10 Years Ago Today

Chapter 6

Leon opened the door to his apartment and Nate made a face, looking at the scattered beer bottles and can mixed with whiskey bottles.

"How much do you drink?"

"A lot." Leon said, shutting the door. "I'll clean up... The extra bedroom is down the hall. It should be fairly clean. Venus usually cleans up after herself and I hardly ever go in there so..."

"Who's Venus?"

"My on/off girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend who can handle your... issue." Nate asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Yes. You're a cynical little dick, aren't you?" Leon growled, ready to strangle his brother.

"I've always been this way. I guess you just forgot."

"I guess so. The bathroom's on the left. I'll get you some sleep clothes... Are you hungry-"

"NO!" Nate screamed abruptly. Leon blinked at him as Nate rubbed the back of his neck. "I- I mean... yes... Yes, I'm hungry."

"I probably should have asked you earlier to get you something on the way home but... I got ramen?"

"Ramen sounds... awesome, actually. Do you have any towels?"

"They are in the linen closet in the bathroom. I'll put the clothes on the bed. Sorry about the length of them. They'll probably swallow you up since they'd be my stuff so..."

Nate nodded and headed to the bathroom as Leon went to the kitchen and grabbed a trash bag, starting to pick up the place.

*************************

Nate turned on the shower and looked at his image in the mirror. He looked the same as he did when he left... until a shimmer came over him and he recoiled quickly from the mirror. Bruises, cuts, and gashes appeared all over his body and he looked at his face and arms in confusion and fear.

"Maaaa------ossss" a creepy disembodied voice echoed in a language he didn't know.

Nate turned around when he suddenly saw two figures standing in front of him. He screamed in horror, throwing his arms over his head and cowering in the corner.

"Ham dialyen poeka thamarj aapseis!"

The door swung open and Leon came in, looking around with a broken beer bottle in hand.

"What's going on?! What's wrong?!" He looked down and saw Nate shivering in the corner, the marks all over him. "Oh my god... What happened to you?"

Leon reached out his hand to touch his brother but Nate screamed again, covering his head in terror.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" he screamed.

Leon threw his arms up in surrender. "Not touching!" Even though he couldn't touch him, he still looked him over, trying to figure out what happened. "What happened though? You were fine just a few minutes ago..."

"GO AWAY!" Nate yelled, starting to sob. "Please..."

"Okay..."

Leon slowly turned to leave when he felt something touch his pant leg.

"Wait... wait, I'm sorry. I'm sorry... Please don't leave me here." Nate said pitifully.

Leon sighed and closed the door, kneeling beside his brother. Nate looked at him with a tear-stained face, bruises on his cheeks and scratches all over.

"What's going on?" Leon asked softly.

"The... the fairies... I escaped but- but-"

"I see..." Leon said, running his fingers through his hair.