Author's Note: Thanks a ton for the great reviews! They were extremely helpful! Go on and read, please! There's going to be a little boy in this chapter named, Denny Ducay. (His name inspired by a character in a TV show, if the name sounds familiar. Cookies to whoever can guess who it is!)

Chapter Twelve: Too Long

I have- I have you

Breathing down my neck- breathing down my neck

I don't- don't know what you could possibly expect

Under this condition so

I'll wait- I'll wait for the ambulance to come- ambulance to come

Pick us up off the floor

What did you possibly expect under this condition, so?

Slow down

This makes the perfect shade of-

Dark blue

Dark blue

Have you ever been alone in a crowded room?

While I'm- here with you

I said the world could be burning in- burning down

Dark Blue—Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin

Troy groaned and rolled over in his bed, smashing the Snooze button with his fist. This was the first time he had slept in his bed for almost an entire week. He pulled himself out of bed and found a somewhat clean pair of clothes. Slowly, he pulled on his outfit and headed for the kitchen.

Troy turned into the kitchen and groaned loudly. Cassidy sat at the kitchen table, a coffee mug grasped in her tiny hands. Troy shot her an angry look and turned to the cabinets, refusing to face her again.

It wasn't enough to say that he disliked Cassidy; he hated her. He hated her with all of his might. She came into his life taking his bedroom, giving him a new brother, and trying to replace his mom. He was fine with his old life, with his old bedroom, and his old mom, although she did leave him with his dad. He hated his dad too, but- hey, that was old news.

Troy waited impatiently for his toast to pop out of the toaster. He couldn't bear to be in the same room with Cassidy anymore. It came out later than he wished because Cassidy was trying to engage in a conversation.

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" She asked Troy curiously.

"It's complicated," Troy said, as he turned to leave the house.

"Well, come on!" Cassidy said. "Explain!"

"I have to go to school," Troy said dully.

"Does your girlfriend go to school with you?" Cassidy asked. Before Troy could answer she asked, "What's she like?"

"She's pretty and smart and she cares about me…"

"Borr-ing!" Cassidy "yawned". She looked extremely upset. "I'm never going have a boyfriend again."

"Probably should've about that before you went and married my dad," Troy spat.

"Well, I could have another boyfriend, I suppose," Cassidy explained in a bored voice.

"But you would be cheating on my dad," Troy said hotly. Although he hated Cassidy, he knew Jack would be very agitated if he found out that Cassidy had cheated on him in anyway… and that would only mean that Cassidy and Troy's new brother would be hurt somehow. "Cassidy, you seem like a smart girl," Troy paused. "No. Never mind. No, you don't." Cassidy looked nonchalant as she batted her eyelashes at Troy.

"Who needs brains when you've got looks?" She asked snottily.

Troy stared at her and continued, "If I were you, I wouldn't mess with my dad. You could get hurt."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Okay, see you after school or something, Cassidy," Troy said.

"Mom."

"Huh?"

"Call me Mom."

"Rainbow Sunshine can call you Mom. I'm going to call you Cassidy."

"You like the name Rainbow Sunshine, too?" Cassidy asked excitedly, clapping her hands in happiness.

"No," Troy said. "I think you should do something more practical… like…" He sat silently for a second. "Logan Christopher or something."

"But that's not unique!" Cassidy exclaimed.

"Yeah, but that name won't get him beat up on the playground after school," Troy said before walking out the door.

---

Troy sat huffily in the front seat, staring out the window at the passing landscape. He sighed, not wanting to be there, next to his dad. Jack looked at Troy and said, "You tell anyone about last night, you're in for a lot worse tonight, understand? I want everything to seem fine now that Cassidy's here."

Troy sighed, "Yeah, sure." Although he knew that he was in for a perfectly bad night anyway. He looked at his face in the rearview mirror and shuddered slightly. He turned to his dad. "What do I do about my face? What do I say?"

"Just… you were on a run and you tripped," Jack said.

"Yeah, because glass is lying all over the sidewalk," Troy muttered under his breath. They pulled into the parking lot and Troy jumped out of the car. Before he shut it, Jack spoke.

"Remember- basketball practice after school," Jack said with a smile. "Seventy suicides."

Troy sighed. "Right."

He slammed the car door and turned towards the school. He saw Chad sitting on the fountain, Zeke pacing beside him, Ryan looking worriedly around, and Jason, who was looking all but willing to be there.

This was going to be interesting.

"So, what are we doing here again?" Jason asked for the umpteenth time.

"We're waiting for Troy," Chad said. "He said he'd meet us here."

"So, why are we waiting for Troy?" Jason asked.

"Because we're worried about him," Ryan said. He turned to Jason. "Where have you been the last two weeks?"

"He's been here physically," Zeke joked. "No one ever said anything about mentally."

"I don't even get why we're so worried about him," Jason said annoyed. "Obviously he doesn't need any help if he's been fine all this time!"

"You think he was telling the truth?" Ryan asked angrily. "You mean to tell me that you honestly don't see how bad it's gotten?"

"I just don't get why we need to jump to Troy's rescue!" Jason said madly. "Why are we doing this?"

"We need to help him!" Chad shouted angrily.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Jason asked, now standing to meet Chad's eye level. Their faces stood inches apart, Chad now felt anger boil in his chest and travel through his veins like some sick kind of poison.

"Try."

"There's Troy!" Zeke shouted, pointing straight ahead as Troy made his way towards the fountain.

"I knew he lied!" Ryan said loudly. "Look at his face!"

"Thank you," Troy said, obviously hearing what Ryan said. He mimed a hurt expression. "I thought this shade of Chapstick brought out the color in my eyes."

"What happened?" Zeke asked quickly.

"Same old, same old," Troy said. "I was on a run and I fell on the sidewalk."

"What? Was there glass on the sidewalk?" Chad asked, disbelieving. There was no way that concrete made those cuts.

"As a matter of fact there was!" Troy said indignantly. "It was a Bud Light bottle!"

"Troy, you know we don't believe you," Chad said.

"I know," Troy said sadly. "It was worth a try."

They all stared at Troy but it was Zeke who noticed something different. There was an absence, for Jason had disappeared mysteriously.

"I swear," Zeke said, picking up Jason's coat that he had left by the fountain. "I'm going to beat that kid's head in."

Troy looked down at his shoes and kept walking, and although it was unreasonable, he had terror filling his bright blue eyes. Chad elbowed Zeke in the chest and muttered, "You idiot!"

---

Basketballs resounded throughout the gym as the team began warm ups. Troy stood uncomfortably in front of the team feeling like an idiot in his blue shirt. He glanced at the clock and sighed. Chad and Zeke were late.

The doors swung open and hit the wall with a bang. Zeke and Chad entered, running crazily around the gym in matching pink and purple shirts that they had obviously tie-dyed themselves. The team chuckled as the two approached, laughing at themselves madly.

"Okay, we're here!" Chad said, throwing his hands above his head like a Vegas showgirl. Zeke smiled and placed one hand on his hip and stared at his nails on the other hand. "Like our shirts?" He asked.

Everyone laughed, including Troy but Troy sobered up at the thought of his father. "What are you guys doing? I saw you put your jerseys in your lockers today."

"Umm… The aliens stole them," Chad said.

"They left these in their place," Zeke said. He looked down at his shirt. "I think they're prettier. What about you?"

"Guys, come on," Troy said. "Just go change."

"I'm telling you! The aliens stole them!" Chad exclaimed. He sighed too exasperatedly. "I guess we'll have to run suicides today."

"Darn!" Zeke replied with fake anger.

"Oh, very cute," Jack said, walking into the gym. "Since you're so excited, why don't you stay longer than planned to show them off. You can run thirty more suicides than planned."

"We have to run one hundred suicides?" Zeke asked, open mouthed.

"No," Jack said. "You two have to run seventy. Troy has to run the one hundred." He turned to Troy. "I know you think it's clever asking your friends to do that, but it's not."

"He didn't ask us, Coach," Chad said. "It was an accident! Zeke's little sister made these shirts and replaced them with our jerseys!"

"What happened to the aliens?" Jason asked snottily.

"Rory is close enough to an alien," Zeke shrugged. But that didn't satisfy Jason. "Coach, with all due respect, I think they all should run one hundred suicides. Troy may have put them up to it, but they were the ones dumb enough to lie."

"Jason, shut the hell up!" Troy shouted. The team "ohhh"ed in appreciation of Troy's outburst as Troy walked over to Jason. He growled so that only Jason could hear, "Back off!"

"Cussing in practice?" Jack cooed. He shook his head. "Twenty more suicides, Troy."

"Fine!" Troy said. "Make it fifty! I don't care!"

"Have it your way," Jack shrugged. "One hundred-seventy suicides by the end of practice. You sure you can handle it?"

Troy shot his dad a look that plainly said, "Go die". He then turned around to Jason, his entire body shaking in anger. "I don't know what you want, but you better back off my friends, got it?"

Jason's face contorted into a rage and he swung out, punching Troy square in the jaw. Troy fell backwards; Chad caught him before he hit the ground. Troy clutched at his jaw and asked, "Why the hell does everyone keep hitting me?"

"Yo, Coach!" Jason said, a smirk playing on his face. "I think I heard him cussing again!"

"Yo, Coach!" Zeke mimicked. "I think I saw Jason punch Troy!"

"You know, I did, too," Jack said, smiling. "Twenty more suicides, Troy."

"One hundred and ninety suicides?" Troy asked loudly. "How do I manage that?"

"You should've thought about that before you started misbehaving," Jack smirked.

Troy then stormed out of practice before it had even started; Chad and Zeke were on his tail. They left the whole team behind, everyone angry with Jason except for Mr. Bolton.

---

Ding dong!

Troy opened the front door wide, trying to keep an ice pack on his forehead. A woman stood at the door, one that was familiar but Troy just couldn't put a name to. She had long red hair and sparkling brown eyes that made Troy scared to look into. They looked so cold, as if they had seen so much.

"Hey, Troy, is it?" The woman said. "I'm Lisa Ducay. I live next door. Listen, my husband and I are going out tonight and we are desperate for a babysitter. Do you think you could do it?"

Troy hesitated, wondering what his dad would think. Lisa urged on. "I'm sorry it's so short notice but we really do need to go to this dinner; it's for Eric's company!"

Troy nodded and tossed the ice pack onto the couch. He screamed to his dad who was currently residing in his bedroom. "Dad, I'm going to go baby-sit next door. Is that all right?"

Troy walked out the door before his father answered and shut it behind him. He and Lisa silently made their way next door, their breath fogging the cold air in front of them. Lisa opened her front door and they stepped into the foyer. "Denny!" She called. "Denny, come in here, please!"

Troy heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet across the floor. A little boy, no older than four years of age, leaped into the foyer to greet his mother. He had yellow and red paint splattered in his chocolate brown hair. His hazel eyes sparkled happily as he pulled his mother into a hug.

"Guess what, Mommy!" Denny said as he hugged her legs tightly. She patted his head lightly. Troy took notice to how both of them were flinching at the lightest touch.

"What, sweetie?"

"Yesterday- yesterday, I saw a dog!" He exclaimed proudly, staring innocently into her eyes. Lisa picked Denny up so that he rested on her hip. "His name was Buster! And he had spots! Big black ones! He was like- he was like um… a dal… a dal… he was dalnation!"

"A Dalmatian?" Lisa asked calmly, stroking Denny's hair.

"Yeah!" Denny said proudly. "Yeah, that's it!"

"That's great!" Lisa said proudly. "Denny, this is Troy; he's going to stay here with you tonight!"

"Oh," Denny turned to Troy. "Hi. Do you like dalnations? I do. Hey! Have you ever had a goldfish? I haven't. Do you like the color green? It's my favorite but purple is yucky. Hey! Do you think that we could color tonight? Coloring is my favorite!"

"One question at a time, Denny," Lisa said softly. She looked at Troy tiredly. "He doesn't have an off button. I checked."

"Lisa! Come on! We're going to be late!" A man, obviously Eric, called from the kitchen. "Hurry up!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" Lisa said. "Denny's bed time is at eight o' clock; he has to have a nightlight on or he'll get scared. He's really dirty; could you give him a bath? Actually, no. I'll do it when I get home. He has his dinner on the table- make sure he eats his carrots. He tends to just throw them around the room and…"

"Mrs. Ducay," Troy interrupted. "We'll be fine. Go. Have a good time."

She gave a faint smile and said, "Thank you so much, Troy. We really owe you." Lisa passed Denny over to Troy who took him gratefully and set him on his own hip. But now it was Lisa's turn to notice that Troy was flinching just as badly as Denny was.

Lisa gave another tired smile, kissed Denny on the cheek, and said, "We'll be home later tonight. The emergency numbers are on the fridge."

Troy ushered her outside and she and Eric made their way to the dinner. The minute he closed the door, a buzz seemed to flow through the pair of kids and Denny went crazy. He wiggled out of Troy's grasp and ran into the living room.

"I have colors! Do you like to color?" Denny asked. Troy was about to answer but Denny kept talking. "I drew a picture; you wanna see it? I hope so! I'll get it!"

He galloped up the stairs and Troy followed him, laughing at Denny's gaiety. Only two minutes into the job and he had already begun to like this kid. Denny turned the corner recklessly and opened up a door into what was obviously his bedroom. Troy took notice that the lock was outside of the door instead of inside- he found it very peculiar.

Denny bent down onto all fours and searched under his bed. He grabbed out a shoebox that looked as if a sticker monster had thrown up on it. He ripped off the top and tossed it to the side, grabbing out a picture in his hand.

"I found it!" He declared happily. He offered it up to Troy who took it with a smile; his smile quickly faded. There was a stick figure lying on the grass and another stick figure standing over it with what looked to be a cup in his hand. He also took notice how there was red spots all over the lying stick figure's face.

"Denny, what's this supposed to be?" Troy asked, dreading the answer.

"That's you!" Denny proclaimed, pointing proudly at the figure on the ground. "And that's that other guy with the cup the in his hand! I saw you last night! I waved, but all you did was scream like "AHHHHH!" I thought you were playing a game so I asked my mommy if I could go and play with you and she said that I had to go back to bed 'cause it was past my bedtime. Then, I as-kidentlee woke up Daddy. He got mad at me. So I had to go back to my room. Then I had a dream and there was a sheep in it. Have you ever seen a sheep? I saw one at the Zoo. It was like "baaa! Baaa!" I named it Fluffy."

"Oh," Troy said with a fake smile. "Did you tell Mommy about what you saw?"

"Yeah, but she said it was a bad dream and that I had to go back to bed or Daddy would get mad. I don't like Daddy when he's mad. It hurts."

"It hurts?" Troy asked, not taking any more notice to his own worries. "What happens when Daddy gets mad?"

"I'm- I'm not s'pposed to say!" Denny said, fishing around for another picture. He grabbed another blob of color and shoved it in Troy's face. "Lookie! This one is Mommy and Daddy and me!"

Troy took it gently and stared at it. There were three figures: the biggest was smiling and the two smaller ones were frowning. The medium figure and the small figure had blue blotches all over their stick arms and legs. The small one had big blue blotches covering his stomach.

"Denny, what are the blue spots?" He asked, now genuinely concerned.

"Mommy and I get them sometimes!" Denny said. "They're pretty! But you can't poke it. 'Cause then it hurts."

"Okay…" Troy gave the picture back to Denny who put the picture back in the box and hid it under his bed. Troy saw a pair of tiny pajamas laid out on the bed. He turned to Denny. "You want to take that bath?"

Denny made a face. "No!"

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!" Troy said with a smile.

"Mommy said no!" Denny said, planting his fists on his hips.

Damn. Why did the kid have to hear that?

"It'll make Mommy happy!" Troy exclaimed. Denny shook his head; he wasn't budging. "We can color afterwards."

Denny took off towards the bathroom. He looked truly concerned when Troy didn't take off running after him. Denny ran down the hall to Troy, took his hand, pulled him, saying, "Come on! The bathroom's over here!"

Troy chuckled as he bent over in attempt to get to Denny's height. He stopped and clutched at his side; that really disturbed his rib. Denny looked very scared. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"No!" Troy said quickly, straightening up. "You didn't do anything!"

"I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Denny took off down the hallway and disappeared around the corner. Troy ran after him as quickly as he could saying, "Denny! Denny, please come back here! I'm not going to hurt you!"

He found Denny with his legs pulled up to his chest in the corner of the hallway. When Troy approached, Denny cringed back, and Troy withdrew. "Denny… Denny, it's okay. I swear, I'm not going to hurt you."

Denny shook his head, tears falling down his pink cheeks. "I didn't mean to," He whispered.

"I know, I know," Troy whispered back. He got onto the ground next to Denny who tried to scoot away. "Denny, you're okay. You're fine. I won't hurt you."

Troy sighed. "Denny, can you do me a favor?"

"Y-y-y-yeah," Denny said through his tears.

"Can I have your shirt for a second?" Troy asked.

"I don't think it's going to fit," Denny had stopped crying. Troy nodded. "Can I just see it anyway?"

"O-okay." Denny tried to pull the shirt over his head and Troy finally helped him peel it off slowly. Troy held back a gasp and a fresh wave of tears as he looked at the poor little boy.

Just as he had expected, bruises covered his back in many places. Some were beginning to fade and some were brand new. This was not something that had just begun apparently.

"Denny, what happened?" Troy asked.

Denny shook his head.

"What happened to your back?"

"Nothing."

"Did your daddy do this?" Denny didn't move. "Come on, you can tell me. I'll tell you if my daddy hurt me, if you tell me if your daddy hurt you."

Denny mulled it over for a second. "Okay, you first."

"Okay," Troy let out a sigh. "Yeah. My daddy hurt me. You're turn."

"Me, too!" Denny said. He sounded… excited. "We should have a club!"

"Denny, what about your mommy?" Troy asked, remembering the blue spots in the picture. "Did your daddy hurt your mommy, too?"

"You first, again," Denny said. He was really enjoying this "game".

"Umm…" Troy mulled it over for a second. "I… I don't know. You're turn."

"Yeah. It makes her cry and then I cry. Because when Mommy gets sad, I get sad and I start to cry. But then Daddy gets mad because I'm not supposed to cry."

"I'm not either!" Troy said, doing his best to sound excited. He was trying to make the kid feel better, not to scare him.

"Really?" Denny asked, awestruck.

"Yeah, our daddy's are a lot alike!" Troy exclaimed. Denny nodded. "So, does your daddy lock you in your room?"

"No. He took my door."

"Oh. That's what my daddy does. Does he forget your dinner sometimes?" Denny asked innocently.

"Yeah, kind of. I make my own meals because I'm a big kid," Troy said. "When you're a big kid, you can make your own meal, too."

"Cool!" Denny exclaimed.

"Speaking of meals, Denny," Troy said. "Do you want to eat your dinner now?"

Denny nodded. "Yeah. Do you want some, too? I have extra food!"

He then pulled Troy down the hallway and into the kitchen, babbling the whole time. Troy sat him down at the table and Denny began his tiny meal. "Close your eyes!" Denny demanded. Troy did as he was told and closed his eyes. "Now open your hands." Troy obliged. He felt three cold lumps in his hands.

"Yummy," Troy said when he opened his eyes. "Carrots."

Denny smiled. "Do you like them?"

"Yeah," Troy said. "They're my favorite. Big kids eat carrots all the time." He remembered his instructions to make sure that Denny ate his carrots, and this was not his first time babysitting.

"Really?" Denny asked. Troy smiled and nodded. "Can I have them back?" Troy handed them back. Denny ate them, a smile playing on his lips. "Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Denny, I have another question," Troy said. "When did your daddy start hurting you?"

"Umm… I think it was when he was… burned," Denny said nonchalantly, munching on his carrots.

"Fired?" Troy asked. Denny nodded. "Yeah. He doesn't like his new job. He says his boss is a… a…" He whispered. "The 'a' word."

"Oh," Troy said. Denny continued.

"And guess what! Sometimes, Daddy comes home and his breath is all stinky, and Mommy says that it's… it's… Mommy says it's… beard!"

"Beer?" Troy asked.

"Yeah! That!" Denny said. "Well, he called Mommy a… he called Mommy the 'b' word!"

As Denny finished up his dinner, Troy asked, "You want to go get your PJs on, Denny?"

"Okay!" Denny ran up the stairs, Troy on his heels. Denny changed into his pajamas and held out his shirt from earlier that day. Troy took it.

"What's this for?" He asked.

"You said you wanted it earlier," Denny said, now sounding confused. Troy gave it back. "It's okay. It won't fit me. But thanks anyway."

"Okay," Denny said. There was a silence as Denny crawled into his bed.

"Denny?" Troy asked. "I have one more question. How long has your daddy been hurting you?"

"Since I was three and a half. What about you?" Denny asked.

Troy sighed.

"Too long."

Author's Note: Okay, longest chapter yet. What did you think? I really like Denny. Do you? I think he's nice. Have you ever eaten a pumpkin? (I'm starting to talk like the little guy!) The song in the beginning was Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin. Review!