Chapter Text
As another bottle flew through the wind the little boy cowered in the corner, trying to avoid getting hit as the scream filled his ears. It was becoming normal for him to hide behind the couch every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... More or less every day. The couch was soft for his back but the floor was cold and hard. After so many times of running to hide here you would think the young boy would have brought a pillow with him as to avoid the harsh wooden floor, but the fear of what his father might say of it scared him and he tried to not give into the temptations
His hair fell over his eyes as he tried to cover his ears while the shards of glass spread over the floor like rain on a cloudy day. His hair was actually quite soft and smooth, but after so many years of his father’s games and doings it had turned messy, uncared for. The only reason as to why it never grew past his shoulders was because of his friend who made sure to keep it a normal length. He was actually pretty skilled with cutting hair and he had so many ideas on styles and ways to put it up that it was amazing.
His name was Henry, his friend. Henry Emily. Probably the nicest kid in the neighbour. Henry was very caring and kind and always put others before him. It was as if his life went out on helping others and making people happy. He never asked for too much and was willing to share the few things he had. He was very skilled when it came to drawing and the teachers were always impressed by him, even in the normal classes. The only thing he actually wasn’t too good with was math shockingly.
He wanted to go back to Henry, escape to his friends house once again where they would draw together and come up with their amazing and brilliant ideas for the future. They had this dream together, to start their own restaurant. It was going to be a special one and not like the boring ones that are in town. No this restaurant was going to be big and it was going to be for children and not for the boring grown ups that only wanted to talk over the table. They had ideas for carousels, arcade games and lots of balloons and confetti. But still their restaurant didn’t feel complete. Something had been missing.
“William,” Henry had whispered to him one night during a sleepover. “What if there was big animals in our restaurant? You know robots that look like animals?”
William had turned to him with a big smile on his face, already liking his friends idea. “It sounds great, Hen! How many would we have?”
“Maybe three? We can have a bear, a chicken and maybe even a bunny!”
“Can we have a fox too? A pirate fox!” He had heard Henry giggle quietly under his blanket before sitting up and grabbing his paper and his pen, getting ready to plan out their ideas even if it had been in the middle of the night.
Now it was just William behind his couch while his father threw his empty beer bottles around him and screaming for his son to come out from where he was. But William refused to confront him and look him in the eyes once again. It would only result in yet another purple eye and bruised ribs for school. His father filled him with lies and made damn sure his son did not go around and tell what had actually happened, and William as good of a son he wanted to be stayed quiet. He wanted to be like Henry, he wanted to be the kid who was loved by his parents and always did as he was told to do. But of course Henry didn’t really get hit by his parents…
William didn’t understand why his dad was like this, but he suspected that it might be because of how his mother had died. William was unsure about what had happened or why she had died, but he knew his dad was taking it very hard. It had been almost a full year now and since day one his dad had been drinking. At first it felt like it was gonna pass by time and he had tried to be supportive of his father, but after a month things turned. His dad started to yell and punch the walls and sometimes he would even slam the doors shut. Then it did not take long until those punches started landing on William as his father took out his anger. It had come as a surprise at first when his hand crashed into his cheek. William had fallen onto the floor and had been laying there in complete shock while staring at his father's face. It was the same face of the man who had been taking care of him for six years, the same face of the man who had gone fishing with him and learned him everything there was to know. It was him, but a twisted version of him that William couldn’t even in his dreams have imagined. It was as if someone had gone into his brain and made his nightmares a reality. His mom was gone and his only family member left had turned into the monsters he feared at night.
“You little shit get here now!” His dad yelled and William flinched behind the couch while trying to think of his friend, his friend who lived just next door and wasn’t aware of what was happening. No matter how many times William silently begged Henry never came to ring the doorbell or give a light tap on the window to get attention. William wiped the tear that had fallen along his cheek away before trying to come up with a plan to escape his dad and run to Henry, away from this hell. It was just that his dad was standing in the opening to the living room and blocking the way to the front door. This made things a lot harder since if he came close to his dad he would most definitely get hit in the face or the ribs.
William took a deep breath before latching onto himself, wrapping the small and boney arms around himself as a hug. It wasn’t much but it brought him comfort and in all honesty he imagined it being Henry hugging him. Henry who gave the best hugs and always leaned his forehead against his temple. It made William feel a little bubbly inside as if it set of a reaction inside of him. He kinda liked the feeling and he felt loved, more loved than he felt by his own father. He didn’t know why it felt like that when he got a hug from his friend but he didn’t really mind it, it was actually quite nice and he did not want the feeling to go away.
“You fucking shit, you hear me? This is all your fault.” His father muttered before grabbing another bottle beer that had been standing on the hallway table and wandering off. His steps were heavy and uneven which meant that he would probably pass out soon again. It was not really a pretty view to see the man passed out on the table, but the little boy saw it as an opportunity to run out of the house and escape to his friend next door. Any moment know his father would sit down on the chair to the left of the table and lay his head down. Once he had done that there was nothing stopping him from running to the door.
William peeked out from behind the couch and saw his dad sipping on the beer before shaking his head slightly as if it would help him clear his mind. Of course it didn’t work and he placed the green bottle next to him. The man who really needed to shave his beard placed his head on the table slowly and his hair fell over and spread itself on the wooden surface. His hair was dark brown and it almost looked black from all the dirt and grease. William couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his dad actually take a good shower and rinse himself of the dirt that had gotten stuck on his body. The smell never disappeared either and now the boy had started to connect the beer smell to his dad. That he never told anyone though because he knew that it was bad news and that he would probably get in trouble if he as much as mentioned it.
William quickly got up on his knees and got himself steady before jolting up and quietly running to the door while keeping an eye on his dad. He was paranoid that if he looked away his dad would jump up and grab him and force him back into the house and abuse him again. His eyes never left the man until he forced the door open and ran out, closing it behind him. His heart was beating quickly in his chest and it almost hurt, as if his chest has tightened itself up in anxiety and suffocate him alive. It hurt and it made him feel more anxious but he was still in the danger zone, he still had to get to Henry’s house before he was safe. Henry’s house was just next to him, it was right there. Fully visible and only a few meters away. But still when he walked it felt like the house was further away, moving away from him.
He picked up his pace and ran the last meters to the door, quickly ringing the doorbell while glancing back to his own house. It looked rather peaceful from here. The small house with a nice and soft grey color with tinted windows. The garden was overgrown but the trees and bushes were in full bloom with white flowers. When his mom was still alive there had been more flowers and the grass had been even and cut. It had looked so alive back then and he kinda missed it and wished it could go back to how it used to be. It was silly, but a boy could dream couldn’t he?
The door opened and there stood Henry. A boy his height, shorter by only a centimeter or two with brown and fluffy hair. It was lighter than William’s and his eyes looked almost like dark honey. They were soft and kind with a golden touch while still remaining dark and mysterious. He was wearing a brown flannel shirt with jeans that matched and he looked pretty happy. He wasn’t wearing any socks though which was quite odd but William did not pay it too much attention. His friend was here and he was now safe from whatever his father might have had in store for him and he could not help but to smile back. “Hello there, Hen.” He whispered quietly. “Hello my own Willy A.” Henry giggled before letting the other boy inside the house.
They immediately sat down on the floor to pull up their papers. Henry had a whole box filled with files that they had made specifically for their ideas. There were so much papers that it looked like they had been doing this for years when they actually only had been at it for a couple of months. Henry was very skilled with the pen and he could draw better than William, so William always made side notes or did the math behind the drawings and did research about running a business. He also had read a few books that were written for adults on what to do and how to behave to be more likeable and how to impress people just in case someone wanted to hire them. The problem was that William had a very hard time understanding all the words so it often ended up with and Henry searching through a word translator as to try and decipher what they actually meant. One time they even went to Henry’s dad to ask for help.
“I was just thinking that maybe instead of having Chica holding a slice of pizza, she could hold a cupcake? You know to add more volume to her design. Plus it is funnier with a cupcake than a colorless pizza.” Henry showed him a drawing he had been doing that resembled a cupcake. It was round and pink with two large eyes that gave it a more cute appealing. William nodded his head while looking back up to his friend.
“Maybe we can add a candle on top? You know as if it was a mini birthday cake!” William continued on with the idea and Henry’s face lit up as he grabbed another pen and started doing the outlines of a small candle standing up from the middle of the cupcake. It looked friendly in a way, as if it had been taken directly out of a kids cartoon. William loved it and he felt admiritation filling inside of him. It was strange honestly how he could look up to someone so much that love started to form inside him. Ever since his mom died and his dad had become like this it felt like he had been incapable of love. But here he was with his best friend wanting to hug him and never let go.
Henry looked back up at his friend while putting down his pen next to the paper that was laying in front of them. His eyes looked curious and they were looking for something. William felt exposed as Henry moved closer to him while looking into his eyes. William felt his chest get tighter in a way he couldn’t explain and breathing was suddenly a problem for him. Henry was close and looking at him, the brown soft locks falling over his eyes.
“Is there something wrong?” William finally asked. “You are getting close, Henry..” He wanted to say that he was getting too close, but in a way he wanted Henry to be too close. He wanted someone to be near him and he needed to feel cared for. He was in a way touch starved since all the embraces he would get was the embrace of a fist.
“William have you been crying?” Henry asked and reached his hand up to feel underneath William’s eyes, but the boy flinched and shoved his friends hand away. Henry got a sad look on his face.
“None of that now, Henry.”
“So you have been crying…”
“I never said that!”
Henry looked unsatisfied and William faced the other way as to avoid his friends eyes. He wanted to talk about it but he couldn’t talk about it. It wouldn’t be right to trouble Henry with it and his dad would most definitely hit him again. No good would come out of it. Plus he really didn’t want to ruin this moment of happiness and let the feeling he had been feeling slip away just because he couldn’t hide his pain good enough, why couldn’t he hide his pain good enough?
“William please tell me.” He whispered before throwing his arms around William’s neck and nuzzling into his hair. It caught William by surprise but he really didn’t mind it. The smell of Henry overwhelmed him, but the feeling of someone embracing him in such a soft manner was amazing to him. He didn’t want Henry to let go and so he hugged him back tightly and closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to come out. Henry rubbed his back gently and William bit his lip.
“I’m sorry Henry, I can’t talk about it.. Can we just stay like this for a while?”
Henry nodded.