Eaton

5. Ezekiel Pedrad

Tobias pov

How does one go about the task of asking permission for disobedience, to a firebreathing dragon?

Will and I are sat in the kitchen, going over our plan one last time. He's proposed the idea of cooking my father's favourite dinner, and then, when he's right in the middle of his roast, drop the question. Yes, I agree, it's horribly cliché but it's the only thing we've managed to come up with.

Everything is going to plan so far, dinner's ready, the table is set and Marcus just pulled up the driveway, Here goes..

William pov

'Evening, Marcus' I think it's better if I do all the talking, given that my nephew is terrified of my brother,

'Evening' Curt, as usual.

'We cooked roast, your favourite.' I think, ' It is your favourite, right?'

'I guess it's not that bad' That's the thing about my brother, he'll never admit to liking something. This is a habit formed after 22 years of living with a man who will take that certain something and destroy it.

 'Great well in that case, let's eat'

He takes a bite out of the roast and smiles minimally. I'm glad he's happy, now, time to take absolutely every advantage of the situation.

 'So hey, Marcus, Tobias and I, well Tobias mostly wanted to ask you something' He stops eating and straightens up, ready to listen. Here goes.

'Well, sir, um there's this history project thing and well it's a group project and um well, I have to do it with another kid. After school.'

 He says that last part really fast, possibly hoping that maybe Marcus won't hear him.

Marcus raises his eyebrow, 'A project, with who?'

'Zeke, Pedrad sir'

'It's for school Marcus' I try my best to help him, the kid needs to get out more.

 'What is it that you want Tobias, Will stay out of this'

'Well um I need your permission to go to his house to do the project'

'Say I give you my permission, how long will this waste time be?'

'A few hours a day sir, we'll be done in about a week'

Come on, come on....

Marcus mlls the idea over and finally makes his verdict.

'Well, fine. But bear in mind this is a one time thing and if I find out you were lying to me and just lounging around I will personally drag you back here and you will not leave this house until college, understand?'

'Jesus christ Marcus'

'Yes sir' Thank god. 

*The next day*

Tobias p.o.v

I walk next to Zeke on the sidewalk and listen as he talks on and on about his brother's pet hamster's babies which eerily enough, look like American presidents. Don't ask me how we got to this topic. 

'So what about you, any pets?' 

'Oh, um no, my father doesn't really like having animals around the house'

'Oh that's a shame, one time when I was a kid my dad brought home this tarantula........'

He continued to ramble on and I tried my best to listen.

Marcus would never let me get a pet. I remember when I was a child, my mother brought home a small plan and placed it in the kitchen. She'd take care of it every day , water it and,  creepily enough, talk to it. It made her happy, and that made me happy. Of course, nothing good can ever last long, at least not when you live with Marcus. He came home one day, the usual, angry, stressed and not up for conversation. we sat down to dnner, with mom across the table from him and me between them. He started eating dinner and, well I guess he didn't like it, because as soon as it enterred his mouth, his face contorted and he pulled back. He stood up and walked across the room to where my mother was sitting and slammed his fist onto the table, right next to her plate. 

'Is this what I get? After a day of work, this is what I'm supposed to come home to? A plate full of absolute crap?!'

I was terrified, paralyzed in my seat as he grabbed her plate and threw against the wall. My mother let out a small yelp, and told me to go to my room. I didn't want to leave her with Marcus, I didn't want to be such a pathetic coward, but I was just so afraid. I didn't want to be the recipient of my father's rage, so I ran and hid. I regret it now, because hearing her screams and cries hurt me a million times more, than the belt could ever have. I don't know what happened exactly that night, but I remember going into the kitchen the next morning, and seeing a bloodstain where the plant used to be. My mother cleaned it up later while I was at school. We couldn't let anybody know about Marcus,

'Ok we're here' Zeke reaches into his pocket and grabs a bundle of keys, one of which opens the black, wooden door to his house. Zeke, from what I'd gathered, wasn't particularly wealthy. He lved with his mother, Hana, and his younger brother, Uriah. I'm not sure what happened to his father. All I know is, he's not around anymore. I only wish I could say the same.

Zeke leads me inside and I follow him onto the kitchen.

'Make yourself at home' It's funny, I can't even do that in my own home.

'You don't talk much, do you?'

'Um, well not really I guess, should we get started?'  

'Ya ok'

Marcus p.o.v *time lapse*

 Will is sitting behind me on the couch, sulking. He thinks I'm being ridiculous, but what's really ridiculous is that I told that boy to be home at 6.00pm and 2 minutes before, there is no sign of him.

'I swear William, if that boy is even one minute late, he'll regret even going out in the first place.'

'Listen to yourself, Marcus, you sound just like our father'

That is low, especially coming from your baby brother, who is living under your roof, eating your food, and paying absolutely nothing for it. I turn around and walk towards him, as soon as I am towering above him, I speak.

'Listen to me, I have never been, nor will I ever be, anything like him. What I do to Tobias is NOTHING, compared to what he did to me. YOU don't know what he was truly like. YOU were barely ever the recipient of his cruelty. So don't you DARE compare me to him, EVER! Understand?'

He stands up and glares into my eyes. 

'You just proved me right' He turns around and runs up the stairs to his room. How dare he, speak to me with that tone.The front door behind me opens and my son enters head down. I'm sure he knows that he's late. And I'm sure he knows he's in trouble.

Everything inside me is begging me not to hurt him, to forgive him and let it go. To not become my father. But like every other time, I ignore it and punish my son.

A/N

Hi everyone, sorry for the late update. I wanted to tell you that I will start updating (hopefully) every weekend, saturday/sunday, instead of fridays.

I hope you like the new chapter and I would like to know if maybe I should include less violence in the story or if its just fine like this.

I hope you're having a great day and I will see you next week.

xxx Rachele