Chapter four
Puck
Three weeks later...
We are having another duet competition. Mr Schuester is really struggling for new themes each week.
As he rambled on about the importance of team work and being able to work with people even if you don't like them that much, my mind drifted to Kurt.
He's not doing too well. You could tell by the way he walked, head down, shoulders hunched, through the crowded corridors. The way he flinched if you went to touch him, to comfort him.
But he still stayed with that meerkat kid. Even though he seemed terrified the first time he saw him in the choir room.
If you asked him about it, he just replied, "It's my fault. It's my fault." Over and over again, repeating himself like a broken record. Like he was trying to convince himself as well as you.
"Puck you are working with ..." I prayed it would be Kurt "Mercedes."
"Oh heeeeellllllll to the NO! I will not work with mister 'badass' Puckerman."
"Mercedes, sometimes in life you have to work with people you don't want to or don't like. If you want to get into the music business, you need to be fine with that. Anyway, moving on. Brittany you will be working with ... Kurt."
Everybody froze, this was the moment when Santana went 'all Lima heights' on Kurt's ass.
But she just walked over to him. "If you touch her, I swear I. Will. Whip. Your. Ass. To. Shreds."
This would have worried anyone. But Kurt was completely and utterly terrified. His face paled and he started shivering. Muttering to himself, "I didn't do anything wrong Master. Please don't hurt me Bas..." He looked up, even more scared than before. And I remembered that first day I saw him getting out of the meerkat's car and he did that. Stuttering over names and words and running off like he thought he had done something wrong.
He ran out of the room again. I went to follow but before I could do anything, Brittany followed him, Santana shortly after. This was a day I thought I would never see in a million years.
Kurt
I had done it again. Why had I kept letting my tongue slip. Master had warned me about what they would do if they found out about how he taught me lessons. They would split us up, and that couldn't happen. I couldn't lose yet another person I cared about.
-Flashback-
The cold stones stare up emotionlessly at me. Taunting me.
The names etched into the twin headstones are all that's left of them.
I never would have never thought in a million years anyone could do this. But I guess they aren't, weren't, liked by others as much as I loved them.
My brothers adoptive family said they would take me in. Karofsky had been an accident and they couldn't look after both of us at the same time. So they decided to put the youngest up for adoption.
But I remember their faces as they gave him up. They were full of grief and sorrow and guilt. Guilty of stealing a child's right to meet their birth parents. Guilty of stealing my brother away from me. But I didn't hate them for it. I never would. The only problem now ... telling Karofsky that he was adopted, that his birth parents had been murdered and that his birth brother was moving in with him.
-End of Flashback-
Before I knew it, I was at my locker. Tears streaming down my face, I fumbled with the padlock. I needed my keys. Needed to get home. Or to somewhere private.
As soon as the idea hit me, I ran back in the direction I had just come from. Longing for some, any, form of release. But before I could get to the bathrooms, I ran into Brittany, mu duet partner. And saw Santana, the one who had threatened me, behind her.
"Hey Kurt. Are you okay? You look like Lord Tubbington that time he found out that the mouse he was keeping as a pet, had died." She sped through her words before pulling me close into her. Suddenly, I was warm and the urge for release was less. "I don't like seeing hurt Dolphins. Because Dolphins and Unicorns make rainbows, and if there are no rainbows, how can I be happy." I really had no idea what she was on about but I guessed it made sense to her.
Then she was singing.
What goes on in your mind?
I think that I am falling down.
What goes on in your mind?
I think that I am upside down.
Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will work alright.
Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will be alright.
I'm going up, and I'm going down.
I'm going from side to side.
See the bells, up in the sky,
Somebody's cut their string in two.
And then Santana came down to where we were on the floor and joined in with Brittany. Looping her arms around me and Brittany.
Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will work alright.
Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will be alright.
One minute born, one minute doomed,
One minute up, one minute down.
What goes on in your mind?
I think that I am falling down.
Their voices created a cocoon around us. Shutting out the world and surrounding me in comfort and warmth. Making me feel the safest I had in a long time.
Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will work alright.
Baby, be good, do what you should, you know it will be alright.
We stayed in the cocoon on for at least another fifteen minutes. Then Santana whispered something in Brittany's ear. I watched her face drop and then be lit up by a huge smile. "Dolphin, we have Cheerio's practice...but you could come and watch if you wanted to. Please. You're still sad, I can see it in your eyes. Maybe watching me and Santana will make you happy."
"Of course I'll come Brittany, I'm certain it will definitely make me feel better."
"Yayyyyyyyyy! Come on then, or we'll be late and I don't want Miss Sylvester to shout."
After multiple run-throughs of a routine to The Edge of Glory, Brittany and Santana come over.
"Miss Sylvester want to meet you Kurt. Me and Britt told her about you and she wants to meet you."
What had they told her. I mean, they didn't know about Master, but apparently it was obvious, well, at least according to Master it was. And surely a teacher would notice.
"So this is...", she looked down at a piece of paper on her desk, "...Kurt Hummel is it?"
"Yes miss." I replied, head hung low, now I contact. Just like Master had taught me.
"Look up. Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle-fake-boobs say that you're really upset. Is that right?"
I nodded.
"What's upsetting you Kurt? Telling someone generally makes thing better."
It hadn't for me. When I had told my brother about it he just laughed, clearly thinking it was a joke and that 'boys don't get abused'. But he didn't know that it wasn't abuse. It was lessons and punishment. "I-I-I...I just can't. He'd punish me if I..." Once again I slammed a hand over my mouth. Why couldn't I control my tongue today. No-body could know. Especially not a teacher.
That night, I cut from my elbow to my wrist, over and over. Lines criss-crossing as u watched the blood bubble up and spill out. Some fast. Some slow. I had learnt how to control the flow by now. But available space was becoming less and less, soon I would have to use other skin.
As I was putting on a bandage and cleaning the floor, the door opened and Master walked in.