Hey...I decided to update although I haven't got my 18 reviews. - Seems like I'll never reach that number. So I'll stay with 15 reviews to the next one until the final end of the story. Don't worry I have enough chapters planned i guess.
Special thanks to JimPamJAM for beta-reading!
Mitchi

I looked at my son. He wouldn't be happy about this, but he needed to be. I nodded and heard the door close again. I brushed his hair back as his coughing died down.

Troy

The Next Day

I slowly opened my eyes as the sunshine blinded me through my closed eyelids. I didn't want to wake up and groaned, as I had no other choice but to open them. I wanted to raise my arm and rub the sleep out of my eyes, but then realized that it hurt like hell to do so. I gave up and focused on the room – the hospital room… still.

I turned my head slightly and saw my mom standing to the left, her back turned to me as she looked out the window. I wanted to open my mouth, but I couldn't speak, and instead a coughing fit raged through my body – again. My mom turned around, worried, and sat down again. "Good morning," she whispered when I finally stopped coughing. I rested my head against the pillow and closed my eyes for the spilt of a second.

It was all right; no one was with me except my mom. She took my hand and made me looked at her.

"What do you want?" I said.

"I just wanted to tell you that my boss agreed to let me take time off for the amount of time you need to recover, and that it's a paid leave."

I nodded. "Why?"

She looked in my eyes as I stared back. "I don't want to leave you alone." She narrowed her eyes and brushed some of my hair back.

"Why do you care?" I said as I turned away from her, closing my eyes.

"What's up? You seem bothered by something, and I care because I love you Troy. You know that," she said and brought her hand under my chin, making me look at her again. She looked back at me seriously. "Tell me what's bothering you…please."

I sighed. "It's no -."

"Troy."

I pulled my head out of her hand and closed my eyes, leaning back again. "What did the doctors do yesterday after I fell asleep?" My eyes remained closed.

I felt her stiffen, because her hand in mine did as well. "They just looked at your back, to see if your ribcage is the cause of your coughing."

I opened my eyes and looked at her intently. "They gave me something right?"

Her eyes narrowed again. "How do you know?"

I swallowed. I thought about the nightmare I had the previous night. I closed my eyes and the people I cared about faded away after I'd the razor out, my stepmom and dad began beating me. I wanted to wake up, but I knew why I couldn't. I'd been beaten all night in my dream, crying for help but no sound escaping my throat. Gabby, my mom and everyone else stood there and watched what was happening, not doing anything.

"Troy?" My mom asked softly after I had winced. "Tell me…please." Her eyes were searching mine for any information she could get.

I sighed again. "It's, I… I had a nightmare," I whispered as she held my chin up, making me look in her eyes. "And you all left me…and just s-stood there while they were with me." I felt the tears well up in my eyes. "And t-they ju-just continued to laugh at me an-and hit m-me." I felt my lower lip beginning to tremble as I struggled not to cry. "I-I don't w-want to-o lo-o-se you-u a-all." I grew quieter with every word and slowly tore my gaze off my mom's eyes.

She raised her hand and began brushing my hair back as I tried to sniff back my tears. "Hunny, you know we won't leave you, they can't do anything to you." I began shaking as I felt the tears tumble down my cheeks.

"Shh, it's okay." She pulled me close.

"Pro-o-mi-s-e m-me, y-you wo-won't leave-ve m-me." I couldn't help but let the tears fall down. After some time I pulled back and lay back down, closing my eyes.

"Well, that explains why you always shook while you were sleeping last night." My eyes flustered open and I just looked at her. "You had one as well the day you went back, right? When I couldn't wake you up?" She seemed worried.

"I think he's coming back," I whispered, while some tears still slid down my cheeks.

"No, I won't let that happen and I know Gabriella and Chad won't as either." I nodded, but still had the odd feeling something would happen.

"When are they coming?" I asked. I knew they had school, but I needed to see them and make sure they won't leave me for real.

"They'll come, but before they come, I wanted to tell you something…"

I looked at her as she didn't look at me. "Mom?" I narrowed my eyes as she shook her head slowly.

"You have to talk to someone again, so we make sure they can't come near you for the rest of your life," she whispered.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to talk to the police. "Mom, please."

She shook her head. "You are going to talk to him."

"Who?"

"The police will send a special employer who's going to ask you. He's specialized on working with kids and teens like you." I lifted my head off the pillow again and used my hands to support myself while sitting up and ignoring the pain in my chest. My mom immediately pressed the button that made one side of the bed move up a bit, so I could lean back a bit after the pain finally stopped again.

"Thank you," I mumbled as I leaned back a bit, closing my eyes.

"He'll be here this afternoon."

My eyes remained closed. "But you don't need to know what happened." I whispered. She started to brush my hair back, but I didn't open my eyes.

"Everything will stay between you and him, you'll be alone and no one needs to know if you don't want them to."

"And what about Gabby and Chad?" I asked, finally opening my eyes again. "They'll be here after you've talked with the specialist."

I sighed. "What's his name…?"

"I think it was Mr. Doer." I nodded; I wouldn't use the name though. I would only answer in short sentences. No one needed to know everything.

Later

After talking to my mom, I heard the door open and tried not to tense too much. The past had brought that nasty habit with it; opening doors meant danger. I looked at it and saw the doctor enter with a nurse following him. I narrowed my eyes.

"Hello Troy. You knew this moment had to come." I didn't understand what the nurse was talking about.

The doctor left without a word, leaving me confused. "Well, you knew you couldn't stay here without eating anything. Since you're getting better every day, you should try and eat again," The nurse explained to me as she placed a bowl of clear soup in front of me on the small table fixed to the side of the bed.

I swallowed. It was only a small bowl of soup, but still I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat any – I wasn't used to eating. She smiled a bit and left again. I leaned forward to reach for the spoon, with every moment hurting my left mom watched me intently as I began ate slowly, trying to remember the taste again – I hadn't had soup in two years.

I finished my "meal", and leaned back again. I couldn't describe how I felt, not really empty as before but different. My mom stood up and brought the bowl out of the room. In the meantime I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, but soon started coughing again.

Lucille

As I was about to re-enter Troy's room, someone called my name.

"Ms. Bolton!" I turned around and saw a man, middle aged and tall walking towards me. He shook my hand firmly and said, "I'm Mr. Doer. I'm here to talk to your son." He turned serious and looked at me. He seemed sensible and hard at the same time, maybe a good mixture to get Troy to talk.

"Yes, he's right in there. I told him you'd come during the afternoon." He nodded. "Just stay near the room, I'll get you after I'm done." I nodded and was about to let him in. "He's kind of blocking everyone who wants to know what's happened in the past two years, so don't worry if he snaps, he – "

He raised his hand. "It's kind of normal to act like that. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." I nodded as he walked in the room, closing the door behind him. The only thing I heard was, "Hello Troy, I'm Mr. Doer."

A few minutes later, I saw Chad and Gabriella walking towards me. "Hey Ms. Bolton!" they greeted me, smiling.

"You can't go in right now, Mr. Doer is in there with him… trying to know…erm…certain things." By the look on their faces I knew they understood. They sat down next to me, waiting for the door to open and let us in.

So, like I said 15 reveiws to the next one!
And this time please review!
Mitchi