Because of you. (MxM) (lawkheart)

  • Thread starter ♣CrimsonParadiso♣
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Travis nodded his head and then looked around at the near empty living room. There wasn't anything else that he wanted to touch and the tapes were almost gone. He sighed heavily to get himself back under control and then walked back into the kitchen. The food that was still sitting there looked appetizing, he picked up a piece of bacon and started to munch on it. Having that bit of food in his stomach made him feel even more sick but knew that he needed something to give him energy. Coffee wasn't going to cut it and if he didn't eat anything he was probably going to pass out of waste away till there was nothing left of him. His body had already lost a lot of weight and definition though it wasn't like he was trying to catch anyone's eye. He sat down at the table and Lolita jumped up and started to rub at his face "I'm really sorry Loli, I know things have been rough. But it will get better I promise" he told her and started to pet down her body.
 
After a few moments, Kaleb came back down with two large black bags and he set both down, taking more journals out of one bag and tossing them into the fire. He then brought the bags out to the curb and he came back in and looked at Travis. He yawned softly and sat down across from him. "The attic is done now. Do you want me to set up the flights for next week or this week? Or do you want to drive?" he asked softly.
 
Travis was finishing his second piece of bacon and his stomach didn't feel too bad but he quickly stopped eating when his brother walked up to him. He wasn't sure why but eating in front of his brother made him feel weird "Um...I think flying would be faster..." he started to say and then looked up at him. He was sure that Lolita wouldn't like it but it would be better in the long run he thought. Get all her stress over with in one go and then she could get comfortable at Kaleb's place. "I've already quit my job, though I still have to go over to my old apartment and figure out what to do with all of that plus tell my landlord that I won't be needed the place anymore" Travis told his brother and twiddled the small piece of bacon between a few of his fingers. "I'm fine with setting it up when ever"
 
Kaleb nodded his head and thought a moment. "We can ship your stuff to New York and once we get there it should be there. I have a storage unit so anything you want but won't fit, you can put there," he said softly to his brother. He reached over and took a piece of bacon and took a bite of it. He had made all of what was left so they might as well finish it off. He looked at Lolita and smiled at her. "I hope Arcane won't mind having Lolita there," he said absentmindedly. Arcane was his puppy, a 6 month old Chow Chow. He hoped Travis was okay with dogs.
 
Travis continued to play with his food listening to his brother and nodded. So at least he could keep most of his stuff though a lot of the bigger things he would probably just leave there. He knew the landlord liked to help those that couldn't help themselves and leaving the furniture would probably help her out more then it would him. "Who's Arcane?" Travis asked in a soft tone. Lolita seemed to have fallen into a light sleep from his petting but he continued to pet her anyways.
Travis finally put his small piece of bacon back on the plate since he wasn't going to eat it anytime soon and wiped the grease from his fingers before returning to pet Lolita.
 
When Travis asked about Arcane he smiled for the first time there. "Arcane's my little puppy. Well, she's six month old chow chow and their huge at on year so she's a big puppy," he said softly smiling still. "She's staying with my friend in New York, while I'm here. I was going to go back and bring her here but since we're not going to live here I didn't call my friend," he said, the smile fading. "I have a picture of her, if you want to see," he said softly to Travis.


(Here she is, http://mindjunks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/pa190016.jpg )
 
Oh boy, his brother had a dog. It wasn't like it was that big of deal, Travis liked dogs but he wasn't sure how Lolita would take to a dog or how his dog would do with Travis' cat. "She's cute" was really all he said because he didn't know what to say after that. He had always wanted to get a dog but he just happened to pick up Lolita. She was a stray much like him, who needed a home and someone to love her. "I'm sure this is going to be interesting" he said and got to his feet. He walked over to the skin and rinsed out his cup before filling it up with water. "You're sure it's alright that I bring Lolita with?"
 
"Yeah, of course its fine. Arcane is really calm for a puppy so I don't think she'll mind Lolita. She doesn't like mice though which is odd," he said softly. He looked at Travis and then to the now sleeping Lolita. "Are you sure she'll be okay with Arcane?" he asked Travis. He wasn't sure how the cat would react to Arcane. He looked around at the empting house when his phone rang. It was the lawyer and he had a buyer of the house. "Okay..... Okay... that sounds good... I'll talk to Travis about it... okay... Okay I'll call back," he said softly. "The Lawyer found a buyer, their offering 250,000 dollars, what do you think?" he asked Travis.
 
Travis shrugged his shoulders, well at least the dog would kill his cat "Lolita has never been around another animal so she'll probably just avoid her" he said and waved his glass towards his sleeping shadow. He was about to explain the history of Lolita to his brother though the phone call came. Travis was amazed at how much they could get for the house, maybe they could get more for it but then he shook his head "Just sell. I don't want this house anymore. To be honest I'd rather burn the whole place down" he told his brother with venom on his lips, Travis didn't intend for there to be any but this was the last thing left that was a stain on his life. It was hard to wipe all those memories away in just one day and just because the police were helping now wasn't going to change Travis' attitude about the lot of them.
 
Kaleb nodded his head. "Then I'll call the lawyer later and tell him to just sell it," he said softly. He stood up and went to the wall. He felt around it and pushed a panel out of the wall and pulled it back out. He then pulled out a plastic bag filled with money. "Dad hid the money he made off me in the house. I think this is the last of it though," he said setting the bag down, on the counter. He sighed, putting the panel back in. "Sorry... Dad has secret hiding places all through out the house. I've found all of them and already checked them. This was the last one," he said shrugging.
 
Good then that was the end of it but just as Travis thought that he watched his brother walk over to a wall What is he doing? He thought to himself but kept his mouth shut. Then his eyes widened, his brother had just pulled something out of a wall and then just nonchalantly told him it was money. Travis cleared his throat and stared down at the bag, at least his brother got something for all the crap he went through because of their father. "I see...um do you think father could use one of those hiding places to hide moms photo album? I can't seem to find it any where and I'm sure that he wouldn't burn it or at least I'm hoping he wouldn't" he figured that his brother would know more about that since he seemed to know quite a lot about their father's habits.
 
"Maybe, I can check if you want me too? there was one in moms room that I remember. I opened it but there wasn't anything that I thought would be wanted. I think it might be in there or in the floorboards in the basement," he said softly. He was so un-emotional to all of this. He didn't want to show his emotions about all of this. The money was going to the bank and thats it. He didn't want to think about what it meant and who it was from. He didn't want to think about it at all.
 
"That would be nice. I'll keep checking around" Travis said and made his way back into the living room. Maybe there was something that he had missed but with the room almost bare he wasn't sure how he could miss something. Travis started to feel around the room for any hiding cubbies like the one that Kaleb had opened up. Though there was no luck for him in the living room, he got to his feet and turned to go to his mother's room but stopped short when his eyes glanced over to the basement door. He stood there staring at it for a while, he wasn't sure what he was thinking but was he really going to let that old man get to him even in death. It's just a door leaning down to a large room, what's the big deal he thought to himself and walked over to the door.

Travis gripped the handle and turned it slowly. Soon the door was all the way open and he looked down the stairs to the darkened room. One last deep breath and he descended the stairs one at a time. When he was at the bottom he turned on the light thinking nothing of that small gesture but as the light flooded the basement images started to play in his head.
 
The basement was all empty now, no furniture or anything. Even the rug had been removed by the police for testing. Everything was gone and Kaleb had made sure of it. But the memories were still there and nothing was worse then memories. Kaleb was searching in other rooms for the photo album. He found different ones, and he looked through them, gagging in disgust at what he saw. The bastard even took photos of them. He closed them and set them in a garbage bag to be burned, after checking to make sure there weren't any normal photos hidden in them. He then found one that had normal photos and thought that that might have been it so he saved it.
 
Travis hadn't moved a single inch since the light went on, his mind just kept playing his memories over and over again. It started out as bits and pieces but then the events played in full. Travis dropped to his knees, his mouth repeating the words that he used to cry out when his father would rape and beat him. Tears welled up in his eyes, so it had been a horrible idea to come down here. Though like many times in his childhood he screamed for his brother. "Kaleb!" Though not realizing it he had actually screamed out for his brother. Travis clung to the railing to the stairs trying to hold onto the rest of his sanity "Kaleb...save me" he called out once more though his scream died out at the end.
 
Kaleb panicked and ran downstairs and then to the basement. He could see Travis crying and he could see him shaking. He picked him up and held him close rocking him. "Shh.... It's okay Travis.... I'm right here... I'm right here," he murmured softly, carrying him up to the living room and sitting with him on the floor. He held him close, rubbing his back and making sure his grip on him was strong but comforting. "It's okay Travis, I'm right here," he said softly to him.
 
Travis wasn't sure how long he was in the basement just that he felt arms around him and he looked around. He was back in the living room with his brother, his brother was still here. That was the happiest thing that he could think of. Travis wrapped his arms around his brother and gripped tightly, he was afraid that if he let go he would wake up and still be with his father. That had happened a couple of times when he was growing up and then his father would beat him for calling out for someone 'who didn't exist' anymore or something like that. "Don't go away...please..." he buried his head into Kaleb's shoulder taking a few deep breaths. It smelled like his brother and it felt like his brother so this had to be real.
 
Kaleb continued to hold his brother close, holding him tightly. He would never leave his brother again. Never, not even if his brother told him to leave, he would stay. He began humming the lullaby he used to sing to Travis on days like that when they were younger. He leaned against the wall and held Travis as he hummed. running his hand up and down the boys back to help him relax. He could feel Travis tremble in his arms and it concerned him but he still hummed, hoping that his brother would calm down and maybe even fall asleep. He leaned his head over and kissed his brothers forehead like he used to.
 
His mind was soothing quickly, the lullaby helped. That brought back good memories of when he was younger and even made him yawn a little bit. It felt nice to be this close to his brother once more. He figured that there was hope for him yet and his eyes started to close, his body had calmed down but part of it was feeling something else. Sleep...need sleep he thought to himself and his eyes dropped closed. His breath became even though he still clung tightly to his brother. Travis could fall asleep like this every night if he got the change. "Don't...leave...love my...brother" Travis began to talk in his sleep, something that he wasn't aware of though some partners that he had months back told him that he did. Travis wouldn't believe them because they had told him that he talked about his brother in his sleep and at that time he hated his brother with every fiber of his being.
 
Kaleb smiled, hearing Travis talk in his sleep but he still held the boy as he slept. He didn't mind it and he still hummed, he hummed that same lullaby until he himself fell asleep. He still held Travis, and even asleep, his grip stayed firm as he made sure his brother was close and safe. He didn't know how he did it but he had been told that he did that as he slept. He held onto people and usually they felt safe and warm. He remembered only doing this to help his brother sleep. He remembered his brother would sneak into Kaleb's room and cuddle into him, still crying but when Kaleb hugged him and began humming he would relax and fall into a deep sleep.