Nick didn’t bother looking at the number six fading on the window. He turned over, buried his head in his pillow, and did the unthinkable. He went back to sleep.
~~
“What the fuck are you doing?” Alyson shook her brother awake.
“What?” Nick rolled onto his back and blinked at his sister’s beauty.
“I said…” She gave him a very deep frown and folded her arms over her chest. “What… the fuck… are you doing? You can’t be sleeping. Not now. We only have six days left.”
His sister’s expression sobered Nick some. He sat up. “I don’t know what to do.” He shrugged.
“Well, I’m supposed to be having my alone time with Mom right now, and you’re supposed to be breaking your ankle and what not. So…” Alyson tapped her foot.
“So?” Nick yawned and stretched.
“So, get dressed. It’s your big day. Go break a leg.” Alyson’s anger passed when she the hopelessness spread on his face. “Sorry, Nicky. If you need a day off, you can take one. It’s okay. We have more time.” She sat on the edge of his bed and stroked his hair.
“I took the day off the previous today, too. Remember?” Nick blinked away tears. “We’re not going to get it done. She’s going to forget us. We’re going to forget each other. I’d kill myself, but what’s the point? I’d just end up restarting on the next today.”
“Shh. Don’t talk like that.” Without thinking, Alyson took her left boob out of her dress and bra and pushed her nipple into her brother’s mouth. “There you go. Drink up. You’ll feel better in a minute.” She spoke in a low soothing voice, continuing to stroke his hair. “We’ll figure it out, Nicky. I promise. And we’ll live together after you graduate, just like we planned. Mom will visit all the time. Think about how great that will be, okay? We’ll figure it out.”
“Mmmmmmppppphhhhhhh.” Nick didn’t want to open himself up to hope, but the warmth of her milk spread serenity from his belly outward. The tension in his shoulders eased. He reached up with his hand and gently massaged her tit, coaxing the flow.
“There now,” Alyson cooed. “Are you feeling better? I was hoping -” The door opened and Alyson turned her head expecting the disaster of their mother discovering her tit between Nick’s lips. Her eyes opened in horror when she saw it was an even worse catastrophe. Her father stood there, his face red with rage. Time had gotten away from them. He was home already.
“What… the fuck… is happening here?” Fred bellowed. He stormed into the room, grabbed Alyson’s hair with his left hand, and pulled her to the floor. He reached for Nick with his right hand.
“Dad… Dad… I can explain.” Nick hopped out of bed before his father could grab him. He was only in his boxers, and his soft dick bounced around as he dodged Fred. Now fully awake, adrenaline surging, Nick wrenched his father’s grip from Alyson’s hair. She quickly scampered behind her brother, her boob still free, hanging below her.
“I knew… there was something wrong… with you.” Fred hunched his shoulders like a Neanderthal and lumbered toward his son. “I always knew… you two… were sick.”
“Stop… Dad.” Nick backed up in a circle around the room, keeping his sister behind him. She stood and grabbed his bare shoulder. Whether she was using him as a shield or trying to hold him back from rushing their dad, Nick didn’t know. He thought about the last time this had played out. He had broken his hand and their mother had cradled their father’s unconscious body. “I’m not going to hit you, Dad. Just leave, okay?”
“Fucking pervert.” Fred swung a meaty fist at his son.
Nick ducked. “Run, Alyson. Get out of here.” But his sister’s hand didn’t leave his shoulder. They continued to back in a circle around the room, Fred prowling after them.
~~
Kate’s blood froze when she heard her husband scream and curse. She ran toward the commotion, taking two stairs at a time. When she arrived at Nick’s room, she let out a pure, animal scream of her own. Her husband had pinned her son to the floor and was pummeling him with his fists. Her daughter was unsuccessfully trying to pull Fred off. Animal instinct kicked in, and Kate rushed her husband, tackling him and rolling on the floor. “Stop… Fred… stop.”
“Get off me… bitch.” Fred slapped his wife in the face. Her shriek of pain lessened some of his rage. He let go of his wife and sat back on his knees.
Kate scrambled to her son. “What have you done?” She glanced back at her husband with seething hatred, and then cradled Nick’s head. Her son had several cuts on his face and deep, red bruises were already forming.
“Mom?” Nick blinked up at his mother. The room spun around him. “I didn’t hit him… this time. But I couldn’t let him… hurt Alyson.”
“Shh. It’s okay.” Kate stood and slowly helped Nick to his feet. “Help me move him, Alyson.”
“I’m sorry, Katie.” Fred made no move to help. “But you didn’t see what they were doing. They were asking for it.”
“Shut up, Fred.” Kate hissed. She draped Nick’s arm over her shoulders and helped him toward the door.
“What are we doing, Mom?” Alyson supported Nick’s free arm.
“Don’t come back here, whore.” Fred pointed a finger at his daughter.
Alyson wanted to say something brave, but instead she burst into tears. This was about the time on the other todays when she’d be having a pleasant but boring lunch with her father. She reminded herself that it would all disappear at the reset. They would have five more chances to do better. This today was certainly rock bottom.
“I said, shut up, Fred.” Kate’s voice quavered with fury. She looked at her daughter. “We’re taking Nicky to the hospital.”
“No… no…” Nick struggled in his mom’s grasp. “Not the hospital. We can’t waste today.”
“It’s already wasted.” Alyson, still crying, glanced back at her father as they left the room and shepherded Nick downstairs. “Let’s just get you someplace safe.”
“Not the hospital,” Nick muttered.
“I think he’ll be okay, Mom. Let’s take him to my place.” Alyson wiped away her tears as they got him into the minivan. “He doesn’t want to go to the hospital.” She didn’t add that it didn’t matter, since the day was doomed. Nick wanted to be with them, and there was no downside to that.
“Look at me. Look at me, Nick.” Kate draped his mostly naked body with a blanket she kept in the van and settled him in the passenger seat. “How many fingers am I holding up?” She held up eight fingers.
“Acht, meine Frau.” Nick smiled. His teeth were pink with blood. “A little bit of cider, and I’ll feel much better.”
“Okay.” Kate smiled with relief. He was already improving. “We’ll get you cleaned up at your sister’s place. Buckle up, mister.” She closed the door, told Alyson to get her own car, and grabbed her purse. She was quite happy that she didn’t catch sight of Fred as they went about their escape. She didn’t think she could handle even looking at her husband.
~~
“I’m okay, Mom.” Nick watched his mother closely as she drove. Her face was creased with worry.
“That may be, but I’m not.” Kate gave him a quick glance and stared back at the road. “I don’t know what’s gotten into your father.”
“He’s always been like this.” Nick waited for her to respond, but they drove on in silence. “Anyway, I’m okay.”
“Does it hurt to breathe? Do you have a headache?” She wracked her brain for symptoms of internal trauma. “Anything feel broken?”
“Naw… just beat up.” Nick shrugged.
Kate’s lips pressed into a thin line. Other than getting Nick cleaned up, she had no idea what she was going to do about any of it.
~~
“Step into the shower. I’ll clean you.” Kate pulled down Nick’s boxers gently, so as not to disturb any bruises he might have on his legs.
Alyson stood leaning her back on the wall, watching her mother and brother closely. Her bathroom was already steamy.
“I’m fine. I’m eighteen and perfectly capable of cleaning myself.” Nick ached all over. When he stepped under the water he winced, becoming acutely aware of all the various cuts and abrasions on his body. “Really, Mom. I’m fine.”
“I’m happy that you think so. But I’m still your mom.” Kate pulled the sleeves of her dress up past her elbows, put soap in her hands, and scrubbed his body gently. She was happy he didn’t protest. When she got near his penis, she looked over her shoulder at Alyson. She gave it a cursory scrub and turned his hips to rinse it under the water. She knew it was best to clean under his foreskin, but she would leave that be for now. Very carefully, she cleaned around his cuts, turned the shower off, and offered him a towel. She spent the next ten minutes meticulously putting antibiotics and Band-Aids wherever necessary. Whenever he winced, she would back off a second, and then go back to work.
“He’s going to need some clothes.” Kate looked over at her daughter.
“I have some of Chris’s things.” Alyson shrugged.
“No way.” Nick shook his head and winced. A muscle in the back of his neck bothered him.
“You can have some of my clothes.” Alyson raised her eyebrows in challenge to her brother’s stubbornness.
“Yeah, sure. Better than Chris’s.” Nick stood with the towel wrapped around him, feeling incredibly grateful to be with two women that loved him.
Alyson smiled for the first time since her father had entered Nick’s room. “I’ll go find something.” She opened the door and left the bathroom.
“Nick?” Kate watched the front of his towel with interest.
“Yeah, Mom?”
“Why are you growing right now?” She pointed at the tent rising in the towel.
Leave a Reply