Hate Is a Battlefield, Love Is a War

Ominous Dreams

:Alex

"Wake up Alex!" A little girl's voice echoed in my head.

"Gooo away Liz," I grumbled.

"Someone named Gavin texted you. Omg IS HE YOUR BOYFRIEND!"
I sat up quickly, almost bashing my head with Liz's. I snatched the phone.

"There's a heart by his name OMG ALEX GOT A BOYFRIEND ALEXS GOT A BOYFRIEND!" She shouted.

"Keep your voice down Liz." She gave me a hug, and I returned it.
"It's wake-up time Alex."

"Okay, I'll be down in a minute" I replied and she scurried out of the room. My phone buzzed again
...
"Before my mom left she gave me money, so now I'm renting a limo for prom." Gavin texted, I replied.

"That's hella expensive are you sure you wanna use the money like that?"

"Yes,  but four people are coming too, is that okay?"
I typed back very fast,

"Who and are they couples?"

"Yes, Tarra and Diamond, Jamie and Törin."

"WHAT!!! TÖRIN HASN'T EVEN COME OUT YET AND HE WAS THE ONE THAT DID THIS TO ME" I nearly screamed in my room as well as texting.

"Yeah, I dunno,  I could say no?"  He replied.

"Fine, but you better take me to a nice restaurant."

"Oh don't worry Mr.Sassy, I've got it all planned out."

I replied with a 😘.
.....
I crutched over to my dresser and grabbed some loose jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt, one of my most frequent outfits. Since I was going to go home with nurse Stacy after prom I didn't have much of my clothes unpacked. I was really sad that Liz wasn't coming with me but I wanted to see if Stacy had anyone close to her looking for a kid. I awkwardly got dressed and made my way out to the kitchen, where gross-looking pieces of toast were lying on a chipped ancient-appearing plate.

"Just because you are crippled does NOT mean you can be late to breakfast!" My foster mom, fern shouted.  I looked at Liz and the other 4 very young foster kids choking down the distasteful bread.

"No one would want to eat that disease-covered muck anyways" Ferns husband came out, and punched me in the stomach. The other kids ran out of the room. I fell to my knees, the wind knocked out of me, I was gulping for breath that wasn't there.

"Don't speak to my wife like that punk!" I finally found the air I was looking for, and I breathed in very sharply.  My long arms reached up and grabbed the counter. I used my strength to pull myself up, and I grabbed the crutches and left this hell hole heading for Gavin's house. (he told me how to get to it once and which window was his).
After 20 minutes of painfully making my way to Gavin, I went to the side of the one-story house and quietly knocked on his window. His familiar black hair, with fading blonde dye, and dark blue eyes looked out the window. He opened the window and messed with his shoes, then hopped out.

"What's up, I can disinvite them, I can make it just us, I...." I pressed my mouth against his, tears rolling down my face.

"I missed you" I whispered and he hugged me with immense force.

"Come inside, tell me what's going on," he said, and we both climbed in his window, I fell on his bed.

I took a deep breath, sat up, and told him everything. He gave me a hug and told me it was going to be okay, that's why I cared about him so much, was because he knew how to make me feel better.

"I'm fine with Torin and whoever else wants to come, even though I HATE him and don't understand why he's coming, but I want it to be our night, so when we get to the dance, can we just dance, you and me for a while?"

"I was planning on that anyways Alex" He chuckled. I put my head against his chest, wishing I could take his emotional stability and strength, to be strong, but at the moment I couldn't.

"Prom's this Friday, will you be ready by then?" Gavin asked. I nodded my head and started to feel very drowsy. He ruffled with my hair, and I finally fell asleep.

The sky was dark, and I was standing on a big H, tears falling in heavy drops down my face.

"Please don't do it!"

A faceless person looked at me, I could sense the pain and fear rolling off the person. A blurry voice cut across the roof,
"The pain of the past is too hard to bear on your own. Love is a battle, and I just lost." Then they jumped.
.............
"Hey, hey, you okay?" Gavin said, dragging me from my nightmare.

"Bad dream that's all, I should go, I don't want your dad to get angry, can you just help me down?"

"No problem Alex, I'll see you on Monday." He helped me out of the window, not before kissing me deeply, almost, almost, making me stay. I picked up my crutches and waved goodbye. I headed to a nearby park, and let the mid-day sun warm my back, it came close but not quite to make me forget about what happened today.