I'll Protect You

Chapter 24

This chapter is going to be mostly dialogue and probably all Chester's POV. But it's a super important chapter.

Chester POV
I was laying in bed staring at the wall. It happened again. Multiple times. Everytime Mike was away he'd come up to me and.........I couldn't finish my thought. I tried locking myself in my room, but that only made things worse. I had to quit my job cause I wasn't mentally stable enough to work with people all day. So, I was home a lot.

"Hey, Chazzy."

"Hmm?" I groaned.

"You've been in here all day, let's go do something." Mike rubbed my side. I cringed hard as it reminded me of certain things.

"O-okay."

I took a shower and looked at the bruises covering my hips and chest. I didn't really feel anything when I thought about it. Which scared me, a lot. I didn't really want to go anywhere, but Mike was always trying to get me to go somewhere. I didn't want to hold him back anymore than I already am.

"W-where are w-we going?"

"You'll see." Mike smiled and put his hand on my knee.

I rested my head on his shoulder as he drove. I could use a break from everything, perhaps that's what Mike was trying to do. I felt myself drift off into a much needed nap.

"Wake up, baby." Mike kissed my temple. "Time to get up, Chazzy."

"Hmm?" I opened my eyes confused. I looked around and realized we were in the middle of the forest. "Where are we?"

"Some place really special. I packed us a picnic."

"So cliché." I smiled.

Mike took my hand as we walked. This place was beautiful. The trees were at least 100 feet tall. Just enough sunlight peeked through to light up the forest. Mike and I walked for awhile before he pulled me into a different direction. Mike sat down at the edge of an amazing cliff. It seemed to never end.

"I really love this cliff."

"Yeah, it's really beautiful." I grabbed his hand again.

"I've been wanting to take you out here for awhile. You've been really distant and nervous lately so, I thought now would be a good time to take you down here. Just take a break from everything. Also I just.... what happened at the park? I know there's something you're not telling me."

I froze. I couldn't tell him, Shane would hurt him if I did. I loved Mike, meaning I had to make sure he was safe.

"I already told you. I got mugged." I smiled coyly.

"Chester, I know that's not all that happened."

"N-nothing else happened. Nothing happened." I started tearing up. This entire time I've been trying to shut out the memory of that night.

"You can tell me what happened. I promise nothing will happen." I started crying after Mike said that.

"Y-you don't k-know that. Just l-leave it a-alone."

"Chester-"

"Nothing happened!" I screamed as I had a complete mental breakdown.

Mike didn't say anything else and just held me. I just wanted everything to stop. I want the pain to stop. Everything was becoming too much again. What if Mike found out what happened? What if he found out and tried to do something? It'd be all my fault. There's nothing I could do to stop it. Everything's out of my control.

"Chester. Chester, baby, breathe. You've got to breathe." Mike rubbed my back. It was too late. I was already having a full blown panic attack.

"Try to breathe. Come on, Chester. Just focus on my voice. Nothings happening. You're just in the middle of the forest with me having a picnic. There you go, baby. Breathe, just breathe." I felt myself calming down as I listened to Mike talk.

Mike and I ate in silence. I felt bad. I felt like I ruined our evening. I sighed as I ate. Mike told me why he brought me to this specific spot. When he was fourteen he went hiking with his family. They came to this cliff and Mike thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to come out. His mom was really accepting, but his dad and brother weren't. His dad called him things like faggot, an abomination, and a disgrace to the family. Soon after his mom and dad would get into lots of arguments about it, eventually leading to there divorce. After that his dad and brother moved back to California.

I felt bad for Mike. No kid should have to go through that. Mike seemed to have a lot of resentment and anger towards his dad. Which was understandable.

"Chester!" Mike said, voice full of concern and shock.

"Yeah?"

"Y-your back. I-it's....." Mike couldn't even finish his sentence. I bit my lip as tears started silently  falling. Mike had only seen a little bit of my back.

"W-what happened?" Mike sounded mortified. I swallowed thickly, I had to tell Mike. I just had to.

"It s-started at the p-park and i-it's been happening since." I took a deep breath.

"Sh-shane's been raping me."