.:CHAPTER EIGHT – Darkness of My Past:.


Kendall eyes narrowed into a squint as he walked out of the mall, the sunlight momentarily blinding him. He brought a hand up to his forehead, shielding his face before sliding on a pair of sunglasses and walking down the sidewalk. His bag of shoes slapped against his side as he went, causing a smile to stretch across his face. There was nothing in the world that could keep him from his shoes and his obsession even went so far that he would freak out if anything scratched or stained it in the first two months of getting them.

"Kendall."

Kendall turned to look over his shoulder as he head his name being called, but didn't see anyone behind him. Shrugging, he turned back around and kept going.

"Kendall!"

Kendall whipped around, this time turning fully to face the person that was calling his name, but he still didn't see anyone. His eyes narrowed as he noticed that there was no one on the sidewalks that were just packed with people. It was completely empty, and there wasn't a sound at all.

"Help me. Please. Help me."

Kendall slapped his hands over his ears as the voices continued to increase in volume. They swirled around him, begging for his help over and over again. He slapped his hands over his ears, but it didn't help, he could still hear the voices.

"Where are you?" Kendall called, moving his hands from his ears. "What's wrong? How can I help you?"

He looked around, the voices started to fade away.

"Kendall…Help me…"

..

.

Kendall sucked in a deep breath of air, his eyes shooting open. They darted around, disoriented and he sat up quickly, still looking around. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that he was still in his bed and in his room. Looking over, he saw that Logan was sleeping peacefully, his mouth wide open, but snoring softly.

Kendall rolled his eyes and reached over to his desk, patting around for him phone. He let out a short curse when he knocked his wallet and alarm clock to the floor. He finally found his phone and picked it up, turning it over and pushing a button, lighting up the screen. He sighed when he saw that it was only 1:25 in the morning. Knowing that he wasn't going to get much sleep anytime soon, he pushed the covers off of his bed and swung his legs out and stood up, his back cracking as he did so.

Grabbing his phone and shoving it into the pockets of his sweats he walked around his bed and quietly slipped out of the room, gently closing the door behind him. He went into the bathroom, narrowing his eyes as it adjusted to the sudden light and turned to look at himself in the mirror.

He looked exhausted, there were large bags under his eyes and his eyelids were drooping. Still, he wasn't as tired as he had been before and if he had to guess he would be up for the next two hours.

I hope there's something good on TV, my mom didn't send me to bed early when I was younger for nothing. Kendall turned on the faucet and cupped his hands under the running water, cupping some in his hands and splashing it over his face. The cold water instantly snapped his eyes open. I might as well make the best of it.

He grabbed a towel and dabbed off his face before flipping off the lights and leaving the bathroom. He winced in pain as his knee started to throb, causing him to shuffle as he went over to the couch. Stupid knee, why do you always have to start hurting when I least want it too? He gritted his teeth as he slowly lowered himself down onto the couch. Thanks Dad, even when you're not around, you gave me a constant reminder of you and what you did to us.

"What did I tell you about hanging out with those boys?" Kevin Knight growled as soon as Kendall got home, closing the front door behind him. Kendall jumped and whirled around, his eyes widening and then falling into a look of defiance. "Those friends of yours, I don't know about them."

"You can't tell me what to do!" Kendall screamed all rational thought of not wanting his father to get mad flying out of his mind. "Leave me alone!" Kendall whirled around and ran towards the stairs. Kevin grabbed Kendall's hair, yanking it so hard that Kendall cried out in pain. "What did I tell you?" He hissed. The combination of hurt and anger fogged Kendall's mind, and I couldn't think straight.

He glared at his father vehemently.

Still pulling his son's hair, he stomped to Kendall's room, throwing him in. Kendall hit the floor and felt something sharp dig into his palm. Looking down, he saw my CDs strewn out across the floor, shattered. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"You broke my CDs?" Kendall asked quietly. My dad glanced at me, before shrugging carelessly, as if his action was justified.

"Part of your punishment," he said, "For disobeying me."

"Of course I disobeyed you, you're a horrible father!" Kendall shouted. A second later he found himself on the ground, screaming in pain as he held onto his knee. It was burning with pain, causing tears to form in his eyes.

Kevin lowered his foot back to the ground. "Don't raise your voice at me." Kevin stated, looking down at his son coolly before leaving the room.

Kendall took another deep breath and leaned over, grabbing the remote as he lifted his leg onto the table, stretching it out. He gave another wince of pain and then pushed the pain away before turning on the TV. As soon as a picture came up, he turned the volume down, making sure that it didn't wake anyone else up.

He flipped through the channels, bypassing movies and random TV shows, stopping on sports center. His upper lip curled when he spotted coverage of football and kept going. It wasn't that he didn't like football, he enjoyed playing it just fine, but there was nothing better than watching a hockey game. It seemed realistic, plus, he didn't believe that there were that many pauses in the game play when it came to football. It wasn't as challenging, you run a ball up and down a field trying not to get hit, hockey was better. It was more fast-paced and you were also on skates on ice, it was even more challenging and even more rewarding than any other sport than he had played.

Kendall continued to channel surf, stopping only when a repeat of a 20/20 news special was on .He watched for a few minutes as they talked about the war going on in Afghanistan, hardly paying attention to it, starting to fall asleep. It wasn't until he heard the words 'child abuse' that he sat up straight, his eyes widening as if someone had thrown a bucket of water on him.

"Abuse isn't anyone's fault and it shouldn't be happening in anyone's family. If you know anyone that is being abused, call someone, or tell someone, they need to get help so they can get protection. If you know of anyone that exhibits these signs-"

The reporter suddenly stopped talking as Kendall turned the TV off again. "What do they know about abuse," he asked himself, bringing his legs up onto the couch. "They're not going to show signs because they're going to keep it a secret the best way the can." He let out a breath through his nose, his eyelids starting to fall shut. "Mom doesn't know, Katie doesn't know, my friends don't know, they don't need to know, and they will never know."

Seconds later Kendall fell into a comfortable slumber.


"It's almost noon and he's still sleeping?" Dak's eyebrows rose as he leaned over the couch, peering down into Kendall's peaceful face. "He must be a heavy sleeper."

"Eh, he's ok," James shrugged. "One time he slept through Carlos' and Logan's shouting match over which was better to visit, a zoo or an amusement park. But then other times he wakes up at the drop of a pin."

"Is he ok, though?" Jo asked, looking concerned. "He must have had trouble sleeping if he ended up here."

"He must have had trouble sleeping last night." Logan commented. "He's fine, it happens to everyone." He leaned back away from the couch and turned to face Dak, WayneWayne, James, Carlos, Jo, Camille, and Stephanie. "We should wake him up though, he'd be mad if we didn't wake him up to go to the amusement park today."

"I don't really get why we're still going though," Camille stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "Gustavo, Ronan, and Kelly made these plans two months ago, so you guys could have a break from school and work and just have fun." She frowned. "But they just told us that they don't want us around much anymore."

"That's why we're going early," WayneWayne explained. "If they don't want to hang out, then they won't come. But we can still have a fun day with or without them."

"Is that even possible?" Carlos raised his eyebrows in earnest. "I mean, most of the time we're entertained is when they're around." He turned to Logan. "Do you know anything?"

Logan looked offended as he lifted his head, taking his gaze away from Kendall. "What makes you think that I know anything?" He frowned as he mimicked Camille's stance, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just because Riley and Rhuben are my best friends, it doesn't mean that they tell me everything."

"Chill Logan," Stephanie gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "We were just wondering if they told you anything else about what's going on. I mean, we understand that they might be busy, but if there was anything else-"

"I don't know anything else," Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And trust me, if I did, I would have mentioned it by now."

"We're not attacking you, Logan; we're just trying to figure out what's going on." Jo stated. "Anyway," she looked at her watch. "Let's wake him up or we'll be late." She took a large step back. "Boys?"

"Oh, I've got to get this on tape," Stephanie whispered, taking her video camera from its case and turning it on. She looked through the view-finder and giggled when Carlos leaned over, giving an exaggerated smile and then shushed the other boys.

He held up three fingers, lowered one, and then lowered the other and Logan, James, Dak, Carlos, and WayneWayne dove onto the couch, on top of Kendall.

"Holy fuck!" Kendall cried as soon as the bodies of his friends landed on him. "Ow! Ow! Get off my knee!" He shouted, although he was laughing as his friends rolled over him.

"Finally you're awake," James slid off of Kendall and onto the ground. "Now get up so we can go to the amusement park!"

"You woke me up just for that?" Kendall asked, resting his head back onto the pillow behind his head, suddenly feeling tired again. He grinned at the horrified expression on Carlos', Dak's, and WayneWayne's faces. "I'm kidding, just got off me and I'll go get dressed." He shoved the other boys to the floor and climbed off of the couch before disappearing into his room.

"What'd we just miss?" Lizzie demanded as she and Katie walked out of Katie's room, a purse dangling off her shoulder, putting sunglasses on her head. "Did we just miss something funny?"

"That's what happens when you spend too much time on what you look like." Dak replied, grinning at his sister as she rolled her eyes in reply.

"You don't know what it takes to be beautiful." Lizzie replied.

"Yes I do," Dak denied. "Because you're in the bathroom for hours, every morning."

"That's because-"

Dak reached out and placed a hand over Lizzie's mouth, effectively cutting her off. He then laughed and bent away as she swung her arms, trying to hit him in the side. Katie laughed as she watched the two of them. In many ways they were like her and Kendall, but she was also sure that her relationship with her brother was stronger. She didn't really make fun of him and she helped him with any plan he needed, especially when he got in trouble. (Which was a lot.)

Huh Katie looked over at Kendall when he walked back out of his room, fully dressed. He was limping a little, and there was a slight bulge around his right knee. When did he start wearing a knee brace? I never noticed before.


A/N: If you're confused, the first part of italics is Kendall's dream, the next part is his thoughts, then the next part is a flashback. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Yes, something I have written about before...when they got the amusement park. What relationships and drama with appear there? Of course Gustavo, Kelly, Kacy, and Ronan will be there, I can't have a chapter with great opportunities without them being there. Things are picking up, you see some more about what's up with Kendall, and next few chapters you'll see more of everyone else. I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles