Title: I Want You To Need Me
Author: Mary (SlayerKnight2@aol.com)
Website: none
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I Want You To Need Me 3
By Mary
//Mommy was bleeding and crying. He didn't understand why. Daddy had yelled about dinner not being ready on-time. Mommy couldn't help it, he'd fallen off his bike today and gotten hurt. She'd had to take him to the hospital to fix his arm. It wasn't broken but it hurt a lot still and he had to wear a bandage over it for a few days. Daddy had hit Mommy even though she'd said stop. Usually, he did but not tonight. I screamed at him to stop and he threw his beer bottle at me. It hit me in the face and broke. Shards of glass cut my face and the beer stung the cuts. I was crying. Why did Daddy do this? He said he loved us.
Mommy said that she was taking me and leaving. Enough was enough, she said.
Mommy's pretty face was bleeding, it was even in her yellow hair. Daddy ran to his room and Mommy grabbed my arm and brought me upstairs. Pack, she had said. She pulled out my suitcase from under my bed and started to help me. I heard Daddy walking up the stairs. Mommy had locked the door and he started banging on it and screaming. Mommy told me to hide under the bed.
I wiggled under the bed and lay there on my stomach as Daddy screamed and banged on the door. Mommy was crying and I wanted to tell her it was alright but I was crying too. Daddy had never been this bad before. He shot the lock off the door and walked into the room. I could see their reflections in the big mirror that went from the ceiling to the floor. Daddy grabbed Mommy's arm and asked where I was. Mommy lied and said that she had sent me next door while she packed. Why did Mommy lie? Daddy said, "No one leaves me." And he fired the gun at Mommy. It was loud more blood came out of Mommy's chest. She fell to the floor but I remembered Mommy's words. "Be quiet."
Daddy put the gun to his head and another loud bang. He fell to the floor by Mommy and the gun went flying across the room. I could see them, they were really close now. I called for Mommy but she didn't answer. I knew something bad had happened. Mommy was dead. She wasn't my Mommy anymore. She left me. I started crying really hard now. I laid there until it was nighttime and my aunt came home. She ran upstairs and hugged me. But Mommy was gone. Mommy didn't hug me.//
A woman's scream pulled Johns out of his sleep. He was thankful for the reprieve from his dream but the sound startled him. A man and a woman were arguing heatedly in the room directly above them. He sat up and leaned his head back against the back of the couch, rubbing his eyes as he realized he wouldn't get much sleep with all the racket. He tried to forget about his dreams. He always went back to the same mentality he'd had when his mother had died. He never understood why but the psychiatrist had said that it was because he couldn't face it as an adult. Johns had laughed. He didn't have much choice, his parents were dead.
A hand touched his shoulder and he jumped. Riddick sat down next to him, clad in only his black pants. Johns tried to keep his eyes from scanning over the muscled chest. The silver eyes searched his face. Johns sighed. "Jesus, make some noise when you move. You're going to give me a fucking heart attack."
Riddick nodded but was silent. The screaming intensified.
The merc glanced up at the ceiling, at the source of the noises. "Wonderful neighbors you got here."
Riddick shrugged. "They don't ask questions. It suits me."
"Guess if you want to hide, you gotta hide with the rats."
"Exactly," Riddick replied.
Just then there was a loud slap, followed by a woman's soft crying. Neither men moved off of the couch. Johns stared at the floor as he felt the other man's eyes on him. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of the woman crying.
"Why do you think she stays with him?" The quiet in Riddick's tone taking the sting out of the question.
"I'm not in the mood to play mind games, Riddick," Johns replied, anger tinting his voice.
At the serial killer's silence, Johns replied, "Maybe she loves him. Maybe the bad times make the good times even better." His next statement was a whisper. "Maybe she doesn't know how to get out."
Flashes of the past echoed through Riddick's mind as another victim and another was remembered. Though not personally, Riddick understood that. "You let someone in, past your defenses. Make you trust them, love them. And then they betray you and you don't know how to deal with that. So you just hope it goes away. That the person you love will come back. And in the meantime, you let them take away a part of your soul, a little at a time, until there's nothing left and then they kill you."
Johns bit back the tears as the truth of the words sunk in. He felt a hand on his shoulder again. It was warm and strong, comforting. He looked at the serial killer who had become his savior in some ironic twist of fate.
"You sound like you speak from experience." It was a shot. Trying to find out the secret Riddick had almost shown earlier that evening.
"Not me." Johns was about to inquire further when Riddick spoke again. "You don't have to go through this alone."
Johns snorted. "Not being alone is what got me into this hell."
Riddick didn't know how to respond to that. Obviously, he was going to have to earn this man's trust. Tentatively, he moved his hand to put his arm around the other man's shoulders. Testing the waters. Seeing how much Johns actually did trust him and how much further he had to go.
Johns allowed it. The arm was an extension of the hand and it warmed the cold inside him. He leaned back against Riddick's chest, sleep starting to chase him again. A thought occurred to him.
"That wasn't aspirin I took, was it?"
A chuckle as the other arm came around him and they settled into lying on the couch. "Sleeping pills."
"Bastard." But Johns didn't have the energy to put his agitation into the word.
He felt the other man nuzzling his hair, then his temple and cheek. He felt so warm now. He leaned up into the nuzzle and his lips grazed over Riddick's. There was a spark between them. And the kiss deepened.
Riddick's lips opened to allow the demanding tongue entrance. He felt Johns twist around to straddle him, not breaking the kiss. He wrapped his arms around Johns, his arms massaging the other's back as their tongues danced and twined. He could feel Johns' hands roaming over his body, caressing his cheek, and his arms, clinging to him. Damn, he tasted good. Like the beer, something sweet, and a very minute taste of blood.
Johns kissed the other man back, fiercely. He poured all of his anguish into the kiss, hoping for an escape, at least for tonight. He felt impossibly strong arms pull him close. He tried to drink in the taste of the other man, who tasted of mint, probably a mouthwash.
A sudden panic overwhelmed him. Max would kill him, literally. He pulled away from the kiss, and tried to run away, but the arms wouldn't let him go. He looked around, panicking. Riddick was going to kill him.
Riddick had felt Johns tense suddenly and now the young man had tried to make a break for it. His blue eyes were wild and his body was tensed for a fight.
"Easy, easy. What's wrong?"
Johns closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. He looked down at Riddick, saw the silver eyes searching his for an answer. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't do this. Not yet."
Riddick suddenly knew. Ghosts were hard to banish, especially when they were, made of flesh and blood and carried a semiautomatic. "I won't let him hurt you."
Johns didn't respond. He didn't like being vulnerable. Shakily, he rested his head in the crook of Riddick's shoulder, feeling the arms hold him closer at the gesture of vulnerability. He didn't want to think anymore tonight. And after trying several escape routes, he decided sleep was the easiest. He closed his eyes and drifted off into nothingness.
Riddick felt the other man's body relax into sleep. Taking care of Johns was not going to be easy. He'd been more emotionally traumatized than Riddick had first suspected. It was going to be a long road, he thought sarcastically, I just hope we both survive it without beating the shit out of each other.