Pain - A TommyInnit Angst

Chapter 30

The light blinded Tommy's eyes; part of him prayed for the darkness to return. He was filled with sickening terror as he realised that he was surrounded by people; as if on instinct he began to cower, whimpering and begging under his breath. What had happened? Derick must have come back for him; he was sure to be killed soon. His whimpers turned into shaky sobs and he felt hands on his shoulders and arms. He tried to jerk away, anticipating the fist that would surely soon fly into his face. He felt himself topple over and smash into the floor, and felt a stinging ripping sensation in his arm. They were hurting him. He buried his face into his arms in an attempt to protect himself.

'Please, p-please let me go, I'll d-do anything, please-'

'Toms, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise.'

Tommy froze, terrified that this was some kind of trick. How could Wilbur be there? He didn't know where he was; the only person who knew was Derick. So he continued to cower, convinced that he would soon feel the sting of a knife, the ache of a punch, the force of a hand dragging him.

But he felt nothing but the comforting sensation of a hand gently stroking in circles on his back. He flinched away at first, but eventually relaxed into it, allowing himself to let out choking sobs. Eventually, he slowly raised his head and turned around to see Wilbur's face, his eyes rife with worry. Tommy didn't move; he just sat there taking in every detail of the face he had been so certain he would never see again.

'I... I'm so sorry Wil.' Tommy said, his voice still raspy from bruising and swelling.

'Tommy, no. This wasn't your fault.' Wilbur leaned in and wrapped his arms around Tommy in an attempt to pull him into a hug, but Tommy shrieked and jolted away, his eyes tightly closed, breathing rapidly.

'Shit, I'm so sorry Tommy, I s-should have asked if that was okay.' Wilbur stuttered, shaking slightly from the shock.

Tommy just shook his head, trying not to think about how Derick had wrapped his hands around him when he took him, and how he had been stuck in that sack with no food, no light and no company for almost a week. He never wanted to be in a constricted space again, not even in an embrace.

• • •

Tommy had barely spoken, but he was grateful that Wilbur was trying to bring back normality as much as possible by discussing things completely unrelated to the situation. A few police officers had requested to speak to Tommy but Wilbur had immediately shot them down. Part of Tommy felt embarrassed that he was so dependent on Wilbur, but a larger part of him was deeply comforted; nobody had ever cared about him or protected him like this before.

But nonetheless, he was still deeply on edge; every noise made him jump, every touch made him flinch. He couldn't even lie underneath the duvet of his hospital bed without feeling claustrophobic and panicky. Every time he closed his eyes to try and sleep, he felt as if he were trapped in the sack. He was hooked up to numerous tubes and IVs, including a feeding tube because he was so dangerously malnourished.

Even so, he wanted to talk to Wilbur; he was terrified, but he had no idea what had happened and the thing that scared him most was the idea of Derick still being out there.

'Wil?' Tommy called quietly.

Wilbur looked up. 'You okay?'

'Yeah. Can we talk?' Tommy swallowed, his throat already aching from speaking.

'Of course,' Wilbur replied, 'Do you wanna talk about what happened?'

Tommy nodded. 'I don't know where to start. Do... do they know who... who did it?'

'Yeah, he came to the station and confessed. That's how they found you, because he told them the general area he left you.'

'He's locked up?' Tommy whispered.

'Yeah, he's never gonna come out. He confessed to murder, Toms, because... he thought he had killed you. He's not gonna win that court case, they have his confession.'

'So... I won't have to testify or anything, right?'

'No, you won't. He's already confessed to everything, so you don't need to worry about that.'

Tommy shakily sighed in relief, but his eyes quickly filled up with tears. 'I was just getting better, Wilbur. And now I feel like I'm back where I started. I'm so scared. I'm so fucking scared.'

Wilbur silently cursed at himself, but he couldn't hold in his tears. This boy had been through so much in such a short amount of time; he had quite literally been stripped of his childhood.

'I'm sorry Tommy.' He choked. 'If I'd picked you up, none of this would have happened, I'm so fucking sorry.'

Tommy shook his head. 'It's not your fault, Wil. I was getting better, and I wanted to do something by myself for once, b-because... because I thought it would make me f-feel better, but-' He couldn't continue; he broke down into sobs. He wanted to hug Wilbur but he was too scared, too uncomfortable with the idea of being in such a small space.

He had thought that his parents had taken everything from him, but Derick took everything he had worked so hard to build back up.

A/N This is the last of my pre-written chapters but I'm off school now and all my exams have finished so I'm trying to write as much as I can so hopefully I'll be able to keep up with regular updates. Ily all, and a vote would be much appreciated <3