Re: Never Alone. (Shiori)

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"What?" Eric paused, his face paleling slightly. Letting out a quavering breath of air, that he hadn't known he had been holding in the first place, he took her hand in his, gently stroking his thumb over her palm. "Dont think about that." He whispered quietly. "Dont dwell on things of the past, things you cant change no matter how hard you wish. Focus on what comes next in life, in the future."

[Guest]

Something inside Leah snapped when he said she couldn't change it. She tore her hand away from him and said rather heatedly, staring him in the eyes, "Exactly! I can't change it now! And now I have to deal with the guilt of knowing his death may have been my fault! And that I'm never going to see him again! And that his family is never going to see him again!" Leah brought her knees up to her face and she burried her head in between her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs protectively.

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Eric flinched as she broke out in a heated rage, tearing her hand away from him, and leaving him speechless. He didn't know what he did wrong, and also didn't know how to comfort her, hardly knowing who this Micah was in the first place. Swallowing once, he looked at her, a worried expression on her face. Before, he would have wrapped her in a hug, comforted her, but now, after she had snapped, he didn't know what to do. Not wanting to touch her, he let his hands fall dejectedly to his lap, staring at his shoes.
"I'm sorry."

[Guest]

Leah bit her lip, eyes clenched tightly. She was not going to cry. Nope. Not now. As soon as she heard Eric apologize, a huge wave of guilt hit her. She sighed and opened her eyes, lifting her head up to look at him. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, not necessarily looking for comfort. "It's not your fault..." she murmured. "Sorry I snapped, you didn't deserve it."

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Eric shook his head and pushed her gently away as she tried to hug him. He wasn't mad, but merley pondering if this was really a good desision. "I deserved it.... I deserve everything that has happened to me." His voice was broken, a whole new tone that he had never shared with anyone before, in the world. Shaking his head, his eyes stared blankly at her, his face clear of emotion, just taught, unknowing.

[Guest]

Leah, not exactly feeling hurt, though maybe a bit disappointed, retreated. She folded her hands in her lap in a rejected sort of fashion before nodding quietly. When he began to speak, she shook her head, "No, you don't. Nobody deserves to be abused by their family. No one." Leah looked up into his eyes, but when she saw that it was clear of any emotion, not even a trace of sadness or anger, Leah's heart clenched painfully. Unable to hold his gaze, Leah stared at her hands, then outside. "It's getting late..." she said quietly. "I should probably get home. The dishes will need cleaning." Without another word, Leah crawled out of the space and waved in silence before walking towards her house solomnly.

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The 'meeting' hadn't gone at all the way he had hoped it would go. Eric reached out a hand to stop Leah as she crawled out, but she had already slipped through the space, starting to walk towards her home. He was in no mood to have to face his stepfather again, and sighed heavilly, dropping his chin onto his chest solomly, his dark hair falling into his eyes, but he didn't care. Camoflaged in the darkness, he sat there for a few minutes in perfect silence, his chest rising and falling with deep breathing, untill he somehow drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~

A harsh yell and a beam of a flashlight woke Eric, and he started upright, hitting his head harshly on the iron bars overhead. Confused and not quite with it, as he had just woken up, he winced as a flashlight was shone directly into his eyes.
The person holding the flashlight was unclear, but it reached a large, heavy hand down and dragged Eric out by his ear, making him wince and crawl out of the small space.
"Try to run away again!?" His stepfather (who really needs a name) sneered angrilly, before slamming a hard fist into Erics gut, holding him harshly by the collar.

[Guest]

By the time Leah had gotten home, she didn't bother crawling up into her room through the window, and instead, suffered the consequences for walking in the front door. Her mother 'grounded' her into her room. And on top of that, they barred her window shut from the outside, realizing that's how she'd gotten out before. Sighing heavily, Leah shook her head and decided it wasn't worth it to argue. On top of that, her chores had doubled, and she was up all night cleaning things, washing dishes, replacing old lightbulbs, scrubbing the bathroom floors, sinks, toilets, and showers. She was also forced to rake the leaves up from the back yard, in the middle of night, and twice she'd stared into the yellow eyes of a racoon, which had nearly scared her shitless. She was freezing cold by now, and as she glanced at the clock, she realized it was already 5 in the morning. Leah still had plenty of chores to finish, but she was almost too tired to carry on. Though fear for the consequences that would happen if she didn't finish chores before her parents woke up (30 minutes) kept her going. The whole time, however, Leah wondered how Eric was getting along, and her phone was in her jeans' pocket, hoping that he would text her.

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Eric let out a harsh cry of pain, but tried to muffle it as he felt a harsh hand around his throat, threatening to cut off his air supply. His stepfather, who's name was (err um thinking) Mike, glared at him angrily, his face inches from Eric's own. "Shut up boy, you know what this means! If you try to run away again, I'll kill you!" He let a finger slide across the teens throat, and Eric swallowed painfully, closing his eyes. He was thrown to the ground, before getting hauled up again, and getting socked in the face. Hard. He felt warm blood trickling out of his nose and running over his lips, and stumbled behind Mike as he dragged him behind him, heading back to the house where Eric knew he would get much more severe punishment.

[Guest]

Thirty minutes later, Leah had just finished, and was on her way upstairs to bed. She still hadn't heard from Eric, and she was worried she'd said something wrong and he was mad at her. She heard her parents' alarm clock go off, and frowning, she shook her head and jogged into her room, shutting the door quietly behind her and plopping down on the bed. Worried still, Leah took out her phone and texted Eric:

Hey, I'm sorry about tonight. Are you mad at me? I feel really bad for snapping at you.

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A single tear slid down his cheek, as he sat on the bed, in silence. The wall clock in the hall ticked slightly, and he watched the glowing red numbers on his bedside alarm clock shift as the time slowly progressed. His eye hurt like hell, his other cheek was split open. His shirt was torn, and bruises and bloody scrapes raked across his chest and sides. His knuckles were bloody and split, and his head hung down in silent anguish, closing his eyes in pain.
As the sound of his phone broke the silence, he leaped to his feet, his eyes wild and wide, before he realized what the noise was. Pulling out his phone, he read the text, shaking his head. He couldn't reply. Not now. Closing it, he shoved it under his covers and laid his head down on the pillow.

[Guest]

Leah waited a while for a reply, but when none came, she gave a second thought to calling him. Deciding it better not to, Leah tossed her phone onto the couch Micah had built with her, as she sat on its beanbag armrest and stared out her window, the thick iron bars that now encased it obscuring most of her vision from the rest of the world. She felt like she was a princess locked up in a tower, desperately hoping to be rescued. Sighing heavily, Leah wondered if she should see if she could find Eric's address and make sure he was okay. It sounded like a good idea to Leah, and since her parents would be gone in fifteen mintues for work, Liam would be left in charge and would take the other kids to school. So she'd be alone all day. If she could slip out of the house before her brothers and sisters woke up, she'd be free. Leah wondered why she was so worried about Eric not replying, but it worried her immensely.

[ o3O should she find his address and come over? ]

[Spritz]

(Sure, if you want. x)

The silence was deafening, and Eric tried to sleep. But it was too painful, and his limbs ached painfully when he tried to move. Groaning as he pushed himself off of the bed, he swallowed once and tried to stand, before slumping back, dejectedly on his bed. Mike had been seriously angry, and had decided to take his anger out on Eric, the only person arms distance away. His beating had been severe, even when he had tried to tell Mike that he hadn't run away at all, that he had just fallen asleep.

[Guest]

[ ehh, okay. it's worth the adventure? xD ]

Leah spent forever trying to get through to the neighborhood 'coordinator' to find Eric's address. When she finally found it, she'd almost written it down wrong, and had had to have the man repeat it. He wasn't very pleased with her, as far as she could tell. Grimacing, Leah grabbed her jacket and sneaked down the stairs, having heard her parents left about five minutes ago. With the slip of paper in her pocket, Leah set off at a brisk pace in the chilled morning air towards his house.

[Spritz]

(Ehh, yes xD)

The sound of an engine starting made Eric's heart jump in his chest, and he made his way slowly to the window, watching as Mike pulled out of the drive, speeding down the road. He failed to notice the slim figure walking down the sidewalk, and turned tired, pained eyes away from the glass, turning back to his own bed. Gingerly lying down, he let his arms spread out on either side of him, extremley tired and feeling rather oddly calm. Perhaps taking 5 pain killers at once hadn't been a good idea after all, after all.... perhaps, perhaps.............
Eric drifted into dead out unconciousness.

[Guest]

Leah grimaced as a car almost backed right over her, and she jumped back, quite pissed that the guy hadn't even apologized, just yelled at her to "get the fuck out of the way!"
Leah sighed and turned up the driveway, looking up at the house, checking the address, nodding, and continueing forward. When she reached the door, she was rather scared. She didn't know what it was going to be like in there, or if anybody would answer the door. Sighing, Leah held up her hand in a fist, and knocked on the door.

[ eh xD ]

[Spritz]

(I'm changing what Eric did)

Eric's phone was open in his hand, and unsent text message opened on the screen. It read, in these words.

It will all be over now. I'm sorry Leah.

Multiple bottles of pills were scattered around his bed, some empty, some open, thier contents spilling over the quilt. Eric was unconcious, his head pressed into his pillow, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths that were getting slower by the second.

[Guest]

[ O_O ohmigobbb!! ]

Leah read the text, and, for a minute didn't understand. When she finally did, her eyes widened and she looked around frantically.

Wait, Eric, don't. Whatever you're doing, please don't!

Leah banged on the door loudly, praying to God that maybe his mom was home. Whoever it was, they better answer quickly. Leah's heart was beating frantically at the thought of, after losing Micah, losing Eric, too. Leah frowned and waited, bouncing up and down slightly, at the doorstep, her fingers crossed.

[Spritz]

(ehh, nothing I can post.. And I know! OMG SO SAD... The door is open, so she can go right in.)

[Guest]

[ o3o ohmigobb okay D: ]

Leah frowned after nobody replied, trying the handle. To her surprise, it was open, and she nearly fell over herself when she pushed it open, seeing as she hadn't expected it to actually open. Heart thumping, Leah ran up the stairs as soon as she'd located them, staring down at the different rooms, all the doors slightly opened except for one. And it was dead quiet. Feeling herself tear up, Leah opened the door to see the mess Eric had landed himself in. She sucked in a large breath and rushed over to Eric, circling the bed and sitting on one side, gently pulling him up onto her lap, patting his face gently. "Eric, please don't be dead!"

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Hardly concious, Eric's fingers fell limp, the phone dropping to the ground. The screen cracked slightly, obscuring the words that had been written by trembling fingers. A slight shifting of the matress below him, and a faint voice in the far off distance called to him, but he was too far gone to be able to utter any sounde exept for a small, low moan, his lips cracked, face a mask of bruises and cuts.


(eep failure)

[Guest]

Leah frowned. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. The first thing that came to mind was to call 911. Fighting back tears, Leah fumbled for her cell phone, calling 911. She voiced the emergancy, gave the location, and the paramedics said they'd be there as fast as they could. Still not reassured, Leah hugged Eric close to her. "Eric, it's me, Leah! Please hold on, the paramedics are coming. They'll fix you, I promise!" Leah let a tear fall down her cheek and onto his shoulder. "Please make it..." she whispered.

[Spritz]

Fighting the heavy black blanket of unconciousness that was trying to cover him, Eric was able to hear far off words that echoed through his mind. He tried to blink, to move, to see, but all he could see was thick, fuzzy blackness that beckoned him towards it.

Sirens wailed through the air, and soon, an ambulance, followed by multiple squad cars arrived at the scene. The paramedics jumped out imedietly, unloading the stretcher and thier equiptment and entering the house, taking the stairs two at a time and bursting into the room where they saw the unconcious teen and the sobbing girl.

[Guest]

Leah patted his cheek gently, "Please say something, Eric! Don't leave me..." Leah leaned down and kissed his lips gently before simply hunching over him, tears streaming down her cheeks, staring at him as he laid helplessly in her arms. As soon as she heard the paramedics come up the stairs, she started. Leah helped them move him onto the stretched and jogged downstairs and out to the ambulence with them. They said she couldn't ride with them, but that she could meet them at the hospital. Leah nodded stiffly and began to run along the sidewalk with them, having the lack of a car of her own, all the time praying to every god she'd ever heard of that Eric would be okay. She didn't want this to end up being a Romeo and Juliette scene.

[Spritz]

(This is so sad.)

*~*~*~*~*~*
When Eric finally awoke, he was lying in a hospital bed, dressed in a white gown that fell to his ankles. Crisp white sheets were spread over his body, and an iv was inserted in his wrist. The room was white, obviously, and he blankly stared ahead, trying to remember what had happened. His lips were dry, and as he tried to mouth a word, tried to speak, they cracked open, blood trickling down his chin. He raised an arm and wiped it away, before noting he had wounds all over his body. Reeling for some piece of information to tell him what had happened, he turned his head slowly, looking way out of place in the white room, his dirty black hair caked with blood and spiked up at all angles atop his head.

(He'll remember when he sees leah)

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