WARNING: Janus' dad. That's all you need to know

"Hey Ro?" Remus leaned over the side of his bunk and looked down at his brother. "Ro? Ro? Roman?" He picked up his pillow and threw it at Roman's face, jolting him awake.

"Jesus!" Roman hissed. "Remus, what do you want?"

"What should I do about Jan?"

"Do about him? What d'you mean?"

"Jan's in... a bit of trouble."

"If it's hurting him, call Childline or the cops but leave me out of it, I'm going to sleep. I've got a show tomorrow." With that, Roman turned over and threw his face down into his pillow. Remus sighed and stared at the ceiling, knowing he probably wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.

Janus looked up as he heard a branch break. He scanned the woods outside his gate for a few seconds before breathing out, his breath curling in a fog in front of his face, and huddling his limbs tighter together to try and retain as much body heat as he could. He'd brought out a blanket but it hadn't helped much and balancing a torch while reading was very difficult even when you weren't trying to contain as much heat as you could.

"Why are you out here in the freezing cold?" He thought. It was close to December now and the warmth of the sun wasn't going to come back any time soon. "Because I'm still afraid of what I told Rem." Janus whispered to himself, his breath puffing out and floating away.

And he was afraid. Afraid that Remus might do something to get himself hurt. Afraid that his dad would find out about what he'd said. And afraid that Remus might call someone.

"How much harm could calling the cops do?" A small voice in his head asked. But Janus knew all the harm it could do. His dad was as good at lying as he was - better, really - and once the cops had gone, Janus would be severely punished. No more privacy, no more phone, no more seeing or talking to Remus and definitely no more public school. No more social life. Janus shivered, not from the cold but from the thought of what could happen, what his life would go back to, if someone was called. He didn't want to remember what happened in his past but the memories floated to the front of his mind anyway.

"Janus? Janus?!"

6-year-old Janus jumped and looked around, turning away from the window. His hair was short but his fringe was long and he shook it out of his eyes. His dad grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the window with a sharp yank.

"Ow!" Janus cried. "Dada, you're hurting me."

"You know the rules, Janus." Peter growled, letting go of his son's arm and closing the curtains. "No looking out of the windows. Don't want people to see you and your affliction, do we?"

Janus' small hand ran up the scars on the left side of his face and tears sprang to his eyes as he remebered the pain and the heat that had brought these scars into existence.

"No dada." Janus whispered. Peter nodded curtly.

"I want you to go to your room, Janus."

"Yes dada."

"And stop that silly sniffling. Real boys don't cry."

Janus thought back to when his mum had left. His dad had cried then. He had cried a lot. He swallowed and wiped his eyes.

"Yes dada."

*flashbacks to The Boy On The Other Side Of The Fence*
Well then... have fun reading my Writer's Block angst.
Bye,
Blaize