The New Beginning

Chapter 4

Leos P.O.V

I was back at my apartment by 7:30 p.m. I got out of the cab and proceeded to walk to my apartment. I lived in a apartment house that had two storys and eight apartments total, four apartments on top and four on bottom. I lived in the first apartment on the bottom.

Carefully I opened the door and peeked inside. My foster dad Jim had blacked out on the couch, thank god. I quietly walked in, took of my shoes and took a look around. The apartment was very small and the walls were painted with a dirty yellow/beige. You walked right into the living room when you walked through the door. The kitchen was connected with the living room, like at Noahs, but our apartment was half the size of Noahs whole living room. Except for the kitchen and living room area, there was a bedroom, one small bathroom and a utility room, also known as my bedroom. The bottles of beer and booze had piled up and it was my job to clean it up.

I had lived here for eight years. Eight years ago the socialservices put me in this apartment with Jim. In eight years he hadn't adopted my or showed me any type of love, but he hadn't thrown me back into the system either. I think he thought I was practical to keep me around to take care of his s**t. And to be his personal punching bag.

Thinking about what I had to do, I started to walk towards the bathroom to take a shower. I still felt the pain aching in my body and my injuries made taking of my clothes a much more difficult task then usual. Dammit a new broken rib, I though to myself. I'd had plenty of broken ribs in the past and they were absolutely the worst. The doctors couldn't do anything about them, since they heal on their own, but they hurt lika actual hell. So instead the doctor will give you som pain meds and send you home to suffer on your own. But, of course, the poor thing that I am I couldn't afford the pain meds. Instead I had gotten used to bearing the pain until it healed over the years.

When I took the rest of the clothes of I got stuck looking at myself in the mirror. My legs and arms looked good, they nearly had any bruises on them. What made it so I couldn't pull away my eyes were my stomach and my back. Both were almost completely black and yellow by bruises and it literally looked like I had been used like a actual punching bag. Pulling my eyes away from the mirror I got in the shower. The warm water hurt my bruises, but the feeling of being clean outweighed the pain. When I was done I put some new clothes on and started to clean.

As the hours went by and I picked up empty bottles and washed dishes, I realized how muted the morphine has helped. I could feel the pain get worse and worse as the hours went by. I was finished by 22:30 p.m and I went straight to bed. It was night relaxing my body and I was quickly taken away by the darkness.

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. The pain had become worse than last night. Time for work, I told myself and pulled myself out of bed, trying my best to ignore the stabbing pain in my body. When I was done the clock was 7:30 and I took my bag and started walking towards work. I worked at a local café that was just a fifteen minute walk from my apartment. When I was there I was welcomed by my colleague Cody.

"Good morning", I said as I walked past Cody. "Good morning", he replied and smiled at me. I walked towards the kitchen to get ready and start working.

Everything went as usual. Faking smiles and my happy tone was pretty much my job, plus taking orders and making drinks. And the pain didn't help with doing either, trying to fake my happiness nor making the drinks. Either way I got trough the day.

"Bye Leo!", Cody said as he walked out. I said good bye and did the last things in the café before locking up. Grabbing my bag and my jacket, I started my walk back home.

It was early October and autumn was beginning to show its colors. The trees were beginning to turn yellow and red, and with every cold wind the leaves let go of the tree and danced in the air until it finally landed on the ground. You could tell temperature was changing quicker from day to night. I walked slowly, taking in my surroundings and the beauty of this earth that we lived on.

When I went to open the door I realized it was locked. I started searching for the keys in my bag an jacket, but failed to find anything. Knocking on the door nothing happened. I knocked once again, this time a little harder, but still no answer. How could you be so stupid? You know you should always take the keys with you! I thought to myself. Pulling myself together, I went to my neighbor Emma. She had recently moved in, but we quickly became friends and now she was used to me coming over to her apartment when it got to much at mine. I knocked on the door and it immodestly opened, I couldn't help but smile.

"Hi Emma!", I said. In front of me she stood, wearing a yellow t-shirt that said "bananas" and some black sweatpants. Her straight, light-brown hair was put up into a messy bun and in her hand she held a bag of Doritos. She looked surprised with her blue eyes, like I caught her off guard. Suddenly she snapped back, motioning me to come inside. I took of my shoes and made myself comfortable on the couch.

"Sooo, what brings you over today?", she asked and sat down not he couch beside me. Her apartment looked much nicer than ours. Her walls were painted white and it was modern and fresh. Defiantly not as filthy as ours. Now she had pack everything up and there were no longer packing boxes on the floor. I would say that her apartment was coming together really nice.

"Oh and by the way, my brother will be over any minute", she said while we were talking, stuffing her mouth with Doritos. That must've been why she was so surprised to see me when I knocked, I thought. Right when she said that, there was a knock on the door. "Or right now I guess" she mumbled to herself. She opened the door and my jaw drooped.

"Hi brother!" she said, giving him a hug. Still holding the Doritos in her hand.

And in walked Noah.