[ Red Marks and Apple Trees ]
(Aiden & Jesse)

Aiden covered his mouth, holding the door shut with trembling hands. In the other rooms, he heard them shouting, screaming... crying. He flinched when he heard a loud crash, followed by another yell.

Aiden held the door steady, his fingers in between the grills of the closet. The gaps made it impossible to see anything outside, but he could hear his parents just fine.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching his hiding place, making him let go of the door and huddle at the back of the space, trying to hide. Unfortunately when he let go of the door, it opened with a loud creak, revealing his hiding place.

More footsteps approached his door and Aiden closed his eyes, trying to shield himself. "No hiding Aiden." the male voice said loudly as he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him out of his hiding place.

"N-no!" Aiden gasped, trying to get away but his desire to flee must've made his father even angrier. With not hint of remorse, he flung Aiden to the hard wooden floor, making the boy hit the wall with a loud crack. Aiden whimpered, trying to stand but his father stood before him, blocking his exit.

"Remember what I said?" the man asked, taking out a long piece of wood. Aiden trembled when he saw it. Ever since he was a child, he feared it. When he was younger, he always wore a long sleeved shirt before going to sleep, in case his father decided to hit him. At least the cloth offered some protection from the wood.

"No running. No hiding. Repeat after me." his father said calmly as he hit the stick against his hand, waiting for Aiden to obey.

The boy clenched his fists, drawing them close to his chest as he looked up at the man he called his father. "N-no running." he murmured, trying to cover himself as soon as the rod hit him, earning him a red mark across his arm.

"What else?"

Aiden held his arm, which was stinging with burning pain and starting to itch. "No h-hiding." he bit his lip to stop from crying, since his father hated it whenever he cried. "Good. Remember what I said."

With that, Aiden tensed up when he saw his father raise the rod.

**********************

He didn't want to see anyone in school the next day, in case they asked questions. But as soon as he stepped into the school grounds, he heard a few whispers, and snickers.

Aiden had gone to school without covering his arms, which were burning with angry red marks and lines, all across his body. His beating last night had left him with more than fifty cane marks and even a bump on his forehead, which didn't seem to hurt.

At least it wasn't like last time, when his father had thrown a chair at him, making Aiden instinctively throw up his hands to protect himself. That incident left him with his pinkie nail broken off. The whole nail just broke, making him cry with shock. And of course, him crying made his father hit him more.

"Aiden." a familiar voice called from behind, making him flinch and turn, to see Lukas, his blonde friend who always got perfect scores on all tests and was adored by his teachers and parents. "I've been calling you for fifteen times. What's up?"

"Oh.. I'm sorry," Aiden replied, "I was just thinking."

"Are you alright?" Lukas asked, suddenly noticing the marks, making his eyes widen. "Aiden! What happened to you? Did you hurt yourself?" Lukas grabbed Aiden's arm, making him immediately leap back and pull his arm away.

"Please don't.. don't touch me." He whimpered, forcing back his tears. "Don't."

Lukas's shook his head, holding out a hand. "It's okay, Aiden. Really... I'm not going to hurt you!" he pleaded, his fingers an inch from his red marked arms.

"I-I don't need your help. I'm fine." Aiden sprinted away, leaving Lukas behind as he hid behind the school, where there were a couple of trees and plants. Running his hands through his messy brown hair, Aiden took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm.

"You good?"

Aiden jumped, looking around and seeing no one. Where... did that voice come from?

"Up here." the voice came again, making Aiden look up and right at a tree, where there was a boy hanging out with some unripe apples. "You okay?" the boy asked, eating an apple as green as his eyes.

Aiden didn't know what to say, since it wasn't everyday you'd meet someone hanging out in a tree and asking if you were alright. "I-I.." he stammered as the boy smiled, finishing the apple with one more bite and throwing it onto the grass.

"I-Isn't that littering?" Aiden asked, stepping back as the green eyed boy jumped down from he branches and approached him, his black backpack swinging beside him. "Meh, the ants would love it." the boy smirked, his brown hair falling into his eyes.

"What's up, kid." he stuck out a gloved hand. "I'm Jesse."

"You're my age." Aiden told him, regarding his outstretched hand, which was covered with apple juice and who knows what else. Germs, probably. "Tch," Jesse shrugged, "The way you're acting, it's like you're barely five."

"Oh shut up," Aiden snapped, surprising himself. Jesse smirked, "That's more like it. Now why don't you accept my hand or are you going to leave me hanging?"

Aiden reluctantly shook Jesse's hand, which was, indeed, covered with apple juice.

"What's your name, kid?" Jesse asked as he swung his backpack around to open it. Aiden watched as he rummaged around in it, looking for something.

"Aiden. And stop calling me kid." he replied, as Jesse pulled out a pen and paper. "Good. I like you, kid. Here."

Jesse was obviously a very confident guy, since he was holding out a string of numbers and a drawing of a middle finger, which Aiden looked at him for.

"What? I was bored and besides, don't mind the scribbles all over it," Jesse brushed away his hair, "That's my english homework but I don't care."

"Is this your phone number?" Aiden asked, looking down at the numbers. Jesse smirked, "No shit. It's a random bunch of numbers which you can call. Of course it's my phone number."

The two boys looked up when the bell rang, signalling the start of the day.

"Gotta go." Jesse raised two fingers to his head like a salute, "See you around, kid." with that, he left Aiden at the back of the school, still holding onto the paper with Jesse's phone number on it.

-End