Angel (Damiano David & Victoria De Angelis)

Chapter 12

Finally, she turned around, realizing that the others had rushed to their side as well. Everyone was shouting stuff and Damiano was standing in the middle of it, shaking and desperately trying to cover up his arms while more and more tears made their way down his cheeks. She should have never brought him here...she had thought it would be good for him to get out of the house for a while. Clearly that had been the wrong decision but she would have never guessed that people would actually do something like that...usually they were brave on the internet and just pathetic in real life. She made her way towards him, ignoring all the shouting voices around her. She just pulled him into a hug, holding him close. "I've got you...I've got you, Angel...", she whispered so only he could hear it. He didn't react to it, just clinging onto her. He was breathing extremely irregularly and his body was shaking uncontrollably. She needed to get him out of there. She took her scarf off, wrapping it around him...it was pretty see-through but it was better than nothing. "Come on...", she had one of her arms wrapped around his waist while guiding him outside. Her mother wanted to do the same but Victoria just shook her head because she had no idea how he would react to being touched by someone else. Outside the store people were staring at them...that was the downside of being famous. "What the fuck are you looking at?!", she barked at them, pushing through the crowd to get him away from all the people.

Suddenly she was pulled aside by a pink haired woman...she was probably in her mid twenties and immediately, Victoria was ready to fight again, though that wasn't needed: "Come on...follow me. If we take this way you can stay away from the crowd.", she explained and started walking off into a small alley. She didn't know if it was a good idea but she still decided to follow her because at least they were away from all the people. Mid way through the alley, they had to stop though. Damiano was falling apart completely. As soon as they stopped walking, he sank down on the ground, hugging his knees and hiding his face. She could understand that...he had been doing at least a little better but that incident had thrown him back into this deep black hole. She kneeled down in front of him, Ethan and Thomas next to her. Thomas took off his jacket, carefully wrapping it around his shoulders: "Here...that'll give you some protection." She was thankful for that but she knew that this wasn't the right place to try to calm him down...they needed privacy. "Angel...Angel, I need you to get up. We need to go home, okay?" He didn't react whatsoever, so she turned to Ethan: "I don't know how he's gonna react but I need you to help me pull him up and getting him to the car." He nodded and they pulled him to his feet. Thankfully, he didn't panic but he also didn't really react at all. It was as if he was just an empty shell of what he had once been. They basically dragged him to the car. Just before they were about to leave, the woman who had showed them the way held Victoria back: "I just wanted to say: I believe you guys. I'll always have your back and I'm always trying to report inappropriate posts or comments but sadly, there are too many. What I really wanna say is: Please, take good care of him. It's obvious how much he needs you." After that, she walked away without giving Victoria a chance to answer and thank her.

The car ride home was horrible. Damiano was completely broken, not speaking at all. Instead he was staring at the teardrops that constantly splashed onto his shaking hands. His mother didn't make the situation better either, constantly telling him to stop crying...to man up. "See, that's what you get for having cuts on your arms. People are gonna think you want to be a girl...cuts on your arms, constantly crying and saying that you've been raped. Just wake up, boy...those are things that happen to women...not men." "Just shut the fuck up, Lucinda.", Victoria said tiredly. She was exhausted, especially because she could already guess what was about to come after something like this. "What did you say to me?", Lucinda turned around, raging. Victoria took a deep breath and started speaking with a stronger voice:" I said, shut the fuck up. Your son is suffering so fucking much right now and you have the audacity to tell him to man up? How can you be so fucking insensitive? You are his mother. You should be there for him. You should hug him and comfort him...and more than anything you should believe and support him. Do you have any idea what this whole incident means?" Silence. "Exactly. You have no fucking clue because you weren't there the whole time. But I was and I know what this means for him, for his well being, for his mental health and for me. This means, that I will have to feed him and wash him and cuddle him...it means that every minute of my whole day evolves around him. It means that I will have to stay alert even at night, so he doesn't go and hurt himself badly after a horrible dream. And it means that I will have to live every single fucking second in fear of having him try to commit suicide...of finding him dead when I leave for too long. And you know why I endure it? Do you know why I am not complaining or why I can even say I have come to like doing this? It's because I love him unconditionally and I would rather die myself than see him go through this shit alone. I am exhausted, Lucinda...I really am. Emotionally and physically because for more than 2 months, I have done nothing else than take care of your son. You have no fucking idea how many times I have cleaned him up when he was bleeding...how many times I soothed him back to sleep when he was having a panic attack at night and how many times I couldn't hold it back and had to cry with him. You don't know any of this. I am going through hell everyday, seeing him suffer like that and I would do it for the rest of my life if that means that I can eventually see a smile on his face that lasts longer than just a few minutes. So, before you ever say anything about this situation again, think about all of this and then think about what you have done for him in the past months. You might be too ignorant to see but with every word you shoot at him, you are breaking him even more. And by doing that you are lowering my chances of ever seeing him happy again. Think about that...because by now, I probably love him more than you ever will."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

First of all, I am so sorry for not updating yesterday. I was extremely busy but I promise, soon I will have more time again. Anyway, here is the new chapter :)

What do you think about the supportive fan? What do you think about his mother? Will she eventually be there for him or is it going to stay like this? And what do you think about Victoria's speech in the car? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

- Thalia