Bruises - JATP Fanfic (Luke x OC)

Chapter 12

The next morning, just as Brielle wakes up, she only sees Alex, who is still going through her songbook, humming melodies she remembers better than the back of her hand. Still in a daze, she doesn't even realize what is in Alex's hands, or that the other two boys aren't there. It only takes a few seconds of her staring at the object in Alex's hands to realize what it is.

"What are you doing with my song notebook?" She is fuming, since she was pretty sure she made it very clear it was off-limits to everyone.

"I, uh, I found it and, uh, started looking through it last night." He shuts the book and hands it back to her, but the words on the page, and the fact that many of them clearly have had some water damage, refuse to leave his memory. The things she's written about, he has witnessed firsthand. Especially after he came out as gay to his parents.

"This has been off-limits to every single soul since I started writing in it four years ago. There are clear boundaries, okay?" She takes the book back, holding it close to her chest.

"Why don't you keep it at your home?" He asks, pretty sure of the answer, especially with all of the stories he just read about her life. I mean, it's exactly what he went through for a year before he joined Sunset Curve and finally got away from it all. The beatings, embarrassed parents, and being too scared to go home for more than a few hours.

"My parents hate any kind of music. The only kind they tolerate is when it's on one of their favorite TV shows, which tend to be reruns of old sitcoms or dumb reality TV. If they saw any of what was in this book, they'd burn it, and probably hurt me." Brielle admits, finally opening up to someone after a year of silence.

Julie's mom knew about it all, but in the last year, it had gotten worse than it had ever been. Before, it would be maybe fifteen bruises on her body at most at any one time, and they never would have so much as touched her with a knife. But now, they just do whatever they want. Rose did actually threaten to call the police on them if they did anything more than give her a few bruises, but once they found out she died, it was game on.

"I am so sorry you have to go through any of this. My parents were the same way when I came out of the closet. I had bruises lining my arms, all down my shins, and covering my back and stomach. Sunset Curve is what actually saved me. My parents were hours from kicking me out of the house altogether when I ran away." Alex sits next to Brielle, sharing the one thing his bandmates never really found out about.

"If I didn't have Julie, I don't think I'd even be alive. But, every couple days, I still go back, because they are threatening Ray. And I'd rather go back than drag someone else into my mess." Brielle admits, and it's breaking Alex's heart to know she hasn't opened up to anyone else about all of this. "Julie's mom knew about it all, but after she passed, it got so much worse."

"How much worse is it now?" He asks, just wanting to know what all is going on. He wants to protect her. Not because he loves her in any sort of romantic way, but because he is starting to feel like the big brother she never really had.

"Whenever my parents text me to come home and play Cinderella, they specify how long I have until I start getting punishments, which is never long enough for me to get back. For ever minute I am late, my father gets to swing one blow at me. For every hour, I get a big gash, usually on my legs or back. Julie and Flynn know about some of it, but not enough, so it's usually why I sneak out when they're not paying attention. The later I am, the worse it is." A million flashbacks race through Alex's mind, knowing exactly what she's feeling.

"For about six months, if I didn't do exactly what my parents asked, I was beaten too. The day I gave up was the day I left." Alex says, and somehow, Reggie and Luke still haven't poofed back to join him in the studio.

"It was my parents who caused the prosthetic." Brielle blurts out, and the non-existent blood rushes out of Alex's face. "It was actually an accident. My dad was super upset because he texted me right after I had fallen asleep, and I didn't see his text until the next morning right before school, and he usually has chores that take upwards of three hours to complete, so I pushed it off until after school.

"I went to school and all of that, and went straight home after, to find my dad sober, for once. He is never as bad when he is sober, mostly because he is actually aware of what he's doing. I came home and he gave me a few scars, since I was really late, and accidentally dropped the knife onto my foot. It wasn't a big knife or anything, and it didn't even cause any broken bones, but I had to do all of my chores  before he would take me to the hospital to get stitches.

"What he forgot due to his drinking problem, was that he cut raw meat with that knife a couple nights before, and letting all the bad bacteria into my bloodstream, infecting my foot to the point that they had to cut it off." Brielle remembers every detail of that night. Because it was that night she realized that her parents, no matter how awful they were, they loved her underneath their drunken stupors.

"The things you've gone through, it's not fair. You're an amazing girl. I know that all three of us are happy to have you in our afterlives." Alex wishes to every god that he could hug her, but he did the one thing for her that he never got to do, which was just to let out everything—every fear, every bad memory, every tear—and not be judged for staying as long as he did.

"I'm not saying you have to do it now, but eventually, you'll get to the point where you realize that you're worth more than what your parents value you at, and you'll do what it takes to get out of that." Brielle nods, knowing what Alex is talking about, but she isn't ready to let go of them. They may be the worst parents in the world, but they're still her parents. And she still loves them. It took Alex almost an entire year to realize his parents were just going to see him as a degenerate kid with no sense of the real world, and that he was talented and had so much going for him.

"One day." She repeats, agreeing with him. One day, she'll have the courage to get out of there, but it's not today and that's okay.

Author's Note: So how are you reacting to Alex's reaction to Brielle's songbook? I was really, really looking forward to this, since it shows how close their lives are to each other (granted, I don't know a lot about Alex's home life, so I made up a bit). I've been trying for the last three chapters to get to this, but I write too much fluff. I wanted this little moment between them, just to kind of get Brielle to show a bit of her story to Alex, since he's a lot like her. Also, early Happy Valentine's Day (I have a little surprise for all you on Sunday, especially those of you who, like me, don't have a Valentine) and Happy Chinese New Year! Vote, comment, do whatever, I can't tell you what to do, but I hope you guys liked this a lot.

Loves,

mistyrider921

~❣~