A/N: This chapter will contain scenes referencing child abuse including references to attempted sexual abuse. If that bothers you please do not read further.
Chapter Twelve: Old Secrets
July 13th, 1999
It was summer again, the best three months of most teenagers' lives, and the worst three for Michael and his sister. Something had happened yesterday when he was out with Max. When he'd come home, Hank was gone and Lyn had locked herself in their room and was dead white and shaking, curled up in the corner of her bed as she stared at the door with haunted, unseeing eyes.
He had begged her out loud and mentally to tell him what was wrong, but she wouldn't speak, just stared at the door and trembled, ignoring everything he did and said to try and get her to snap out of it.
The only time she reacted at all was when he said he was going to ask Isabel over, and then she shook her head violently and glared at him with tears in her eyes.
So instead he just sat next to her, arm around her shoulders, worrying. He ended up sleeping like that, nodding off after it got dark and waking once at three in the morning to see that she had fallen asleep too, although even in sleep she was tense, arms still locked around her knees.
Hank still wasn't home. If he had been, the TV would have been blaring and he had a feeling that Lyn would have been wide awake and staring at the door again.
When he did get home, Michael was going to throw away years of caution and slam the potbellied man against a wall until he told him what he did or said to turn his sister catatonic.
Depending on the answer, he might do a lot worse to the man who no longer seemed as tall and menacing as he had when they were six.
He tucked a pillow between Lyn's head and the wall and leaned back, trying to will himself back asleep. If only he had mastered dreamwalking, was his last thought before he drifted off again.
July 14th, 1999
Alex raised his hand to knock on the metal door of the trailer when he heard a thud and a soft feminine cry of distress followed by angry male voices. He lowered his hand and, after debating with himself for a moment, darted around to the back of the trailer, halting suddenly as he saw Michael kneeling down beside Rae on the tattered grass just past the back step, his hand glowing as it touched the finger shaped bruises on her arm.
Rae raised her face to meet his, knowing he was there just as she always did, and for the first time he saw terror in the crystalline depths of her eyes. Michael spun as Alex involuntarily gasped, the other boy's hand raised defensively towards him. "Michael, no!" she cried, grabbing his arm as she too rose to her feet.
Tension charged the air until finally Michael let out a breath and lowered his hand, although his eyes still bored into the other boy's face. "Are you going to tell?"
Alex stared back, not willing to back down until he knew who exactly had placed those bruises on Rae's arm. "Tell what? That apparently you can make your hand glow?"
Rae tightened her grip on her brother's arm as his face darkened and then placed herself between the two young men. "Think about where we live, Alex." A brief and sad smile crossed her lips. "What else could there possibly be to tell?"
He remained silent for a moment, knowing exactly what she meant, but unable to repress the logical side of his mind that said it was an impossibility despite the many tiny clues he was just then piecing together. "You're an alien," he finally stated, looking at Michael over Rae's head, only faintly surprised by the small nod.
"And you?" he asked, looking back down at the girl he considered to be one of his best friends, a girl he would like to be more.
"I'm human, or at least I used to be."
He raised an eyebrow at that, but his priorities at that particular moment did not include finding out every detail of their apparent alien status. He reached out and lightly touched the bruise beginning to darken her cheekbone.
"Who hit you?" She bit her lip and glanced at the trailer before looking back at him, the vulnerability in her eyes tearing at his heart. He glared at the brooding young man behind her, "And you let him?"
Rae gasped and opened her mouth to protest, but Michael's guilt stricken voice prevented her, "Yes, I didn't think he would hit her." The emphasis on the last word wasn't lost on Alex.
He glanced down as Michael spoke and saw Rae's own guilt shining from her eyes.
"It's not the first time is it?" he asked softly, holding her chin so she could not look away. She hesitated, clearly afraid.
"No."
He heard Michael begin swearing, but didn't look back at him yet, "Has he touched you?" A sudden shocked silence fell and he realized that Michael had never even considered the possibility.
She tried to dodge his gaze before closing her eyes briefly when he tightened his hold. When she opened them again, he could see tears glittering like blue diamonds, "He's tried, but I, I always stopped him. Made him..." she trailed off and half turned towards her brother. "When he touched me I read him. I could seeā¦see what he wanted." She paused and he could feel her trembling beneath his hand.
"I wanted it to stop. I wanted him to go away and he did. It was like I made him want something else, made him forget what he was doing." She turned back towards Alex, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't like it. I felt dirty, like I was using him like...like he wanted to use me." She raised her eyes to meet his, "I'm not a bad person. I'm not." Her voice caught as she choked back a sob.
Alex pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, holding her as tightly as he could while she cried into his chest. He looked at Michael, seeing the clenched fists and the suspicious glitter in his eyes. "You both need to leave, permanently."
Michael nodded slowly. "Now, we'll take her to the Evans."
Alex nodded back in silent agreement, Rae had told him of Mr. Evans' offer of help, and he knew they both stayed there frequently. A thought struck him. "Are they like you?"
Michael stared at him warily for a moment before answering with a short. "Yes."
He filed it away for later thought and began to guide Rae towards his car, opening the door and settling her into the front passenger seat before hopping into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition, not bothering to ask if there were any belongings they needed to grab.
The ride was spent in silence once Rae's sobs quieted, each of them brooding on past mistakes, what ifs, and what was going to happen to them in the future. Alex pulled up against the curb once they reached the house, and was about to open the door when Michael stopped him, turning to his sister.
"You should let me heal the rest of them, before anyone sees." Alex frowned a moment in puzzlement until he realized that the bruises on her arm were gone, that was the purpose of the glowing he had seen.
Rae reached up to touch her face, wincing slightly, and then shook her head. "No, we might need evidence, proof." He saw the disagreement written on her brother's abnormally expressive face and privately felt the same, not wanting her to be in pain any longer than necessary. But she was right, and he could tell by the stubborn set of her chin that she wasn't going to be persuaded to change her mind.
"Fine," Michael growled out before shoving his way out of the car and forcefully shutting the door. Alex bit back a reprimand and tucked the keys in his pocket before he too exited the vehicle, Rae joining them on the sidewalk as they walked towards the house.
Isabel met them at the door, opening it before they even reached the steps, her eyes going directly towards Rae's bruised face before angrily raising to meet Michael's. "Are you here to talk to my dad, or Max?"
Alex didn't quite understand the question but he saw the anger building in Michael's already tense frame and answered for him, "Your dad. They're getting out of that house."
Isabel looked at him in surprise, not expecting the sudden ally. Her beautiful brown eyes widened further in shock and fear when Rae blurted out, "He knows; everything..." but she shook it off and pulled them into the house, arm going around Rae as she silently led them towards her father's office, eyes darting toward him every now and then, the caution in her eyes finally understood. The reason behind the ice made clear.
