Hey, hope you enjoy this little thing.
The boy sobbed, slowly stopping at the end of the road, simply unable to keep running, his legs burned with agony, the cut on his chest had stopped bleeding now at least.
He couldn't go back there, he simply couldn't, he couldn't face another day there, with people who didn't understand him, who outright rejected him…
If he was forced to go through another day of that torture he would die, there was no doubt in his mind, by his own hand or that of his father, he was sure he wouldn't last past Friday. He didn't want to die but there was no way he could live there.
But where did he have to go?
He, whose friends had abandoned him since he came out, who didn't have many friends to begin with. Whose family despised him. Where did he have to go?
He couldn't go to the homeless shelter, he knew his dad would look there for him. He could go to the abused women's centre but he knew how they'd react to him, he'd heard stories about how they treated people like him.
He found himself walking down an alleyway, he didn't know where he was going but he tried to keep walking. He had to get as far away from that place, that man as he could. His life depended on it.
He felt the cold fall on him as the sun set, he had no idea where he was now, after hours of walking. If he didn't know where he was there was almost no chance of his dad finding him.
Now he needed a place to stay, to escape the cold at least.
Could he knock on a random door? Was that allowed? Was that wise?
He wasn't sure if this was a bad part of town or not, he didn't want to be greeted by a gun.
But saying that he didn't want to freeze to death.
He picked out a nice looking house, standing on the doorstep and readying himself to ring the bell.
He'd never felt so helpless, so useless, he'd come to replying on strangers for help. He couldn't believe it.
He's always been wary of new people, he'd always felt so strange amongst new people, like something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
He retracted his hand, looking down at the floor. He couldn't do this, he couldn't push himself onto other people, strangers, he couldn't become a burden like that.
Their doorstep would be good enough he guessed, it was sheltered from the wind and cold, he could wrap himself in the blanket he'd brought and quite happily sleep here.
So that was what he did, pulled the blanket out of his school backpack and wrapped himself in it, using his bag as a pillow.
If they noticed him and invited him inside, then he'd go in, if they turned him away then fine, but he wouldn't push himself on them. He had to be strong, for once in his life.
This was him, being strong, falling asleep on some random guy's porch with no idea what he was going to do tomorrow, where he was going to go, what he would eat.
He should have brought food with him, the thought hadn't entered his mind, he'd wanted to get out of there as quick as possible, he'd not thought of anything, he'd just grabbed what he could.
He felt like such an idiot.
He forced himself to ignore the feeling, ignore the cold, ignore the pain he was in. He couldn't deal with it, he needed to sleep, he could worry about it in the morning.
"Val?" a voice cut into his uneasy sleep, he gasped slightly, forcing his eyes open. "Val what are you doing here?"
The voice was familiar, he looked around as he blinked himself awake, his eyes eventually focussing on the large man looming over him, "Wh-what?" he asked, disorientated.
"You're asleep on my porch," the man pointed out, "I'd kind of like to know why."
"…Harvey?" he said, fixing his glasses as everything came into focus, "O-Oh," he stuttered, pulling himself quickly to his feet, looking up into the yes of his college student union's president, "I… got in a fight with my dad, he's kicked me out. Sorry…" he said, glancing towards the house, "I didn't know you lived here."
Harvey smiled, "Student housing." He huffed softly, "Would you like a cup of coffe or something, Valerie? You look freezing."
He let out a short breath, "It's not Valerie," he stated flatly, knowing the sentence might be what got him turned away, "It's Edward."
Harvey frowned, "Oh, of course, Edward, sorry." He smiled and opened the door, "Do you want a coffee?"
He smiled softly and grabbed his bag and folded his blanket, nodding gently, "Uh, yeah, please."