Not My Body – Chapter 10: Hero
Warning: Injury's and blood– somewhat detailed. Also swearing and insults.
"Blaine? Blaine!" Kurt shouted. He was on the verge of panicking now. Kurt understood that Blaine could have been in a state of shock but after that voicemail from Burt, it seemed to have triggered something inside of Blaine that was causing him to scream like this.
Without waiting, Kurt began to stroke Blaine's hair again. It worked before so it should work again. He brushed his hand through Blaine's curls at a steady pace. The action seemed to have some affect on Blaine because he had stopped screaming now. The scared boy began to release whimpers and tears as he rocked himself and leant into Kurt's touch.
"Blaine, it's okay. I'm here and I'm not going to hurt you." Kurt said soothingly. He stopped touching Blaine's hair but let his hand brush past Blaine's cheek for a moment as he tried to hide his blushing face.
"Your dad will." Blaine said quietly, as if saying it would trigger that to happen. Kurt looked confused. Why would his dad hurt Blaine?
"Why would he hurt you Blaine? You haven't done anything wrong." Kurt asked as he tried to reassure Blaine. The curly haired boy looked up at Kurt with his wet hazel eyes and sorrowful expression.
"You would have gone back home. You would be helping your brother. But now I'm in the way and causing your dad to be angry at you. It's my fault." Blaine looked like he was about to cry again but Kurt stopped him in time.
"No, Blaine. It's not your fault. I chose to do this myself and you aren't in the way. In fact, you helped me. If it weren't for you, I'd be wondering around the streets looking for a good box while trying to fend for my self. But you've given me a purpose to be here. Now you've given me a friend."
Blaine almost smiled. The corners of his lips turned up a little as he looked at Kurt but as he glanced at the bench, the smile faded instantly.
"Now, are you going to tell why you said 'that's how it starts?' and screamed?" Kurt raised an eyebrow expectantly as he spoke, making sure he kept eye contact with Blaine.
Blaine didn't reply to Kurt's question but he turned his body so he was facing the bench. Slowly he lifted his hand and let it ghost over the middle of the bench. Then he put his thumb on it and moved it across to get rid of the dirt and grime coating the sodden wood.
It revealed a golden plaque embedded onto the bench. Kurt made his mouth make a little 'o' shape as he watched Blaine wipe off all of the dirt off of the golden rectangle.
He then looked back at Kurt and pointed at the plaque.
In memory of Cooper. J. Anderson
July 8th 1984 – June 17th 2012
Friend, brother and hero.
"Is that your brother?" Kurt asked sadly. Blaine nodded as he tried to blink away the tears that threatened to spill.
"Notice how it doesn't say 'son' on there? Well that was my dad's own fault. He didn't deserve me or coop. Heck, he even killed him!"
Kurt gasped. He hadn't expected something so shocking.
"W-what?" Kurt stuttered. "How? What would make him do that?" Blaine took a deep breath. He had never told anyone about his father but he didn't think it could get any worse if he told Kurt.
"My dad owned this big business where we used to live. He got a lot of money out of it but it stressed him out a lot. We had a big house with a lawn and a relatively nice neighbour hood apart from this one boy who lived across the street from us. This boy's father was also the business' partner so he owned part of it. So normally my dad would have a beer to cool off and go back to his office or watch TV for a while. But when his business started going down hill and their budgets where dropping, he started to drink more and get angrier with me and Cooper."
Kurt put his hand to his mouth because he could see where this was going and he didn't like it.
"We would put up with it for a while. It was scary because he threw plates, glasses and similar things around the house that Coop and I could here from our bedrooms. Sometimes when I got scared… I would go into his room and lay on the floor by his bed or he would comfort me if he was still awake and we'd tell stories."
Blaine smiled for the first time since he and Kurt had met.
"He seems like a really great guy, Blaine." Blaine nodded before continuing.
"It didn't help that I got bullied… at school a lot as well. I would jump on the furniture in the classroom when I was younger and I sang a lot of songs. The bullies in the class didn't think that…that boys should do what I did so they decided to sort out the situation… using their fists. I would come home with black eyes and bruises and then my Dad would get a phone call from the school about how I started the fight when I didn't. He would get angry… with me and hit me." Kurt gasped out loud when he heard about the family violence.
"One day when I was 15, there was this new family that had moved in next door to us. They had a son that my Dad arranged me to meet with and go to Boxing club together to toughen me up along with the son of my Dad's partner that lived across the street. Unfortunately, at the time, I thought he was cute and I decided to ask him out…. He said no and told the guy, Steven, about what had happened. After that…Steven told his Father about it and then his Father told my Dad. I – I hadn't planned to come out to my Dad yet but now I had no choice. Cooper over heard but he accepted me, told me he loved me no matter who I was or who I loved but…my dad was the opposite."
Blaine looked down at his hands and clasped them together tight enough to hurt his hands. He felt so vulnerable right now; telling a stranger? Acquaintance? Friend? About everything that went wrong in his life. But if he stopped now, he knew he would just bottle it up inside of him again and never tell anyone until it ate him up.
"He was drunk again when he found out. He called me down to the kitchen and I knew what he was going to slur/talk/shout about. Cooper came down as well but kept his distance. As soon as my dad saw me he began to shout profanities at me. You know the ones."
Blaine thought back to the moment.
"Blaine, Steven's dad told me that you asked a guy out." He said low and threateningly.
"Yeah, I asked him to go boxing with me, that's all." Blaine lied. His father strode up to him with an evil glare keeping in tact with Blaine. He threw his bottle on the ground and let it shatter behind him. He grabbed Blaine by the shirt and pulled him up a little. Blaine could smell the stench of alcohol wafting in the air as their faces where only inches apart.
"Don't lie to me, boy! You're a fairy and you know it. You're a disgusting, worthless piece of shit that takes advantage of what I give you. I could put up with your attention seeking attitude and your petty fights but now you say you're a fairy and you let your fairy dust in this house? You're a spoilt brat, Blaine. Why can't you be like Cooper? Not a disappointment!" Matthew Anderson let go of Blaine's shirt and slapped him hard across the face, leaving a bright red mark on Blaine's tear-soaked cheek.
"Hey! Don't speak to him like that!" Cooper said, running into the kitchen. His fists were clenched and his knuckles were white.
"Cooper this isn't your problem. Get out before I do something that you'll regret." His eyes were still on Blaine but his tone was just as threatening.
Cooper ran in between his brother and father, letting Blaine cower behind him. His father looked even more irritated now and it scared Blaine more but Cooper wasn't giving up.
"Leave my brother alone!" He shouted in his father's face and pushed him backwards. Blaine knew that Cooper wasn't thinking straight but it was too late to change that now. He grabbed a shard of glass from the broken bottle and slashed his father across the arm.
Matthew flew back and hit the kitchen surface, his hands holding onto the edge. Something cut into his hand and he immediately grabbed it.
Cooper thought that his father had backed off enough to let them go, so he turned around and pushed his little brother towards the exit.
Everything was starting to get a little bit better until his father lunged for Cooper.
Something struck him in the back and Cooper arched backwards before crashing to the cold, hard ground. A shiny glimmer of metal flickered in the sun in the corner of Blaine's eye as he got down on his knees to get to Cooper. His father had used a knife on Blaine's brother, his own son but now he was gone. He'd run away from the murder he committed.
Blaine's vision clouded up as the tears fell fast onto Cooper's barely moving body. There was a deep scarlet puddle of blood seeping through Cooper's clothes and onto the tiles of the kitchen. Another shape formed where Cooper had been stabbed and continued to grow.
Cooper wasn't moving now. His breathing almost ceased to exist as Blaine knelt there shaking his brother as if to keep him awake, refusing to believe that his brother was dead.
When his brother didn't respond anymore, Blaine regretfully tore himself away from his brother and headed towards a phone to call an ambulance.
No sooner than 10 minutes later, two ambulances and three police cars arrived. Blaine let them in immediately and about fifteen people of police and paramedics came in. Four paramedics rushed over to Cooper and carried him out of the house to the ambulance and then left. Six policemen and a photographer came in to look at the crime scene and collect any evidence they could find, and then two paramedics went over to Blaine to make sure he was mentally stable and healthy. Finally, three more policemen went over to Blaine to write down Blaine's view on what happened during the crime and get any further information that Blaine could give.
Eventually, they took him to the hospital in the other ambulance so he could wait outside the operation room to hear the news of Cooper. One doctor came out of the room with a plain expression.
"I'm sorry, Mr Anderson. Your brother passed away. You can go in to say your goodbyes if you like." Blaine shook his head and turned away, heading for the door.
"Oh Mr. Anderson. There's someone here to sort out your brother's will, if you would just like to wait a moment." Blaine turned back towards the chairs and sat down.
Soon enough, a man in a black suit walked down the hall holding a briefcase. He sat down next to Blaine, placed the case on his lap and opened it up to reveal some documents.
"Mr. Anderson, I'm sorry to disturb you during this dreadful time but there are some things that were left to you by your mother that your brother can no longer inherit."
Blaine looked curious. He'd never heard of his mother leaving anything for either of them because she had left just after Blaine was born.
"It says here that you have inherited your brother's apartment, it was passed down to him by your mother and now to you. You have also received both of their bank accounts which seem to add up to a few million." Blaine held back the gasp inside him. "Now all you have to do is sign on this line and everything will become yours."
Blaine took the man's pen and signed the line at the bottom of the document. The man then gave him an envelope. "Inside you will find the key to your apartment and all the bank details to get into your accounts." Blaine took the envelope gratefully and shoved it into his pocket. The man then nodded and left.
"So when my brother tried to protect me from my father, he got… stabbed in the back and died. My dad went to prison… but he didn't go for life because he claimed it was self defence and showed a cut on his hand, the slash on his arm and a few bruises. His partner also tried to bail him out. I don't know how many years he got exactly but I know he didn't get what he deserved."
"Did your brother leave you anything when he died? You seemed really close." Kurt said as a few tears escaped and trickled down his cheeks.
Blaine pulled a chain from underneath his t-shirt which had a key attached to the end of it. "I got some money and an apartment from Cooper. It was passed down to him… by my mother and then passed onto me."
"Why don't you live in that apartment then? And why get a bench with a plaque on it?" Kurt said, confused.
"Too many memories. I tried going in there once to check it out but it was…too overwhelming and I'm homeless because I won't go back to my father's house.
After Coop's death…I felt guilty for not doing anything like a funeral…so I got him this bench. We went here when it was summer; we would go to the play area and play games on the field." He smiled again. "It was nice. It felt like home."
Kurt smiled as well and put his hand reassuringly on Blaine's shoulder but he flinched. He didn't question his flinching because he had just explained a traumatic experience. Instead, Kurt sat there in the silence.