Trigger warning this is kinda sad

With Andy's voice in his ears, Remington finishes drawing the man's hair, humming quietly to the song and holding the drawing up, smiling at it proudly. He looks up at the clock on the wall opposite the bed. There's five minutes until Kacey is done with her school work, and he knows she'll come here. Remington signs his name on the paper and Faithless by Black Veil Brides starts playing. The boy turns it up and leans back against the headboard, putting the sketchbook down on the bedside table.

When Kacey comes in he pauses the music and takes the headphones off, smiling at her as she flops down onto the bed. "What was it today? Algebra? Graphs?"

The girl groans into the bed. "I hate school," she complains, drawing out the words. "Can we do some colouring?"

"Sure we can. Lemme get the book. What happened in school?"

"Nothing, I just hate it." She lifts her head up and watches him for a moment. "The pens are there," she says, pointing to the desk.

Remington hums, picking them up with the book in his hand. "We were doing that tiger one, weren't we?"

"Yep. And you broke the blue pen." She giggles at the thought.

The singer chuckles, sitting on the bed and picking up a pillow. "My hand is still blue, look." He puts the pillow over both their laps, the book between them. "Honestly, Kace, I'm more of a child than you are, and I'm an adult."

"Well adults are boring and you're not." She takes a pen from the packet and pulls the cap off.

"Adults are boring."

They sit on the bed colouring for a while, until Remington has to go to therapy. He leaves the girl in his room with the book and the pens, not minding her being in there and aware that she doesn't like it much in her room.

In his therapists office, he sits in the cushioned black chair and leans his elbows on the table between them. "Hello, Remington," the man greets, "how are you feeling today?"

Remington shrugs. "Pretty good. Apart from my brothers ruining my life."

"Do you want to talk about that?"

He shrugs again. "Basically they joined another fucking band and didn't even tell me. And they played a song that I wrote without even asking me." There's a photo of someone on the table, and Remington wonders who it is.

"Have you talked to them about it?"

"No, because they won't vist me!"

When the session is over, he goes back to his room, joining Kacey back on the bed and complimenting her colouring. She smiles and puts the pen in her hand down. Remington sits next to her and she leans on his shoulder with a sigh. "What's wrong?" The older asks, sensing a sadness that wasn't present before.

Kacey doesn't answer straight away, and when she does, her tone is so similar to how Remington's is when he's upset. "On my tenth birthday she got so drunk that she passed out."

"That's awful."

"And I had to tidy up. She only got me one present. It was a second hand book that still had the price in. She spent fifty pence on it."

Remington shakes his head in disbelief.

"And the day after she was too hungover to take me to school in the morning. I nearly got hit by a car because I had to walk by myself across the main road. It was so scary." She feels Remington's arm around her and she tries to recall the last time her mother sat with her like this. She can't remember. "On my eleventh she had a boyfriend called Jacob. She forgot it was my birthday and went out with him. I was left at home on my own for the whole night and half of the next day. She didn't even call to see if I was still alive. I don't think she even cared."

It's hard to process what she's saying. Hard to get his head around how her mother could neglect her like that. "I'm so sorry, Kace, that's not okay. Eleven is too young to be at home alone."

She nods. "I know. I tried to cook a frozen pizza in the oven and burnt my hand on the metal rack thing."

"Bloody hell."

"It hurt so much. I cried myself to sleep."

Remington doesn't even know what to say.

"On my twelth she told me I was too old for presents, even though she didn't get me any the year before, either. My friend gave me five pounds and that was all I got. And I had to give it to mum when she forgot her wallet to buy some more cigarettes." None of this has ever been said out loud before. She's always been so scared of someone telling her off for snitching on her mother, but it's different with Remington. She feels safe with him. "She smoked inside all the time even though I have asthma. She even offered me one once."

"Oh my God, what the fuck?"

"I used her lighter to burn myself once when she left it out. She didn't even notice. The counsellor in school made me go to the doctors because I kept talking about dying. Mum didn't let me go. On my thirteenth we were evicted because she wasn't paying rent. We moved in with her boyfriend."

"Jacob?"

Kacey shakes her head. "No. Graham. He was actually quite nice. But then mum cheated on him with my head teacher. We were kicked out of his house and stayed with Grandma. But then Gran died and the house was in my mum's sister's name so we couldn't live their. She took me out of school. I never did SATS because of it. I tried to overdose in a toilet in a hostel because we had no where to stay. Mum shouted at me for it in hospital. Called me selfish and immature. And then she dumped me here for my fourteenth, which is tomorrow."

"You've been treated like shit," Remington says, "and no one thought to ask how you were?"

"No. Never. It was like I was invisble. I actually started believing that I was until you talked to me."

"Wait, it's your birthday tomorrow?"

The girl nods.

"You're not invisble, sweetie, by the way. You're awesome. Here, have a hug."

"Did I do something wrong, Remi, to make her hate me?"

He pulls her into his lap. "No, absolutely not. This is all on your shitty mother. She's treated you like crap and you didn't deserve any of that. Not one bit." Her body curls into him and he rests his chin on the top of her head. "And it's over now."

Kacey shakes her head. "It's not. I have to go back to her when I leave here. And I leave in a week, so..."

"A week? Fuck."

"Remi, I'm scared."

The singer is tearing up. The thought of her going back to that disgrace of a mother makes him feel sick. "I know. It's gonna be okay. You'll be okay."

She rubs her eyes. His hug is like a protective bubble around her. "I can't go back to her. I wanna stay with you." A tear slides down her face. "I feel better with you."

"Do you have a phone? Like your own phone?"

"Yeah. It's rubbish though."

Remington holds her tight. "I'm gonna give you both mine and my husband's numbers, okay? I don't have my phone here, but if you need to talk to someone, you can always text Andy. He's so good at making me feel better, and I'm sure he can help you, too."

The girl sinks down so she's almost lying on him. "Really?"

"Of course. I'll tell him when he visits on Friday. I'm not gonna let you go back to her without knowing there's someone here for you."

"Thankyou so much."

"You don't need to thank me, sweetie. I know what it's like to have no one to turn to when you're feeling like you can't carry on. I'm gonna make sure you have someone. Even if it's just to say good night when your mum doesn't." Kacey sobs and Remington turns her around in his lap, holding her to his chest and stroking her hair. "You listen to me, okay. You will get through this. I know you will. You have me and you have Andy and we are not gonna let you go through this on your own anymore. If you ever need someone, we are here, okay? Always."

And he means it.

Always.