Chapter 70
A/N - Okay this is a pretty long one for you! Also, sorry in advance...
If I Could Fly - One Direction
"Pay attention, I hope that you listen, 'cause I let my guard down, right now I'm completely defenceless, for your eyes only, I'll show you my heart"
(George POV)
"From now on I'll tell you everything. Starting from what really happened that day, the day that haunts me every night. Starting from the nightmares."
"No Reece, not while you're like this." I said concerningly.
"I'm ready George, I need to tell you." Reece insisted.
"Baby, you've been through enough today, okay? How about you sleep on it, if you're still sure tomorrow, you can tell me then. I don't want you over exhaust yourself." I worried.
Reece nodded. He cuddled into my chest again, laying us back down. He lifted his head up to kiss me. As he laid back down on my chest, he put his left leg on the other side of my body so he was lying completely on top of me. I placed my lips on his head before I starting playing with his hair. I know he enjoys it as much as I do and it calms him a lot, so it's a win-win situation. After half an hour I realised Reece had barely eaten all day, so I wrapped my arms around him tighter and stood up. He clung onto me tightly, a little scared of the sudden movement but he soon relaxed.
"It would be easier if I was on your back." He suggested. He didn't question where we were going surprisingly.
I put him down and picked him back up, this time on my back. I carried him downstairs and placed him on the couch before covering him with a blanket.
"You alright if I grab you some food?" I asked him softly.
He nodded and gave me a soft smile, but his eyes were still filled with pain. I lent down and kissed his forehead. "Make sure you eat too." He said, his voice rough from crying.
I smiled at him. Even with everything he's going through he still takes care of me. I stood up and walked into the kitchen. Lindsey was leaning against the counter with a worried look on her face.
"How's Reece?" She asked.
"Better than he was." I replied with a soft smile.
She nodded in response. "Are you both hungry?"
"Yeah, I came to get him some food." I replied.
"There's some leftover dinner in the fridge, would you like me to hear it up for you?" She asked.
"Yes please." I said gratefully.
Lyndsey heated up the leftover spaghetti and handed two bowls to me. I thanked her and took them over to where Reece was lying on the couch. He sat up and let me slide in next to him. He cuddled up to me instantly. I handed him his bowl of spaghetti.
"Eat as much as you can for me baby."I said, keeping my voice soft before kissing his head.
Reece and I finished quite quickly, I don't think either of us realised how hungry we were. After a few minutes of cuddling, Reece was almost asleep in my arms again. I scooped him up in my arms. He buried his face in the crook of my neck as I carried him back into his bedroom. I laid him down on his be and wrapped him up in the sheets.
"Will you be okay if I leave for a second?" I asked him softly.
He nodded with a small smile. I brushed the hair out of his face before I left. I quickly went downstairs and cleaned up the dished we'd left before going back upstairs and went to the bathroom. When I came back, Reece was still lying in the same spot with his eyes open.
"Go home, G." Reece said quietly.
"I'm not leaving you, baby." I said as I sat down on the bed next to him.
"You got a message and I know I shouldn't've looked at it-"
"I don't care if you look at a message. You could go through my entire phone and I wouldn't mind, I don't have anything to hide from you." I interrupted.
Reece smiled. "Well I looked at it and it was from your mum, she's angry that you're not home."
"I don't care if she's angry with me, I'm not leaving you like this, I already promised you and you know I don't break promises." I said. Reece opened his mouth to protest, but I spoke before he could. "It isn't up for debate. I'm staying, end of discussion." I added before I pulled my jeans off and pulled on sweatpants.
I climbed in bed and pulled Reece into my chest. Reece fisted his hands in my t-shirt and cuddled right into me. He fell asleep pretty fast, but I was too worried about him so I couldn't sleep. I laid there, stroking his hair, kissing him softly every now and then, anything I could do to hopefully prevent a nightmare. A few minutes later I could see Reece was starting to sweat. I pulled the sheets off him. I was praying it wasn't another nightmare. His breathing started to speed up and he started to move around uneasily.
"No no no no no no." I said as I quickly sat up. I started to lightly shake him. "Reecey. Baby, I need you to wake up for me. Please baby. C'mon, Reece wake up for me." I said softly as I started to shake him a little harder, still careful to not hurt him.
Tears were streaming out of his closed eyes. All of a sudden he jumped awake screaming. He freaked out even more when he saw me. "Stay away from me!" He yelled as he curled up in a tight ball against the headboard. "Please don't hurt me, please." He pleaded.
My heart was shattering into pieces. This is what he was going through all by himself? I felt terrible. Seeing him like this kills me.
I put my hands up to show I wouldn't hurt him. "Baby it's me, Georgie. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." I said, keeping my voice soft and steady.
"George?" He asked slowly. The tone in his voice was something I'd never heard before. It was a tone of pure terror.
"Yeah Reecey, it's me." I said softly but reassuringly.
Reece dived into my arms and burst into tears again. I wrapped my arms around him and ran my hands up and down his back soothingly. It took ten minutes, but he calmed down. He cuddled in close and about another half an hour later, he was asleep again. Again, I didn't fall asleep. I stayed up the rest of the night to make sure he stayed sleeping. It was ten when he woke up. He looked exhausted.
"Morning baby." I whispered before placing a kiss on his forehead.
"Morning." Reece said with a small smile.
"How're you feeling?" I asked him.
"You want the truth?" Reece questioned.
"Always."
"Like shit." He replied.
I brushed the hair out of his face and kissed his forehead again. Reece pushed himself up so he was in a sitting position.
"I need to tell you everything." He said.
"Are you sure you're ready?" I asked. I didn't want him to tell me because he felt pressured to, I had to make sure he was doing it for the right reasons.
"Yeah, yeah I am." Reece replied.
I sat up so I was sitting in front of him. I reached out and took both his hands in mine. "If at any point it gets too much, you need to stop okay?"
Reece nodded. He took a deep breath before he started speaking. "At the second school I was at, I was out on a walk, playing on my phone, same as usual. I thought I heard a noise behind me so I turned around. There was no one there. I though I'd imagined it so I continued on and didn't think twice about it. A few minutes later I felt something hit the back of my head hard. I fell to the ground and everything went black. I'm not sure how long I was out for, but I woke up in a small shipping container. I stood up and immediately went dizzy, a headache had started too. I put my hand to the back of my head and it was wet. I pulled my hand away and saw it was covered in blood. It was dark, but I could see a small pool of blood where I had been laying on the floor. The memory of what happened came flooding back in, making the headache worse. I checked my pocket for my phone, but it was gone. I went to the door of the container but of course, it wasn't open. I'd skipped breakfast and I hadn't had water either that morning so I was starving and thirsty. I started banging on the container door and screaming out for help but it was a Sunday, no one would be at the dock. I continued until my hands were all bloodied and bruised and I could no longer talk properly. On top of the concussion I had, being dehydrated and starving, there wasn't much air getting into the container, therefore not into my blood either. I developed hypoxemia. Basically, I had low oxygen on top of everything else. Throwing that into the mix, I began hallucinating. At the time I didn't realise I was hallucinating. I saw someone. He had a black hoodie on and an axe in his hand. He was standing in the corner staring at me. I screamed. I didn't stop screaming. I was screaming for help, screaming for him to not hurt me, and just screaming out of fear. He started walking closer to me. I ended up collapsing and passing out from all my symptoms. I woke up again when I was being wheeled into the ambulance. I kept going in and out of consciousness on the way to the hospital. When I woke up again, I was in the hospital with things attached to me. I panicked and tried to rip them off, but someone stopped me. I soon realised it was my mum. The doctor came in and explained what was wrong with me. I was severely dehydrated, I had hypoxemia, I had a concussion, there were twelve stitches in the back of my head and I broke two ribs from collapsing. I knew it was Justin, but no one believed me. The cops investigated, but it looked like an accident so he got away with it. He got away with almost murdering me. If the worker hadn't left something at the dock – that Justin's dad owned I might add – or heard my screams, I would've died. The doctor said that I was lucky to have survived that long. That's what replays in my nightmares every night. Once I finally got out, my parents made me go back to school. I walked through the doors and saw Justin. He had the same smug look on his face as usual. I couldn't stop myself, I went over to him and started beating him up. He ended up pretty messed up by the time someone pulled me off him. The principal saw the whole thing and expelled me. That's when I got sent to the private all boys school. My parents didn't understand that I wasn't ready to go back. I lied about how long I was there. The football tryouts were on my second day and I got expelled on my third. All I did was push him, but I lost my temper. They finally realised I wasn't ready, so they let me have six months off school while they found me a new one. That's why I'm in the same year as you even though I'm a year older, I missed so much work that I had to repeat. I thought the nightmares would go away, but they never did. They stopped for awhile, but started back up again and haven't left for long since." Reece explained. He was emotionless as he spoke. The only way I could tell how he was feeling was through his eyes. He wasn't crying or anything, there was no sign that he was fearful, upset, or lost, only in his eyes.
"Reece, are you okay?" I asked, my voice cracking at the end. He may not have been, but I was crying.
"No, I don't think I am." He said before letting everything go again.
I pulled him in and let his tears soak into my shirt. After awhile he pulled back.
"I-I think I needed to hit rock bottom before I could build myself back up, before I could tell you what happened, and before I could move on. But now, with you by my side, I can pick everything up piece by piece and finally move on. I'm so grateful you helped me before I-" Reece said, but froze. "Before I ended everything. Thank you, George."
He was still a little teary, but he now had a little bit of hope in his eyes, something I hadn't seen in a long time.
"You never have to thank me, baby. I'm so proud of you." I said, whispering the last part.
I pulled him in and laid us back down. I wanted to cuddle him until he felt whole again. I held Reece close and comforted him for what felt like hours. I let him cry into my chest until he had no more tears left to cry. I don't think there's a single tear left in his body. My shirt is completely soaked with tears, but I didn't mind in the slightest. I was a little worried it would make him cold though. Reece rolled off me and stretched.
"How're you feeling baby?" I asked, putting my hand on his cheek.
"Like a weight has been lifted off my chest." He said as he lent into my touch. "I've never told anyone the full story."
"I've never been more proud of you," I replied before kissing him softly. "Thank you, Reece, thank you for trusting me enough to tell me and to show your emotions. I can't even imagine how hard that would've been for you. You're the bravest person I have ever met."
"No, thank you. Thank you for listening and knowing when I need to be pushed and when I don't. You understand me better than I understand myself. Thank you for giving me the encouragement and confidence to open up, I would never have done it without you. I thought I could never move on from this, but now with you by my side, I know I can. So thank you, George. You mean the world and so much more to me." Reece poured his heart out.
I leant in again and pressed my lips against his, it captured all the words we couldn't speak, all the emotions we couldn't show, and all the love we would ever have for each other. It was soft and simple, but it was the best kiss we've ever shared.
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A/N - 70 chapters later, you finally know what happened to Reece. A little later in I'll explain why the cops thought it was an accident, but for now this is all you'll get ;). Hope y'all have a good week! xxx