In The Sudden Death, We Fought Back. (Sequel to The Soul Mate.)

Chapter 16.

"Come on in!" A voice yelled from the other side. Vic opened the door and dragged me in behind him. Behind a huge desk that dominated nearly half of the small room was a short man with blond hair who claimed the name of Dr. Stump. He was standing, trying to put his papers into piles to look more organized, as if that was possible. The frames on his walls were crooked, and half-opened books and miscellaneous papers covered every surface possible. "Sorry about the mess. I swear I just cleaned the room..." Although he was our professional doctor, he dressed quite casually. He wore jeans and a green button-down shirt with the sleeves unevenly rolled up. His entire demeanor just screamed unorganized. He quickly tried to pull his hair into a style that didn't make him look insane, failed, and sat down, turning to the computer and pulling up our files. "Ah, Kellin and Vic, correct?" We nodded. "Excellent. We'll start off easy. How are you two feeling today?" He put his arms on the desk, leaning on them and looking at us attentively.

Vic answered first. "Kind of terrified, to be honest." Dr. Stump gestured for him to elaborate. "Well, as you probably know from my file or whatever, I'm in a band. A band that is supposed to start touring very soon. And I want to get out of here before then but everyone's saying I won't and I don't want to let anyone down and there's a few people that like my band in here and I feel like I'm already letting them down and I can't stop letting people down." As Vic rambled on his hold on my hand tightened. I saw his breathing pick up so I started to rub his hand with my thumb, just to let him know I was there. He seemed to get the message and calmed down pretty quickly.

Dr. Stump picked a pair of reading glasses off the table and sat them on the bride of his nose. Finding an empty legal pad, he began to write illegibly. "I see. Well, Vic, I think I might be able to get you out of here on time. However, you're going to have to really commit to this. You can't slip up. I can put you on a couple different medications that will help, but if you aren't trying then I won't be able to discharge you." Vic started shaking his leg. It was a lot of pressure for him to do this, and he knew it. "Understand?"

"Yessir. I've got Kellin to help me too."

Dr. Stump smiled, as if remembering a memory. "Ah, yes. Your Soul Mate is a great source of support. You probably tell him more than you'll ever tell me, and I'm sure he knows you better than anyone."

"He does. I love him more than anything." I looked at the ground, blushing. How is he so open with this guy? I could never be this open with someone whom I just met five minutes ago.

As our time went on, Dr. Stump seemed to have caught on to me not talking very much. He didn't say anything about it until we were almost out of time. "Vic, why don't you go ahead to dinner? I just want to ask Kellin a few questions, if that's okay?" He asked. Vic gracefully agreed to stand outside and wait. "Kellin, I understand you don't trust me enough yet to really talk about anything. However, I also know you're supposed to be going on the same tour that Vic is going on. Unless you warm up to me pretty fast, I can't let you go anywhere, really."

I felt trapped. On one hand, I wanted to do whatever it took to get Vic and I out of this place. But, I couldn't just talk to this guy about my deepest secrets, no matter how many contracts and stipulations he was under to not tell anyone. I just couldn't.

The doctor seemed to realize my dilemma. "How about this. Until you feel comfortable enough to talk to me, I'll stay later at night and you can come and we can get to know each other. I want to help you Kellin. Vic can come if you want him to, but he doesn't have to. I understand you're a very private person. Let me work with you." He begged. I got a strange feeling inside my chest. For once, someone was going out of their way to see that I was okay and would get where I needed to be. He was trying to work with me, something hardly anyone had done in a long time. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to cry.

"Thank you Dr. Stump." I choked out, trying to hold back tears. Standing up, he walked around his desk and sat in the chair Vic had previously occupied. He patted my back.

"Let's start off with you calling me Patrick. I'll get Jenna and have her send us up dinners. I'm assuming at least for tonight you'd like Vic to stay? We won't get into anything personal, I'll just explain to you both what will happen and how it'll work. Okay?" I nodded, trying to compose myself before Vic came back in, but as Patrick left to find Jenna, leaving me and Vic alone, I burst into tears. They weren't sad, though; they were tears of relief. For once, I felt like I could finally get help, finally get control of this monster inside of me. For the first time in my life, I felt...confident.

Vic pulled me onto his lap, sushing me and rocking me. "Hey, Kells, you're gonna get better here. I love you." I nodded into his chest, agreeing, until Patrick comes back with Jenna carrying trays of mac n' cheese. Jenna quickly sat the trays she was carrying down in front of us before scurrying out of the room.

Over the next hour, we got to know each other. I learned that Patrick's Soul Mate was named Pete, and they were in the process of adopting a baby girl named Jessica. He lived in a small, two bedroom apartment a few miles from the hospital and his husband supported him in everything he did. They had a small band with two friends for fun, but never really planned on going anywhere with it.

We ended up talking a little about my childhood, but both Patrick and Vic noticed my hesitance to talk about it, so we got off that topic quickly. Patrick asked me about Austin, and I told him what I could, Vic filling in everything I couldn't. Mainly, we talked about my father and what he did to me and Vic.

"Now, both of you," Patrick started. "The first thing I want to tell you is that it's not your fault. Nothing that happened there was something you could have stopped. Even if your mind is telling you that if you had done something different, it wouldn't have happened, you're wrong. I want you both to understand that. Kellin, your father is a very sick man. If he hadn't done it to you and Vic, chances are that he would have done it to someone else."

Tears were still burning behind my eyes from crying before, and I covered my face in shame of the recurring thoughts that came every time I thought of this.

"But why us? Why me? Why couldn't it have been someone else?" Vic rubbed his hand on my knee in comfort, but it didn't seem to help. In fact, it made me angrier. I jumped up, as if the anger was exploding inside me. "Please, tell me, what did I do to deserve this? Oh, that's right. I'm a fucking failure as a son and everything else." I was quickly falling into hysterics, and Vic stood up and grabbed me before I could start throwing things or hurt someone. This second time he touched me had the opposite effect it did before. I shut down, dissolving into sobs, pulling Vic down to the floor with me. I had no energy to do anything but sob. Vic pulled me so I was laying on top of him. He held me up against him, pushing the hair out of my face and trying to wipe the tears away, even though they were coming too fast to wipe them all away.

When we hit the ground, Patrick ran to us and sat down next to Vic, simply watching me. "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry..." I gasped between sobs. Vic once again rocked me, rubbing my shoulder.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. Would you like to be done for tonight?" Patrick asked quietly, like if he talked too loud he would send me over the edge again.

I nodded and got off of Vic so he could stand. He then helped me up and practically carried me to our room before laying me on his bed. "Do you want to change?" I shook my head no, and he shrugged, sliding off his own shirt and changing into gym shorts before climbing under the covers with me.

His strong, protective arms wrapped around me. "Can I tell you something?" He whispered behind my ear.

"Yes." I breathed.

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, love."

I stayed quiet, unsure what to tell him. I didn't really believe him, but I appreciated the effort he was putting forth.

He sighed once he saw I wasn't going to reply. "I guess I'll just have to prove it to you." He kissed my cheek and held me tighter against him. "Goodnight, Kellin. I love you." He mumbled, seemingly already half asleep.

"I love you too, Vic." More than you could ever know.