Across endless patches of the greenest grass possible, Carter ran. With every stampede of one of his feet on the firm ground, crystal clear and thick red drops fell from his face, and yet Carter didn’t have it in him to dry his eyes or check the true damage of his wound. Unable to tell whether he had run far or short for his eyes insisted on going in and out of focus, all the while his mind seemed to be losing fuel, Carter ran much further than his legs would permit him to. As if on auto-pilot, his brain led him through shortcuts he used to know ever since he was a little boy, but no matter how far or fast Carter ran, much to his own body’s protest, it never felt like he was distancing himself from the screams of the woman and the sharp edges of the rake she had used to hit her son’s face.

The woman’s cursing only subdued when he hit the ugly highway that separated his little farm town from the overgrowing city on its other side. Having the busy highway as familiar to him as the acres of open land behind him, Carter knew the best spot where to cross it somewhat safely. Carter didn’t have anything on him, not a phone nor a wallet or ID, especially not a single coin in his old pockets, but by now, his conscious mind was beginning to see the smallest hints of where his survival instincts were leading him. His exhausted body needed to be strong just for a little bit more, after all, those with better lives wouldn’t dream of living so close to a noisy and stinky highway.

In the end, Carter felt as if he had run for hours on end, and he might have, for the indigo sky above his swollen head didn’t resemble at all the cyan cloudless day which had been so brutally cut short when that woman found the truth about her child.

After countless busy streets and crossroads, Carter faced the familiar intercom and used the last of his strength to press the button. Knowing the cameras on each side of the automated gate would catch a glimpse of him allowed Carter to briefly believe he had reached a point of safety. Relaxation, however, came with a heavy price. Carter’s physical and mental exhaustion had at long last caught up with him and applying all his weight to the button seemed to have taken from him the last of his strength; feeling and seeing nothing else, Carter collapsed on the pavement.

‘Thinking about that day again?’ David’s soft voice reached Carter’s ears, making him open his eyes. The sight of David always brought peace to Carter and tonight, seeing his husband in a white tee with grey sweatpants made Carter’s already fast-beating heart race itself for a whole different reason.

‘How long have you been there?’ Carter asked, stretching his right arm on David’s direction. His husband took his hand and shortened the distance between them. It felt weird at times, being married when he hadn’t even turned nineteen, but David and Carter have shared far too many years together for their similarly young age to matter much to them.

‘I was about to go take a shower when I saw you reaching for the scars on your temple, so I decided to keep an eye on you,’ David answered, caressing his husband’s hair shortly above said scars, yet he didn’t touch the patch of altered skin. ‘When I saw you closing your eyes in defeat, I thought the memory had reached its end.’

‘And why didn’t you interrupt me sooner?’ Carter asked through a defeated tone.

‘Because you and I both learned this lesson a long time ago,’ David replied. ‘And I must say that, although I wish those memories would fade soon, I am proud of you to see you can now sit through them without causing damage to your present self. It means the therapy is working.’

‘After five years, it was bound to start having an effect at some point.’

The couple chortled.

‘Must we really go out tonight?’ Carter continued.

‘Obviously not,’ David answered. ‘But I know my husband well and I know you’ll regret it in the morning. Come, Carter. Let’s take a shower together, let me take care of you and then we’ll go out celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary.’

Thinking how at ease he felt whenever he and David shared a hot shower, Carter gave his hand to his husband and allowed himself to be propelled from the armchair where he had spent the last forty minutes, staring at the front gate of their house, where a similar intercom stuck from the floor.