Rolling over on the wet ground, he spit coppery blood from his mouth. Before he knew what was happening, the kicks came. First to his side, as he was forced to roll over, then to his gut, and then they traveled to his already sore back.
Tears streamed down his face, though you couldn't tell in the rain, as his father grabbed his collar and screamed.
"I thought I told you before! Guess it wasn't clear enough for you and you just couldn't help yourself!" He slammed Reid's head into the hard dirt and the teen screamed for him to stop. "Maybe this time you'll learn your lesson!"
Reid felt the darkness coming, but as nice as it was, he couldn't let it. He had to save himself; blacking out here would be another mistake and he knew he shouldn't do it. Not outside.
He felt the Power rise up inside him, but it was immediately shut down. Why couldn't he Use?
"Ah-ah-ah. What did we just get done discussing? You're not Using on me or anything else!" His father was blocking his Power. This realization was the last thing he remembered when a final kick to his head shut him down completely.
By the time Reid woke up, it was already 11 pm. He sighed. 5 hours of pure darkness. He was thankful for it, but now the real pain started to kick in. Every time he took a breath, it felt like a thousand knives had become his ribs. Something had been broken. It stung as rain seeped into the open wound on his head. Once again, everything hurt, but he didn't know if he could move.
He didn't know if he should move. Now he was truly scared. What if his father came back to get him? What if his father was right there next to him in the dark, watching his pathetic son bleed on the ground?
The worst feeling of all was the cold. It went through everypart of his body, numbing eveything but the pain. His body started to shake out of fear and frigidness. Rolling over to his hands and knees, he tried not to scream when everything in his chest shifted inside.
He couldn't do it. Even if he got up, his legs wouldn't support him. Part of him didn't want to believe his own father had done this, and the other part knew it was for his own good. His dad was saving him from death, be still felt hatred as he pictured his father mocking him, laughing, as he writhed in pain.
What about the Covenant? His brothers. He had lied to them, betrayed them. They didn't keep secrets from each other, and now he was afraid to even talk to them. Being near them made him want to Use, being at school when Aaron was being an asshole, or Nicky's when he played pool.
What scared Reid most was that his dad had blocked off his own Power. That meant he could have his way with Reid.
His body started convulsing, and more pain came with each powerful shake. He felt his body land back in the mud.
Ignoring his body's screams, he reached for his phone, which somehow wasn't damaged from the rain in his bag. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed help. Flipping the phone open, he called Tyler, the only one he could trust if he found out. He heard it ring and then, click.
"Hey man, where the hell are you?" Tyler's voice rang through his ears. He sounded tired. Reid smirked: Baby boy would be in bed by now.
"At home. Tyler-"
"Yeah, Caleb said you were going home for awhile. When you didn't come back, we thought you just crashed there." He wasn't going to make it easy was he. Reid needed to get it over with. "Tyler, listen, I need you- I need you to come pick me up." The request flew out of his mouth and he stumbled over his words. Tyler paused: this was new. "...Are you okay? What about your parents?"
"They're asleep and I don't want to bother them. My car totally just died on me. I just need you to come get me." Reid was tired. He was truly exhausted, but he was also tired of lying- especially to Tyler.
"Yeah... I'll be there as soon as I can." Click. Reid dropped the phone on the ground next to him.
Tyler knew Reid was worse off than he said, but he wasn't going to hold it against him. He figured he would tell him anything when he was ready. Right now, Reid just needed him.