Hello! Oh my goodness guys! I can't believe we've finally reached this chapter; I've had this one planned out since the beginning. I'm not going to say anything else except that I really hope you all like it and it about time!
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Disclaimer: Fox owns everything Glee.
Blaine had been right. Neither Laurette nor Vincent had shown up in the night to hurt him. Kurt is relieved and finally relaxed. Currently he's in his own dorm room, organizing his closet and catching up on his moisturizing routine that he's neglected too often this month. For the first time in what feels like ages, he's alone and focused entirely on his clothing. At this moment, he's safe and he feels safe.
Somewhere below him, sounds like it's coming from the first floor, a racket erupts; many voices are yelling and screaming. Kurt turns startled. It must be a prank someone tripped, Kurt thinks though his pure peace bubble is permeated by a small worm of doubt. It's fully popped a moment later by a frantic knocking on his door. "Kurt! Kurt?" Thad, of all people, calls through the door.
"Come in." Kurt responds from his spot on the floor.
Thad, panicked and out of breath, slams the door behind them as soon as he's in the room. "Kurt! You have to hide. We have to get you out of here." Thad exclaims at him.
"What? Why?" Kurt asks.
Thad grabs him and pulls him to his feet. "Crap! You can't out run him on crutches. How're we gonna…?"
"Thad? What are you talking about? What's going on?" Kurt stops him both in his words and his searching tugging of Kurt around the room, that Kurt can't keep up with hopping on one leg.
"Um… I'm not 100 percent sure but there's this huge, very scary guy downstairs looking for you. And he doesn't seem to care who he hurts to get to you. Nick and Jeff were trying to keep him downstairs and he literally picked Jeff up and threw him into a wall."
"Oh my God! Is Jeff okay?"
"I don't know, Nick was taking care of him. David told me to come warn you." Thad says.
"A big guy? Disgusting greyish hair and eyes the color of evil? Tattoos of weapons all over his arms?" Kurt asks desperately hoping the man downstairs is not who he suspects. But when Thad answers affirmatively to all Kurt's questions he knows he's right and he just about faints in fear. But at that moment, Vincent's voice booms through the hallway and closed door.
Kurt has to keep himself together. He can hear other doors being thrown open down the hall and other boys screaming as their rooms are invaded. Kurt can't let Vincent hurt them all to get to him. "Thad. Get in my closet." He orders.
"What?!" Thad exclaims. "It's you he's after, you should hide."
Kurt shakes his head. "Just do it. I can't let him hurt you."
Thad reluctantly complies asking "Who is he?" as Kurt shuts him in the closet. Kurt jams the closet doorknob closed with his desk chair as an extra measure.
Then Kurt goes to the door. Gathering every ounce of courage he can he pulls it open. "Wrong room Troglodyte!" He yells out. "I'm down here, you deplorable idiot." It's does the job of getting Vincent's attention. The large man comes dashing out of the room three down from Kurt's and glares at Kurt in his doorway. Kurt lets Vincent just catch a small glimpse of him before pulling his door shut swiftly and turning the lock. Heavy footsteps stop outside it almost simultaneously and the doorknob jiggles fruitlessly.
"You, worthless piece of trash!" Vincent bellows and start banging on the door. Kurt knows it won't hold against him for very long. So, he drops his crutches and crawls under his bed. The heavy door gives in and slams loudly in the room. Vincent stalks into the room. "Where are you, little freak?"
Kurt watches his feet as he moves around. He stops in front of the closet and kicks the chair out from under the handle. "You think I'm stupid? You can't put the chair in front of the closet door if you're hiding inside of it!" Vincent says. Kurt smirks victoriously; Vincent had fallen for his trick and wouldn't be looking in the closet. Thad was safe.
Vincent moves slowly, surprisingly quiet for such a big guy. At least, he's quiet when he's not kicking Kurt's crutches. "So, that trap break your foot, did it?" He laughs maliciously. "Well then, you couldn't have walked any farther that this point where you dropped 'em. I guess you must have crawled." Vincent drops to the ground and it takes no time at all for him to spot Kurt under the bed.
Kurt can't stop the terrified screams from leaving his mouth as he's dragged out by the steely grip of Vincent's hand. He's pulled to rest right underneath Vincent's towering frame. "Where the hell were you yesterday!? We were so close to having full custody but we couldn't finish the paperwork without you there!"
"Good! I don't want you to have custody!" Kurt yells back in a moment of bravery and stupidity.
Vincent's fist comes smashing into his face. He can taste blood in his mouth already. "You're going to pay for that!" He threatens and throws another round of punches.
He stops long before Kurt expects him to and stands up. He doesn't let Kurt crawl away or even curl up, though. He grabs his broken foot and lifts it up to his face; so Kurt is hanging upside down. He unstraps the boot and rips it from his foot. His fingers probe Kurt's foot until he finds the damaged bone and he presses into it forcefully until Kurt's screams break and he can't breathe through the pain.
Vincent cackles excitedly at that and drops Kurt onto his head. His neck cracks painfully and he holds it while regaining his breath. Vincent gets on the floor next to him and mutters viciously to him, "Aww. Does your neck hurt, brat? Let me fix that." He wraps one huge hand around Kurt's throat and lifts him up as high as he can.
Kurt chokes pitifully. Blood dribbles from his lips and tears pour from his eyes. Vincent brings him uncomfortably close to his face. Kurt can feel his hot breath on his face. "I'm not going to stop this time. I'm not going to let go. I'm going to kill you, slowly. I'm going to watch the life drain from you with elation." He says.
Kurt can't get a scream or any kind of noise past the tight grip crushing his trachea. He tries to fight but his limbs soon become too heavy without oxygen. Even his eyelids can't stay open. Vincent doesn't let go. He doesn't move at all. Just watches Kurt slowly die and procures his sick sort of pleasure from it.
More heavy footsteps echo in Kurt's ears just before he loses consciousness fully. Yelling voices and struggling sounds swim in the shallow darkness. He's pulled back from that darkness by making hard contact with the carpeted floor. He gasps in sharply and then greedily repeats the processes rapidly taking in as much as he can get, coughing for the pain each breath causes his throat.
All of the sudden, someone is there, picking him up of the floor and telling him to breath. The voice is that of an adult male and it's caring. The man is careful with him but persistent. Kurt pulls his eyelids open. Mr. Gooden holds him and reassures him, coaching him into slower, deeper breaths.
The headmaster also keeps himself between Kurt and the three men wrestling on the ground; Vincent and two school security guards. Kurt whimpers and hides himself from his would-be murderer. "It's okay Kurt. He won't hurt you anymore, they've got him." Mr. Gooden assures. "We need to get you out of here? Are you okay to move?" Kurt shakes his head.
Mr. Gooden picks him up and carries him from the room. More security guards have cleared the area outside his door and are holding back the hoard of curious and scared boys. "Kurt!" Kurt picks Blaine's relieved voice from the throngs and looks around until he spots his anxious boyfriend. Mr. Gooden moves in that direction and has the security let Blaine through. Kurt is transferred from one pair of arms to the next and Blaine cradles him close.
They get sat, with a personal security guard, next to the wall quite a way down from Kurt's room. "The police are coming. I'm going to go oversee everything. But I'll be back to talk to you later." Mr. Gooden tells the boys.
As he stands to leave though, Kurt is struck with a memory and clutches imploringly at his leg. Mr. Gooden kneels back down and tries to reassure Kurt of his safety. Kurt shakes his head, it's not his safety that this is about, and manages to get out the words, "My closest" in a rough rasp.
Both Mr. Gooden and Blaine look at him confused. "Your closet?" Kurt nods but can't speak again for the coughing fit trying causes. "Okay." Mr. Gooden says and goes back to Kurt's room.
Kurt curls into Blaine and Blaine holds him close, showering him in affection. "What's so important about your closet?" He asks.
Kurt tries to respond but the words are garbled and broken. Mr. Gooden reemerges from the room with a shaking Thad under his arm. Kurt points emphatically in their direction. Thad is brought to them and drops down at their side. "Kurt! You're okay!" He exclaims relieved.
Kurt nods and hugs him. "You?" he rasps.
"I'm okay." Thad says. "That was scary, but I'm not hurt. You sound like you need some water."
"That's a good idea, Thad." Mr. Gooden agrees and sends someone to fetch one.
"What do we do now?" Thad asks.
"Right now I'm going to take you all down to have the EMTs check you over. The police are going to take that man away from here and then we're all going to sit down and talk about what happened here today. The police are going to have to interview everyone so they can get the whole story." He looks directly at Kurt with his last words.
The three boys are escorted down to the first floor of the dorm hall, where the EMTs have set up a station to check over all the students. Many of them have minor injuries; Jeff and Nick included. Jeff has some pretty nasty bruises forming on his shoulder from being thrown into a wall; but, he assures Kurt that he's okay. "Are you though?" Nick asks. "Your voice sounds awful and your boot is gone. What did your uncle do to you?"
"That guy is your uncle?" Thad asks.
Kurt doesn't answer; he burrows miserably into Blaine as much as he can as he's looked over. His foot is re-booted and he's given two pills to take for the pain, he's still not allowed to have more than that in his possession at any time. "Alright, Dear. You definitely have a concussion, and it appears to be compounded. Have you gotten a different concussion any time in the past few weeks?" the EMT asks.
Kurt hides himself further, but Blaine bends down to whisper in his ear. "It's over Kurt. You can't keep any of this secret anymore. It's time to tell them everything."
Kurt looks up at Blaine's serious gaze and knows he's right. It's nerve-wracking but he nods his head. "I think so. It wasn't ever diagnosed, but probably."
The EMT looks curiously at him. "Why didn't you get it looked at?" she asks.
Kurt sighs. "That's a really long story."
"Well, we want to hear it all, son." A police officer says, he's just walked into the conversation, along with Mr. Gooden. "Tell us everything."
Kurt lays his head on Blaine's shoulder in shame. Blaine whispers to him. "No more secrets. Vincent got caught red-handed; he's going to prison. But, Laurette won't if you don't explain everything. She may even get to keep custody of you."
Kurt grips Blaine's hand tightly and nods. "Can we talk about this somewhere more private?" He asks the officer.
The officer nods; he, his partner, Mr. Gooden, Kurt and Blaine, whom Kurt had insisted come along, convene in Mr. Gooden's office. With much difficulty and prompting Kurt tells them about Laurette and Vincent, the abuse, and everything else that had happened in the past few months. Blaine shows them the pictures he's collected of Kurt's injuries. The officers are attentive and take notes along with recording the whole story on a tape-recorder.
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Mr. Gooden asks.
"I didn't know what to do. Ms. Newton never listened, she never did anything about it. And I begged Blaine and the other guys not to say anything." Kurt says.
"All the same, they should have." The officer says.
Blaine cowers in shame. Kurt holds him. "It's not his fault. It's mine; I'm sorry. I was too scared. I didn't know what to do."
"That's why you should've told." Mr. Gooden says. Kurt and Blaine huddle together, guilty and crying. "But, there's nothing we can do about the past. We know now; so, we're going to help you now."
