The Only Exception
Warning this story contains graphic sex, rape, sex with a minor, blood play . . . the works! The pairing is Damon/Jeremy Slash! If you don't like it go away. Thank you! ( : Enjoy.
These characters are not mine, if they were I would never have let Jeremy out of my sight.
Chapter 4: Numb
Stefan's POV
6 days, 14 hours and 53 minutes. That's how long it had been since I had come home to find Damon, helplessly sobbing in his room. That's how long it had been since he had moved or spoken, no matter how much I tried. It killed me to see him like this. It was his job to be the strong brother, the one that would take me back, no matter how much I hurt him, no matter how much he hated being my last hope but he never turned me away. After all this time he had never broken down, not when he died, not when I forced him to turn and not when he was rejected by his love of 145 years. I didn't know what to do.
I refused to believe it would get any worse, this was Damon for God's sake! I spent as much time as I could with him, I don't think he even knew he was there half of the time. He just stared at the wall, unmoving. I tried to talk with him, I tried to feed him but he didn't react at all.
I didn't want to worry Elena, she had a lot on her hands. She told me that Jeremy was up to something, that he was probably back on the drugs and I knew it was hard for her. I sighed and left the room. I had to go and hunt, I had been so busy with Damon I was ignoring my own needs.
When I got back I knew he hadn't moved, all I could hear was the same shallow breaths. I couldn't take it any more. I grabbed my phone and called Elena. When she got here I knew she was upset. She was still angry with Damon and she believed I was too soft on him. Usually it was true but this time it was different.
I wasn't sure if it would work and I didn't want to risk her being near him in this state but I was desperate. When we got to his room he didn't react. Elena stood in front of him, demanding his attention. That's one thing I love about her, how she could be so headstrong but so caring.
To my amazement he turned to look at her, his movements weak and forced. I decided to push it a little further and handed Elena a small bottle of blood I had. She fussed a little but managed to persuade him to swallow the whole thing.
I didn't know what had happened to him and Elena couldn't think of anything either, I was lost and back at square one. I went back to his room to see how he was doing and was happy to see that he was up.
"Damon are you-" I began to ask him and then I realised what was happening, his ring was on the bed and Damon was stood there, his body shaking as he held his hand into the beams of sunlight, watching it burn.
"Damon!" The first thing I felt was desperation, I couldn't live without him. He couldn't leave me that easy. I slammed him against the wall, into the darkest corner of the room. "What do you think you were doing?" I half screamed at him but I got no response, he just stared at me with glazed, uncaring eyes. I had never wanted to hit him so much in my life, he had be rude and annoying but now was worse, he didn't even care.
I asked him once more what was was wrong but he flipped. I was thrown through the door, the wood shattering around me and he disappeared into the bathroom. I waited for him to come back out but he never did. He began to shout, none of it making sense.
He shouted "You-you're not real, you're not real, Jer!" and it was followed by crashes. I wanted to run in there, protect him but I didn't know how. He was talking nonsense, seeing things. How could I protect him from that? It all made sense after the next to words, everything slotted into place, painting a picture of his despair.
"YOU'RE DEAD!" The words echoed through the house and sent shivers through my bones.
Jeremy.
I didn't know what to do. How could I tell Elena? It would kill her, she would kill him. Everything in me told me to walk away, forget I had ever heard those words. I did. I turned away from the door and swiftly walked out of the house.
Only one question continued to press at my mind. What had Damon done for this to happen?
Jeremy's POV
Elena was sat next to me when I woke up. Her brown hair fell over her face as she looked down at me in worry, her eyebrows clenching with concern. I was in my bed, still in the same jeans I had collapsed in. She jumped to life when she realised I was awake. Her arms flustered uselessly at her side as she fussed over me.
"Jeremy! Are you OK? What happened? Do you know your name? What day is it? Did you take anything? Did anything hurt you? Do you need to go to the hospital?" She relayed the questions so fast that I had no time to answer her, instead I waited for her to calm down and allow me to talk.
"I'm fine Elena, I think I'm just a little sick, can I have some space?" She seemed taken aback by my blunt request but unwillingly left the room. I let out a breath I hadn't know I had been holding when the door finally shut behind her. I couldn't tell her what had happened, it would kill her. There was only one way I knew of for dealing with this. Something I had always done, something I had promised not to do ever again. My legs shook underneath me as I opened the drawer.
I pulled out all of the items to uncover a loose panel. My hand opened the hidden compartment I had built years ago with practised ease. My fingers slipped in and pulled out the package before I quickly replaced the panel. Before I could replace all of the stuff into the drawer my eyes were drawn to the item on top of the pile.
My shaking hands opened the sketch pad to the back pages and there sat the monster that had killed me. Pages of different drawings of him, each one adding to the frightening pain that fought to take over me. I turned to the last one, the only one us both. My breathing became erratic and my hands shook. I threw the pad across the room, avoiding the memories the drawings brought. I jumped up and got dressed quickly, my mind set on one goal. I pulled out a bag and threw in the package before adding some beer from in my wardrobe.
I slipped out of my bedroom door, I could sneak out unnoticed if Elena was in the living room or her room. I took care on the steps, missing the third one down, that one always squeaked, and gently shut the door behind me.
I wasn't sure where to go, I just knew I had to get away, anywhere. I walked aimlessly until I got to a familiar place. My feet had unconsciously brought me to the only place that had a chance of changing my mind, my parent's graves. I stared at the dead stone for too long, feeling nothing, blocking out any feeling. I had to do this. I walked passed the graves, not looking back or stopping, only acknowledging them by sweeping my hand over the cold, hard stone. I walked through the grave yard until I reached the edge, lined by the trees that tenderly watch over the dead.
I fell into an exhausted heap on the ground as soon as I reached the shade and propped myself up against an ancient tree. I reached into the bag and opened a can of beer before pulling out the packet. Was I really going to do this again? I pulled out one of the joints, there were endless amounts of any kind of drug I could think about and everything I had promised I had destroyed but I had to keep it. I had never known I would need it like this again. I lit it and brought it to my lips, taking a deep draw as I relaxed to the familiar feel of it in my hands.
I quickly worked my way through it until my mind was a blank haze and I just absently sipped the warm beer. I didn't care that it was late, I didn't really care about anything, I just stared at the trees above me, letting everything go. After a while I felt tired and weak, all I could do was pull my coat closer to me and allow the darkness to pull me down.
I woke up with a familiar throbbing headache from the hangover. All I could think through the numbing pain was home, luckily. I had survived my all night binge relatively safely and the sun was only beginning to rise above the horizon. I sluggishly pushed off of the tree and picked up my now relatively empty bag. There was no-one about this early and when I finally managed to wander home there were no lights on. I tried the door and it opened, Elena had forgotten to lock it again. Everyone was asleep, I stumbled into the kitchen, grabbed some water and aspirin before going up to my room.
I quickly got changed and jumped into my bed when I heard someone moving around in the room next to me. A few minutes later my door opened, I froze momentarily my mind dragging up stupid fears before I heard a deep sigh of relief. I sat up and saw Elena peering into my room.
"Sorry Jer, I didn't mean to wake you."
"Its okay. I was awake anyway." I muttered.
"Where did you go last night? We were worried."
"I wasn't feeling right, had to get some fresh air," I lied "I caught up with some friends and we went out for a while. I came in a bit late, sorry, I didn't mean to worry you." She just sighed. She just thought it was typical Jeremy behaviour.
"Just a bit of warning next time, kay? You're gonna give me and Jenna a heart attack one day!"
"Right." She disappeared out of the door and I lay back down onto my bed to escape into sleep for as long as I could.
This went on for days, I would disappear all night and make up a lame excuse to get Elena off my back. I knew she didn't really believe me but she didn't push either. Maybe she thought I would get over it in my own time. It was unsettling really, she just ignored me more and more when I needed her. It was strange, I had always pushed her away and never let her in. That might have been why she didn't try now.
I stepped out of the door for the umpteenth time, backpack slung over my shoulders. I had developed a routine; sneak out as soon as Elena let her guard down, go to that same spot in the woods, get high and either pass out or walk home, depending on how much or what I had took.
I had relaxed up against the tree and was lazily doodling on a sketchpad. Somehow, no matter how out of touch I was I still loved to draw and sometimes the results were very interesting. Unfortunately it was beginning to get dark and I didn't want to stay out tonight. I would be lucky not to catch hypothermia from the cold tonight. I would definitely need to be inside. I didn't have a death wish.
I was oddly refreshed the next day, the haze was dull and I lay in my bed, unusually content but I could've guessed it wouldn't last long.
"Jer, I'm going to Stefan's! I might be a while, Damon's supposedly being a lot of trouble." Hearing that name tore me open, it made me feel disgusting and weak. I drank until I passed out whilst she was away. I was in the woods, somewhere I hoped no one would come past as it was the middle of the day but luck wasn't on my side, nothing was any more.
Someone found me, I couldn't remember who it was, I was barely conscious but unfortunately they knew me . . . and my sister. I didn't remember anything past that but I woke up in my bed, again. Elena was sat next to my bed, just like before but this time she wasn't looking at me in worry or concern, she was really annoyed. I tried to ignore her and sleep but she never moved and I really needed to pee.
"I got a call from Ric ten minutes ago. He found you in the woods, passed out. He's freaking out downstairs, he thought you had been hurt-" I got out of my bed, my head span and my stomach lurched but I managed to to stay stood up. I really didn't want to listen to her at the moment and the banging headache definitely wasn't helping. "Where do you think you're going?" She quizzed me, jumping up to block the path out of my room.
"I need the toilet" I sighed as I tried to push past her but she didn't budge.
"Sit down" She ordered me. "We need to talk." I collapsed back onto the bed. I knew what she was going to say, I had heard it all before; I'm disappointed, you're just a kid, you're destroying yourself. This wasn't going to be any different.
"What happened?" She asked, real concern in her voice. I was surprised, she still stood there stiffly, angrily but her tone was caring. I didn't know what to say, maybe she knew, she had seen Da-Him. I thought, avoiding the name. I just sat there frozen, what was she going to do?
"Jer, I know you're back on the drugs and you must have a really good reason for doing this but you know they are not the answer to whatever it is."
"You don't know how hard it is, what every day is like." I sobbed.
"Then tell me. I will always be here for you to talk to me." I just sat there in silence, I didn't know what to say. Eventually I just nodded my head, lost at what else to say but she took it as an agreement and stood. "I have to go out, don't do anything stupid. I love you." She smiled before slipping out of the door.
I sat there for a moment, I didn't know how to take her sudden change of heart. A few more moments and I might have told her everything but she had left me, again. I had let my thoughts wander too much and I was starting to come round from the effects of the drugs and alcohol. I needed another distraction, soon. I pulled my bag out from under my wardrobe, already fully packed, ready for any mood that hit me, and ran out of the house. I felt terrible for ignoring Elena like this but I couldn't face what happened, I just wanted the feeling to stop, to be numb.
Well that was a whole pile of depressing! Poor things, they're both so messed up at the moment! Lets see if we can change that. I wasn't going to include the Stefan part but it was looking a bit short and I actually had a bit of time to not rush it so I thought why not? Also I think I over did it, it was meant to be short but it ended up 50/50. I hope you enjoyed this!
Don't forget to COMMENT! Please?
P.S It has now been a full week for both Jeremy's and Damon's POV if anyone is confused!