Fake Smile: A YouTuber Fanfiction

Chapter 2

Jared opened his eyes, his vision was a bit fuzzy, but he could make out that he was in a white, office like room. There was a desk with a chair, and some shelves with bottles and a couple of books. He could feel a bed under him, and he also noticed the raging pain in his head was gone, and was replaced by a dull ache.

"Jared, are you awake? Can you hear me?" Jared heard Austin's voice from the left of him then turned his head over to him.

"Austin? What happened?" Jared questioned.

"You fainted in the halls, we had to bring you to the nurse's office, you've been unconscious for about an hour. The others were here too, but eventually they had to leave." Austin informed.

"She didn't call my mother did she?" Jared inquired worriedly, referring to the nurse.

"Don't worry, I convinced her not to call her." Austin said, knowing full well that Jared wouldn't want his mom to know what happened. Jared breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." He said.

"Jared, why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell anyone about that injury?" Austin interrogated. Jared didn't say anything at first.

"I....I couldn't." He eventually replied.

"Why not?"

"I just couldn't."

"Jared, how did you get that wound?" Austin became more suspicious when Jared remained silent. "Did....did your mom do that to you?" Austin had known that his relationship with his mom wasn't great, as he knew about all the things she forced upon Jared, trying to make him 'perfect'. But he never suspected that she would go so far as to abuse him like this, but Jared's silence seemed to confirm that it was true.

"I....I have to go." Jared said, getting off the bed and walking out the door.

"Jared wait, she's been abusing you hasn't she? Your shoulder, I barely touched it and it hurt you. What has she been doing to you?"

"Austin I really have to go, my mother was expecting me to be home an hour ago." Austin walked up to Jared and grabbed his wrist, noticing Jared flinched as he did. He's even afraid of someone approaching him, how could his mom do this to him? Austin thought.

Austin then started to push up Jared's sleeve, and his eyes widened when it revealed multiple, dark purple and blue blotches all over his arm. There were even some cuts that were small in length, but big in width, and they seemed deep.

"Jared, you can't just keep going through with this! You have to tell someone about this!" Austin expressed. Jared pulled his arm away and lowered his sleeve.

"I appreciate your concern, but I can't tell anyone about this."

"But Jared, you can't keep letting her hurt you like this, if you tell someone this can all end." Austin reasoned.

"If I tell someone, they'll take me away and I'll be stuck at some foster home for god knows how long and I'll probably never see you or the other guys again!" Jared said, a little more forcefully than he meant. Austin went silent at that, then Jared sighed. "And even though she hurts me and demoralizes me everyday, she's still my mother, and I love her."

"Jared...."

"So please Austin, don't tell anyone about this." Jared implored. Now Austin sighed.

"Okay, I promise." Austin conceded. "Just please, if you have another bad injury like today, tell someone about it before it gets out of hand. I can help you." Jared didn't say anything. "Please Jared, what happened today really scared me, and the rest of the guys were worried too. Just let us help you." Jared was still quiet for a moment, but he eventually compromised.