What He Didn't Say

I sat on the old matress in the middle of the dank, dark basement listening to the noises of the night. Afraid to fall asleep, for I wasn't positive I would awake the next morning. I didn't know what I had done wrong, besides me a teenager of course, but I would hardly call that a crime. Apparently my parent's thought differently. 1

You see, my home life wasn't what you would call...a role model family. They thought all teenagers were practically the scum of the Earth, although I don't know what they were thinking when I was born. Did they think I was going to stay 12 forever? Four years later than that and they still pretty much hated me. 2

I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to ignore the shivers that ran through my entire body. Suddenly a noise came from outside the only window in the black room. I stood from the small soiled matress that my parents had 'gratefully given me' and walked over to the window. I heaved the glass open, and gasped in shock.3

"Brian, what are you doing here?" I hissed, hoping my father wouldn't hear the noise and come checking on what it was.4

"I had to see you. You haven't been in school for nearly a week." Brian's baby blue eyes were deeply concerned, although I knew he knew why I had been absent.5

Due to the fact that I had received a broken nose and a black eye in the last two weeks, I didn't really want my reputation to be completely demolished. My parents didn't even care if I went to school or not, they hardly even paid any attention to me what so ever unless it was dealing with the fact that I was in trouble yet again.6

"You know why I was absent, now Brian please go before my dad comes down here!" I snapped, I didn't want Brian to get hurt because of me.7

"I'm not leaving again Alex, I just can't."8

"You have to, please Bri-" I stopped mid-sentence and my eyes grew wide as I heard the same frightening sound I heard many times throughout the day. I heard my dad stomping down the stairs with his baseball bat and worse-his iron hard fists.9

"Hurry, hurry come in." I whispered as I pulled Brian in through the tiny window. I was surprised he actually fit. "Now please hide until my father leaves, please don't try to stick up for me or whatever it is you want to do."10

I pushed him behind the old rusty broken washing machine at the end of the room, giving him a warning look as I ran back to my 'bed.' I was nearly back at the matress when I heard my father slamming his fist on the door, trying to open it. He had inadvertantly locked it when he left, he's such a moron sometimes.11

"Alex, open the damn door!" Steve, my father, yelled from the other side.12

I scurried over to unlock the door, not sure if I wanted to know what was coming next. I twisted the lock on the doornob to the 'unlocked' position, and stepped back from the door. Steve threw the door open, slamming it against the wall behind it. 13

"Why in the hell was this door locked Alex? Hiding something?"14

"N-no dad, y-you locked it when you left last time." I stammered, hoping he would just leave.15

"Liar! What are you hiding, Alex?"16

"N-nothing, I'm not hiding anything. What would I hide?"17

"How should I know, you are the juvenile deilinquent! Tell me what you are hiding!" Steve continued to shout, I wished he would just shut up and leave me alone.18

"I'm not hiding anything, dad, I already told you that." 19

He moved so fast I hardly knew what he was doing until the hard knuckles of his fist impacted with my jaw. I stumbled around in the darkness, clutching my face. The tears began to fill my eyes, threatening to spill over down my face. 20

"Don't you back talk to me Alex, there's pleanty more where that came from." My dad shouted, no doubt my mother was up in bed, sleeping peacefully like nothing was wrong. 21

"I'm s-s-sorry d-dad, I didn't mean it." I blubbered, trying to bite back the tears.22

"Oh, you're sorry are you? Then tell me what you're hiding or you'll get it again!"23

"I promise, I'm not hiding anything I swear! Please believe me."24

"Liar, what do you think I am? Stupid?"25

"No, of course not!"26

Another punch smacked with my stomach, making me bend over in pain. I knew Brian would be itching to give my father the what for, probably beating him until he was black and blue. Something I wouldn't object to, but my father had a baseball bat in his hand, and Brian couldn't fight with that.27

"Shut up Alex, and go to sleep," Steve shouted, shoving me to the ground.28

My head smacked with the cement, blurring my vision as I watched my dad walk out the door, slamming it behind him. I tried to lift my head, but it began throbbing as I did so, and I let it rest back on the ground. I could feel my jaw swelling, but I knew it wasn't broken. I had felt a broken jaw before, and this wasn't anywhere near as bad. I knew there was nothing wrong with my head either, thankfully my father hadn't cracked my skull. I possibly had a slight concussion, but nothing more.29

I listened carefully as I heard my father climb the stairs and slam the door to my parents room. Signaling the fact that he was done with me for the night. I heard Brian run out from behind the washing machine, fuming as he stomped over to me. I looked up at is face which was twisted with rage, he wanted to kill my father. Obviously, so did I.30

"Alex, how could you let your father do that to you? That's just wrong!" Brian hissed furiously.31

"What was I supposed to do, Brian? Yell at him, fight back? He had a baseball bat Brian, a baseball bat!" I whispered, blinking furiously trying to clear my vision.32

"How about going to the police Alex, did you ever think about that?" 33

"Shut up Brian! Do you want him to com back?" I hissed acidly. "No, of course I considered the police! My father said if I ever said anything he would come back for me. And he made me swear not to scream, so there would be no witnesses. Brian, don't you see, I can't do anything!"34

"That asshole! How badly did he hurt you? I seen him punch you, and shove you to the ground..." Brian trailed off, his eyes growing more and more anxious.35

"He only punched me twice this time, that should be a record." 36

"What do you mean a record? How many times has he done this to you? Let me help you up," Brian's eyes were outraged as he lifted me up off of the cement.37

My vision swam as I stood, and I knew what was coming next. My knees buckled and I fell against Brian. There was something different about how I felt this time after my impact with the ground, and that feeling frightened me. 38

"Alex! We have to get you to a doctor,"39

"N-no, what will they think? They will think you did this to me and are trying to cover it up by taking me to the hospital. I can take it, I've had worse. Much worse."40

"What? What do you mean you've had worse? What has he done to you Alex?" His eyebrows pulled together in concern. "We are leaving. Now."41

"What do you mean leaving? We can't leave." 42

"Oh yes we can, and we are. You can't stay here, I won't let you."43

I opened to say something but my consciousness slipped away before I could. I slipped out of Brian's arms and nearly hit the floor again before he caught me.44

As I slowly regained consciousness, I could feel the cold wet grass beneath me. My hands grabbed around the wet green, trying to figure out where I was. I couldn't hear anything around me, only the howl of the wind. I felt raindrops splatter against my face, and I knew it was raining. I finally opened my eyes, looking around. 45

I sat up, clutching my head as it continued to throb wondering where in the hell I was. It looked like I was in the middle of a field, but I had no clue where. The weirdest thing was that Brian was no where to be seen. 46

"Brian?" I yelled into the misty air, but no answer. 47

I tried to stan, but my knees only gave way so I ended up on the ground whether I wanted to stay there or not. My eyes suddenly snapped towards a figure moving in the distance. My eyes grew wide in fear if it was someone coming looking for me...the only word that came to my mind was 'dad' 48

I finally exhaled as I saw the moonlight reflecting off of Brian's face as he drew closer. As he found I was awake, a smile grew on his face over his glistening teeth. He was limping slightly, and that frightened me almost as much as I thought of what my father was going to do when he woke up the next morning to an empty basement...49

"Alex, oh thank goodness you're awake!" Brian exclaimed, finally reaching me in the damp grass. 50

"Brian where have you been? Where did you take me? Are you hurt?" The questions began pouring from my mouth like a fountain of water.51

"I only took you away from the man who was bound to kill you sooner or later, to a field near my house. I'm fine Alex, promise."52

"Let me see you're leg. You were limping," I said as I grabbed his leg and yanked up his pant leg as he scowled dissaprovingly at me. The calf of his left leg was badly bruised and his arms were scratched. "What happened to you?"53

"I...fell when I was carrying you. No big deal, Alex I'm fine."54

"No big deal? That looks like it might be broken! How hard did you fall? Surely not in the grass." I knew there was something he wasn't telling me. I could understand something was wrong by the words that he didn't say, something was bothering him and I was going to find out what. Turns out I didn't have to...55

******56

After I was able to stand, and after arguing with Brian about taking him and myself to the hospital, we decided against it. We were walking down main street, looking for somewhere to stay. Brian's eyes were flitting around nervously, like he was afraid someone was looking for him. But that was more true than I wished it would ever be...and they weren't looking for him for a good reason...57

As he were walking by an Electronics store, nearly all of the T.V.'s in the window caught my eye. They were all on the same news station and there had been some sort of Breaking News in the area near my house. Brian tried to pull me into an alleyway as the news person began talking about someone being brutally murdered, when my thoughts clicked. I stopped dead in my tracks, and turned to look at Brian with wide eyes. He avoided my gaze by looking at the ground, and I took the chance to see the story.58

There on the screen was my mother in tears talking about how a young male, 16, had murdered her husband late last night with a baseball bat. My jaw dropped as she told the news reporters the description of my father's killer. Tall, brownish blackish hair, 16, about 6"1', Blue eyes...59

My lower lip quivered as I mouthed the identity of the killer whom I knew so well, "Brian. Oh, how could you?"60

As I looked up I was even more shocked at what she was telling the repoter next. "I believe it was gang related. I also believe, and this is hard for me to say but I must tell the truth, that my very own daughter may have been related. She has always been how should I put this...trouble. I bet it was her little punk friend...oh what's his name...B-something. Brian I think it is. He was involved too most likely."61

Just then a picture of myself and Brian standing outside my house popped onto the screen from about three months ago. My eyes grew wide and I ran into the alley looking for Brian for an explination. I couldn't believe that my own mother would blame me for something like this. I wasn't even conscious.62

"Brian?!" I hissed his name in a low whisper, scanning for any signs of movement in the darkness.63

"Behind you," He whispered in my ear, making me jump. A low chuckle sounded from him, and I turned to glare. 64

"How could you do such a thing? What were you thinking? Are you trying to get yourself killed?65

"I was thinking that I wasn't going to ever let your father do that to you again."66

"B-Brian, you are so sweet. Well, in a sick and twisted kind of way. And I love you for that, but one thing." I was going to start crying, perfect I thought.67

"What?"68

"What are we going to do now?"69

"I haven't exactly thought about that part, sorry..."70

I stood, staring at him speechless. My life as a fugitive had begun, and I had had nothing to do with it.71

Just my luck I suppose.72