Disclaimer: I do not own Drake and Josh or any of the characters in this story.
It was near two 'o clock. The only sound that could be heard was the pounding of pouring rain on the window and a snoring teenage boy. Suddenly, the teenage boy woke with a start as a strange sound disturbed his sleep. Josh Nichols sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he looked around his room still half asleep and tried to locate the noise that had woke him up. When he heard the noise again he was suddenly wide awake once he realized what the noise was, it was the sound of someone talking in their sleep…no not talking, it sounded more like someone crying out for help, and that someone was his brother Drake Parker.
Concerned, Josh quickly threw his covers aside and walked over to Drake's bed. Drake was tossing and turning under his comforter, he had already kicked off his sheets.
"No please stop…no more!" Drake moaned in his sleep as he twisted his body.
"Drake, wake up." Josh said, gently shaking his brother's shoulder to try and wake him from his obvious nightmare.
"NO!" Drake screamed this time in response to Josh's touch. Josh quickly let go of Drake's shoulder in shock. He had never seen his brother act like this awake or asleep, which worried him even more.
"It's okay Drake, it's just me, come on wake up, it's okay." Josh said, cautiously rubbing Drake's arm in a comforting manner so he wouldn't cause his brother to scream again.
"Come on Drake, wake up." Josh pleaded, his eyes filled with concern.
Finally, Drake gasped as he opened his eyes. He was breathing heavily and covered in sweat. Slowly, he sat up in bed and leaned against his headboard, it wasn't until then that he noticed Josh standing by his bed with a worried expression on his face.
"Are you alright" Josh asked staring at Drake, who closed his eyes for a second, then turned away from his brother embarrassed.
"Yea, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream, no big deal, sorry if I woke you." Drake said quietly and closed his eyes again and took several deep breaths as he tried to get his breathing back to normal. Josh didn't seem convinced as he continued to watch Drake.
"Are you sure? You want to talk about it?" Josh asked, Drake shook his head.
"Yes, I'm fine Josh really, there's nothing to talk about. Don't worry, go back to sleep." Drake replied. He really wasn't in the mood to talk, and he definitely wasn't in the mood to tell Josh what his dream was about. The dream had surprised Drake though, it was a dream he hadn't had in months. Every time he had this dream though, Drake would silently curse under his breath. He HATED it when he had this dream, every time he thought he was over his past, he would have that damn dream again.
Josh gave Drake another puzzled look, which caused Drake to sigh heavily, Josh wasn't going to go back to his bed until he got an explanation.
"Look, sometimes I get these really bad dreams. It hasn't happened for a couple months, but every now and then they come back." Drake admitted, this way he wasn't lying to Josh, but he wasn't telling him the whole truth either.
Josh nodded.
"You sure you don't want to talk about it? You know I'm always here for you Drake." Josh said in response to Drake's statement.
"Yea I know man, but seriously I'll be fine." Drake said as he laid back down, hoping that he would give Josh the impression that he was tired and wanted to go back to sleep, even though his mind was now too busy to go back to sleep. However, Josh apparently seemed to get the message.
"Alright." Josh said hesitantly, then slowly walked back to his bed and laid back down as well.
"Night brother!" Josh said
"Night." Drake replied taking another deep breath and letting it out slowly. He rolled over and pulled his sheets back over himself to hide the fact that he was shaking.
"Damn it!" Drake thought. He closed his eyes and took several deep and steadying breaths to calm himself down.
Soon, the room was filled once again with Josh's snores, Drake sighed in relief. He brought his knees up to his chest and curled up and wrapped his comforter tightly around himself. His eyes stung from lack of sleep, but Drake knew his chances of falling back asleep soon were slim to none. His mind was racing a thousand miles an hour as old memories that he had tried to suppress for years began to surface.
An eight year old Drake Parker lay sprawled on the ground his back and chest covered in blood. A tall and muscular man stood over him with an evil sneer on his face.
"Did we learn our lesson today?" the man asked in a mocking sweet tone, Drake nodded his head.
"Yes…yes sir." Drake stuttered, his chest throbbed painfully making breathing difficult let alone the ability to speak.
"And what did we learn today?" the man asked in the same mocking voice.
"To…to not forget…to make my bed in the morning, so…so…mommy won't be late for work again." Drake gasped, burying his face into the carpet to hide his tears, he knew he would get hit again for crying…crying showed weakness and his father refused to have a weak son.
"That's right, that's a good boy." Drake's father said as he slid his belt back onto his pants and left his son crying in pain on the floor……….
…….A twelve year old Drake clenched his eyes shut and waited for the pain to end as his father once again hit him. He no longer screamed or cried out loud anymore when his father beat him, all he could do was beg and wait for the beating to end.
"I'm tired of having such a pathetic and weak excuse for a son." The man shouted as he brought the belt down on his son as he said each word. Drake stifled a gasp as the stinging sensation spread through his body.
"I'm…I'm sorry. I won't cheat on anymore tests…I promise!" Drake begged. His comment caused him to get a rough kick in the ribs.
"How can I believe that when you're a lying sack of shit!" Drake's father snarled, slapping the belt once again on his son's already bloodied back. Suddenly the pain ended, Drake slowly dared himself to look up at his father who had suddenly looked at the clock.
"Quick, get your lazy ass up and put on a shirt. Your mom will be home any minute." Drake swallowed, and slowly pushed himself off the ground wincing in pain.
"I said hurry you piece of shit!" Drake's father said, roughly grabbing his son by his hair and dragged him to his bedroom where he threw the boy onto the floor.
"I want you downstairs in five minutes!" his father snapped and slammed the door shut. Drake groaned and as quick as he bruised body would allow him, he went to his drawer and pulled out a towel and a clean shirt like he always did after his father's beatings. Drake hissed as he gingerly dried as much fresh blood as he could and brushed away as many flakes of dried blood off his body as possible. He then slipped the shirt over his head and pulled on his sweatshirt just in case any blood did happen to seep through his shirt. Drake sighed then with all his might forced himself to walk into the dining room just as his mother pulled up into their driveway. Drake quickly put on his fake smile, his father studied him and grunted in approval.
The sixteen year old Drake shut his eyes tightly and shook his head trying to rid himself of the old memories. He groaned softly and willed himself to go back to sleep. Finally, just as dawn was approaching and Drake thought sleep would be impossible he felt his eyelids droop and he fell into a light and restless sleep.
The next thing Drake was aware of was a loud beeping sound. He groaned and instead of hitting his alarm clock as usual, Drake grabbed the clocked and threw it across the room. The sound of the clock smashing on the ground woke up Josh, when he realized what Drake had done, he rolled his eyes.
"You know, if you keep breaking your alarm clocks you're going to go broke." Josh said yawning as he got up and began getting ready for school, Drake just smirked at his brother's comment and pulled his covers back over him. Josh laughed, once he was dressed; he grabbed his pillow and threw it at Drake, who groaned again and threw the pillow back at Josh and pulled his own pillow over his head. Josh rolled his eyes again but he couldn't help but smile. After last night, Josh was glad to see Drake acting normal again, seeing his brother so scared last night really freaked him out. He went over to Drake's bed and yanked Drake's covers off of him, causing Drake to open one of his eyes and peek up at Josh.
"Come on Drake get up or you're going to make us late for school." Josh said
"And the problem with that is?" Drake said sitting up and ran a hand through his tousled brown hair. Josh just shook his head and went back to getting ready.
Sighing, Drake surrendered and climbed down the ladder on his bed and began getting dressed. Josh couldn't help but notice that even though Drake was acting like himself again, he had never seen his brother look so tired. Dark circles hung around Drake's eyes and his face seemed to have lost some of its natural color. As Drake looked in a mirror and was messing with his hair, he noticed that Josh was watching him.
"Can I help you with something?" Drake said turning around to face Josh, slightly annoyed.
"No, I was just wondering if you went back to sleep last night because not to sound mean brother but you look like you haven't slept in a week." It was Drake's turn to roll his eyes. He had to put on a cover for Josh. Truth be told, he was exhausted and the last thing he wanted to do was go to school.
"It's called waking up and realizing that you have to go to school Josh. Not all people are as ecstatic as you at the idea of being trapped in a prison for six hours a day."
"You know, you might find school more interesting if you actually, I don't know, paid attention in class." Josh said as he stuffed his books into his backpack. Drake stared at his brother and gave him a confused expression.
"And why would I do that?" Drake asked, Josh just shook his head and grabbed his backpack and walked out the door, Drake did the same.
"Hey boys, you want some breakfast?" Audrey asked smiling as the two teenagers walked into the kitchen. Drake and Josh sat down at the table and began eating the cereal their mom had laid out for them. Just then, Megan Parker walked into the kitchen.
"Hey sweetheart, want some cereal?" Audrey asked, Megan nodded and sat down at the table opposite of her brothers.
"Boobs." She said acknowledging Drake and Josh as she began eating her cereal.
"Boys, I need you to give Megan a ride to school. Your dad had to go into work early and I'm running a little late." Audrey announced, all three siblings looked up at their mother.
"We're running late too. Drake wouldn't get out of bed this morning." Josh said looking at his watch.
"Yea, like that's anything new?" Megan said then took another bite of her cereal.
"Look guys, I really don't have time for this right now, I'm sorry. I'm just asking you to do me one favor, I promise I'll pick Megan up after school." Audrey said gently and offered her children a smile.
"Alright, then we better get going." Josh said looking at his watch again. Drake swallowed a groan then followed his sister out the door. He leaned his head against the car window as Josh started the car.
"It was going to be a long day." Drake thought as Josh pulled out of their driveway and made his way to Megan's school.
Okay, so I've liked Drake and Josh for a while and I've been reading a lot of Drake and Josh fanfics and finally decided to write my own. I know this plot with Drake's father being abusive and Drake going through depression is really common, but please just give it a shot and tell me what you think. I'm always open to criticism as well as positive reviews. Also, correct if I'm wrong but the show doesn't specify what Drake's father's name is? If I'm wrong please let me know so I can add that to my story.
Thanks,
Fantasyforever1989