Safe Place to Fall

13

Grayson 

Theo comes back into the room wearing a tank top and matching shorts. She crawls into bed, pulling the covers over herself. 

“Are you coming to bed?” She yawns in my direction. I move from the window after drawing the curtains, making the room dark. I find my way to the bed, slipping under the covers, I can feel her soft skin touching me. I pull off my shirt tossing it to the floor, I still have my sweatpants on. Theo inches closer to me, resting her head on the edge of her pillow. She’s looking at me, her eyes are drooping slightly. 

“Go to sleep” I whisper. 

“Promise you’ll stay all night?” She yawns once more. 

I nod my head “Promise” I whisper back. She smiles at me as she slides her body even closer, resting her head in between my chest and arm pit. Her face pressed against my skin, she reaches her arm over placing it on my chest. 

“Goodnight Gray” She whispers as she closes her eyes. 

I lean down and kiss her forehead and then her nose. She giggles slightly as she drifts off. I move slightly so I can hold her, her head shifts as I do, she is now using me as a pillow. It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep, holding the girl of my dreams definitely helps that. 

I wake to a loud banging, it sounds like someone is pounding on the front door. Theo wakes too, startled. I look over at the alarm clock and see it’s nearly 3AM.

“What is that?” She asks, scared. 

Mrs. Greten comes running into the room a moment later. 

“Are you kids alright?” She asks, she is holding a baseball bat in her hands, which are shaking like a leaf. 

“We are fine Ma’am” I say as I get out of bed and take the bat from her. 

I have two terrified women on my hands, I need to figure out what the hell is going on outside. 

“Grayson be careful!” Theo says in a shouted whisper. She jumps out of the bed and follows me closely, I reach my arm behind me to keep her away in case there is a valid danger. 

The pounding on the door has not let up, it is getting worse. I look through the peephole and see Tony and a woman, I’m assuming is Theo’s mom. 

“It’s just your step dad and I’m guessing your mom?” I say, she rushes towards the door and gets on her tiptoes to look through the peephole. 

“What is she doing here?” She whispers to herself. The door rattles as it is hit again and again. 

I see the house phone sitting a few feet away so I pick it up and dial my dads number. 

“Emily? Is something wrong?” He answers after a few rings 

“It’s me dad. Theo’s step dad and mom are here, I think they are loaded. They are going to break down the door at the rate” I say as I look out the living room window at them. The neighbors are starting to wake up at this point, porch lights are turning on. 

“Stay in the house. Nobody is to go outside Grayson.. I’ll be right there” He hangs up the phone.

“Dad said to stay inside, he will be-” I cannot finish my sentence before Theo throws the door open, stepping outside. 

“STOP IT!” She yells at them. Tony looks taken back for a moment. 

“What do you think you’re doing? Sending me legal papers declaring your emancipating yourself from me?” Her mother slurs her words, she is obviously drunk or extremely high… Maybe a combination of both. She steps towards Theo before stumbling and falling over. 

“Get up! Go home…” Theo sighs exasperated. Suddenly a hand is thrown across her face, sending her head snapping to the side. I spring forward and put Tony in a choke hold. Theo was knocked down with the force of the blow she received. Tony struggles a bit before giving up. 

“Theo, are you alright?” I ask. She hasn’t moved from the ground, she just stares ahead. People are starting to whisper and point at the embarrassing scene unfolding before them. I see Trevor from the corner of my eye. He is walking towards us. I still have Tony in a choke hold, I think he is calming down. 

“Need some help?” Trevor comes beside me.

“Hey man.. I think he’s almost done… My dads on his way” I say as I turn towards Trevor. 

I hear Theo scream bloody murder before my eyes snap back at her, her mother has jumped on her back and is clawing at her. Theo falls forward and her mother crawls on top of her slapping and scratching at her. She has hold of Theo's hair and is tugging it so hard I'm scared she's going to rip it from Theo's head. 

“How dare you do this. What would your father think? And Caleb? You’re an ungrateful little b***h!!” She screams in Theo’s face. 

In the next second I am throwing Tony to the ground and racing over to Theo, trying desperately to pull her mother off of her. 

“Mom!! Please Stop!! Pl-easee!” She is sobbing as she takes hit after hit from her. I am able to grab onto her arms and finally yank her off of Theo. Trevor takes her from me, holding her in an arm lock. 

I dive forward to where Theo is laying on the ground. She brings her knees to her chest and rolls to her side. Her face has some small scratches and a few blossoming bruises but she looks more scared than anything. Her eyes look wild like a cat. 

“Oh God. Theo.. I’m so sorry!!” I say as I pull her into my arms. She is shaking like a leaf. Her once clean clothing is now covered in dirt and blood. 

“Grayson!!” I hear my dad shout. I look up to see Tony charging at me with the baseball bat I had before. I move to shield Theo before he can strike down on us, then a shot goes off. Tony stumbles before crashing down to the ground. 

I look back to my dad and see him holstering his pistol, he shot him in the leg. He gives me a hard nod before walking swiftly over to roll Tony onto his stomach and tie his hands behind him. Then he does the same with Theo’s mom. She puts up a lot more fight then Tony did. I'm guess she is more strung out than Tony. A squad car shows up a few minutes later along with an ambulance. Theo is checked out and given the green light.  

She hasn’t spoken since she begged her mom to stop. She just lays her head against my shoulder, looking out into space. 

“Theo” I say, grabbing her attention. She looks over at me, more like through me and opens her mouth to speak before closing it again. 

“We should go inside, get you in some clean clothes” I say as I stand up. She doesn’t move, I look to my dad who is watching Theo closely. 

“She is in shock. Take her inside. Get her cleaned up. Get her to bed… I’ll come check on her in the morning” He says, I nod and gently pick up Theo. She rests her head on my chest as I walk her into the house.

Mrs. Greten stops us when we get inside, she is clearly shaken by the whole ordeal, I hope she's not regretting taking in Theo. 

"Is she alright dear?" She whispers to me in a hushed tone. 

I nod and continue to carry Theo through the house.  I take her straight to the bathroom, closing the door behind us. I set her down on the edge of the tub and grab a washcloth, I dampen it and start to wipe off the dirt from her arms. She is covered in so much dirt and blood it would be easier to just hose her down. 

I don’t want her to think I’m a pervert though. I hesitantly start the shower and strip down to my underwear before pulling Theo into the shower. I don’t take off her clothing, just wash her off. It is a lot easier than trying to with just a small cloth. After a few minutes she is mostly clean, we just sit there in the tub, the warm water washing over us. She is leaning into me, her small body curled up into a ball in between my legs. I hold her in my arms and whisper to her 

“I'm sorry Theo. I promised to protect you… I’m sorry” I feel myself crying, the salty tears running past my lips as the shower eliminates all evidence of them. 

Theo turns around until she is facing me, she places her hand on my cheek, pulling my face up to look at her. 

“It’s not your fault” She says. The way she is looking at me is making my chest hurt, my heart feels like it’s going to explode.  She smiles sadly at me before continuing “You can’t blame yourself.. I did that for years, I refuse to let you take that on. It’s not fair” She stands up and reaches her hands out to me. I take them and she tries her best to pull me up, I chuckle and get up, Theo grabs towels for us. She hands me one of them and blushes looking away, she must have just noticed I am in my boxers. 

She’s seen me many times in my school speedo, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal...  She wraps herself in her own towel and holds it tightly to her chest. 

“I’m going to get changed” She says as she flees the room. I pull my sweatpants on after taking my wet boxers off. I walk slowly to her bedroom, knocking on the door, 

“Come in” She says sleep laced in her voice. I open the door to see her in an oversized t-shirt, my t-shirt. It doesn’t look like she has shorts on under it either. She crawls back into the bed and sighs as she relaxes. I turn the light off and come in beside her. 

“Let’s try this again shall we?” I whisper as I kiss her forehead and close my eyes. 

We are not woken up by any banging on doors or screaming, but by birds outside her window. From the looks of it it’s nearly the afternoon already. I gently pull myself free from Theo who is still fast asleep. I stretch as I get out of bed, I grab my phone from the bedside table and see I have a few missed texts from my dad. 

‘Let me know when you guys are awake’ 

‘Emily said Theo can skip school today and rest. How is she?’ 

I glance over at Theo and rethink last night. How is she? Honestly I would have said she is a wreck, until that moment in the shower. Now I would say she is probably the strongest person I know. I had already thought she was a strong brave woman for having to survive in the life she lived for so long, but now… I don’t know anyone stronger than her. She showed so much strength in that one simple act. 

“She’s stronger than I thought possible” I say as I pull the blanket up over her, she looks cold. 

“I knew she had it in her.. Let me know if I need to come by and check on her” 

While she is sleeping, I decide to help by unpacking some of her books and pictures, placing them on the shelves. 

“What are you doing?” She whispers in a sleepy voice 

“I thought I’d help you unpack a bit, make the place feel more homey” I say as I straighten a photo. 

“Thanks” She slides out of the bed, my shirt has ridden up revealing her creamy white thighs. I look away as she grabs her housecoat and pulls it on. 

“Want some breakfast?” She asks as she stretches her arms. 

“It’s a little late for breakfast, if you get dressed I’ll take you for lunch” 

“That sounds perfect!” She walks over to me giving me a small peck on my cheek before digging through some boxes of clothes. I feel my face turn 10 shades of red when she kisses me.