Yellow (boyxboy)

Care

    Le small time skip    

(Seth P.O.V  this is new) p.s remember that Seth is 12 so his perspective is of a younger person

  A crash startled me awake. I woke up drenched to the bone in my own sweat. I tried to grope for my bed sheets in an attempt to make out my surroundings, but the street lights shined feebly through the windows, blinding me. I was breathing short, heavy breaths. Sweat beads ran down my face and hands. I looked around the room, wide eyed, making sure I was in my room. Safe in bed. Then came the yelling.  A deep man's voice bellowed from downstairs, making me flinch in fear. 

"Get up bitch!" What are you too pathetic to even stand?!?"

Sighing sadly, I curled up into my bed, clutching my blankets in an attempt to drown out the sounds. I heard this almost every night, ever since Ms. Ford started dating Johnny a couple months ago. At least he was predictable and followed the same routine everyday. Johnny would go out. He would get drunk. He would come home. He would get angry. He took it out on Ms. Ford and Alex. Mostly Alex... I would hear every impact, every cry of pain, every scream for mercy, and every insult that Johnny spit at Alex while his boots and fists connected with my sibling's already bruised skin. After a few minutes of quiet, I peaked out from my haven of covers to check the time on my alarm clock. It was already one in the morning, meaning that Alex's punishment must have been going on for over an hour since the "routine" that Johnny followed included getting home around midnight and then immediately finding him. I turned away from the clock, choosing to stare at the empty and unkempt bed across from me. My foster sibling hadn't slept in his bed for almost a month now, instead he'd taken to sleeping on the couch in the living room. 

When I asked him why he left our room he simply responded, " I don't want Johnny to go anywhere near you... I don't want him coming into our room to come find me and finding you there as well. I won't let him hurt you. Never again." These days Alex was looking worse for wear. He wasn't taking care of himself. He wouldn't eat, no matter how much I coaxed him to. My brother would merely shrug and say that he wasn't hungry or that he didn't feel up to it. Alex was getting weaker with each passing day. His already pale skin was almost translucent and glowed sickly. He was getting skinnier too. A little while ago, I accidentally walked in on him changing. Despite the initial awkwardness and shock of walking in on my foster brother while he switched shirts, I noticed that he was alarmingly skinny. Alex's ribs were visible, as was is spine and a large assortment of bruises could be seen on his back. Thankfully he didn't notice me and I was able to escape the intrusion unnoticed but that didn't mean that the horrid image left my mind. 

Throughout the first few weeks since the first incident with Johnny, Alex remained defiant, cocky even, but now a month later he's gone quiet and takes the beatings without so much as a word or whimper of distress. He doesn't even scream. He doesn't cry... but to me that means Alex hasn't completely broken yet. 

My thoughts drifted as I realized just how tired I was. Tired of everything....

Hours later, I woke up with a start. The morning seemed clouded and as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and peaked through the window to conclude that it was raining. Perfect start to the morning. I was still tired to say the least, my racing mind kept me up for a majority of the night. I sat up in my bed, pinching the bridge of my nose to help me focus. Once again I checked my clock to see that it was still early, only around six- thirty a.m. I got up with a sigh, and stretched before promptly beginning my day. I made my way towards my closet, I had already chosen to change into jeans and a comfortable T-shirt. As I dressed, my eyes shifted towards the empty bed across from me and was instantly pulled into a memory.

(Flashback)

"Hey Seth?"

I cautiously lifted my eyes up from my comic book to acknowledge my foster brother's question. We sat in our shared bedroom, lounging on our separate beds. Alex had only been at the Ford's for a couple of weeks but he'd already established himself as the oldest and leader of the siblings. He was nice. Nicer than the other older boys that Seth had to deal with in past homes. They'd beat him up, lock him in the closet, or blame him for all their mistakes. But Alex was different. He'd help him with homework, watch TV with him, make sure that he was doing okay.