Page 13 of Make Me Scream
He huffs, rolling his eyes with a sniff. “Right.”
I drop his chin like it’s on fire and step back to the counter. “Why’d you throw up?”
He sniffles again, dragging the back of his hand across his nose. “Just sick of it all.”
“That was some serious fucking bullshit, I will say.”
“Yeah,” is all he says. He sounds so tired, so unlike him.
“How can they even do that?”
“That’s the court system for you. They don’t care. Never have and never will.”
I drop my head back between my shoulders as I blow out a breath. My hair grazes my forehead, making me shiver as it clings to my skin from sweat. “I… I don’t fucking understand.”
Abel scoffs, which turns into a loud, boisterous laugh. It echoes off the walls and sends gooseflesh burning down my spine. “Good thing it’s not for you to understand, Peris.”
I rear back at his venom to find two molten orbs glaring back at me. “Runt…”
“Get the fuck out.”
I start toward him, only to stop short when he lunges at me. He plants his palms against my chest and shoves me. I stumble back into the wall with anumph,my breath knocked from my lungs, but Abel doesn’t stop. He keeps coming at me, forcing me into the wall with surprising strength hidden in his little body as he pummels my chest with his fists.
Screams escape in hoarse rasps from his throat, so loud my ears ring. Tears burn hot trails down his flushed cheeks, leaving streaks in their path. “Abel?—”
“Shut up! Just shut up!” he bellows so loud, his voice cracks. My heart is pounding so hard and so fast, I can feel it in my throat. I reach out and wrap my arms around him, pinning his to his sides. The constriction makes his screams louder. My ears ring from the reverberation.
“Abel! Peris!” I hear Mom shout down the hall. “What’s going on?!” Her footsteps grow closer, and then the door is being shoved open. “What the?—”
My head whips to the side as I struggle to hold a chaotic, flailing Abel in my arms. I pin him to me, his back to my chest, and forcing his head against the side of my neck. His thrashing slows, and I take a deep breath, thinking he’s about finished.
Mom and I share a look, her concern mirrored, when Abel kicks upward, plants his feet against the wall, and uses the force against the wall to shove us both backward.
“Fuck!” I shout as we both fall.
“Oh!”
Abel’s cries grow louder as we fall to the floor in a pile of tangled limbs and groans of pain. My elbow knocks into the counter, ankles jammed into the floor by Abel’s weight pinned on top of me.
Ma rushes over and frets between us, not sure where to grab or what to do. Abel’s shouts dissolve into sobs, and the fightleaves him instantly as his body sags against me. Dead weight encumbers me, and I suffocate under the burden of it.
Unsure of what else to do as Abel’s body is wracked with uncontrollable wails, I meet Ma’s gaze and nod my head toward the door. Her eyebrows furrow, gaze flickering between us, obviously sick with worry and uncertainty.
“It’s okay,” I mouth to her. “I’ve got it.”Even though I fucking don’t.
She winces but nods and quietly makes her exit, leaving with the quietestsnickof the bathroom door latch.
Time bends and blurs as my runt loses his mind in my arms. He thrashes occasionally, and I only hold him tighter. He hates it, but I don’t care because the moment I loosen my grip, his sobs only get worse.
It’s like he wants to be pinned down, forced to stay, only to panic when he is.
“You’re not going anywhere, runt, you hear me?” I tell him over his snotty sniffles and wretched whimpers. “That bitch doesn’t have a say-so over you.” And I know I’m telling him lies. That I don’t have a say-so over any of it, but if it helps him feel better—and me, while we’re at it—I’ll fucking do it.
I’ll do anything to not feel so helpless.
Abel never responds apart from an occasional soft whimper and the faintest nuzzle of his nose against my throat. My blood warms in increments as time passes in a fever-ridden daze.
Eventually, he calms enough to move, and when that happens, I groan loudly, my body protesting considerably. Every muscle and joint twinges and throbs from the awkward angles and weird pressure points.
