Prologue

Burt paced the small hospital room; he put his faded cap on and took it off trying to keep his hands busy. He looked down at the floor, his eyes not daring to look at what was lying on the hospital bed. He'd been at work when he got the call, it had started off like any normal day, he and Kurt had playfully fought over what Burt should have for breakfast. They spoke about their day whilst eating a bowl of mixed fruit and some toast. Then Kurt had gone to school and Burt to work. Now, Kurt was lying in the hospital bed, his pale features trapped between crisp white sheets, and dirty white walls. The only speck of colour on his son was blood.

Burt didn't know what happened. The hospital had phoned him, he still remembered the anxious voice on the other end of the line; "Mr Hummel, your son Kurt has been taken into the hospital. He was found in a dumpster, he's been beaten up. You should hurry." Burt knew the last line was laced with a secret meaning: you should hurry, because he doesn't have long.

Burt sat next to his son, finally looking at him. "You're so small." He whispered, his hands shaking as he reached for his son's. Who would hurt someone as precious as him? Was all Burt kept on thinking. He knew the reason why though. Kurt was beaten, almost to death, because he was gay and was thrown into a dumpster as though he was a piece of trash. Anger spread through him, when he got his hands on whoever did this... "They'll pay, no one hurts a Hummel and gets away with it." He whispered, he reached up with his other hand and tentatively ran a hand across his son's pale cheek, avoiding the large purple bruise already forming under his left eye. "I'm here Kurt. I'm here, you need to wake up, please Kurt. You can't leave me. You can't leave me alone, you just can't." Tears fell from his eyes, landing on the scratchy sheets below.

Burt rubbed his eyes roughly, losing it wouldn't help Kurt. He had to be the strong one now. He looked down to see his son's eyes flutter open slowly, and a word that Kurt hadn't said since he was nine years old, "Daddy?"