Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Bleeding Heart ❯ Chapter III ( Chapter 3 )

Part III

His hands were cold. One traveled down my cheek, and one down my arm. Then, his lips on my forehead left a wet, warm trail down to the tip of my nose.

"I want to know what she's hiding from me." I shifted on the futon so my leg was between his and my arm rubbed against his stomach.

"What makes you think she's hiding something?"

"She never raises her voice. She doesn't swear. She doesn't get angry that easily." I sighed, I thought talking about it with someone else would make it all better, but it just made me even more frustrated than before, "Maybe we shouldn't talk about it anymore."

"Okay, but I was just going to say that you should talk to her about it."

"Maybe."

"Anyway..."

"Yeah..."

"Want to go swimming?"

My forehead knotted in confusion, "In the winter? Quatre, it's really cold out there." I sat up, rubbing the tiredness from my eyes.

"Actually, it's the fall. Winter ended a couple of days ago." He sat up, looking innocent, looking as if he didn't think his idea was crazy at all.

"It's still fifty-five degrees outside, maybe less." I reached behind my back and grabbed the end of my braid, pulling the band loose. I never really take my hair down in front of anyone, but it was really frazzled, pieces of hair poking out everywhere, bangs flying every which-way.

"Duo..." he pouted, his lip poking out with a vengeance. "Come on, it'll be fun, " he said with his normal, girlish enthusiasm.

I finished undoing my braid, smiling at his comment. Leave it to Quatre to think swimming in ice-cold water would be fun. "If I get pnemuonia, you're paying the hospital bill."

"Yay!" He bounced off of the small matress, onto his feet.

"What exactly are we supposed to wear, I'm not going out there in swim trunks."

I started to rebraid my hair, but Quatre stopped me and insisted on braiding it for me. "Wear what you have on."

He slung the finished braid over my shoulder so I could inspect it. Perfect. No, really, it was. "I can't, what will I walk home in? If I walk home in wet clothes in this weather....well, it wouldn't be pleasant."

"You can wear some of mine. We're the same size." Quatre was staring at me, probably wondering why I hadn't thought of something simple as that.

"My mom, Quat."

"Oh." His haughty attitude came crashing, and he was sunk to my level of thinking, knowing how she would most likely react if I came home in someone else's clothes, or different clothes at all.

"There goes that idea." I tried to sound defeated and disappointed, but I was glad we couldn't go swimming. It was really damn cold outside.

~*~*~

The banging woke me up. The sounds of sirens, shrieking, wailing, so loud, the pounding on the door, the yelling.

"Open the door now! We know you're in there. We'll be forced to break the door if you don't open it now!"

I slowly opened my eyes, and realized that something was wrong. I hurried down the stairs as fast as I could manage, still being half asleep. My heart throbbed in my ears, the dull humming making me dizzy. Terror ran through my veins like ice with every step I took, and my mouth felt like it had a large wad of cotton stuck in it.

"Open the door!"

All of a sudden, I saw my mom's figure in front of me, blocking my path.

"What's going on?" my voice came as a squeaky rasp, but she still understood me.

My eyes focused clearly on my mother, and I could see the prominent mix of worry and fear etched on her beautiful face. "Duo...go, go back upstairs..."

The banging was even louder now, I could tell they were trying to break the door, "Let us in! Open the goddamn door!!"

"No! What's going on?!" I was fear stricken now, the knot in my throat grasping my whole body. Something bad was going to happen when the door collapsed. Something very bad.

"Just GO!" She screamed, pushing me by the shoulders back up the stairs. I struggled against her,

"No! What did you do?! WHY ARE THEY HERE?" She pressed against me harder, but I wouldn't move. She grabbed my arms and started yanking me upstairs.

"YOU'RE HURTING ME, LE ME GO!" I tried to bat her hands away, but failed. She was too strong for me. It was then that I noticed how much stronger than me she was, how much damage she could do with one blow.

"OPEN THE DOOR!"

Pounding, merciless banging against the door frame.

"OPEN IT NOW!"

"LET ME GO, PLEASE...WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"WE'RE BREAKING DOWN THE DOOR!"

Unbearable sounds of the door splintering echoed up the stairwell. I collapsed onto my knees, crying, sobbing, asking her what she did, why did she do it?

The rest happened so fast...It's just a moment's blur in my memories.

They came in and took her away. I screamed for them to leave her alone. My mom wasn't bad. She wouldn't do anything that would get her arrested. She was perfect. They wouldn't listen to me.

She didn't struggle, the cold steel of the handcuffs embracing her wrists, she told me she'd be back, that she did nothing wrong. She was so confident, even in the grip of hopelessness. She held her head high as they led her toward the flashing lights, pushing her into the back seat of the police car.

The next thing I knew...darkness.

~*~*~

"Your mother commited murder. Sorry for being so foreward, but you need to know the truth. "

The case-worker's black curls hung in front her face, casting shadows on her pale skin. Smoke laced from her nostrils as she took a drag from her cigarette.

"I understand." My voice reached my ears as stoic, impartial to whether or not my mom murdered someone. The more I talked, the more I felt like throwing up. The more we drove on, the rough street making the car jerk, the more I wanted to cry. Not cry...no...I wouldn't cry. Not even for her.

I had woken up in this beat-up car to a sun I didn't want to see. There was no air-conditioning, the interior smelled strongly of nicotine, and the seats were torn. The back seat looked like it had been assualted by a little kid's teeth. Bite marks were strewn across the fabric, stuffing clearly visible, and in some places, falling out. The lady's job must've been really hard.

"Are you okay? Kids your age normally don't take things like this so well. Why aren't you crying or talking my ear out or something?"

"I don't cry."

"Sure you do, everyone does."

"I'm not weak."

"Listen, Duo..."

"I WON'T CRY, EVER AGAIN!" tremors or anger shook my shoulders, I could feel the pressure that was building against my temples.

"You're just upset."

I made no remark. I didn't want to fight her about it. If she thought I was weak, fine...

"Her name is Relena."

"Whose?"

"Your foster mother's"

The toxic fumes from her cigarette wafted in my direction, and I wanted to make her put it out. I wanted to tell her that I didn't have a foster mother now, nor would I ever have one because I was going back to my mother. I was going to be safe in her arms again soon. She said she'd be back. She promised me so many times that she'd never leave me.

"Whatever." I had no idea how I managed to sound so calm and unaffected, but I did. And it scared the hell out of me.

*TBC*