Lies My Parents Told Me

Chapter Twenty-Three

Gabriel

"Sang... did you just fucking lick me?" My voice came out higher than I would like. The anxiety of trying to keep us safe and quiet making my vocal cords squeaky like a pre-teen boy. I blushed furiously glad of the darkened space so that Sang couldn't see it.

"Sorry I couldn't ask you to move it you were covering my mouth." I loosened my grip immediately. I was probably crushing her. I wasn't ready to let her go completely Raven had scared the shit out of me and I was back to being the six-year-old under the bed trying my best to protect us from the threat.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pulled you under here. Are you okay?" I was embarrassed, I had manhandled her and trapped her under a fucking bed with me when I knew that yesterday Vic had scared her by man handling her. I felt her shrug against me.

"Are you okay?" She asked deflecting like a pro. I shrugged too. Did I know that Raven's PTSD was going to cause me to have a freak out of my own? No, Trauma is sneaky like that. Was I okay with my reaction to pull her under a bed with me...? Unsure. I was embarrassed only little kids hid under their beds, but was I okay being under a bed with her...? I was after all a teenage boy. As such I was a mess of fucking emotions. Nathans feet re-appeared, and I tensed around her pulling her to my chest again. Fucking trauma. Nate is not a threat. I released her again.

"Sorry, I don't do well with threats, real or imagined." I felt her nodding.

"I don't either. Sorry about pulling you to the floor." I was so confused when I came down the stairs and saw her kneeling her chest pressed to her knees and her face blank. When she turned to look at me, I could almost taste her fear. Her eyes were almost black her pupils taking over. She moved so quickly and fiercely towards me I didn't have time to process before she was forcing me to my knees along side her.

"Sang, what did you mean when you told me to be small and it wouldn't hurt as much?" I felt her stiffen beneath me. She loosed a sigh.

"If you're small the soft parts are protected. Its mainly bones they can hit out and hurt. The smaller the target the less they hurt you. I wanted to... I wanted to keep you safe. Who the hell was he?" My heart did a weird flutter thing. She wanted to keep me safe? Me? but then my heart broke, she was trying to make me small like her, so it didn't hurt. She was used to being hurt. Kota was right. I wanted to ask her a million more things about how she knew how to be small and how often she had to be that way, but I didn't want to scare her off. I focused on what she has asked me but I struggled with how to answer her question.

"Umm he's Raven. He lived here with us. He's normally a good dude. I can't tell you a lot because its his business, but he arrived here just after me. He was eleven-ish. His family are bad news. Like really bad news. It's why the downstairs is always locked with an adult manning the desk. Most of his family are in prison but I know there are a few that are on the loose... He has a lot of PTSD and it shows up in odd overly protective ways. I shouldn't have let you pull me down he would have seen it as a threat. Plus, Kayli was there, and he is always on edge with her around." She nods again. I feel her bring her arms to her chest to wrap them around herself.

"I'm sorry he scared you. Usually he's a good guy, I have no idea what happened." She shivered.

"He called me a ghost and asked who sent me. The girl... Kayli? She said Corey warned him about how quiet I was. But he kept telling her I was a threat. She walked right up to the knife, I wanted to help her but I couldn't move, I didn't want to die..." She trailed off. I wrapped her up in my arms. Pulling her back to my chest. I needed her to know it was okay. Raven could be a scary dude. It wasn't her fault, and it wasn't his fault. It always came back down to our parent's fault, the fault of the people who were supposed to protect us. When we had to protect ourselves, we weren't rational and that didn't help anyone.