely because of how nervous we were.
"This guy at the bar down the street says he'd be able to beat you real easily in a fight!" I heard Fritz say, and at last, we got the window open.
"The hell? Who said that?!" His Dad rose his voice, and we ran over to Crutchie, putting his arms around us. He was extremely light and weak, but he was trying as hard as he could to stand.
"Dunno his name, sir, but we thought you should know." Specs then said, and we quietly began to get Crutchie out the window.
"I bet it was Tommy... That fucker!" The front door then slammed, and it was clear that he had stormed off to the nearest bar. Because of this, Race and I were able to move faster, and before we knew it we were running home while carrying Crutchie.
We knew the ground of the penthouse would be too rough on all his cuts and bruises, so we immediately went to the spare bedroom and gently laid him in a bed. I knelt down beside him and took his hand, and despite all the pain he was in, I could tell he was thankful for us getting him out. Race and Romeo were both checking him over, focusing on the burns covering his foot.
"Get a cool rag, we've gotta clean him up." Race said, and Romeo quickly left.
"Hang in there," I smiled at Crutchie, and he tried to do the same back. His grip then tightened on my hand, and tears slowly started streaming down his face.
"Please don't go, I'm scared," he whispered, shattering my heart.
"I ain't gonna leave you. You're safe now." Romeo then returned with the rag, handing it to Race.
We stayed silent while Race cleaned him up, and Crutchie was clearly in agony each time Race touched him with the rag. We then helped him change into clean clothes, and the two left, allowing us to be alone. I pushed the other bed next to his and put my arms around him, feeling him start to cry again.
"I've got you. You're okay." I whispered, kissing him on the forehead.
We laid there for quite a while before it was clear he was finally able to fall asleep, and I managed to do so soon after.
(word count - 3606)