Infinite (Eminem x reader)

Chapter 12

"Mhm..?"

"Every week I give Lily a bit of money so she can have something to eat at school. She's supposed to get picked up at three, but no one around her fucking bothers. I can't usually get her until I'm off work, or done with whatever is going on at the time so she stays in a program." Marshall grumbled. "Turn's out mom's been taking it every time she knows she has it. She didn't want to tell me. I don't know, it pissed me off I guess. I just lost it. A simple fucking meal, is that really so much for a kid to ask for? Lily's never asked her for a damn thing. She hardly asks me for anything. So why.."

"How'd you do it?" You questioned. "I don't- I mean, it all sounds so hard. From everything I've heard, from what you've told me, you were alone for most of what you went through. Why.. didn't you ever try to tell anyone?"

Marshall held onto you tighter, and for a moment you worried you had pushed a little too far. "You really want to know?" He questioned. He sounded as though he still didn't quite understand. "There's nothing rosy about what I have to say."

You hardly hesitated before nodding, resting your head against his chest as you stared out at the fire place.

"Debbie Nelson has always been a manipulative cunt." He started. "At least, thats one of the last things my dad warned me about before he dipped out on us. After he left, I guess that's when you can say things went bat shit. Or maybe they've always been like that, and I didn't notice because it was never directed at me."

Any inkling of sleep that had been writhing in your mind had left you as you listened.

"I guess that's when I started getting into trouble too. Vandalism, destruction of property, the mild stuff you know?"

"Yeah, totally mild." You teased lightly. He smiled a quietly, the tension in his body leaving a bit.

"So teachers never wanted anything to do with me. Neither did the other students. I had an uncle who'd come in to check that I was still alive from time to time. Sometimes he'd bring over groceries, since she never bought any. Every time he did though, she'd get pissed. She pushed this bullshit narrative that I was sick, and that what I needed more than groceries was money for medicine.

"She even started making me take shit I didn't need. Stuff that would actually make me sick. So.. sooner or later people started to buy into her crap. I wasn't just a problem, I was the sick problem. When neighbors and other people actually started donating money to her, I tried to tell them what happened. It only really ended up making its way back to her, every time. And every time the punishments she'd come up with.." his voice trailed.

"It's fucking ironic isn't it? There isn't a damn person on that block now, or even then who'd donate money to a starving kid that actually needs it. But to somehow help a 'single mother' control her son, the entire community needs to put their foot down and step in doesn't it? The thing that topped it off was hearing that the teachers were the biggest contributors to those donations." He rolled his eyes.

"Eventually.. when they started seeing her strung out in some place or another, they put two and two together. Everyone.. everyone knew at that point."

"Did they..?"

"Apologize? No. Why the fuck would they anyways? With a head stuffed with Vicodin and who knows what the hell else, it was enough to shut me up for a while. That was good enough for them."

"They helped her hurt you. Even if an apology did nothing. After they realize, the fact that they didn't at least.." you found it increasingly difficult to keep the frustration out of your voice.

Marshall shrugged. "I guess that isn't how they saw it. After a while.. I realized she was trying to start the same kind of thing with Lily, but with a different pattern." He shook his head. "I promised her, and myself that I wouldn't let anything happen to her. That when she did need me the most, I'd always be around the corner or some shit. But today.. today I took too long."