The In - Between (EE/Sean centred)

[Cherryz]

Part 7

Burning - in his lungs and in his eyes. He had been in the army, he could run for miles and not break a sweat. He’d barely even made it across Walford when his lungs felt ready to explode. Contracting for air, his chest ached, but he knew the signs – it was panic. He had to lean against a wall for support as he tried to calm his erratic breathing. His eyes were squeezed shut, trying to suppress the tears. It took a while before he had calmed down enough to find his way to a bench and sit down on it.

He soon found the green slip of paper back in his hands; he stared at it and what it meant, what it symbolised. Sean screwed up the prescription and chucked it onto the ground, ignoring it as it bounced off the foot of some suited man.
“Did your mother ever tell you not to drop litter?” Max bent down and picked it up.
Sean’s frown wavered as he stared downwards, “Shut up Max, I don’t need your stupid little remarks right now”
The adult shifted his feet on the gravel and regarded the younger male, picking up on the melancholic air about him. “Something on your mind?”
“Can’t you take a hint?” Sean snapped, “go away!” he rubbed at his face and sniffed.
“…have you been crying?”
Sean made a sound, and moved to stand up.
“What’s wrong?”
“You wouldn’t want to know”
“Well try me!”
“Get out of my way!”
“Tell me what’s wrong”
“I said get out of my way!”
“Or what, you’ll try and punch me again?” Max spread his arms, “take a swing if you like, but it won’t make anything better”
“We’ll see”-
“What it is? Hurt yourself again?”
“Shut up, you don’t even know what you’re talking about!”
“Well what is it then, is it Stacey?” Max stayed in the way as Sean tried to move again, “she’s been spending an awful lot of time with your mum lately” Max jibed, noting the way Sean flinched at that sentence. “Something to do with your mum then?”
“Don’t pretend you care!” Sean exploded, shoving at him, “you don’t know me! You think I’m just going to tell you of all people what’s wrong with me?” he pushed the older man again, “You wouldn’t understand, nobody does!”
Max grappled with him, “Hey calm down”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!”
“Alright, alright!” Max had his hands on the other man’s shoulders, “if you want to talk sit down and talk to me, or if not, you can leave right now, I’ll let you go. Okay?”
Sean pulled away from him and ran a hand through his hair, casting Max an agitated look. He sighed, and closed his eyes, before sitting on the bench with his elbows resting on his knees, his face in his hands. Slowly, Max sat next to him.

“You told me everything was alright!” Jean was panicking.
“I’m sorry mum” Stacey spoke worriedly, “I tried to talk to him but”-
“Thanks to you he’s left us again Stace! He’s left us because of you!”
“That’s not fair – he’ll come back”-
“DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT FAIR!” Jean shouted, reaching for her bag and coat.
“Mum wait, what are you doing?”
“I’ve got to get home. What if he returns? I have to be there!”
“He’ll come back here mum, he doesn’t know where you live” Stacey followed her mother out into the hallway.
“He’ll come back to me! He was running away from you!” Jean was shouting as she stumbled out of the front door.
“Mum!” Stacey shouted.

Sean smoothed out the green paper resting on his thigh, and then handed it to the man next to him, “This is what’s wrong” he frowned bitterly.
Max opened it up and blinked at the prescription. “Anti-depressants” he stated. “So, you’re also…”
“Yeah I’m also,” Sean looked bitter, “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t need these!”
Max turned his head to regard the young man next to him. “You can’t blame her”
“Of course I can blame her!”
“Surely you can understand what it’s like”-
“No, you don’t understand!” the young man snapped. “You think that because I’m on these, I must understand what its like, feel sympathy for her. You don’t have a clue, we’re completely different, I’m not like that!... It’s not like that”
“Then what is it like?”
Sean exhaled through his nose, then shook his head. “You don’t want to know”
A heavy silence hung between them before Max broke it. “Shouldn’t you be getting these?” Max held the prescription paper aloft.
“I was. I left my wallet” Sean was looking away from him.
Max nodded slowly, before taking out his wallet and slipping some cash out, holding it towards the young man, “here, go and get them before the chemist shuts. You can pay me back later”
The brunette looked from the cash to the face of the older man; “Sure” he took the money.
“I’ll take that as a ‘thankyou’” Max pushed his wallet back into his pocket. Sean rolled his eyes.

[Rach33]

Just caught up and it's brill loving the way the story is unfolding I would love to know more about Max and Sean's interest in each other please post more soon

[Cherryz]

Thanks Rach33, there'll definately be more to come regarding Max and Sean's interesting relationship. For now, here's Part 8

Sean stepped out of the chemists and Max approached him. “Got them?” the older man asked, watching Sean as he nodded slowly. “Are you going to go back home?”
“If she’s there…”
“Then you’ll have to deal with it”
“I can’t though, I can’t handle seeing her. Not now”
Max sighed. “Have you got a mobile on you?”
“Huh? Why?” Sean looked down at Max’s open palm, waiting for it.
“I’ll put in my number. If you need to get away and talk sometime, call me”
“Call you?” Sean raised his eyebrow.
“Who else are you going to go to?” Max shrugged, “besides, it’s better than having no one to talk to”
“Right, in your opinion” Sean murmured, but handed over the phone anyway, watching as Max added his number into the phonebook.
“Well who else knows about this, hm?” Max asked, noting that Sean looked away. “Exactly. You should really tell your family”
“What? In case I go loony?” Sean rolled his eyes.
“Maybe. But they’ll have to find out sometime”
“Whatever” Sean took back his phone, glancing at the screen before putting it in his pocket.
“Want me to walk back with you?”
“I’m not 5, I can cross the street without holding hands with someone” Sean snapped.
Max sighed, “If you say so. If you need me, call me” he nodded to him and walked away.

“Sean?” Stacey called, as the front door was opened and her brother came into view. She was sat on the stairs, huddled up against the railing and had been chewing her nails anxiously. They stared at each other for a long moment.
“Well it’s quiet, so she’s obviously gone” Sean broke the silence, practically sneering out the word ‘she’, referring to their mother.
“I tried to tell you this morning” Stacey looked down guiltily, “honestly”
“And when exactly did you arrange her little visit?”
Her head bent lower with even more weighted guilt. “Yesterday” she answered.
“And you left it till this morning to try and tell me?”
“It’s been hard to talk to you about anything Sean, you’ve been so distant”-
“You knew I didn’t want to see her, or have anything to do with her!”
“I just thought”-
“No Stace, you didn’t think!” Sean snapped and hit the wall, making his sister flinch and hang her mouth open as she stared at him. He exhaled sharply through his nose, and then walked through to the kitchen.
“Sean?” his sister called weakly, coming down the rest of the stairs and following him.
He stopped and walked back to the doorway, forcing her to halt her steps. He held onto the doorframe and glared at her, “what exactly did you think was going to happen Stace?”
“I…I don’t know”
“Did you think we were going to have a happy reunion and be a ‘family’ again?”
“I don’t know!” Stacey snapped back. “I don’t get what your problem is!”
“I ran away Stace, didn’t that tell you anything?”
“No it didn’t” Stacey felt a lump rise in her throat, “and you still refuse to explain why you left!”
Sean sighed in frustration and turned away from her, heading back into the kitchen to get a drink. If he wasn’t on damn medication, he’d have a very strong drink.
“There you go again, walking away without any explanations!”
“Just leave me alone Stace”
“No! You can’t just keep pushing me away – why don’t you ever talk to me?”
“There’s nothing to say”
Stacey swallowed, struggling not to cry tears of frustration. “There’s so much to say”
“I can’t…” Sean trailed off as he gripped to the edge of the kitchen counter. He noticed blood on his knuckles and closed his eyes, “you wouldn’t understand Stacey”
“Don’t give me that” his sister snapped back, “if you gave me a chance”-
“Stace, just leave it, please!”
She frowned and bit her lip. “I’m your sister… you’re my brother, we’re meant to be there for each other” she swallowed as she watched his back. “I’ve needed you so many times over the past few years Sean. I thought since you were back, we could share things, talk to each other, be there for each other… ok, so you ran away, that pretty much made it clear you felt you didn’t need me” she laughed sadly, “but I never stopped caring about you Sean. I’ve only done what I’ve done because I care”
Sean struggled with the warmth stinging his own eyes, as he lowered his head and concentrated on breathing.
“Please Sean, don’t keep shutting me out” Stacey watched him carefully as she pleaded, “if there’s something important I need to know – to understand… please talk to me”
“I…” Sean broke off and bit his lip as he squeezed his eyes shut. ‘Don’t cry, don’t let her weaken you’… “I’m”…
“What?”
He turned his head to look at her. She was looking at with such hope. But how could he tell her? How could he let her cope with knowing she had two relatives that were ill in the head? It would change everything. She’d regard him differently. He didn’t want to be viewed with the same pity and anxiety as people viewed their mum with.
“I’m sorry” he fled out of the back door.

[Cherryz]

Part 9

Sean was sat, leaning against the wall opposite the train station. He stared through blurry eyes at the sign above the entrance, contemplating the idea of just disappearing again. His tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip before he bit on it hard. He had to squeeze his eyes shut again to suppress another unwanted shed of tears.
Opening his eyes he looked down at his bloodied hand resting on his knee and raised it to examine it. The bleeding had stopped, leaving dried stains on his pale skin. The pain had barely been noticeable, but looking at the blood right then, he felt a strange sense of calm.
For some unknown reason, he took his mobile phone from his pocket and scrolled through the phone book, until it came to the name ‘MAX’. He stared for a long while at the name, debating whether or not to gather up the courage to call it.
‘What are you, some kind of cry baby?’ he asked himself, ‘you can’t run crying to Max of all people. He’ll laugh at you, tell you to shut up and be a man. What kind of 22 year old runs away with fear from his mother and sister?’. He sighed and chewed on his lip. Part of him was saying ‘No, that’s not what Max would do. He’d tell you to be brave and talk to your sister’ Max’s earlier words rang in his head – “you really should tell your family”
As if through some psychic intervention, the phone gave a shrill ring and vibrated, surprising him. The name STACEY flashed up on screen, demanding his attention. He felt his own insides vibrate from anxiety as he let it continue to ring.
Sighing, he braced himself and clicked the green button, before holding the phone to his ear. “Yeah?” he spoke, voice sounding dry.
“Sean, where are you?” his sister sounded very worried, “I’m sorry for upsetting you, I didn’t mean to. I won’t push you anymore I promise. I can call mum and tell her you don’t want to see her, that I made a mistake”-
“Stace” he interrupted, bringing a moment of silence between them. “I’m fine, I’m” he glanced up at the sign again. “I’m coming back home. I’ll be a few minutes… we need to talk”
“Okay… okay, I’ll be waiting for you”

Sean entered the house the same way he had left – through the back door. His sister was sat at the kitchen table, but launched herself from her seat as soon as he had come back. Guilt panged in his chest as she threw her arms around him and sobbed, “I’m so sorry Sean, I always mess things up”
“No, it’s me that should be sorry. You were right – I can’t keep just walking away” he rubbed his hand up and down her back.
“I was so scared that I’d pushed you away for real this time, that you’d leave” Stacey sniffed and pulled away.
“Stace, I won’t lie. I thought about it, but then I realised, we do have to talk”
She nodded slowly to herself then noticed the blood, “Your hand”-
“Leave it, it doesn’t matter” Sean waved off. “… do you want to sit down?”
Stacey immediately returned to the seat she had been sat on when he first entered the room. “So” she breathed out nervously, “where do you want to start?”
Sean remained standing, staring at her. Max’s words rang in his head again – she would find out eventually, no matter how much the truth hurt. “I’m not sure how you’re going to take it”
“What?” Stacey asked staring back at him.
He looked down at the floor, staring at it for a long time. He was amazed how patient she was, silently sitting and waiting for him to continue. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the packet of pills. He sighed before holding them out towards her.
She took them off him carefully and stared at the sticker on the front, absorbing in the familiar words on familiar packaging, except it didn’t have their mum’s name on it, it was her brother’s. “How long?” she asked looking up, “how long have you been on them?”
“A few years” he mumbled, continuing to stare at the floor.
“…Before or after you left?”
“After. I took them after”
The teenage girl swallowed as she continued to hold the packet in her hands and looked up at him. “How… how bad have you gotten?”. He refused to look at her, and was silent. “Please Sean, be honest with me… have you, hurt yourself?”
He bit his lip, struggled to speak. “Yeah” he shifted on his feet.
“Have you tried to…”
He nodded, “that’s why I had to leave the army” he admitted quietly. “and once, just after I had left home, after dad…” he closed his eyes and turned away, leaning against the kitchen counter like he had earlier.
Stacey felt the lump rise in her throat again as her eyes stung. “Why didn’t you call us?”
“How could I have?” Sean snapped, “How could I call to tell you something like that?” he struggled to keep composed. “This… it makes me embarrassed Stace, it makes me ashamed! I don’t want anyone to know, I don’t want them to think I’m a freak. I don’t want to be like…like, this!” he hit the counter with his fist, “You know what it was like being raised by mum, how scary it sometimes was… I didn’t want – I don’t want to be…” he trailed off with a sob.
The chair scraped on the floor when his sister got up and went to him, enveloping her arms around him from behind. She felt his chest heave with another sob. “It’s okay Sean, I’m here”
With those words he turned around to put his arms around her. She was so much smaller and younger, but she felt like a big strong force as she held him and let him sob. “I’m not like her Stace, I’m not!”
She swallowed, and thought she was beginning to understand a bit more now. “I know, I know” she continued to hold onto him as tears escaped her own eyes.
She glanced through the open doorway that led to the hall. Through the gap she could see their uncle Charlie stood at the other end, by the front door, listening and looking at her with concern. She shook her head slightly and he seemed to nod in response and retreat, leaving her to comfort her brother who sobbed freely for the first time like that in a long time.

[Skits]

excellent stuff. looking forward to more.

[Rach33]

Ohhhhhh I wnat to read more I love this script and I adore Sean and Stacey so this is brill, still want to know why Max is so wanting to help Sean but I'm sure you will satisfy my curiousity soon *Nudge Nudge Wink Wink* go on please

[Cherryz]

Heya, just a quick message to say sorry its taking a while to update - lectures have started again this week at Uni, and we've got to sort out student housing for next year. It's been a bit ARGH. More soon though, maybe tonight or tomorrow x

[Rach33]

No Probs I remember what it was like when I was at college I felt I would drown in paperwork just post when you can

[Cherryz]

Heya sorry this is short, more tomorrow xxx

Part 10

He was curled up on the sofa in a foetal position, fast asleep with his face resting on the arm bent beneath his head. Stacey spread the blanket over him and rubbed his shoulder in an oddly maternal gesture before quietly leaving the lounge, clicking the door shut gently behind her.
Uncle Charlie was in the kitchen, still contemplating everything Stacey had told him. She sat back down in the seat next to him and picked up her cup half full of tea. “He’s still asleep”
“So he’s definitely taking these pills then?”
Stacey nodded, “well he picked up the prescription didn’t he? And he’s not been bouncing off the walls – we didn’t suspect anything, not even with mum around”
The old man nodded, rubbing at his chin whilst shaking his head, “I can’t believe he’s kept it a secret for so long. It’s a surprise, but, when you consider the things your mum and your dad… he could have said something a long time ago, rather than running away and not getting any support”
“Can you blame him for being scared Uncle Charlie?” Stacey sighed. “If you’d grown up in the same house as our mum” she sighed, “I don’t think he’d ever be as bad as her, but you never know…?”
“We’re going to have to tell Mo and the rest of the family”-
“Don’t tell anyone else, he wouldn’t handle it if people started asking him about it” Stacey frowned, “and don’t say anything to him either. Don’t start treating him differently”
“Of course I wouldn’t” Charlie defended, “but he should know that his family are there for him”
“He does know” Stacey put down her cup. “But, the thing is, mum doesn’t know yet. I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to her, its bad enough that she was hysterical after Sean took off yesterday”
“What if I came with you?”
“No Uncle Charlie, it would just make her worse. Ideally Sean should come with me, but I don’t see it happening. I don’t want to put him under any more pressure. It’s bad enough what I’ve done already”
“You weren’t to know”-
“I should have listened to him, he was so adamant about not seeing her” Stacey looked away guiltily and shook her head. “He needs time to deal with stuff, I realise that now”
Charlie reached across to put his hand on hers, squeezing it slightly. “You’re a good girl Stacey” he smiled at her, “he’s lucky to have a sister like you”
“Have you been taking something as well?”
“I mean it” he stated, “You’ve handled this well. I’m proud of you, Sean too, for telling you. I know right now things seem really bad, but now it’s all out, I think things are going to get better”
Stacey smiled at him.

The next morning when Sean had woken up, he spent a long time staring at the back of the sofa as he went over the previous day’s events – they knew. It was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, but it just brought on new anxieties. Still, he managed to text Max; ‘I told Stace. It went ok’.
He then joined the others for for the dreaded 'we know but we won't say anything' breakfast, where their encouraging smiles and casual manner unnerved him greatly. “Mo’s done everyone a fry-up, you’re in for a real treat” Charlie said as Sean sat in the available seat next to him.
Stacey was sat opposite her brother and said “Yeah, a trip to the dentist after breaking your teeth on the bacon”
“Oi! Say anything more about my cooking and you’re getting nothing Madame!” Mo waved a kitchen utensil at her dangerously.
“I’m not that hungry”-
“Don’t say that – you’re eating what you’re given. I’m not slaving away cooking for nothing!” Mo interrupted him and flipped over the bacon which sizzled in the pan.
Sean rolled his eyes and got up, “whatever. Is there hot water in the kettle?”
“Yeah I just boiled it. Sorry, I should have asked if you wanted a cuppa” Stacey replied.
“It’s fine, I can make one myself” Sean dumped a teabag into a cup, followed by 2 teaspoons of sugar.
“Got any plans for today Sean?” Charlie asked.
The younger Slater male jumped when his phone went off. He waited until he’d added hot water to the cup before viewing the received text. From Max; ‘That’s good. Text me if you want to go for a drink sometime – non-alcoholic of course’. He smirked.
“Well?”
Sean blinked and put his phone away before shuffling past Mo to get milk from the fridge, “I’m meeting a mate later”
“Lucky for some, I’m going to be freezing my bum off on the stall” Stacey muttered.
“Aww diddums”
Stacey whacked him.

[Rach33]

Max is a mate now ohhhhhhh Please post more as an when you can