Authors notes: Thank you all for waiting so long for the next chapter. I'm sorry it's so late and isn't as long as I'd hoped it to be. If you go read my fic Red braslets parts of this may make more sens, but its not necessary.
I don't own Hetalia it belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.
Bitter
Chapter two
Bitter
The telephone rang in the hall way down stairs. Arthur let it ring a few times to determine if his brother was home to answer it. When no one answer the phone he assumed the older man was gone and rolled of his bed ware he had been at while reading and trotted down the stairs. He snagged the red, corded phone off the hook on the wall mid ring and pressed it to his ear.
"Ello,"
"Ello, what time is it there?" The caller asked.
"Half past eight," Arthur replied confused and not sure at first who the caller was.
"Oh, delightful. I was worried it would be rather late." It finally dawned on Arthur who the woman was, Angeline, his mother. He hadn't heard her voice in almost a year. At first when she and Arthur's step-father had left she would call several times a week, but after some time her calls stopped all together. Scot continued to get E-mails from her on a regular basis, but she hadn't bothered to contact Arthur at all. "Is Scot there?" Angeline asked.
Arthur bit his lower lip. His own mother, who had not contacted him in just short of a year didn't even bother to ask how he had been before asking for his step-brother. It only enforced how the young Brit felt about how his mother thought of him. "He's not home," Arthur told her, trying to sound sincere.
"Oh that's a pity," She remarked
"No it's a blessing," Arthur mumbled under his breath.
"How have you been?" Angeline asked, false motherly affection oozing from every word, the question, only a formality. Arthur said nothing for some time. He hadn't been asked how he was in a long time and he had to think of an answer. He could tell her that his life had been absolutely dreadful in the last year or he could lie and say everything was just peachy. He decided to lie though it didn't come out quite the way had planned, his mother wasn't likely to believe him if he told her the truth.
"Things have been well, all but the whole not having parents around and having a sadist for a step-brother bit," The last part wasn't the smartest thing to say there was no way there conversation was going to end well now.
"Arthur Kirkland! Don't call your brother a sadist," She snapped. Arthur waited tensely for the next bit. "Your father and I would be home if it weren't for his work and you'll find this kinds of things will happen in your life to if only you would grow up."
"I think I'm growing up just fine and don't call him my father because he's not. My real dad is dead," Arthur knew he should have shut his mouth long before saying that.
"And whose fault do you think that is!" Angeline's voice was shrill and bitter. Rather than replying to her Arthur slammed the phone back on the hook and stormed off back up the stairs.
Arthur buried his thoughts in a fantasy novel until sometime after eleven when he went to bed. Not long after he had fallen asleep a loud noise woke him up again. The teen opened his eyes to find the room had another occupant. Scot stood over his bed with a sadistic grin across his face.
"Guess what I heard?" Scot asked in a sing song voice.
"What?" Arthur asked drowsily. The Brit eyed the other man up and down; surprised to see he wasn't drunk.
"Yer precious lil mumzy's coming home at the end of the month," Scot replied. That had apparently been what the phone call earlier was about.
"Ah," Was Arthur's only reaction before rolling back over too tired to even be frightened of Scot, which was a mistake.
"Ya know what that means?" Scot demanded grabbing hold of Arthur's messy blond hair and pulling him off the bed to the floor. The Brit yelped and squirmed trying to free himself from the Scotchman's hold. "That means I don't get to beat the fuck out of you when I feel like it as often." he answered his own question.
Arthur's eyes went wide as the reason for Scot waking him up in the middle of the night to tell him this came to him. The small teen squirmed and thrashed more desperately in an attempted to free himself before things got worse, but it was futile. Scot let go of his hair only to pick up what had made the loud sound before.
Scot held up a peace of a thick, cylindrical wooden dowel. Arthur froze, his eyes the only thing moving as he watched the dowel's path downward. Arthur screamed as the wood struck his ribs. Several times the shafted hit his body in numerous places. Scot favored hitting the boy across the ribs to witch he did so many times Arthur could no longer count.
It was hard for Arthur to even think any more. He had begun to shut off his senses to escape the pain. Scot rose the dowel up and brought it down with more force than the previous strikes. The wood snapped in to splinters. The pain was so strong that Arthur couldn't suppress his scream. He was uncertain as to whether the cracking sound was all just the dowel or possibly some of his ribs. Scot left him alone after that. He curled in to a ball on the floor and fell back asleep.
Arthur didn't move from the spot on the floor ware Scot had left him the night before until he woke up in the late afternoon. What woke him was the sound of a car horn being blasted out in the front drive way. Arthur bolted upright a bit too fast for his sore ribs and let out a loud shriek in pain. It took him a moment to gather his bearings and suppressed the pain in his ribs, and then he stood up carefully and looked out the window to see who was out there.
There was a black car parked in the drive way. Arthur stared at the automobile for a moment before remembering the plans that had been made the day before with Alfred. They were going to go to the mall with Alfred's twin brother Mathew and Matthew's boyfriend Gilbert. The Car in the drive belonged to Gilbert who was his ride to the mall.
Arthur hastily located his cell phone and sent Gil a message telling him he had just woke up and needed a minute before he would be ready. Gilbert's reply was "Fine, hurry up," The reflection that met the Brit in the mirror was far worse than he had hoped. He took a quick shower to get the dried blood off. Once out of the shower his hands worked quickly to bandage all his wounds and his mind ran fast in search of a valid excuse for all the cuts and bruises. There was little hope in hiding the gash on his forehead and he doubted that painkillers would be enough to stop the pain in his ribs.
Arthur slid in to the back seat of Gilbert's car slamming the door shut behind him. Matthew was sitting in the passenger's seat browsing through the songs on the iPod hooked up to the car's audio system.
The song that Matthew began to play was Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. Arthur quietly listened to the lyrics for a moment feeling the bile rise in his stomach.
She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holding back
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace
"Can you please turn that off?" he finally asked diverting his gaze from Gilbert watching him in the review mirror.
"Why?" Matthew asked looking at the blond in the back seat and then to Gil in the front seat who was still watching Arthur in the review mirror.
"Just do it, Birdie," Gil told him.
"But I want to listen to the song," Mattie wined. Gil pulled the iPod out of the boys hand and turned it off. Matthew looked at him a little hurt and confused. Gil glanced back at Arthur in the mirror again as he pulled out of the driveway.
"You okay Art?" The German asked.
"Oh, just a few potentially broken ribs and a plethora of cuts and bruises, other than that I'm just fine and dandy," The way he drawled out his accent made the sarcasm evident.
"Scot again?"
"As per usual," Arthur replied. Mattie glanced back and forth between them waiting for an explanation to which he never got. The car ride remained silent, Mattie was too shy to pry any further and it was obvious nether of the two boys were going to explain.
They met Alfred outside the video game shop in the mall that he worked part time at. Alfred greeted Arthur with a tight hug. The Brit had to do everything in his power not to scream. He pried himself free of the overly excitable American and proceeded to scold him for hugging him without warning.
The four teens wondered around the different shops in the mall for quite a while without a real goal in mind. The unwelcome strain was starting to make Arthur's already sore ribs hurt worse. He found himself gripping his chest, hoping the pain would subside, but it only worsened as the day went on.
By the time the group had decided to stop at the food court for a meal Arthur felt lightheaded and the thought of food made his stomach turn. After every one was seated Arthur excused himself from the table to avoid any more of the American's prying questions about why he wasn't eating and why he had a bandage on his forehead. He made his way to the bath room to douse water on his face and gather his composure before he could return to the table.
As soon as Arthur was out of earshot Alfred turned to the other two with a concerned expression.
"Is it me or has Arthur been acting weirder and weirder lately?" he asked looking between them.
"It's just you Alfred," Gil replied not even bothering to look up from his fries.
"I agree with you Al," Mattie told him looking in the direction Arthur had gone. "He doesn't act like he did when we were younger. He's gotten quieter and colder,"
"I just thought he was always an ass," The German interjected.
"It worries me," Matt said fiddling with the red silicon band around his left wrist. Gil watched him without a word for a bit before speaking.
"Look Alfred, Arthur's just had a hard time at home since his parents left. Him and his brother don't get along well so they fight a lot," Gil wasn't sure if covering for Arthur was a good idea, he honestly wanted the Brit to confess everything and get the hell away from Scot, but he never would.
It had been about six months since Arthur had confided in Gilbert. The young Brit had confessed to everything that had been going on. He had even expressed his fear of telling his mother and step-father what had been happening. It appeared that the boy's mother played favorites towards her step-son. He was also afraid to tell Alfred for reasons Gilbert had yet to grasp. After his confession, Gilbert's house had become his safe haven when things would get out of hand, which had been happening at and alarmingly frequent rate as of late.
Alfred opened his mouth to respond to what the other teen had said, but was cut off by Arthur who had returned. "What goes on in my life is not a diner table discussion now if you don't mind please shut up," Alfred looked up at him now more worried than before.
"Are you alright?" The American asked.
"I'm fine Alfred," Arthur answered flatly, joining them at the table again. Alfred didn't push the subject further, but though out the day he continued to notice how ill Arthur looked.
Gilbert had offered to give Arthur a ride home at the end of their mall outing, but it had really been an excuse to get Arthur in a situation where he could convince him to go get his ribs checked out. Lucky his ribs weren't broken, but there was no way that Gil was going to let Arthur go home to have his ribs actually broken or worse.
At the hospital when the two of them were away from Matthew, Gil had gotten Arthur to tell him exactly what had taken place the night before, including the fact that his parents would be home at the end of the month. Gilbert then made it his goal to convince the Brit to stay with him till his folks came back. Arthur wouldn't agree to stay till then, but he did agree to stay the rest of the weekend.
Authors notes:
My choice of name for Arthur mother has little surfactants other than the fact that Angeline means Angle. Thought that's not really important.
The significances of the rad silicon bracelet Matthew is waring is expanded in Red bracelets. -You don't have to read it.-
I will put a link to the song Concrete Angel by Martina McBride on my profile. I felt this song would work really well as a trigger for Arthur because its about a child that is abused.
Thank you so much for reading this. I would really love it if you would review it motivates me to write more.
