HELPING HANDS

Chapter 31

"TIM!! TIM!!" Adam yells as he shakes his lover. But Tim was in a severe state of hysteria and would not stop screaming. "Forgive me, Baby." Adam whispers as he raises his hand and slaps Tim hard across the face.

Tim gasps and grabs his cheek but the slap brought him out of his hysteria.

"What happened?" Tim says with a shocked expression on his face.

"Sweetie, I'm so sorry. I slapped you." Adam says as he runs his hand through Tim's hair to get it out of his face.

"You hit me?" Tim asks. Why on earth would you hit someone you love? "Why would you hit me?"

"Tim, he had to. You were going nuts screaming." Rob says in Adam's defense.

"I was?" Tim asks. He couldn't remember anything that had just happened.

"Honey, there was a loud clap of thunder and you fell to the floor and started screaming and wouldn't stop." Kelsey adds.

"I did?" Tim asks as he rubs his burning cheek.

"I'm so sorry." Adam says as he leans over and kisses the cheek that he had slapped. "Please, forgive me."

"No, that's okay. You did what you had to do." Tim says as he offers his lover a forgiving smile. "I don't remember falling to the floor. All I can remember is the tornado."

"Uh, Tim? There was no tornado." Chris says, shaking his head as Adam helps Tim up and they sit down on the couch.

Kelsey goes to get an ice pack from the freezer. "Here's an ice pack, Tim."

"When I was about seven or eight, my parents went to town and left me at home by myself. I was a hindrance to them when they went somewhere. So they would leave me at the house. While they were gone, a bad storm came up. The tornado sirens started going off. They had told me to go to the closet in the hallway whenever I heard the siren." Tim says as he lays his head over on Adam's shoulder, holding the ice pack to his cheek.

"I don't think I like where this is leading." Nate says as he looks around at Chris.

"I was sitting on the floor of the closet. There was so much noise. A loud roaring. The walls shook. The door was shaking as if someone was trying to get in. I was so scared. I screamed but no one could hear me because of the noise." Tim says as he wipes a tear. "I crawled to the corner of the closet and I prayed. Things started falling on me. The roof was torn off and I felt the wind and rain. Our house was demolished. Our neighbors had to dig me out from under the rubble."

"Holy sh*t, no wonder you're so scared of storms." Austin says.

"Were you hurt?" Adam asks.

"Just cuts and scrapes." Tim answered. "Is the storm over?"

"I believe so." Kelsey says. "It's just raining now. We lost power."

"Is Chance alright?" Tim asks.

"He is now. We have enough lanterns to light up the living room." Austin says as he hugs his boyfriend tighter and kisses him on the temple.

"Is anyone hungry? We still have some sandwiches from our outing." Kelsey says.

"I could eat something." Austin says and Chance nods.

"I just need some water and some Ibuprofen. My head is killing me." Tim groans as he rubs his forehead.

"You sure you don't want a sandwich? There's plenty left." Kelsey says as she gets up and grabs a flashlight.

"I'm not hungry." Tim answers as he hands the ice pack over to Adam.

"Here ya go, Sweetie." Kelsey says a few minutes later as she hands Tim a couple of pain relievers and a bottle of water.

Tim pops them in his mouth and washes them down with the water. Putting the cap back on the bottle, he reaches out and runs his hand over the coffee table until he finds a coaster to set the water on. He scoots away from Adam so that he could lay down with his head resting on his lover's leg. Within a few short minutes, the blind man was fast asleep.

"So, Chance, have you always been afraid of the dark or did something happen?" Chris asks.

Over the past several months, both Chris and Adam had learned sign language. They wanted to be able to communicate with Chance without the use of an interpreter.

"Ever since I can remember, I've been afraid of the dark." Chance signs. "I had to sleep with a nightlight at the orphanage. Some of the kids made fun of me because of it. They said I was being a baby."

"People can be so cruel." Adam says as he mindlessly played with Tim's hair.

"Then when I was released and ended up on the streets, I had to find places to sleep that was well lit all night." Chance adds.

"I just can't imagine what you guys went through. It had to be horrible." Kelsey says as he rubs Rob on the back.

"It was a nightmare." Austin joins in on the conversation. "You had two types of people on the streets. You had your men, women and even families with small children that had fallen on hard times and fought every day to survive. Then you had your homeless that fed off the other homeless. Stealing anything they could. We called them vultures."

"As Tim said, a lot of homeless had cups that they would set out for change from people passing by. I've known people that have gotten killed for two dollars worth of change." Rob says sadly.

"Then an angel named Betty came along and saved us." Tim speaks up. He had awakened and had been listening to the conversation. "She saved who she could. Mainly the handicapped that didn't stand a chance and she prayed for the rest."

"She always had a heart of gold." Chris says.

"She was a very sweet lady." Nate nods. "She never judged anyone."

"That's true. She never judged Chris and me for being gay." Adam says. "I remember when Chris and Nate first started dating, he brought Nate to a family cook-out. She treated him like family."

"She loved us all but it was apparent who her favorite was." Austin says with a chuckle.

"Oh, really? And who was that?" Chris asks with a smile.

"Timmy." Austin and Rob say at the same time.

"I was not." Tim chuckles as he sits up, running a quick hand through his hair.

"Well, mom said that grandma treated you guys like her own sons. Tim was the first that she took in making him like her oldest son. The oldest is always the favorite." Adam says as he smiles at his older brother.

"What? What are you talking about, Adam?" Chris chuckles. "I was not mom's favorite."

"Oh, Please." Adam says with a roll of his eyes.

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