Chapter Five- New Year's Eve & Allan's 18th

The gang were worried, they hadn't seen Will since he stormed out of the Winter Ball. School had finished for the Christmas break the following day and Will had turned up, so they doubted they would see him until after the holidays.

Allan sat at his computer on Boxing Day, hastily typing out an e-mail. He knew he had left it late but it was his birthday in less than a week and he had forgotten to invite everyone round for his party.

"Shit. Shit, shit, fuck." Allan pushed the delete key, and smashed his head on the keyboard. He sat back and began to re-type the message. It took him nearly an hour to write the message, before he was finally happy with it. He re- read it, smiled and pressed send.

Yo 'sup dudes.

It's my bday on NYE so head round to mine for bout half 7ish.

BYOB

Allan.

XxXxX

Robin's laptop pinged and he licked on the e-mail pop- up. Reading the message, he laughed and wrote a quick, yes, in response. How like Allan to leave everything to the last minute.

XxXxX

Across town Will opened up his e-mail account and read the note from his best mate. He reached over and picked up his mobile, which was ringing loudly. He looked at the caller display and rejected the call. He wasn't in the mood to talk to Marian right now. He just wanted to be alone.

"Will. Door for you." his dad hollered up the stairs. "It's Eve and Djaq."

"Tell them I'm out." he yelled back.

"Too late. Your dad sent us up." Djaq sat down on the bed. "How've you been?"

"You know." Will shrugged. "Dealing with it."

"Oh, Allan's invite. How typical of him to do it like a week before the actual day." Eve giggled. "So you're going."

"Probably not. Dad wants us to spend the night together, since last year wasn't exactly a happy one."

"Uh that wasn't a question Will. I just replied to the message. You are going. I'll talk to your dad." Eve left the room.

"Why do you guys always have to interfere? It's nothing to do with my dad I just don't wanna go." Will slumped down in his chair.

"Why not? Is it because of Charm? I don't think she's invited." Djaq put her arm around him.

"She is. So I'm not going."

"Allan's your best friend. You should go. Don't worry about her."

Will stood up and looked out of his window. He looked out across the road and saw a car pull up. He froze, before spinning round, his eyes wide with fear.

"You gotta go." he held the door open, and saw Eve standing in the hall. "Both of you. Go, please."

They looked at each other, confused. Why was Will so scared? He was never scared. As he hustled them down the stairs the front door creaked open and a man slipped inside. The girls felt Will freeze behind them.

"Bye Will. See you at Allan's party next week, yeah?" Eve called as she rushed out the door.

"Bye Will. Bye Mr Scarlet." Djaq called, following her friend.

"Bye guys." Will's words echoed round the hall, prompted by the front door slamming shut.

"So Will. A party next week. I don't think I can allow that. Not when I come in to find you've had girls in your room."

"I didn't invite them. They just showed up, honest." Will sat on the top step, desperate to distance himself from his uncle.

"Now, now, William, you honestly don't think I'm going to believe that do you?" Brett laughed. "Upstairs, NOW!" Will hesitated. "GO NOW! And I might consider letting you go to that party." his uncle sneered, curling his lip slightly.

Will leapt to his feet and scampered upstairs as fast as he could. He shut his bedroom door as quietly as possible, listening to his uncle's footsteps on the stairs. As the footsteps drew closer to his room, Will held his breath. The door flew open and Will sprung backwards, landing on the floor next to his bed.

Will screwed his eyes tight shut and waited for the familiar sensation of fists being pummelled into his already sore stomach. Sure enough, his uncle began pounding his clenched fists into Will's chest and stomach, laughing as his nephew squirmed and cried in pain.

Downstairs, Dan Scarlet turned up the sound on the Tv set to drown out his sons screaming and cries for help. He knew it was a bad idea when he invited his brother- in- law to stay for Christmas, but having him here helped Dan remember the happier times, when his wife, Jane, was still alive.

Will, screamed at the top of his lungs, begging his dad for help. He heard the volume of the Tv rise and then the sound of his uncle's sadistic laugh.

XxXxX

The morning of Allan's party arrived and Will had spent the last week locked in his room. His uncle had now permanently moved in, and Dan had been too preoccupied with work to worry about Will.

Will on the other hand had been to sore and in too much pain to even think about leaving his room. His uncle has inflicted some serious damage, and had left Will severely bruised, and with several cracked ribs.

He was woken by a noise from his laptop and rolled over to read his e-mail. It was from Allan.

Hey Will, just checkin ur still good 4 2nite? Can u come round early? Bout 7ish if thats ok?

C u then.

Al.

Will hastily typed out a reply.

Hey Al, dunno if I can make it.

Sorry. Have fun tho.

Will

He sat up, and winced in pain. Fuck, Brett had really hurt him this time. Will lifted his shirt to examine his stomach. It was littered with red marks and dark purple bruises. He didn't even notice the ring of small, purple bruises around his neck, where Brett had held him down by his throat. Will hadn't gotten up the nerve to look in the mirror. His laptop pinged again. Allan was IMing him.

SuperStud:- hey Will. Why u not coming 2nite?

HeartbrokenHero:- not in the mood Al. Leave me alone.

SupertStud:- Djaq told me it's cos of Charm.

HeartbrokenHero:- nothing 2 do with that. Djaq was guessin.

SuperStud:- Charm's not comin u know. I uninvited her. I'd rather have my best m8 there than her.

HeartbrokenHero:- it's nothing 2 do with her. Honest.

SuperStud:- then what's with the screen name? HeartbrokenHero?

HeartbrokenHero:- xxx

SuperStud:- if ur not comin 2 mine I'm comin 2 urs. B there in a bit.

HeartbrokenHeron:- Al no... don't... w8

SuperStud has signed out.

"Shit. Why does he want to talk to me so bad?" Will put the laptop back on the desk and threw himself back onto his bed.

XxXxX

Will heaved himself off the bed and slowly made his way downstairs to answer the door. Allan beamed at him as he opened it and pushed his way in.

"Hey, how are you?" Allan sat down on the couch.

"Yeah, good, happy birthday by the way mate." Will sat next to him.

"Thanks. Are you sure you're..." Allan paused, catching sight of the bruises on Will's neck. "What's that? On your neck?"

"What's what?" Will moved his hand gently across his neck, wincing as he ran his fingers over the bruises. "Shit. He got me real bad."

"Who got you?" Allan was concerned.

"No one. Doesn't matter. You should go, don't you have a party to get ready for?" Will tried to hurry Allan out, but Allan was in no hurry to leave.

"That's why I'm here. If you're not going to my party, then neither am I."

"Al, that's blackmail. You can't leave your guests." Will looked down at Allan. "Go. Please."

"Only if you come with me." Allan pouted. Will laughed and Allan grinned. "You laughed, that means I win. Come on mate."

XxXxX

"Something is defiantly wrong with him. He was a mess. Looked like he hasn't slept in days and he has bruises around his throat. Like someone has tried to choke him." Allan hung his head. Ths was his party and he was depressed. He should be out having fun, but instead he was sat in his sitting room with his friends, discussing the possibility that his best mate was being beaten by someone.

"Robin, have you still got that e-mail? The one Luke sent Will the other week?" Marian looked at her boyfriend.

Robin nodded, "why?"

"I need Luke's e-mail address. He might know what's going on. And if he doesn't, he might be able to get Will to tell him." everyone nodded in agreement. Allan passed over his laptop.

"Here, message him now."

Marian quickly typed out a brief e- mail to Luke, telling him their suspicions. Djaq snapped on the Tv, midnight was fast approaching and her and Eve wanted to watch Big Ben.

As the clocks chimed midnight, everyone cheered and downed their champagne. Robin smiled at Marian and raised his eyebrows. She grinned at him and took his hand. Robin grinned at his friends and lead her upstairs to Allan's room.

A couple of seconds later Allan clicked and ran to the bottom of the stairs. "Oi, not in my room. I gotta sleep in there later. Guys." Everyone laughed as they heard him run up the stairs.

XxXxX

Will saw in midnight locked in his room, nursing broken ribs and a swollen cheekbone. Brett had been drinking and, he wasn't very nice when he had been drinking. His computer pinged and Will glanced around nervously. He opened the e-mail and read.

Will, what's going on? I just got an e- mail from Marian! She said Allan saw bruises round your throat. What's going on? Talk to me. Please!

Luke.

Will sniffed. He typed out his response and pressed send. He eased himself onto his bed and drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep, waking every couple of hours, as his laptop pinged, signalling another new e- mail. He just ignored it. He couldn't face reading whatever Luke had to say tonight.

There we go. More angst for Will. R&R please.

Much Love

SxBx