Chapter 8

Silence reign as Derek and his mother found themselves in a staring contest, you could feel the tension in the air. Evans glanced at Greta, question in his eyes, but all she did was shrug.

"What are you doing here?" Derek finally spoke, his voice one that Evans hadn't heard before, they sounded so cold and unfriendly that even his mother flinched a little from it.

"I—I came to see my son," She said the last two words slowly, like she was afraid from the reaction she would get from it.

"Well, your son doesn't want to see you, so I suggest you kindly leave, thank you." He proceeded to walk past her, but she reached out to grab him by the elbow quickly.

"Derek please, I'm sorry," She begged, the tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm not in the mood for this mother," He said not looking at her, dragging his hand from her hold, he walked away leaving her.

She stood there, the tears running down her face, Evans didn't know what to do or say, he couldn't even move to leave the awkwardness behind.

"Wait a moment Sarah," Greta told her softly. "I would go speak with him." Shooting her a sorry look, she went after Derek.

Sarah brought out a handkerchief to dry her tears, dabbing it on her cheeks. Evans bit his lips, he felt he should say something, anything at least. "He will come around."

She looked up quickly at Evans, as though she finally noticed him in the room. "Sorry, I didn't see you there," she sniffed and gave him a small smile. "Are you his... Are you guys dating?"

"No!" I replied in haste, she raised an eyebrow in question. "I mean... No—no, we are not dating, we're just friends."

"Ok." She nodded.

"Can I get you a glass of water?" He asked, anything to stop them from standing there, the cold was getting to his bones, and the shirt he wore was light and didn't help much.

She nodded her head gratefully. "That would be nice, thank you."

Evans smiled at her and walked away, towards the kitchen, as he approached, he could hear the voices of Derek and Greta speaking, but he couldn't make out the words they were saying. He wondered what would ever cause a strong drift between a mother and son like that. His mind went back to his mother, she was the most beautiful woman on earth, she would always read him bedtime stories at night and he loved her more than anything in the world, because she was his world.

His world went away, when that tree had decided to fall on their car. The light in his world had gone and it had only been replaced by darkness. It had become worst when Greta had experience her first attack after the incident, he thought he was going to lose her too, and be all alone in this cruel world. He had stayed with her day and night, watching over her till she got well enough to go home. It's been them ever since.

"Hey!" He jumped up startled at the voice that had just called, he turned around to see Greta

"Hey." He smiled at him.

"Sorry about that, it's just Derek and his mother... It's a long story and it's his to tell, but she's gone now, she said to greet you goodbye."

"She's gone?" Evans wondered how long he had been standing, dwelling on the past. It couldn't have been that long, he thought.

"Yeah, just now. They've decided to set a date to talk about their... The situation." Evans nodded at her words.

"Ok, I will go change my clothe now." He walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheeks before proceeding upstairs.

Evans found himself standing in front of Derek's door, he had been standing there for minutes wondering if he should walk in or give him some space. He leaned forward, pressing his head against the door, and held his breathe, but he didn't hear anything.

 Is he sleeping already? Evans wondered. He pulled back and decided to go sleep in one of the guest rooms, he didn't want to disturb Derek.

~~~~~~~

Derek got out of the bathroom, that shower was what he needed to calm him down. He dried his body and walked over to his wardrobe to get some clothes. He looked towards Evans wardrobe as he wandered if he was still downstairs with Greta.

Maybe he will come in later, he thought. He didn't even have the appetite for dinner again, and it was already late, he got into his side of the bed, pulling the sheets over him, he closed his eyes and rested. His muscles relaxed under the cool sheets and sleep slowly washed over him, sending him into dream world.

Derek stood in front of his father, his leg shook in fear as his eyes wondered round the room, in search of an escape he knew was fruitless. His father had locked the door as soon as he stepped into his room.

"Do you want to explain this to me!" His father's voice shouted, his hand was holding tight to what was Derek's diary. Derek opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was blubbering mess.

"I... That's my... I don't know." His eyes begged his father for what he knew was about to come.

"Oh, you don't know?" Derek nodded his head, but that only seemed to anger his father more. "Sometimes I look at you, and I can't believe you're my son! If I can go back fifteen years ago, I would have worn a condom, that night I slept with your mother!" With that, the first slap landed, coming with lightning speed against Derek cheek, the impact pushed Derek to the floor. He grunted in pain as his cheeks grazed against the hard floor.

The next sound was the unbuckling of belts, Derek knew what was to come next. "You're no son of mine! Your mother definitely did some business with another man!" He said as he held his belt in his hands, Derek glanced up at him, the tears streaming down his face as his eyes held anger.

"Don't talk about my mother that way," He choked out. "I-" He wasn't given her chance to speak as the belt landed across his back. Derek brought his hands up to protect his face, curling into a ball as he shouted in pain with each painful stroke across his naked back.

The belt came down landing on his back, his father didn't stop when the belt tore Derek's flesh, or when the blood streamed down his back, his didn't stop at the sounds of pleas that escaped Derek's lips.

"Dad! Open the door!" Hands pounded on the door, and the voice of Derek's elder brother Luke shouted from behind the door. "Open the door!" 

"Aaaaaargh!" 

 Derek opened his eyes and sat up quickly. He looked round the room, something had jolted him up from sleep and he wondered what exactly. He turned to find an empty space beside him where Evans was supposed to be sleeping in.

"No!" He heard the voice which he knew belonged to Evans scream again. He got out of the bed and ran out of the room.

Greta was already out in her nighties looking worried. "Don't worry, go back to sleep, I will handle this." He told her and walked over to the room where the cries came from. He pushed the door open and walked in.

Derek eyes landed on a tear streaked Evans, his hands were gripping the already torn sheets. Derek ran over to him, Evans hadn't switched the lights off, so Derek had a clear view. Evans was mumbling words Derek didn't understand, his eyes were closed, his eyeballs were roaming, his faced was etched with fear.

"Evans!" He grabbed him by his already sweat filled clothes and shook him. "Evans, wake up!" But Evans only shook his head, trying to pull himself from Derek's hold. "It's Derek ok, what you're having is just a dream, it's just a dream darling." He cradled Evans into his arms, holding him like a mother would hold her child.

Evans eyes fluttered open, "D—Derek." He called weakly.

"Hey! It's me, I'm here ok, what's wrong?" Derek questioned, really worried. This wasn't the first time he had seen Evans like this, and he was worried that this was something Evans had to go through everyday.

Evans threw himself around Derek, bursting into tears, his shoulders trembled as he gripped tight onto Derek. Derek glanced towards the door where Greta stood, she gave him a worried look before walking away, closing the door behind her.

"It's ok Evans," Derek said as he rocked him in his arms I'm here, it will be ok." They stayed in that same position till Evans fell into a deep sleep. Derek stayed up for hours, before he finally slept off.

~~~~~~~

Evans woke up to find himself in strong arms, he twisted and found a sleeping Derek just beside him. He got confused because he didn't remember sleeping in Derek's room last night. He looked around the room, then realised this was one of the guest rooms Derek had shown him earlier. 

"Derek?" Derek opened his eyes quickly at the mention of his name, he was a light sleeper. He blinked his eyes severally, looking round the room just like Evans did seconds ago, before he looked down at Evans.

"Yeah? Good morning," He said with a tired smile.

"Morning, how did you get here? I remember coming here alone." His eyes held confusion.

"You don't remember last night?" Derek asked surprised. Evans shook his head. "Well, you had a nightmare last night, I heard your screams and came in here. Why didn't you come in last night?"

"I—I'm can't... I remember that I didn't want to disturb you, so I came in here." He sat up.

"Why would you think you were disturbing me? Evans, did you remember the nightmare you had last night?" Evans eyes widened as the last words of Derek, everything cams back to him. 

"Oh that, it was nothing really, I can't even remember-"

"Don't lie to me Evans, just tell me what's wrong. I only want to help, nothing more Evans." Derek held him tight as Evans tried to move away from his hold. "Look at me Evans, please."

Evans didn't want to listen, he couldn't tell Derek about his nightmares, he feared Derek would see him crazy. "It's nothing Derek, I am not ready to talk about this Derek, please another day." Derek kept quiet for some time.

"I had a nightmare last night too," That made Evans sit still, Derek continued, "When I was fifteen, there was a guy in my class who I really liked, his name was Gabriel." He gave a low laugh. "He made me act like a teenage girl in love, and when I found out he liked me too, I was the happiest teen on earth. Anyways, my best friend, Walter found out and he seemed ok with it, so did the guy in my basketball team. No one took it as bad as I thought they would, everyone seemed cool with, at least, that's what I thought till I came out to my parents."

Evans put his arms around Derek's shoulder, he had an idea of what Derek was about to say. "Well, my mum wasn't bothered, but my Dad disowned me that very night. He would always take me to church to be delivered, according to him I have been possessed and he would always try to flog the Demon out of me."

"Oh my God, Derek, I am so sorry."

"You didn't do anything Evans, there is nothing to be sorry for. Till today, I am still haunted by nightmares of my father's belt on my skin and sometimes, when I can still feel it. I hated my mother for not standing up for me, she never tended to my wounds, it was always my brother Luke or Greta." He finally looked at Evans, who had tears running down his face. "I am not telling you this for you to pity me Evans, though the nightmares still haunt me, I won't let them define who I am, and who I will become. Because, everytime I am reminded of the past, I see myself as a survivor and that what pushes me, to be a better person. Now, I don't know who hurt you to bring you pains most nights, but you will get through this, and I will try my best in any way possible to see to that, ok?"

"Ok." Evans nodded, throwing his arms around Derek in a tight hug.