BITTER PILL:CANTALOUPE

CHAPTER 3*SNAP OUT IF*

||*NASHVILLE*||

"Come on, that's enough drinking for today, get up and lets go."

A middle-aged man says, dragging the young boy by the collar of his shirt as he pulls him off the bar stool, snatching the glass of liquor away from his hands.

"I just got here, Uncle, don't be a party popper."

The young boy argued in a slightly tipsy tone, and the man scoffs, dragging him away from the bar.

"This is the fifth time, I am removing you from bars and clubs this week and it's not even the end of the week yet, how long do you intend to carry on this habit, uh Trevor?"

 The middle-aged man asked, dragging Trevor into his car and he shuts the door, before going and driving away from the bar's parking lot.

"At least, you should have let me finish the drink I paid for."

Trevor responds, glaring at his uncle before pressing his face to the window and he closed his eyes. Through the rest of the ride, neither Trevor nor his uncle said a word, even though the middle-aged man finds it tiring to always pick him up from bars.

He would constantly nag Trevor every time as they drive home, but this time he keeps his anger in, waiting until they get home before he vents his mind to his mindless nephew. 

Once he had the car parked properly, Trevor gets down going towards the door and he waits beside it with his hands in his pockets for his uncle to open the door. 

With door unlocked, Trevor and his uncle steps inside the apartment one before the other and Trevor makes his way towards his bedroom.

"So you're just going in, pretending like nothing happened, how long do you think you can keep this up?"

Trevor's uncle asked, throwing his keys on the table in the living room and Trevor halts, turning back to face his uncle?

"What happened Uncle Josh? You didn't meet me beating anyone up, so what happened?"

Trevor responds in a tone that annoys his uncle and the man walks to him.

"Thankfully, that wasn't the case today, but how long do you intend to drown yourself in alcohol? You still have two terms left before high school ends. Do you just intend to waste away?"

Josh, Trevor uncle asks, and the boy smiled bitterly.

"At least, this helps forget what kind of shitty life I have right now."

Trevor responds, turning on his heels to go to his room and his uncle stops him by grabbing his hands.

"Do you think any of this would bring back your dead mother or your brother? My sister died since last year and you've been wallowing in this pathetic routine of yours. Do you think drinking yourself to death will bring her back? Snap out of it Trevor and return to Crossville, finish high school get a life, I am tired of cleaning up after you."

Josh snapped at his nephew and Trevor snatched his hands from his uncle's hold, brushing his fingers through his hair.

"Why do you think I go back to that club every day? So that somehow I can finally drink myself to stupor and go join mom and Skylar wherever they are. Yes, it is pathetic routine, but what else am I supposed to live for, huh? Tell me, uncle, why should I stay alive, for what reason? You talk about Crossville, there is nothing there for me, father is a foolish drunkard who knows maybe he is already dead. So why should I go back uh? Who do I have to keep living."

Trevor snapped at his uncle with a heavy breath as he tried so hard to stop the tears brimming in his eyes from spilling.

Since the death of his mother, he has done nothing but drown himself in alcohol to hide the pain and abandonment he felt. 

Yet even the alcohol did little, because every emotion comes rushing back in once he is sober, the quilt of what he did to Riley, the pain from loosing his mother and brother. 

Everything felt so overwhelming for the nineteen-year-old that he also wished death for himself, but because of the promise he made to a certain boy, Trevor couldn't even bring himself to commit suicide, like wished.

"What about that boy you once told me about at the hospital before we moved your mom, didn't you say you promised him that you would go back? Think about him, don't you think he would be so worried about you right now? At least for him, snap out of this mess you are becoming Trevor."

Josh says to his nephew and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise and Trevor burst into a fit a laughter, his uncle watched as Trevor laughed till he had tears streaming down his eyes.

"You think Riley misses me? Jokes on me uncle, I am sure he is the happiest right now in my absence. He once wished for my disappearance and now that I am no more, he would be the happiest on earth. You don't get it uncle, Riley doesn't want me around him, and the things I told you about him weren't all true. I must be crazy to think he would want his abuser near him."

Trevor says, smiling sadly, and his uncle squints his eyes at him.

"What are you saying? Why do you keep saying nonsense just to get out of this? Do you think Skylar or your mother would be happy with what you've become?"

Uncle Josh says and Trevor offered a bitter chuckle. 

"Uncle Josh, right now I am certain Skylar and mom are mad at me. Skylar most especially because he cared about Riley, do you want to know what I did the boy Skylar cared about?"

Trevor asks in a low voice, while tilting his head to the side with a lopsided grin, yet anyone could tell that the grin carried more than enough pain.

"I raped him uncle, blackmailed him, I abused him verbally and I would force him to suck me off. He did nothing wrong to me, uncle, but because of the anger in my heart, I did all these things to that innocent boy. I nearly pushed him to suicide uncle, what makes you think he would miss me? Would you miss me?"

Trevor says to his uncle, who seemed taken aback by the revelation and even though the man knows the gravity of what his nephew just revealed, he tried not to show disgust because he needed his nephew to come out the shell of self loath he has built around himself.

"But you changed, didn't you? You told me the things you did together, you also told me you have feelings for him, that he might feel the same way. So what if he doesn't see you as the boy who abused him? You can't just make assumptions for him, at least go see him for the last time."

Uncle Josh says and Trevor laughed.

"I am not sure if having feelings for him was the right thing for me to do and him having feelings for me was also wrong. His feelings are not genuine, it is Stockholm Syndrome uncle, Riley doesn't have feelings for me. He simply developed those feelings towards me as a coping mechanism, to help himself accept all the things I did to him, thinking he deserved it. If I go back, I'll only be feeding him into that infatuation more, it's not real. He deserves to meet someone better, someone who would love him genuinely."

Trevor says to his uncle, smiling sadly before turning on his heels.

"Shouldn't you let him see you first and make that decision for himself instead? You should give him the chance to decide if he wants to meet someone else. You need him Trevor, just as much as he might need you, please think about it."

Uncle Josh says, and Trevor halts, sighing as he turned back to his uncle.

"Truth is, I am scared uncle and I can't meet him like this right now. My heart harbours too much hate for his family and I don't have control over my temper. If I see him, I might hurt him again, even if I don't want to, I can't trust myself around him. Seeing him might cause him more harm than good, and I don't want to be that person again."

Trevor says, finally letting the tears in his eyes escaped and his uncle's heart breaks for him, so he moves closer to the boy.

"Then let's get help for you. If you care about him and you fear hurting him, lets help you work on how to let go of that hate and also manage your anger. You can't run away from the truth forever Trevor, your mom is not going back, neither is Skylar. The best thing you can do is honor their death and move on, that's why I am here for you, I can't keep watching you spiral into nothing, Trevor. Please for Skylar, your Mom and Riley's sake, lets get you help."

Uncle Josh says patting his nephew back gently and before Trevor could stop himself, he breaks down into a hysterical sob in the arm of the remaining family member he has. 

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