Page 33 of Boys Like You

“Are you okay?” she asks JD.

“I will be,” JD answers.

“Why don’t you go lie in bed and Levi can come get your sleeping pill.”

JD nods and walks towards her bed, and I follow Mumma B out into the kitchen. She switches on the light and gives me a look.

“Nothing happened, I swear.” I get defensive for no reason, I know she trusts me.

“I didn’t think it did. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I know that would be hard for you.” She understands that I couldn’t save my mum, but I could save Maximus from his nightmares. I still struggle with not being near him to help when he needs me.

“I still have nightmares about him sometimes. When he first came here, he was tiny, and I couldn’t help him.” I remember thinking he didn’t look like a six-year-old kid. I thought he was about four until Mumma B explained we were the same age.

“Levi, you helped Maximus so much and still do.”

“I know; it just makes me feel so useless.” She hands me one of JD’s pills and a glass of water.

“Go comfort her. Keep your pants on and zipped up and do not tell the others; Rocky will get ideas in his head.” I laugh at her comment, Rocky likes to see how far he can push the boundaries.

“Thanks, Mumma B.” I wrap one arm around her and pull her into my side, kissing her forehead.

She smiles and leaves the kitchen. I flick the light off on my way out.

JD is sitting on her bed crying, and it breaks my heart. I slip my shoes off at the door and go to her.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, placing her water and pill on a small square piece of wood that is made to hold a phone or lamp. John’s version of a bedside table.

“I don’t know how to explain it. The dreams I don’t usually remember, I just have these feelings when I wake up screaming, but tonight was different. I felt sick to my stomach, repulsed. I don’t want to remember, Levi. Whatever happened to me must’ve been bad.”

“I don’t blame you. Sometimes I wish I could forget.” Sitting beside her, I hand her the pill Mumma B gave me. “Here, take this.” She takes it and then curls up under the covers, facing me.

“Can you stay until I fall asleep?” She looks so small and innocent, all my fears about her leaving us are pushed aside and my need to protect her kicks in.

“Mumma B already said I could.” She smiles at me and watches as I take off my hoodie. Her eyes roam over my bare chest. I lay on my side, facing her. “Sleep now, I will be here.” Her eyes close again, and I stroke her hair until she falls asleep.

I’m glad I was here tonight. It may not make much sense to me, and I’ve got a lot to work through, but one thing that’s clear to me is, even if JD tried to leave, I wouldn’t be able to let her go. She is so broken inside that she needs me… Us. Hero complex be damned, if she needs me to be Spiderman then I will even wear the cape and bodysuit for her.

Marlene from child services is coming for a routine check to make sure everything is going well, and to see how my progress is coming along. I don’t have much to tell her. I still don’t remember anything, and I still have nightmares almost every night and anxiety attacks. I have started getting flashes, nothing vivid, but it's someone pushing me. And someone is screaming out for help but I can’t see anything. I know I should tell someone but I’m afraid that the more I know, the closer I am to forgetting my new life like Lena suggested.

Rory has been trying to be the picture-perfect son so he could get help from his mum to enroll me if we needed to, but he had a meeting with his principal; and by meeting, I mean he just turned up on his doorstep and blackmailed him, so he has everything we need. They can enroll me under the exchange student program temporarily so I can attend, but I won’t be credited if I remember who I am and go back to my old school. I will also need to sit some tests to see if I am even smart enough to be placed into senior classes.

When we see Marlene pull into the driveway in her gold Nissan Tida, all the guys get restless. Beth reminds them it’s just a regular visit and they won’t take me anywhere. Not today. There have been no leads as to who I am or where I came from on the police front.

Beth answers the door when Marlene knocks. She looks around the lounge room that has been taken over by boys.

“Well hello, boys, it’s nice to see you all again,” she says, walking into the room. “JD, you look different.”

“Better, I hope.” I try to make a joke of the situation.

“Of course. I wasn’t expecting such an audience today,” she says to Beth.

“The boys are taking JD out today; lunch at Maximus’s house.”

“It’s good that you’re getting out and about,” Marlene adds, taking a seat next to Beth. We go through everything from my memory to sleeping. She takes notes the whole way through, then asks me to show her my room. I think she just wanted to ask me questions about the guys. She seems happy with my answer, agreeing that it’s good to get out and live. I use that comment to my advantage.

“So, I was thinking… I want to go to school.” She turns and looks at me.

“School? I don’t even know how that would be possible with no name, ID or birthdate.”

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