8Chapter 2
When Jason woke up the next day, he was hard pressed not to struggle as he was pressed back against the bed, and couldn't easily move. Just before he gave into the urge, he noticed that it was only Isaac, and he was laying half on top of him with both of Jason's wrists in his hands. Isaac was pressed as close to him as he could possibly get and still curl up.
What the hell? Jason thought as he got his panic under control. How the hell had Isaac managed to get into the room without waking him up? Fuck the room, how'd he manage to get into the bed? Jason was about as light a sleeper as they came. Marie and Zeke were always complaining about how everything had to be silent for him to sleep. Yet this … guy had managed not only to cross the house, but get into his bed without waking him up.
Of course, then there was the little fact that he was being held quite securely, even in sleep. For a moment, he laid his head back down, glancing at the ceiling. He lightly bit his lip, a habit he had when he was thinking. Finally, he sighed.
"Isaac," He murmured, shifting under the body. "Hey, Isaac, come on, wake up, dude."
Jason shifted again, trying to roll Isaac off when the guy didn't even twitch. He gave a frustrated sigh when nothing came of that either … well, nothing except Isaac drawing closer, which was counterproductive.
"Isaac, wake up." His voice was louder this time as he pulled back on his hands.
Finally, Isaac's eyes fluttered open, blinking at him a moment before widening. Jason blinked once as he watched Isaac skitter away from him, falling off the bed in the process.
"Whoa, hey, you okay, dude?" he asked, ignoring the crick in his back as he sat up.
"Fine," Isaac replied, softly. "Sorry. Hadn't meant to be here when you woke."
"Er … yeah, no … it's fine." I guess. "Why were you?"
He shifted over to the end of the bed so his legs could fall over the edge and gazed down at the guy. Isaac glanced up at him, blue eyes depressed.
"They'd have come if I was alone," he murmured. "Won't risk being seen. Safer if 'm not alone."
Jason blinked. "I doubt you have to worry so much," Jason said. "No one knows you're here, right? They're not going to find you here."
Isaac just shrugged, his eyes falling back to the floor he still sat on.
"Come on, food sounds good right now."
Isaac's eyes flew back to him, surprise and hope filling his eyes. "Food?" the desperate tone in his voice nearly broke his heart.
"Yeah, food." Jason stood, holding out his hand for Isaac to take. He did so, standing somewhat unsteadily.
Jason waited until Isaac had his balance back before releasing him and leading the way towards the kitchen.
"Go ahead and sit down," he said. "How do you feel about pancakes and sausage?"
He glanced over towards his guest, whose eyes had brightened more and a small smile pulled his lips upward. Noticing he was looking, Isaac gave a small nod.
"Great then." And he set about making the batter.
"So, who are 'They'?" he asked.
Isaac didn't reply. Jason glanced over towards the table with a raised eyebrow, only to pause. His guest was tense, head bowed. His hands were fisted and his breathing was being carefully regulated, as if trying to keep himself from panicking.
"Doesn't matter," Isaac said, finally. "Just need to run."
"I think you've run enough, for now," Jason told him with a shake of his head, turning back to the batter. "You're not going to get far the way you are right now. After breakfast, I'm calling a friend of mine. She'll come and see to your wounds. Hopefully nothing too serious is wrong with you."
"Why?"
"Because then we'll have to take you to the hospital, and with your aversion to it last night … well, you'd better hope she doesn't think you have to."
They fell silent; the only sounds in the kitchen were those made by Jason.
"Why wont you tell me who 'They' are?" Jason asked, softly, not looking back this time.
Silence greeted him. Jason sighed, but didn't ask again. He was by no means giving up on the subject, but he would-
"Not safe," Isaac told him. "If you knew, they'd come. Take you too. Can't stay long. They'll come anyway."
Jason couldn't help the shudder than ran down his spine. "Well, whoever they are wont be taking you as long as you're with me," he said, not even completely sure why he'd said it. "They obviously didn't treat you well, and if there's one thing I can't stand it's treating people like they're less then dirt. They're not. We're human beings, and everyone deserves a bit of respect."
"Not," Isaac said.
"Hmm?" Jason asked, glancing over his shoulder. Isaac's eyes drilled into him a moment before they fell away and he shook his head.
Jason raised an eyebrow and turned back to the batter. "Oh, um … how long has it been since you last ate?"
"I don't know," Isaac replied. "I've been running for a few days and … they didn't feed us often."
Small pancakes then, he thought. It wouldn't do for Isaac to throw up later. Wait …
"Us? You mean there's more this is happening to?"
When Isaac didn't reply, Jason turned back to see his guest staring at him in wide eyed terror.
"What's wrong?"
"Don't ask," Isaac murmured, a slightly panicked edge to his voice. "Don't ask. They'll know. If they know you know, you're not safe anymore."
Jason shook his head, crossing to sit next to Isaac. "If they're hurting people, we need to go to the police," he said softly, trying to coax him into listening. "They're trained to deal with this stuff, and you wouldn't have to worry anymore."
Isaac shook his bowed head slowly, but Jason pressed on.
"All you'd have to do is tell them what happened to you and where to find them."
"Don't know," Isaac interrupted.
"What?"
"I don't know where they are."
"But … you ran from them."
"I know. It wasn't a straight line. I changed directions several times to throw them off. I don't remember where they are, where I was. I don't remember how I got here. I don't. I don't remember." He looked close to tears, so Jason laid a hand on Isaac's shoulder, ignoring the flinch as he did so.
"Even so, if you tell them, they can give you protection."
Isaac shook his head again. "Not safe. Never safe."
"What about here?"
He shook his head. "No. They know. They know and wait. They'll come, you'll see, and I'll be gone, taken again."
"That won't happen as long as I have any say," Jason told him, beginning to think that Isaac's treatment had led to him being slightly off his rocker. Not that he blamed him or anything, but there'd been no one else on the street last night, so they couldn't possibly know where Isaac was.
Isaac glanced up at him, a small bit of hope shining in his eyes. Jason gave him a smile and returned to making breakfast, all the while wondering who 'They' were, and why they'd be so cruel to another human being. It made him angry and it took a lot to make him angry. He managed to shove it down, however. Anger wasn't going to get Isaac to relax, and that was his main goal. After that he'd convince him that the police were a good idea.
Another glance at Isaac, who was staring at the tabletop, had him shaking his head. Whoever had done this was sick. That's all there was to it.
"You … you never told me your name."
The voice surprised him as he was nearly done. "Didn't I? Sorry. It's Jason."
He flipped the last couple of small pancakes onto a plate and turned the stove off. On his way back to the table, he paused to get two forks.
"What some butter, or syrup?"
Isaac nodded once, eyes downcast. Jason put the plates down and quickly retrieved the desired items, along with a butter knife.
"Don't eat too fast," he said. "we don't want you throwing up."
Isaac nodded, waiting until Jason was finished with it to take the butter. Jason watched in silent amusement as his guest took apart the small stack and smeared butter over each small pancake. Then, he reached for the syrup and poured a small amount onto each.
He glanced up as he reached for his fork and froze.
"Did … I do something wrong?" His voice was pitifully small.
"No." Jason shook his head. "Sorry, I just like watching people eat. Gets on my friends nerves all the time."
He tossed a smile at Isaac and snapped the syrup, pouring some over the small pancakes on his plate.
"I don't … remember them being this small."
"They're not, usually. Just, with how little you've eaten recently, I didn't want to take the chance that you eat too much too quickly."
"But yours are small too."
"It'd be rude to do otherwise. Besides, it's fine." He smiled once more, causing Isaac to blink back and duck his head.
"If you're still hungry after your done, I can make some more. There's plenty of batter left."
Isaac nodded, finally taking up his fork.
"She'll be here in about an hour," Jason said, turning to his guest. "While we wait, why don't we do something about your hair?"
"Easiest to cut it."
Jason raised an eyebrow at the depressed tone of voice. "Well, we can cut it if you want to, but I was thinking about finding a brush and seeing if I can salvage it."
Isaac blinked, a hand rising to his hair. He grimaced. "Think you can?"
"Well, only one way to find out, isn't there?" Jason smiled. "You up for it?"
When Isaac nodded, Jason made for the bathroom to grab the brush. It'd probably take longer than an hour to save his hair, but Jason had patience to spare. Unless Isaac needed to go to the hospital, they should have it done by the end of the day, hopefully.
Back in the living room, Jason grabbed one of the couch cushions and placed it on the ground in front of Isaac, who didn't wait for Jason to tell him what to do. He simply moved to the cushion. Jason shifted behind him and sat on the couch, his legs to either side of Isaac. He gently picked up Isaac's hair, grimacing at the feel. Okay, maybe it would take more than a day. Part of him wanted to shove Isaac into a shower first (if nothing else, it would get rid of the smell), but it wouldn't really do much for his hair, which was the mostly the reason he wanted to do it.
Carefully, he started at the ends and began making his way through the ratted hair. Occasionally, Isaac would wince, and he'd try to gentle his ministrations, but there wasn't much he could do. Jason alternated between brushing it out and working it by hand.
It was slow work, and by the time Marie showed up, they hadn't gotten very far. He was, however, grateful for the break.
"You disappeared last night," Marie complained when he opened the door. "I looked for you and couldn't find you."
"Sorry. I got tired."
"Mmhmm. So, what's this emergency?"
Jason stepped aside to let her in and was unable to resist the urge to check the hallway. No one was there. God, he was getting paranoid.
"Whose this? Jason!"
Jason shook his head, pulling back and closing the door. If there was one thing Marie had, it was a pair of lungs.
"Isaac, which you'd know if you'd asked him instead of shouting across the apartment." She huffed at him. "I found him last night, on my way home. He's terrified of hospitals, so I figured I'd call in you to make sure there's nothing seriously wrong with him."
Marie raised an eyebrow. "That's my bleeding heart," she said with a grin. She was always so amused with me. "This is the first time you've brought one home though."
"Like I said, he's terrified of hospitals. Besides, he barely made it here before collapsing."
"Uh-huh. Alright, well," she turned back to Isaac, who had been silent during our exchange, "let's get you off the ground, hmm? Jason, fix the couch."
Marie pulled Isaac to his feet, ignoring his violent flinch when she touched him. Jason gave him a small, comforting, smile as he bent down to retrieve the cushion, returning it to its place on the couch. He quickly moved out of his way as Marie directed Isaac to sit.
Jason moved to sit on the nearby chair as Marie began her examination. Not much was said, except for an order for him to remove his shirt, which Isaac did. Jason couldn't help but close his eyes in a grimace at the sight. There were no cuts or open wounds, for which Jason was grateful, that that didn't make it pleasant to look at. He was literally skin on bone, his skin bruised in varying degrees.
He watched as Marie felt along Isaac's chest, feeling the ribs for breaks, he assumed. Finally, Marie sighed and pulled away.
"Well, nothing seems to be broken," she said. "I'd feel better with an x-ray, though with how thin he is, it'd probably be obvious."
"Nothing's wrong with him?"
Marie gave him a look that said he was an idiot. "Nothing life threatening," she agreed. "But it'd be better to take him to a hospital anyway. They'd know for sure. I'm still just a student, Jason."
He sighed. "Yeah, but you're still good. If you say there's nothing life threatening, then I trust you. I'll take care of him here, yeah? And you can tell me what I need to do."
She sighed, obviously unhappy. "Fine. But if something else happens, you go to a hospital."
Jason grinned at her. "Thanks, Marie."
She rolled her eyes, then turned to Isaac, whose eyes were on the floor. "So, who did this to you?"
Isaac didn't reply. He didn't even look up.
"He wont say," Jason told her with a sigh. "Won't even tell me what they did. Says it's dangerous to know."
"There was more than one?" she asked, eyes back on Jason."
He shrugged. "That's how he refers to them, as They."
"The police could-"
"Won't go to them. Says it's not safe, that they couldn't help."
Marie sighed. "Trust you to choose one like this to help."
Jason shook his head and stood, motioning Marie to take the chair. She did so with a raised eyebrow.
"We're seeing how much of his hair we can salvage," he told her, moving back to the couch.
Isaac took the cushion he wasn't sitting on and placed it on the ground before kneeling on it. Jason sat on the couch behind him and took up the brush again.
"Did you have fun last night?" Jason asked, glancing up at Marie.
"Of course. I found a cute boy. Even stayed the night."
Jason grimaced. "Don't need to know that," he murmured.
Marie laughed. "You need to get laid," she told him. "It's not natural for a guy to be celibate."
Jason rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Marie."
She sighed with a shake of her head. "I could hook you up with a girl from class," she said. "She'd love you."
"I'm not interested."
"She's cute, I promise. Please, Jason? I worry about you."
He could feel Isaac tensing.
"Isaac doesn't like being left alone," he said, knowing it was only an excuse.
He could practically feel Marie roll her eyes. "Only you," she said. "Fine, I'll baby sit."
Isaac whimpered, and, though he wondered why, Jason shook his head.
"I'm really not interested, Marie," he said with a sigh.
Marie pouted. "Fine," she said, standing. "If you change your mind, you know where to reach me."
Jason paused his ministrations to watch his friend leave. He sighed.
"Now she's angry with me," he muttered.
"Sorry," Jason said. "Not your fault. Didn't want to go out anyway. Zeke's convinced I'm asexual."
Isaac didn't reply.
It's been awhile, I know, but no one seemed interested. I figured it was time to get this back out there. Maybe someone will find it.