Broken ~ A Matthew Espinosa Fanfic

Chapter 7

I sit there... Petrified at what he is going to say. I think of all the possible scenarios in my head. Never could I have prepared myself for what he was going to say.

"Have you ever seen my parents?" He starts as he looks at the ground, avoiding my concerned gaze.

"No..." I reply, unsure of where this is going.

"The reason behind that is, well... My dad left when I was about 10... Leaving my mom and I with nothing except the clothes on our backs." He pauses as he closes his eyes, inhaling deeply before continuing.

"My mom, she didn't handle it very well. Once she got a job she would spend all of her money on beer... And whenever she got drunk-which was always- she would get really out of control. She would scream at me, blaming me for my father leaving. Once when I was trying to calm her down, she slapped me full on across the face at full force. A few weeks after that it would just be a constant beating. At one point I stopped fighting, and accepted the fact that my mother terrified me. I would get home from school and be greeted with a few slaps to the face...." I looked at him, and knew he couldn't talk anymore.

He was just staring at the ground, his head in his hands. I scooted closer to him, taking his hands into mine and pulling him in for a hug. He buried his face into my shoulder and sobbed. I rubbed his back and tried to stay strong for him. I knew I had to. It broke my heart. On the outside, he seems perfectly fine, but on the inside, he is broken, shattered into millions of little pieces, like a mirror that has been slammed on the ground repeatedly. He pulls away, but keeps my hands in his.

"The reason why you never see my mom, Lilly, is because she left. She just left me without explanation. She just... Left..." He breaks down again.

I want to say that I understand. I want to say that I know what he is talking about. But I don't. I can not possibly relate to this amount of sadness that fills his heart. I have been depressed. But not for anything as extreme as this. I pull him in for another hug, making sure to hold him tight, not letting him fall apart in my arms.

"I understand if you want to leave..." He mumbles into my shoulder.

"Matthew... There is one thing you need to know about me... And that is that I never leave a friend behind." I smile, blinking away the tears that are starting to form in my eyes.

"Thank you." He pulls away and cracks a smile. His smile that perfectly coats all of his emotions like a blanket.

"Come on... Let's walk some more." I saw as I grab his wrist. He lets out a small yelp but then quickly tries to cover it up. I look at him in utter horror as I grab his hand and pull up his jacket sleeve.