SKY

I woke up to loud noises coming from downstairs.

It surprised me because I was such a heavy sleeper that I could sleep in the middle of a war and not wake up.

It took me a minute to realize that it was the screams of Caroline and a man. The screams grew louder the more I woke up and I started to get worried.

When I sat up to look for Alexander, he was already woken up. He was sitting on the edge of the other side of the bed, his naked back facing me. His elbows were on his knees and I could hear low curses from him.

He seemed so caught up in his own zone of anger that I stayed quiet for a bit until I moved to sit beside him with my legs tucked beneath me.

"What's happening?" I asked him, trying not to sound panicked in my voice. When I touched his shoulder, he flinched my hand away.

The screams grew louder and I was anticipating wether or not to go down there, but I didn't want to go without him.

His door opened, revealing Layla outside of it. Her face was flooding in tears, she had a small pink blanket wrapped around her and was tightly holding on to a brown teddy bear.

I watched as she walked over to Alexander and he took her in his arms. She sat sideways on his lap and rested her small head on his shoulder. Her cries soon died down as he held her in his embrace.

He was caressing her arm while looking out the window, his eyes holding so much anger in them.

I wanted to say something but I just couldn't, because of the humongous lump that was continuing to form in my throat.

"My dad. . .he comes to our house drunk sometimes." He explained. "He's a different fucking drunk every time. Sometimes he pretends he wants to see us, sometimes he doesn't remember what happened and just walks in and acts like the old times, but most times he fights with my mom until she gets him away."

I listened to him, looking into his eyes while he spoke with his eyes on the window.

The heavy storm outside made the whole situation even more frightening.

Every strike of thunder crept into my soul, and the rain outside was a perfect comparison to the storm inside.

Both of our heads snapped towards the door when the noises from downstairs hot louder. A screaming match turned into an actually scream from Caroline. I heard noises from a furniture breaking and looked over at Alexander.

He quickly lifted Layla off of his lap. We both watched as he rushed to his closet.

"What are you doing, Alex?" Layla said with her small voice. She rushed to him.

He brought her to the other side of the bed. "Just stay here with Sky, okay?"

I sat beside her and hugged her in my arms and she did the same, only tighter.

I watched as he went back to the closet and took out a wooden baseball bat. His eyes were bloodshot red as he walked towards the door.

He turned around to look at us, me holding Layla as she sniffled and we were sitting on the bed, and then turned to head towards the door.

I sat there with Layla in my arms. Whatever Alex was going to do with that bat wasn't going to be good.

"Layla?" I called her from my shoulder and she hummed. "What's your favourite show?"

"C-Curious George." She weeped. I reached for Alexander's phone and unlocked it, having seen him put the passcode in numerous times and searched up and episode on YouTube.

I also took the headphones from the nightstand and played the video for her to listen to.

She soon smiled at the video and I laid her down on the pillows for her to relax on. I waited until she was fully into the video to rush downstairs.

The first thing I saw was Caroline buttoning up her onesie looking absolutely distressed. Alexander was in front of her like a human shield, with his baseball raised and tight in his arms. My eyes then landed at who they were looking at. An even taller man than Alexander, with a long beard and hair to his shoulders. He was lanky and probably a few inches taller than Alex. His blue eyes then landed to me at the bottom of the stairs and I felt my breath leave for a second.

"Who's this?" He tilted his head.

All three heads snapped towards me and I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Go back upstairs, Sky." Alex demanded.

"Is this your little girlfriend? She's a cutie." His father said, sending chills down my spine. I was only sixteen years old and to hear him say something like this was absolutely disgusting.

"Go the fuck upstairs, Sky. You too mom." He gripped his baseball bat tighter, ready to swing it at him.

He continued to stare at me with his scary eyes. I felt a disgusting feeling inside.

"I raised you well, my son."

Alexander suddenly swung the bat at the man's stomach, and he fell forward on his knees while clutching his stomach.

"You didn't fucking raise me." He screamed, looking down at the man who was struggling to breathe.

Caroline and I stared in horror until Caroline begged for him not to hit him again.

"Alex, please stop." She silently begged.

Alexander ignored her and walked over to him again, swinging the bat and hitting it at the side of his face.

When I looked at Alex, he was in some kind of trance. His eyes looked evil as he looked down at his father. But I understood why he was so angry.

The man honestly deserved it but I didn't want to think about what could happen if Alexander hit him somewhere in the head. His hits were so strong, that I didn't believe anyone could survive a hit there.

"I'll fucking kill you." He screamed, so loud.

I prayed that Layla's volume on her show was loud enough for her not to hear.

I walked over to him and stood in front of him. With my hands on his chest, lightly pushing him back.

He didn't look at me, his eyes staying fixed on his father.

I didn't know what to do.

His eyes met mine, then went back to his, until they stayed fixed on mine. He looked down at me and his shoulders relaxed and so did his grip on the baseball bat.

I thought he was about to go back to him and beat him again, but he picked him up by the collar and threw him outside far enough from the house.

When he came back in the house, he rushed upstairs and I looked at Caroline who was wiping her tears.

"I'm so sorry that you had to see this." She apologized, running her fingers through her hair.

"Please, dont apologize." I begged. The last thing she needed to feel right now was guilt. "It's okay."

She smiled before huffing loudly and making her way back upstairs, looking so drained and over everything.

When I reached Alexander's room, he was sitting down on the bed the same way he was when I woke up. Layla was sound asleep in the middle of the bed, the headphones still in her ear. I tucked her in before taking a seat next to Alexander.

"I'm so sorry." I couldn't help but say. He seemed so broken, and I had no idea how to fix him.

I wiped some of my tears that I didn't know were there and looked over to him. He didn't look at me, like he was embarrassed.

"You're sorry?" He scoffed. "I shouldn't have let you sleep over. I didn't think he would come twice in one week."

I opened my arms for him. He was so used to taking care of people, his sister, his mom, and he just needed someone to take care of him.

Just someone to hold him, maybe.

He hesitated before letting himself get wrapped in my arms. His head laid on my chest, with his hair grazing my neck.

"I think my father is why I'm so fucking angry all the time. All this stored anger from everything he did to me when I was young just come out at times." He explained, his words coming out so hurt. "I hate him."

I rubbed his back, just staying silent but listening to him intently.

"I was going to kill him. I wanted to kill him." He said, anger traced in his voice again.

"But you didn't. You controlled yourself and you didn't do something you would regret." I told him, running my fingers through his hair.

"Maybe if I never let him get to me, then maybe I could be fucking normal. I hate him for making me hate myself. He is why I could never have a child one day. I'm so fucking scared that I'll end up treating him like he treated me."

"Who he is doesn't shape who you are or who you will become. You're not like him, and I've had the opportunity to see that." I explained, my voice cracking at the end.

He surprised me when he pulled me into his lap so he can wrap his arms around me tighter. It was an innocent gesture but it made my heart beat so much faster, and I've been on his lap before and didn't feel a thing.

He cried on my shoulder. There was this label about men that they're not supposed to cry, and the sight of him letting out his emotions was comforting.

Beautiful even.

His father had broken him so much, and he was finally letting out his emotions, in front of me.

I don't know what it was that I was feeling, seeing an emotion of anger mixed with sadness from him was so beautiful. It was beautiful because I could see him feel another emotion than just anger all the time.

When I lifted his head up, his green-blue eyes were swimming in pools of tears. Around his eyes, were dark red circles. He was so incredibly beautiful, that I forgot what I needed to tell him.

Instead, I brought my lips to his cheek and saw him relax.

After a few minutes of sitting, we got settled back in bed. His bed was big enough for Layla, Him and I so we got under the covers with Layla in the middle.

We faced each other in the darkness and the only noise was the heavy rain from outside. For a second, the lightning hit his face, and he illuminated in the darkness. I was seeing him differently, and my feelings towards him were different also.

"Please come to New York tomorrow, Sky." He begged in the darkness, and thunder followed after his words.

I looked over at him, looking at his sad eyes. I placed my hand on his cheek and caressed it with my thumb. His eyes were just so sad, and I didn't want to let him down. He had done so much for me, in ways he probably would never know, and the last thing I wanted to do was be the reason he didn't perform well. He needed me like I needed him.

"Okay." I agreed, putting my arms under the sheets and feeling my eyes get heavy.

Alexander smiled at me sleepily. I smiled at him back and started falling into my sleep, already seeing my dreams.

"Thank you for being such a good friend, Sky." Alexander said.

I knew that were just friends, but I found myself wishing that we were more than that.

* * *