Betrayed or Not? – chapter seven

Drake sat down at the kitchen table staring at his cereal, not really in the mood to eat. Finally, he stood up and put the bowl in the sink. He slowly began to wash it, unaware of another presence entering the kitchen.

Suddenly a voice whispered in his ear, "I hope it hurts," Drake gasped, and jumped away.

"J-Josh, what do you mean?"

Josh grinned, a sinister look in his eyes. "I think you know exactly what I mean."

"No, I d-don't…" Fear glazing over those haunted brown eyes.

"I hope when he kicks you, you know how absolutely vile you are!" Josh spat out.

"Kicks me? What are you talking about-''

"Oh stop playing innocent! I've seen it with my own two eyes. I've seen when he grabbed his belt and brought it down on your pathetic form. You couldn't even fight him off! You're so weak," He sneered.

"And you didn't try to help me? I thought we were brothers!" Drake shouted.

"Yeah, were brothers. Until I saw your true side. I would never want to have any relation with anyone so fragile. Could you hold your own if you went against…say me? Would you start shaking when you saw my hand raised? Would you start crying as memories took over you?"

"Josh, w-why are you acting like this?" Drake exclaimed slowly backing away from his brother.

"Oh! The 'Great Drake' can ask all the questions he wants! Big surprise there! You always get your way; you always get whatever you want. But this time you don't. This time you're not getting away."

Drake fearfully tried running out the kitchen door but it wouldn't budge. And then he heard low chuckling, coming from the other side of it, and a low voice began to speak.

"You'll never escape us, Drake. Your mother is gone. The only thing you had to cling on to. But with her out of the picture, you're all ours. Don't you get it? We live off your fear; we stay alive just by the tears that fill your eyes every time you look at me. You must understand, Josh and I are doing this for the world's sake. To save innocents from people like you. Disgusting, selfish people like you. The world would be a better place without weak souls like you."

Suddenly Drake was on the floor, as Walter pushed the door open with amazing strength. He began slowly walking towards the boy on the floor with Josh by his side.

Drake desperately crawled away, trying to get to the other door. But when he reached it, he found it locked. He let out a helpless sob that came from deep inside him.

"Leave me alone! Please, please leave me alone! I-I never did anything to anyone! Why can't any just leave me alone?" He muttered tearfully, whimpering as they both cornered him. He had no way of escaping, but he should've been use to not being able to escape.

His heart beat frantically in his ears, as his back hit the wall. His lungs appeared to have completely forgotten how to operate. Drake's vision began to blur as he began losing oxygen.

The last thing he saw was Walter and Josh closing in on him, he curled into a ball to avoid as many blows as possible.

But none came.

000000000000

"Come ON, Drake! If I have to hold your nose one more time just to get you awake, then so be it!" The familiar voice exclaimed.

Drake found he could breathe again, and his heart wasn't beating in his ears as it had been moments ago. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw that he was lying on the bedroom couch.

"How…did I get here?" Drake's voice cracked.

"Uh…you fell asleep here." Josh replied, looking confused.

"But I wasn't here a second ago. I was-" But Drake didn't dare finish. It had all been a dream. Drake sighed, inwardly relieved. Unfortunately, the pain Walter had caused him, just hours ago, was not a dream.

"What time is it?" Drake asked, slowly getting up from the couch. Big mistake though. Pain raced from his head to his toes, and he slumped back onto the couch.

"Well, you missed lunch and if you hadn't woken up this time, then you would've missed dinner. So come on!" Josh said, grabbing hold of Drake's arm and pulling him off the couch. Drake winced, but tried not to let the pain show in his face.

"Yeah…I'm not that hungry. I had a rough night, so I just want to sleep some more," Drake said as Josh released his arm.

"You're absolutely sure?" Josh asked, clearly concerned for his brother. Drake nodded, and watched Josh leave the room.

'Would he be so concerned if I told him? Was that dream possible? It certainly felt real,' Drake thought.

What if Josh did abandon the whole 'brother' idea and turn on him like Walter had? Was it possible? Drake certainly hoped not…but somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice told him not to tell Josh. That it would lead to horrible things. Drake listened to this voice. He decided he wouldn't ever tell Josh what was going on, for fear of losing a brother. Another brother.

Standing up with strength Drake didn't even know he had, he was able to get up and leave his room without collapsing. The pain was unbearable. It was like his whole body was on fire.

Finally he made it to the bathroom, and quickly closed the door. Drake glanced in the mirror, almost afraid of what he would see.

But there was no difference. His face was clear as a bell, no bruising, no nothing. It was as normal as it always had been, except for the bags under his eyes.

Drake smiled at his reflection. If he weren't in so much pain, he might've stood there all day just smiling at himself. But there was no time for that. If he didn't sit down somewhere, he would eventually pass out.

He wondered if he should go to the hospital to just get checked out, but quickly shot down this idea. The doctors would wonder what had happened, then have to call the legal guardian, and Drake wasn't really in the mood to go through another beating.

Grabbing a towel out of the closet, he began taking off his clothes, and then stepped into the shower. The water was relaxing, almost to the point that the pain was gone…but then the water became too hot and the open cuts on his back were searing once again.

An hour or so later, Drake finally had rinsed off as much blood from his back as possible and grabbed the towel. Wrapping it around his waist, he got out of the shower and began dressing again.

Biting his lip as hard as he could, he managed to get back to his room without too much trouble. Exhausted and wanting all the pain to go away, Drake collapsed once again on the bedroom couch and let himself drift to sleep.

Except this time he wasn't plagued with nightmares, but dreams of life as a rock star.

A/N: So how was it? I've decided to have a/n and everything else at the end of each chapter instead! I'm sorry I didn't post in over a week! I seriously thought I had just posted not long ago! Anyway, hope this chapter was good!

Thank You to all my reviewers! I don't have time to respond at the moment, but I want you all to know that each review is so awesome! Love you guys; ya'll make my days so much better!