"I know, but something has to be done. Just give me a chance to see if I can help."
"Fine, you win. But the moment we hear something going wrong, we're coming in." Aiden leans forward with his elbows on the table. "He won't hurt you, we all know that, but right now he-"
"I promise, the second I can't handle it, I will call you," I tell them all, as they all look at me with worry.
Should I be worried about this? They're all looking at me like I'm about to walk into the lion's den. Is Atlas going to bite?
Rhys and Aiden called me out of my room, twenty minutes ago, but they haven't let me in the room. They keep saying that it will be the wrong move, Atlas can do anything, I have no idea how many times I can repeat myself and tell them I will be okay.
"Listen, you two are annoying me now, so I'm going in," I push them out the way, and before they can stop me, I open the door and quickly walk in.
I close the door, then walk over to the bed, and see Atlas passed out on the bed. My heart breaks, seeing him like this. The evening light shines on his face, and I can see him fighting in his sleep. I lean closer to his bed and stroke his face softly.
"You will be back to your old self in no time," I say as I pull a chair closer to me, and sit down taking my drawing pad out. I make myself comfortable, as I wait for Atlas to wake up.
I've been putting a cold flannel on his forehead, as he's been sweating a lot, trying to cool him down.
He's been muttering things in his sleep, and he's back to his war. I don't understand a word that Atlas is saying, it's coming out as half words. Words that seem like noise to me.
"What the fuck?" I jump as Atlas shouts, I must have fallen asleep. "I've told you, I don't know what they want." Atlas jumps up in bed, looks around, getting off the chair, I take a few steps back, as he moves around the bed.
"You're home, it's Brooklyn," I tell him as I switch on the lights.
Atlas blinks a few times to adjust to the light. His eyes are so red at the moment. He moves to the other side of the bed, his hands in a fist. Atlas' fighting himself, the crease in his forehead shows tension.
"You need to fucking leaving. Rhys-"
"They won't come, you're stuck with me for a while," I move closer to the bed, but still far enough. "I want the Atlas I first met, so I'm staying until he comes back home," I say, but stop the moment Atlas starts shouting at me.
Atlas screams, as he walks over to the door leading to his office, he begins kicking it when it won't open. Rhys changed all the locks to leave his room, and I have the key to the main door.
Now I know that this is the alcohol talking, and he doesn't mean what he is saying. He doesn't even know what he's saying.
"Get the fuck out of my-"
"I'm not leaving so you can fight me all you want, I'm going to ask Gino to get some soup ready," I tell Atlas as I make my way out the bedroom. I look behind my shoulder to see what Atlas is doing, and his sat on the floor rocking back and forth giving me the chance to leave the room. So, if he tries to escape when I come back in, Rhys and Aiden will help me; I don’t think he has the energy to fight anyone at the moment.
I shout down to Gino to bring me some soup up when I turn around, I'm met with Aiden and Rhys staring at me.
"So that's a lot of shouting going on in there, must be going good," Aiden tells me, and I give him a smile.
"He’s awake, telling me to leave, saying a few other words in there too, so I think it's going well," I tell them both as they laugh at me.
"We are downstairs, shout when you need us," Rhys gives me a kiss on the cheek.
"You fuckers!" We all look between us, as Atlas continues to shout.
"He has to get tried sooner or later," I joke.
They both laugh at me, as I see Gino walking over to us.
"Your soup," he hands me a tray with the soup and some bread on it.
"Thank you, wish me luck," I give them all a smile.
"Remember we're downstairs," Aiden reminds me, and I give them a nod, to tell them that I know, and I will be fine.
Atlas shouts for Aiden and Rhys as I walk back into the room.
"You shouldn't be here, I'm not-"
"I've got some soup, can you sit up. pl-"
"You need to fucking leave Brooklyn!" Atlas shouts, which makes me stand at the foot of the bed for a moment, and just let him take out whatever he wants to say to me. "You think that this is going to help me?" I don't say anything back to him, I stare at him, waiting for him to finish his rant. "What do you want from me?" Atlas screams.
"For you to have some soup before it gets cold," I tell him, as I start walking closer to him again. Atlas watches me walking over to him, his eyes locked with mine. "Would you like some bread?"
I'm returned with silence, but I can still feel him watching me.
As I put the tray on the side, I see him power walk over to me, his hand around my neck.
"You need to leave!" He shouts as he tightens his grip. "Brooklyn, I will hurt you. Leave!"
"I will...." I try to talk but can't. "Have...some...soup."
I cough as Atlas lets go of me, and walks over to the bed and pulls out some cuffs from the draws. Watching him cuff himself to the bed.
"I can't hurt you." Atlas throws the keys to me. "Only open for the bathroom, and only if you believe I won't hurt you."
I stand there for a moment, as Atlas rocks back and forth, mumbling to himself.
"I can't keep you safe if you stay with me. Even if after all this, I can't-"
"Why did you take me? If you knew your demons were eating away at you, why bring me here? Why be the way you are, and get me to fall in love with you if you knew all this was happening?" I ask him.
He’s going to play the card of his demons, and that's fine he can, because what happened to him is fucked up, and I know that no one will ever recover from that, but these demons were still eating him before he took me.
"Fine, you don't want to eat, don't." I put the tray on the side and grab my pad and pencil. If he wants to play this game, then we will until he hears me out properly.
I started drawing this image about a week ago, a beautiful picture of Atlas and me together, if I had the right paints I would one hundred percent paint this and frame it. Once it's finished, I think it would look like a photo shoot of us.
I look up at Atlas as he fights but I don't say anything to him. I will wait for him to talk first now, one thing I have learned about Atlas is that he is a man that likes things his way, and for the most part I'm more than happy to follow that, but right now, I'm staying, and he has to stop having a baby tantrum about it.
"Can you open a fucking window?" Atlas shouts at me.
The drink is wearing off, and he's been unsettled for a few hours now. I'm doing everything I can to help him through it, but he won't let me anywhere close to him. Asked for Aiden and Rhys a few times, but I've told him over and over again that they’re not coming, so he might as well stop asking me.
I get up to open the window and grab a water bottle. "Would you like some water now?" I ask him.