Don't say a word (TomTord Highschool AU)

9. Let us help!

(My picture!... Yay, I guess?)

Tord's POV:

I kept staring at the plate full of spagetti, completly ignoring the whole world around me. I felt like everything was in slow motion. I could hear the clock ticking...very very slowly, but loudly... I felt cold and tired.

After what felt like forever of me staring at the food in front of me, Edd spoke. "So Tord, what would you like to do while we're here?" He asked. I didn't move an inch. I never really knew what to do when I had a sleepover with my friends...because I never had any friends. This was new to me.

After a while, I took my phone. 'I don't know. I never had a sleepover with my friends.' I typed. "Oh, come on, Todd! I'm sure you had lots of friends!" Matt said. I rolled my eyes. I wondered if he will ever learn to say my name right.

I just shook my head.  "Is it because you're mute..?" Tom asked. I sighed quietly and nodded, closing my eyes. I started spacing out, hearing the clock ticking loudly...

Matt's POV:

Me, Edd and Tim finished our food, but Todd was just staring at the plate with a dull expression on his face. That made me feel slightly worried. "Guys? Is Todd okay? He's been staring at him food for a while without moving." I said.

"I don't know. Tord!" Edd called him. But he used 'Tord' again. He just couldn't remember Todd's name. Todd didn't react. "Guys, something's totally wrong with Tord, don't you think..?" Tim asked us.

Edd nodded in agreement. "Well, he has his reasons. He's been through a lot. Though he never did anything bad to anyone." Patryck said. "...Do you think you can tell us more about his past?" Edd asked him. Patryck nodded.

"Of course. As you already know, we are not his real parents. We adopted him when we found him in an old and abandoned house. We found him in the basement, tied up. He kept looking down, shaking." He paused and looked at Todd in worry. We listened.

"He didn't have any clothes on and there were cuts and bruises all over his body. He had trouble understanding what we were saying. He was scared when he saw us. He couldn't talk or walk. His real parents never taught him..." Paul said.

"Who were his real parents?" Edd asked. "We never saw them, but we asked Tord about them. He wrote that they were abusing him and making him hurt himself. They were always calling him mean names and beating him up." Paul said. Patryck nodded.

"Tord was scared by even mentioning them. We decided to help him. We adopted him and tried our best to make his scars and bruises heal. But there were two things we could never heal." Patryck looked down.

"What two things?" Tim asked. "His talking and his sanity. He always acts normal, but we saw a horrible side of him. He was always quiet and terrified of everything... But when something makes him really mad or way too upset, it can be much worse..." Paul said and shivered.

"What happened?" I asked. I was really curious. "After like a year after we adopted him, we heard some weird noices coming from his room. He was going crazy and he..." Patryck didn't finish the sentence and covered his face in his hands. Paul placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room... There was something written on the walls... It said lots of horrible things... Tord was crying while holding a knife stained with blood that was also coming out of his arm..." Paul said.

We all gasped. "W-what happened next..?" Tim asked with wide...'eyes'. "We tried asking him whar was wrong and he yelled at us... He then grabbed the knife he had and cut me..." Paul pointed to his bandaged eye and sighed.

"I never thought he would be like this, but he was stressed. From his parents, from all the mean words stuck inside his head, the bullies..." Patryck looked up at us. "That's the thing we can't fix. No matter how much we try to help, he won't move on... We understand that it's hard to forget about his past, but he can get seriously hurt..." He said.

Silence filled the room until we heard quiet sobbing coming from Todd. He was hiding his face in shame, looking down. "T-Tord!" Patryck hugged him tightly. Todd hugged him back, crying softly.

"He feels guilty for everything that happened... Even though none of it is his fault... His parents cut his throat, because they didn't want him to talk to them! It's all their fault he's like this! But the worst thing is, Tord feels guilty about that and thinks it's all his fault! No matter how hard we try, he won't change his mind!" Paul said.

Todd cried harder, though somehow still being quiet... It was strange. We all felt bad for him. We hugged him. He stopped crying, but didn't move. We thought he calmed down until he pushed Edd to the ground.

We stopped hugging him and helped Edd up. Todd looked upset, angry and shocked at the same time. He ran away in tears... "What just happened..?"

Tord's POV:

I ran inside my room and locked the door. I jumped on my bed and cried. My throat burned, but I didn't care. I needed to let it out... I was a monster... A monster that hurt his parents that cared about him and his only friends...

They didn't deserve that... But I did deserve that torture from my real parents... If they would be here to just kill me already...

I heard banging on the door. "Tord!? Open the door, please!" I heard a voice... Tom... His voice sounded distant... It was quiet...though I could still tell he was shouting... "Tord? Please!!" His voice...echoed... It was strange.

I thought I was losing my mind. Everything that happened... The torture from my real parents... Paul and Patryck adopting me and trying to help me... Me hurting them... My friends caring about me... And I ruined it.... I was broken...

"Tord!!!!" Tom yelled. I heard a loud bang on the door. I could tell he was going to break the door. I stood up, but fell. I gave up on trying to stand up again so I just crawled on my knees to the door and unlocked it.

It smashed open and I stopped crawling. I just layed down and closed my eyes, wanting to disappear. Suddenly, someone wrapped their arms around me and hugged me tightly. I opened my eyes slowly, scared.

Matt, Edd and Tom...were all there. They were crying? "T-Tord... I'm so sorry! I didn't know all this happened to you..." Tom said. I looked away. "But...we can help!" Edd said. 'Huh..?' I looked him in the eyes.

Matt and Tom nodded in agreement. I sighed quietly and shook my head. I didn't want them to worry about me... I was not worth their time...

"Let us help!" Edd said. I teared up. "Yeah, you're our friend, Todd!" Matt said. I closed my eyes. "And we love you!" Tom said. I smiled weakly and hugged them all back tightly. 'I love you too... Even if I can't say it...'