The Other Side - A Boys of Tommen Fanfic

Chapter 31- Fight or Flight

Marci

I was sat on the cold tiles of the kitchen, my knees tucked to my chest as I felt a stream of blood dribble from my nose to my lip. I gently wiped it with my arm, withholding a sob as the stream resumed and the crimson blood streaked across my hand.

aw fuzznuts

The floor creaked as my brother sped back into the kitchen, his movements urgent as he hooked his hands underneath my armpits and lifted me onto the kitchen table, murmuring apologies at my groans of pain.

"Where does it hurt Marci?" my brother asked, wetting a dish rat in the sink.

"Nowhere, I'm fine" I lied, trying to scramble from the table but failing when Joey pushed me back up and began dabbing my bleeding nose with the dish rag.

"Marcella." he said sternly, lifting my chin and forcing me to look in his eyes. "Where does it hurt?"

"My tummy" I mumbled in defeat, and Joey lifted the bottom of my shirt, revealing my rapidly bruising skin.

I knew it was bad when he grimaced at the sight.

"Shit Marc' I'm so sorry, I should have been here" he apologized as he gently laid me down on the table.

"Y-you had w-work" I stammered, still holding back my tears. "You c-couldn't have known he'd c-come b-back"

I hissed in pain as Joey laid a bag of frozen peas over my bare stomach, the gentle impact causing unimaginable pain to fill my belly.

"S-Shan is okay" I assured him, mainly to distract me from my pain. "S-she's in our r-room".

"Good job, but listen to me now Marc'. The next time that our dad- or anyone- tries to hurt you, run. Run in the other direction. Don't be like me Marci- don't be a fighter. Be a survivor like Shannon, don't try to protect others, just protect yourself. This empathy of yours is gonna bite you in the ass someday, and I wanna stop it while I still can." My brother told me, moving the frozen bag off of me and pressing around my stomach to check for broken ribs, a routine that had become all too familiar in the past months since Darren left and everything went downhill.

"No more fighting like me, be like Shannon, run. I'll be the fight so you can be the flight." he whispered as he kissed me on the cheek and pressed a little bit harder on a rib that was definitely broken.

No matter how many times Joey gave me this talk, I just couldn't listen. No matter how much he preached to me about self preservation, everybody else would always matter more.

My brother and I shared the same fatal flaw.

We were protectors.

We took the hits

and we always would

Because I would rather suffer infinitely than be responsible for someone else's suffering.

I would take hundreds of blows, just to keep them from my family's backs.

And I think Joey knew that.

★・・・・・・★

I woke up to the sound of screaming, which wasn't particularly unusual for me.

What was unusual was the fact that I wasn't in my bed, and it wasn't my screams waking me.

My sister shot straight up from her spot on the couch, whipping around to look at the scene of the screaming in a panic.