"Hey, asshole." he forced me backwards, and then fused another fist with my face. "You have fun with her? Hope it was worth it."
I hadn't planned on fighting back. Kylie was watching, and I wasn't going to inflict pain on someone she loved. If that meant me receiving pain, then I would have if it was for her. I would have done anything if it was for her. Sure, some could call that blind, or dumb even, but I loved her with everything I had left in me. If that was blind or dumb, then I would have gladly been called either of those a thousand times over.
Yet, there I was. I was getting beaten blind by her brother, all for the sake of loving this girl. Truly, I was idiotic, and I was blind when it came to Kylie. I would kill, and I would be killed for her - I would leave with her, and I would stay with her - I would run with her and I would hide with her. Kylie had been the person that made smile, she had been the person that made me feel something. She had made me feel like I was a someone and not a something.
"She's always worth it." I smirked.
"Fine." he looked back at what I assumed were his friends. "Want in? Do whatever, just don't kill him."
Watching as he moved out of the way, a group of four guys came across the lot and circled around me while more strangers hesitantly watched. If he hadn't been involved, I was ready to go down swinging. I was going to keep fighting until I had been the last one standing. There had been no way that I was going to embarrass myself in front of Kylie. If I wasn't going to win, then I was going to at least take a few with me - even if I died trying.
Looking at the guy straight ahead of me, I threw a errant fist and entirely missed. As I had fallen forward, I was kicked in the back and ate the ground for dinner. What came next had been a flurry of kicking, hitting, and bashing. Piece by piece, I was breaking apart, but that hadn't been much to me. What had hurt was hearing her crying - screaming as loud as her lungs would allow.
"Jamie! Stop them!" I had only been able to hear Kylie. "They're going to fucking kill him!"
Sirens had begun to roar through the night sky. "Shit, someone called the pigs!"
Just like a pack of cockroaches, they had vanished away into the night. The next thing I had known, however, was Kylie on top of me - nearly choking me to death. It had been so fucking painful, down to even moving a finger. My whole body felt like it was broken in half and then shattered like glass by a life-sized sledgehammer. It hurt like I never hurt before, but it had been tolerable because of Kylie. She was likely my only reason for staying conscious.
"...I h-hate them." I could feel Kylie's tremble in my chest.
Stupidly, I had begun to push myself up. The pain stabbed and stabbed like a box of tacks had spilled within my body. Kylie's hand pressed against my back as she had helped me up, but all I felt was the blood running down from my head and the taste of iron in my mouth.
"...Why are you smiling?" her voice had matched her expression, confused and unsure, angry and sad. "They could've killed you...and you're seriously fucking smiling?"
"I'm not happy. Not even close." I took a breath and had quite clearly felt something stabbing me inside of my body.
"Then why?"
"...I'm just glad I could say goodbye."
+++++
Where am I? It's bright...and happy?
It's empty. My room, it's empty. The walls are white and nothing but me is inside of it. Nothing of me had existed in this room that was mine. What was this? Had it been a dream? Walking through the open door, things had become normal looking. My mom's room was full, and everything else was fully furnished. Yet, nothing of me had existed. Not a single picture, not a single mention of my name.
Had this been death showing me what life would have looked like had I not existed? What was the point in that? Clearly the world would have been a better place. All I was good at was having a part in fucking things up, myself included. Maybe not existing would have made Kylie's life that much easier to deal with.
"Hey, Honey." she came out of the kitchen, a child following her.
"Daddy!" the young child screeched.
"Hi, Vanessa! How was Kindergarten?" he asked.
So, he had stayed around and taken another job? They had a girl instead of a boy? They actually got along? Had I been the cause of so much pain and hardship for them? What had been so different that it cause this result? Go figure, I suppose. I had been a magnet for disasters, and anyone who stayed close would feel the repercussions. What was this unfairness? Why hadn't I been able to grow up like this?
Stop. Stop. Stop...Let this fucking end.
+++++
Rocketing upwards, I had found myself in a hospital bed and sweating buckets as my hair clung to my head. Where was everyone, Kylie? Where was my stuff? As I tried to get out of the bed, the wires that had been hooked up to me had pulled me back and caused me to slip onto my knees - sending shockwaves of pain through my ankle - apparently enough to make a nurse come in.
"Fuck." I ripped a few of the wires off.
"Are you crazy, trying to walk..." her gibberish had all but faded to the back of my head
Kylie had probably been taken home by her father or the police, if I wanted to think realistically. What if I hadn't wanted to think realistically? What if wanted to hope that she was still here with me? Why couldn't I be the one with hope, or happiness, or even something to look forward to for once? Why was it always me? Why did I always end up with the worst end of any situation?
Why am I always the one who loses everything he loves?
Why was it that everything I loved left me, or ended up hating me? My father, my mother, even all of my "friends" had left me. When would Kylie decide to leave me for something bigger and better, someone bigger and better, someone who actually deserved her? I had known it all along, that at some point we would have gotten caught and that would have been the end of it all. The end of us, and the end of my happiness.
"A..Aid...Aiden!" I had been brought back to reality as I looked up to see Kylie knelt on the floor in front of me.
"...Why are you still here?" I asked, still in something along the lines of shock.
"I'm not going anywhere without you. Especially if it's my dad saying it." Kylie helped the nurse sit me back on the bed, and then nodded at the nurse. "We have to go back, but...I'm not going to let them take us apart."
Would this cheesy reenactment of Romeo and Juliet work out? Would Kylie and I get the happy ending they never had? Probably not. Who was I trying kid? It was me, of all people. I should have expected this all from the get-go; pain, hurt, and letting go. That had been my life up to that point, and there had been no way I saw it changing. It had felt like we had finally hit our wall.
"But I should." I answered, looking away. "Something else is just going to happen. If it wasn-"
"That's like saying there's no point in falling in love if you can't feel the pain." Kylie interrupted me by putting a palm over my mouth. "I feel every bit of pain that you do, Aiden. We're together because we're the only ones who can understand each other's bullshit and problems, right?"
She was right, somewhat. Love would have been better if you couldn't feel the pain that came with it, always. Pain brought nothing but misery, and misery brought nothing but pain. They were evil twin sisters playing volleyball with people's emotions, bouncing them back and forth between the two.
Had we been the only ones that understood our problems, or had that been our childish, love-fueled minds making that up for us? Which had it been? Obviously the former had been the better one, but had it been the true one, or had we just been kids playing the game of life with each other - fooling our own young minds into thinking that this had been fated, meant to be?
"Right." I had looked away from her. "I just get the feeling this isn't over."
"Who cares?" Kylie state confidently. "There are people who support us, you know. Maggie, Mack, and even Hurricane, maybe. They all care about you and me, and the both of us. Even if it's not over, we'll just keep fighting like we always have. Just like always."
Taking a deep breath, I sighed the air back out. "When will enough fighting be enough? When are we going to win?"
"When we turn sixteen." Kylie answered. "We can legally move away at sixteen, and there isn't anything they can do."
Had Kylie actually looked into that? I had been a fool to think that she had been ready to let this go, and I had been even more of one when I thought of letting it end. I was so dead set on not leaving Kylie that I had been willing to be beaten to death, yet I lied in this room questioning everything afterwards? I told myself all of those things about Kylie, but had I meant them? Of course I did, but something was going to give - and soon. Would it be us that would give, or would it be the very thing in our way - her family?
Kylie took my hands, and then pressed her forehead softly against mine. She remained quiet for a few moments, her soft breathing bouncing off of my face - a scent of mint and some sort of berry had drifted into my nostrils.
"By the way, don't you ever say goodbye to me again."
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