Don't say a word (TomTord Highschool AU)

8. Shh...

Tord's POV:

We walked in my room and sat on the bed. We chatted a little. I was only typing on my phone. It was kinda fun... I felt happy... But Tom was...oddly quiet... And that made me feel slightly worried. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

'Are you okay, Tom?' I typed on my phone and showed it to him. He nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry." He answered. That didn't convince me though. I could tell something was wrong with him...

I raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a serious look on my face. He started sweating. Something...seemed...off... "Tord, I'm...I'm okay. I promise!" He said. I shook my head. "Tom, you're really bad at lying." Edd said.

Tom smiled. "It's nothing important." He said. He kinda looked...worried..? That made me feel slightly bad. I hugged him carefully. I was a bit scared to see his reaction, I just wanted to make him feel better...

I've had this weird feeling in my stomach. It really hurt. My head a little too. I flinched when he hugged me back. He stayed silent though and didn't say anything. Something had to be wrong! And I was going to figure it out!

'Tom, tell me what's wrong!' I typed. "I'm fine, nothing's wrong. It's nothing important, okay?" He said. 'Tom!' "No, Tord. Don't worry. I'm fine and it's nothing." He said. I knew this would not convince him to tell me.

So I did something I regretted... "TUUMN!" I almost yelled. They all froze and stared at me in shock. I covered my mouth with my left hand and then I carefully touched my throat with my right one.

I flinched. My eyes widened and I started coughing. I didn't know I could really do this... I thought it was all in that dream I had... I thought... I started crying and screaming quietly in pain. It was unbearable. 'Why did I do that..?'

I tried to breathe, but it was getting harder since the coughing didn't stop. Blood came out of my mouth. I looked up at my friends that were staring at me with wide eyes. I wanted to beg them for help, but I couldn't even breathe! But it looked like they still understood.

"P-Paul! Patryck!" Edd yelled and ran out of the room as quickly as he could. Tom hugged me and tried to help me stop coughing. Matt was really confused, but he kept saying calming things to me.

After a while, my parents and Edd came into the room. Patryck gasped and ran up to me. I looked at him with terror in my eyes. "My godness, what happened to him?" Paul asked. "H-he actually said something!" Edd yelled, panicking.

My dads looked at me. "...I thought we told you not to do that... That you can get hurt... You know it's too dangerous for you..." Patryck said with tears. I tried to talk again, but he covered my mouth.

I closed my eyes, crying quietly. I tried to calm down, but instead passed out cold, my throat hurting.

Edd's POV:

Patryck picked Tord up and carried him out of the room. "O-oh my, what just happened? I thought he was m-mute!" I said, completly shocked. Paul sighed and looked at me. "He shouldn't really speak. He can die by bleeding out very easily..." He said.

Me, Matt and Tom looked at each other. "...But we told him not to. He knows what would happen. But something must have happened if he actually said something... What was going on here..?" He asked us.

Tom looked down, looking guilty. "I-I... I think it's my fault... I made him too worried and wouldn't tell him what was wrong... And I think he just..got mad..." He said. Paul stayed silent. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know this would happen!" Tom apologized.

"Look... There's nothing to feel guilty about. But...Tord is a very sensitive person... He's always worried about the people that he cares about. You are his only friends! He knows when something is wrong with the people he loves, but that makes him feel bad too! If someone feels guilty, he does too. He was always like this..." Patryck said when he came back into the room.

We got up and he placed Tord on his bed. Tord was...awake? He looked like he was awake, but he was ignoring everything that was going on around him... It made me feel really worried. It was like he was half asleep.

"Tord?" I called his name. He blinked. Tom sighed and hugged him really carefully, trying not to hurt him. Tord snapped back into reality. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tom covered it with his hand.

"Shh... Don't say a word..." He said and uncovered it again. Tord looked a bit scared... "Tord... I am so sorry I made you worried... I didn't mean to..." Tom said. Tord smiled at him weakly. "...We'll leave you alone now. Tell us if you need anything." Paul said and left the room along with Patryck.

"But Tord... Mind telling us why you can't really talk..? We now know it's not impossible...but what happened to you to make you like this?" I asked him. He frowned. I handed him his phone so he could type something. He took it, but didn't type anything.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked down. "Tord... Is it your fault you can't talk..?' Tom asked him. Everyone went completly silent. "Todd, please. We won't be mad at you or anything. You're our friend!" Matt said.

Tord looked up at him with tears. We got his attention. I nodded. "He's right, Tord. You can tell us anything! We care about you no matter what!" I said with a smile. He looked at me. Me and Matt looked at Tom.

He smiled at Tord. "Exactly. We're your friends and we care about you! So whatever's wrong, you don't need to be afraid to tell us." He said. Tord looked at him, tears faling down his face.

He looked down again, thinking. We waited patiently for the answer. We didn't want to force him to tell us if he really didn't want to, but we were curious.

He looked at his shaky hands and then looked at me. He nodded. I smiled at him, excited. I expected him to take his phone, type something and show it to us, but instead, he grabbed the bandages that he had wrapped around his neck.

I was a bit confused, but didn't say anything. He glanced at all of us, looking really upset and worried. He slowly took them off and looked up at us. My eyes widened. I gasped and covered my mouth. I was shocked at what I saw...

On his neck...were many deep and bloody cuts... Some of the were slowly healing, some of them looked like they didn't even start and some of them were even a little open and bleeding... He looked away in tears.

We were all in shock. Nobody knew what to say. He took the bandages and started wrapping them around his neck again. "Come on down to eat dinner!" We heard a voice coming from downstairs. Probably Patryck.

Tord got up and left the room. We followed after him, glancing at him worriedly. "Is...this why he's mute?" Matt whispered to me. "I think so... Poor Tord..." I answered him. "But how did it happen to him?" Tom asked. I sighed. "I think we should give him a little more time before we ask him. Even showing this must have been really hard for him... Let's just give him some time, okay?"

We reached the kitchen and sat down at a table. We all stayed silent though. We were glancing at Tord who was looking down. 'We need to help him somehow...'