Breathe.

Chapter 14

It wa a normal day in October, the air was chilly and crisp, the wind blowing the nearly orange leaves off the trees and swirled them in bodies of wind, Damien trudged up to the front doors of his highschool, sleep hanging low on his eyelids, he was awake till 3 am this morning helping his best friend, Zaiden. His step father had caused a situation with his neighbors wife, he had tried to forcefuly shove his way into the house, being extremely drunk and under the influence, he had slapped the neighbor wife and used disrespectful words at her, the wife not knowing what else to do had called, Zaiden's mother, and told her the situation.

Zaiden's mother, Reena, ran out to the next house and dragged her husband back to theirs profoundly apologizing to the neighbor's wife, when Reena finally closed their front door and locked it she was thrown to the ground and beaten till she bled,

"You bitch! i made a fool of myself because of you! i'll make you pay for that!,"

Zaiden stepped in, but the blood shed continued, in an act to save his mother, Zaiden took a brutal beating, leading him to have a cut on his lip and many bruises, including a distinct black eye, before being beaten half to death, he had called Damien, having his phone in his hand in a death grip, Damien heard everything that his father yelled. Damien threw on a shirt and ran to Zaiden's house which was three houses down from his, crashing through his front door, he threw the angry drunk man off Zaiden and pushed him to the ground, Damien held his stance, thinking he would charge at him, Damien was relieved to see him stagger into his bedroom and slam the door closed.

Damien treated Zaiden's and Reena's wounds and put the both of them to sleep, while damien, locked their front door and slinked out of their house, taking a calm walk back to his house, it always upset Damien when Zaiden's step father beat them up, but no matter what happened, Reena always kept him around,

"That bastard, after all of that, he still treats them like shit,"
..........
" I hate him man, my mom is going to die at this rate,"

"Take him to the cops Zaiden! this is assault! he'll be gone for a while,"

"I can't mom won't let me, she keeps saying that he'll change, i want her to be happy but she's not seeing how bad he is for her........ I don't know what to do Damien,"

Daniel Harper, the man who came into their lives as a saving grace, only to be the death of them,

"Damie! good morning!,"

Damien felt those familiar arms wrap around him and felt a kiss on his cheek, he smiled and hugged her back, kissing her on the forehead, Vixen, she smiled brightly, her arms still wrapped tightly around his torso, he gently caressed her cheek, smiling gently at her, Vixen was Damien's ex-girlfriend, they had been so in love with each other, but soon broke up because Damien and her were pursuing other career goals, they continued to be friends and became closer than ever, the kisses were normal betweeen the two, they thought nothing of the stares and opinions of their peers, they loved each other, and always will.

"Good morning mi amor~ you look beautiful as always~"

Her beautiful black hair was tied in a high ponytail, wearing a white pleated skirt and large pink knitted sweater that hung off her shoulder, wearing her favourite white sneakers, the walking embodiment of sweetness,

"You look really tired Damien, are you okay baby?"

Damien held her closer, burying his head on her shoulder, as Vixen played with his hair, Damien felt safe in her arms, as he let a few stray tears slip out, she was the only one who would see him at his weakest points,

"Zaiden."

Vixen's eyes softened and held him tighter, Damien had told her of the boy whose step father nearly kills his mother and son whenever he feels like it, it made Damien helpless, Vixen lifted his face to meet her eyes,

"There isn't much that you can do Damien, just continue to support him, there will come a day when Zaiden will finally throw him out, but he has to do it, he can heal then, just be there for him,"

Vixen kissed his forehead and wiped his stray tears, smiling gently, Damien smiled, feeling more at ease pulled her in for a hug, Damien had told Zaiden he cared and loved Vixen, the thought of someone treating Vixen like that broke his heart more times than he can count. they walked to their lockers, When Natasha walked up to them while they were talking at Vixen's locker, Damien felt his heart skip a beat, she had beautiful mocha skin, her dark brown hair was braided and hung loosely on her shoulder, but more than that, he loved her attitude, friendly but dangerous when threatened, much like Vixen, they made a dangerous pair, he had started a casual banter as Zaiden walked through the front doors.

His black eye was more developed, the entire school thought Zaiden was a bad boy, constantly getting into fights and coming to school with a few bruises, if only they knew that this boy was fighting for both his and his mother's lives, Vixen smiled his way, as she always did, she was the only girl who knew what he was going through, he smiled back slightly, flinching in pain, as Damien and Zaiden walked to their class, girls flirted with him, he wasn't interested in dating, just saving his mother, he joined the football team, he built his body and strength, a few others guys knew about his situation and helped him out, the group were closely knit, they helped each other,

After school ended, Zaiden and Damien headed to practice, as they exited the locker room a girl called out to Zaiden, Damien rolled his eyes,

'Another fucking confession,'

This time it was Jesse Banks, the girl who torchured everyone in school, she was a demon, but she had a meek older cousin, Jeremiah, the guy Vixen was crushing on, and rumour had it, that he liked her back, Damien had made it his mission to set her up with him, they had the same interests in art and the paranormal, and they were both going to join the same college, Zaiden had brutally turned down Jesse, as he always did for confessions, and the boys continued walking to practice.

As the boys started changing out of their sweaty practice clothes, Zaiden's phone rang, checking the caller ID, it was his neighbor, as he accepted the call a voice rang loud through the phone, startling the group of boys,

"HE'S GOT A KNIFE! MY LORD! STOP! DANIEL! PUT THE KNIFE DOWN!"

Zaiden dropped his bag on the floor and bolted out the locker room, the group of boys following him, Zaiden sprinted towards his house, Damien close on his heels, he approached his house the door wide open and screams coming from the inside, he picked up his speed and pushed past all his neighbors and in to his house,

on the floor was his mother, crying and screaming in pain, as Daniel stood above her, a knife in hand, Reena was covered in cuts, writhing in pain.

"There you are dead beat, come to save your slut of a mother! well you're too late"

Daniel's arm held the knife tightly bring it down with force, in that moment before the knife could land, Zaiden lost all remorse, he charged Daniel to the ground, and strangled him,

"Damien get my mom out of here! now!"

"She doesn't leave until i say so, you stay here and watch your son become like me slut"

"DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE THAT YOU BASTARD! I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU! YOU HEAR ME!"

Zaiden took out his years of rage on Daniel, it took the entire group of football players to pull him off Daniel, he was bleeding profusely, half conscious, the neighbors called the police and they took Daniel away in handcuffs, Zaiden took his mother to the hospital just as Damien got a phone call, it was Vixen,

"Vixen you're not going to believe what just happe-"

"D-Damien,"

Damien eyes widened, Vixen was crying, his heart raced,

"Vixen? Baby what's wrong? are you okay?"

"Damien.....m-my m-mom....h-help m-me"