Fourth chapter, yayyyyyy! Thanks for all of the support! I decided to finish this part tonight due to getting yet another review to continue, so REVIEW SO I FEEL INSPIRED ILY thank you, and enjoy. :)

Despite everything, Riker still got up for school in the morning.

His dad came home around 3:30 AM, and added a couple of kicks to his ribs, for good measure. He told Riker that he wasn't gonna lock him in the closet this time, because there's no way in hell he's letting him miss school. But. come the weekend, he would be in the closet until the second he needed to leave for school on Monday morning. Riker just said, "Yes sir."

After his father had gotten drunk and passed out, Riker dragged himself to the bottom of the staircase. Painfully, he made his slow climb to the second floor of their trashed house. Then, without missing a beat, he continued to slide himself down the hallway with his bruised arms. Once reaching the bathroom, he pushed himself inside, and shut the door, reaching up with his toe to turn on the light.

"Okay," He said to himself, trying to find any remaining strength within himself. "I have to go to school tomorrow. I have to stand up." He reached up, gripping the counter top as hard as he could manage in his weakened state. "One...two...thre-oh shit!" Tears sprung to his eyes as his joints popped, his bruises ached, and cuts broke open with the effort of standing up. He stumbled, his knees giving out from underneath him. He clung to the counter with his upper body, his legs hanging limply. Taking another deep breath (which hurt very much with his bruised ribs), Riker pushed his feet underneath him again, pressing against the counter with his palms to take off some of the pressure.

Temporarily stable, he removed his hands, and turned his attention to the reflection of his naked body in the mirror on the door. Bruises all up his legs, dried blood still visible, having run in streaks down the insides of his thighs. His chest was blue, and both wrists were green and bloody from the pressure and friction of those chains. His face was covered in, now nearly see through, dried...something. Zeke had called it 'cum'. Riker didn't like that word.

He reached out to turn on the water faucet, and splashed water up into his face, rubbing off the substance, though the memory still remained. Riker wished he could wash that clean, too.

He held onto the countertop, taking a careful step to the side. His knees stayed. Slowly, he made his way to the bathtub. Riker's amount of chores he has to do directly correlates with how much water or electricity he uses, so this was rare. He usually only showered once a month, much less bathed. But, his sore body needed it. Riker turned on the spigot, feeling the water with his index finger, before putting the stopper in the drain. He had it just about as hot as he could handle it. That way, it would stay warmer longer, and his bath would last longer, without using any more water.

He gently lowered himself into the filling tub, and leaned back against the edge. He kicked his feet slightly, smiling at the soothing warmth. This was a real treat. Riker wished he could do it more often.

As the tub was now almost completely filled, Riker reached up and shut off the water flow. He laid back again, and sighed deeply. Everything hurt just a little bit less in the water. Despite the horror he had faced, he actually felt himself beginning to doze. Riker decided to let himself sleep. He knew he'd wake up when the water started to get chilly. A couple hours in the water could do him some good. He shut his eyes, and almost immediately, slipped away into a world where breathing didn't hurt.


Riker awoke approximately two hours later, and at first, he forgot where he was. The scenery had changed a bit, as the water had turned a diluted pink from his wounds, leaking blood. The water was bordering on lukewarm and room temperature. Riker sighed. "I need to get up." He said to himself, bracing his arms on the sides of the tub. He counted back silently in his head, before shoving his body out of the water.

It wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. His joints ached much less, and the wounds seemed to have started to heal. Riker stepped out of the water, and grabbed his towel, which was still hanging beside the tub from the last time he took a shower. He wrapped his body up, and gently started to dry himself off, being sure to steer clear of any cuts.

Once dry, he wrapped the towel around his waist, and leaned down to pull the plug on the water. He rubbed his eyes with one hand, noticing how tired he was. But, he couldn't go to sleep just yet. He still had homework to do. He had to be awake by 6:00 to make it to school on regular time, and he had to go in early to make test corrections. He couldn't go back to sleep at all.

Riker sighed again, and pushed open the bathroom door, flicking off the light as he left. This was going to be a long day.


Riker felt his eyes start to close, his head drooping forward as his teacher tried to explain the meaning of an algebraic variable to a bunch of stupid kids. He had managed to get his homework done, change his clothes, cover up more wounds, and make the early walk to school to correct his test. Good thing the day was almost over, though. He hoped his dad would be passed out when he got home, so he could sleep.

He literally muttered thank god, when his teacher told the class to start packing up. Riker headed over, and pulled his backpack off of one of the hooks on the coat rack. He shoved his folders and notebooks into it, and zipped it up quickly, moving to stand by the door. He waited, staring blankly at the ground for the two minutes it took for the bell to ring.

He walked quickly away from the school, praying to god that he didn't see that girl again. She had been looking at him for the whole lunch and recess. He thought he had gotten away, but about halfway home, she caught up with him.

He tried to ignore it. The way she walked, behind him by about ten feet. He could feel himself being stared at. Eventually, with the fear of her finding out about his home life, mixed with the severe lack of sleep he had gotten the past two days, he turned on his heel.

Fists clenched, he all but screamed, "Stop following me!"

She jumped back for a second, shocked. But after a moment of cool, collected thinking, she responded simply with, "How did you get those bruises?"

Riker began to sweat. She had noticed. "T-that's none o-of your b-business." He stuttered, suddenly very, very afraid.

"So, you think I shouldn't be concerned about the immediate physical well-being of others? That would kind of make me a sociopath, wouldn't it?" The girl said, hand on her hip like she owned the universe. Riker hadn't been able to comprehend half of that sentence, and he was a couple of years older than this girl! Bad news; she's smart. Lying was going to be hard with this one.

Riker tried to come up with something smart to say back, but came up empty handed. Unable to decide what to do, he simply acted like what he was; a scared child. He reached down to the concrete, picking up a stone that could barely fit in the palm of his hand. He threw it at her, not hard enough to do damage, just hard enough to scare. He then turned around, and began to walk away. "Just leave me alone, you freak, before I call the cops." He said snarkily. He didn't look back, but he was pretty sure she was still standing in that same spot, shock and anger still on her face. At least, he hoped she was.