I hear a loud, really annoying beeping, and disappointment fills my mind. A hospital, of course. I don't need to open my eyes to know that's where I am.
Why am I not dead? I want to be dead! Why did someone have to find me?
Not just someone either. Right when I try to die, Dad has to reappear in my life.
What a cliche.
Do I feel happy that Dad's back in my life? Mad that he never tried to contact me? I don't know. I missed him. I wanted him to come back because maybe we could all be happy again. But that's not how life works.
Now, I just feel... Empty.
I sigh softly, keeping my eyes closed and hoping to go back to sleep. My head hurts, and my ribs sting softly.
"Please, Lucas. Just let me see my son," Dad's voice pleads on the other side of the door.
"Jeremiah, he's still unconscious and recovering," replied a voice, Lucas.
He must be a doctor or nurse of some sort if he's deciding if I get visitors or not.
"Lucas, I found him bleeding out," Dad says. "It's been almost two weeks. Please, I need to see him."
"Sure, now you need to see him," Doctor Lucas mutters. "Fine, but only for a few minutes. But I'm staying with you."
I hear the door open from somewhere to the left, followed by the sounds of footsteps and the door being closed again. Someone, probably Dad, sits next to me, while Lucas (screw saying the Doctor title every time) stands somewhere in the room.
Dad takes my hand gently, thumb running softly over the back of my hand. "I'm so sorry, Skye," he whispers. "I should've gone to see you sooner."
"See, you should've listened to me," Lucas says, sounding annoyed, fed-up. "You know what, screw professionalism, I'm telling you this as your boyfriend, not your doctor. I told you again and again to go see him, Miah, but nooo. You were too scared to face him after you just up and left. If Skye loved you, he wouldn't care that you're bi, you damn idiot."
"I... I know, I see that now," Dad mumbles. "I— What's this bruising around his neck?"
Lucas sighs. "It was a lot worse before, it's healed pretty well."
"Lucas," Dad says sternly. "What's this from?"
"Signs of attempted or uncompleted strangulation," Lucas replies. "The bruises are from two attempts, from what I've gathered, the first time smaller hands, likely a woman, and the second time likely a man. They looked to have either taken their time to start healing, or were inflicted less than two days before you found him."
Dad doesn't reply for a long moment. Then, he whispers, "who? Did they do anything else?"
"I..."
"Lucas."
"Fine, I'll drown you in guilt. You deserve it and you'd find out eventually anyway," Lucas huffs. "Where should I start? Well, Skye had three fractured - one nearly broken - ribs, bruises in various stages of healing all over, a small shard of glass in one foot, and dozens of scars, from both others and himself."
"What?!" Dad says disbelieving. He pauses. "God, I'm a terrible parent. Maybe it is better I left him with Rose."
"Your ex-wife?" Lucas asks skeptically, his tone making me imagine him with his arms crossed. "The hospital's called that home multiple times. She's picked up once, we told her Skye's here, and she said, and I quote, 'did he get an STD from whoring himself out? Fix him up and send him home, or kill him I don't care.'"
Dad doesn't reply, so Lucas continues. "We don't know who abused him like this, but we have a few suspicions, including Rose. Hopefully Skye will be able to tell us when he—"
"Dad?" says a voice I recognize as Damon's on the other side of the door. "Doctor Wolff? The nurse said you're in here."
"Yeah, I'm here," Lucas calls. The door opens then closes. "What're you doing here, Damon?"
"School over and I wanted to surprise you," Damon replies. "Hey Jer. Who's—"
Damon cuts himself off, likely having seen me. He comes rushing over, grabbing my other hand. Something hits my chest, making pain stab my ribs, a grimace appearing on my face at the unexpectedness. Since they now know I'm awake, I open my eyes slowly, blinking at the light.
Dad still looks the same. The same blonde hair that I got from him, the same blue eyes that now hold a very guilty, ashamed look. Damon, I now realize, is basically a carbon copy of his dad. They have the same dark hair and eyes, the same face shape. It's easy to tell they're related.
Looking down, I see it's Damon's head on my chest, over my heart. Feeling my movement, he looks up at my face, lifting his head.
He smiles brightly, "you are alive!"
"Damon," Lucas, Doctor Wolff scolds. "He has three fractured ribs, and was in a coma for two weeks. Be careful."
Damon's smile turns sheepish. "Oopsie." He looks at me, "so this is where you've been."
I shrug lightly, avoiding his eyes and pulling my hands from the grasps of him and Dad.
"How long were you awake?" Lucas asks. Knowing my voice won't be very good, I weakly lift one arm to point to Dad, then to Lucas, then to the door. "Since we were outside the door?" Lucas guesses, making me nod. "So you heard everything?" I nod again. "I'll ask this now because he'll be fretting over it, but are you OK with Jeremiah and I dating? With homosexual people in general?"
"Why wouldn't he be?" Damon asks, confused. "Skye's part of the rainbow too."
I notice Dad's eyes widen, while Lucas' narrow as he looks at Dad.
"All that," he says. "All that worrying about whether he'd end up hating you or not. All for nothing. Nothing, Miah. If you could've just grown a pair you could've done something sooner to protect him."
Dad looks away, ashamed.
"Wait, I'm confuzzled," Damon says.
"Jeremiah is Skye's dad," Lucas explains. "I've been trying to convince him to visit Skye for quite some time now. How do you know him, Damon?"
"Ah, remember how I mentioned Jaxon and Aaron bullying someone at school of being gay?" Damon says sheepishly. "Oh, that reminds me, Dad you might be getting a call from the school about me continuously harassing Aaron and sometimes harassing Jaxon."
I can just picture what Damon's been up to. With Aaron in all of his classes, Damon's had a lot of opportunities to make his life difficult.
"Want to explain why?" Lucas asks, raising an eyebrow.
Damon goes on to explain everything that happened the day I tried to commit suicide. The whole event at school, how he didn't notice I disappeared, and how he's been going after Jaxon and Aaron, especially Aaron, since then.
"That's... Not everything," I mumble, voice raspy.
Everyone's eyes turned to me. Hesitantly, I explain everything between Aaron and I, and everything about the day before, when Jaxon read the texts. How Aaron got my number, how we grew closer, everything.
A mixture of anger and sympathy dance on Damon's face, while Dad and Lucas look shocked.
"We all have some serious problems," Damon mumbles, referring to himself, Aaron and I. "I understand the fear about coming out, but he didn't have to go that damn far."
There's a long silence, before Lucas breaks it. "Skye, would you be willing to tell us if anything else contributed to your attempted suicide?"
"That's why you're here?!" Damon says, wide eyed.
Slowly, I nod, looking at my hands in my lap. "The bullying was half of it. Mum was the other half." As I continue, I fall into memories, the hospital room fading away. "When Dad left, I came out to her a few days later... She... Changed... Started hitting me and drinking more. She got rid of most of my things, spent most money on alcohol. I only got her leftovers and that was only if she thought I deserved it. Other than that it's been mostly small things like apples or oranges.
"The abuse got worse. I've had knives, glass bottles and plates, thrown at me. Been choked, slapped, punched. I stepped on glass a few days before I tried to die. I must've missed a shard taking them out. And Mum's started thinking of... Of using me. She tried um, grinding on me..."
"What?!" Dad and Damon both cry, while Lucas remains silent, eyes wide.
"I don't remember when I started cutting," I mumble, looking down at the stitches along my wrists, deciding to let everything come out. "After a while, crying just wasn't enough to let everything out... I've had suicide plans for months now. I was going to wait until graduation, but..." I shake my head softly, "I just stopped caring."
Before I can react, Dad's arms are around me, hugging tightly but gently, wiping away tears that I didn't notice falling down my face. My breath catches at the feeling of this oh so familiar embrace, my body tensing slightly, not really familiar with being held softly.
"I'm sorry," Dad whispers. "I'm so sorry, Skye. I love you. I love you so much. I should've done something. I..."
Dad drifts off, crying softly. I don't know what to do. What do you do when an adult is crying? Damon is crying too, whimpering to himself quietly.
"Alright, that's enough," Lucas says eventually. "Damon, suck it up, skittle, you're fine."
"I'm not fine!" Damon wails, "Ciel's been hurting and I don't want my bestie hurting and don't call me that Dad!"
Lucas rolls his eyes. "And Jeremiah, you can't change the past, so stop repeating that you should've done something. Yes, you should've gone to see Skye sooner, but you didn't, so make it right now. There's enough evidence of abuse to have custody over Skye given to you, Miah, so he can stay with us and be safe."
"Yes, he can live with us!" Damon says happily, hiccuping every so often, eyes red from crying.
A small glimmer of hope sparks in me. I can get away from Mom's abuse. Maybe living with them won't be so bad. Damon has made it clear that he truly wants to be friends with me. Dad still cares about me, a lot it seems. And Lucas seems like a nice man.
"What do you think, Skye?" Lucas asks. "Would you want to come live with us?"
I nod, knowing that I would be safe with them, they won't hurt me like Mom does. "I wouldn't be intruding?"
"Nope!" Damn says, grinning and putting an arm around my shoulders. "I want a brother, and Dad's a doctor, Jer's a veterinarian, and I'm a freeloader but money isn't a problem. You're coming home with me whether you like it or not, Ciel."
I smile softly at his contagious excitement. Dad's smiling too, and so is Lucas.
"Alright, Skittle, Miah, out so I can do a few tests," Lucas says, clapping his hands together. "Then you can come back in as long as you're calm so Skye can rest."
"Aw, but Dad," Damon whines. "I wanna help!"
"No, out you go."
"I don't wanna."
"Do you want Skye to live with us or not?"
"You wouldn't send him back to where he was living before."
"No, I wouldn't but I can take away Nicholai for a week."
Damon hesitates, debating if it's worth it. Then he pouts, gives me a quick kiss on the cheek, and follows Dad out of the room, stomping like a child.
Lucas rolls his eyes. "That kid... Has he made you his partner in cuteness crime or something like that yet?"
Smiling softly at the memory, I nod.
Lucas smiles too. "Damon's a lovable kid, and he's highly protective of those he cares about, but sometimes... Sometimes I wonder what goes on inside his head."
I laugh softly, agreeing with him.
Lucas grabs a clipboard from a nearby table, "alright, let's get started."