A Different Path

Chapter 26 - Getaway

Criticism spot! :)

Crutchie's POV

I woke up and felt Jack running his fingers through my hair, making me smile. I wasn't able to relax for long, though, as I quickly remembered where I was. I sat up and looked at the door, my heart pounding.

"Jack you need to go," I looked back at him now, terrified.

"Hey hey, it's alright. He isn't up yet. We'd hear him." He tried to smile, but I could tell he was extremely worried about my health, both physically and mentally. "So... You lived like this for years?" He asked, and I just nodded, sitting against the wall. "We're gonna get you out of here." I chuckled as he spoke, my eyes burning from tears.

"It's useless," I mumbled, looking straight ahead of me. "He'll just look for me again." 

"It ain't useless. I'm meeting with a few fellas tonight and we're gonna figure out how to get you outta here." Before I could even look at him, footsteps began pounding down the hallway, and I panicked. Jack got up and ran to the closet again, and just in time, my Dad unlocked the door, walking up to me.

"So where did you run off to, Charlie?" He asked, and despite the fact that it was early in the morning, he was clearly already drunk. "Fuckin' answer me." He towered over me and smelt horribly of beer, and even though I knew I should answer, I couldn't. I was too scared. "Get up." I tried to stand, using the wall to help me, but my Dad shoved me back to the floor. "On your own!"

Slowly, I stood up, not looking at him as I did so. He studied me for a bit, staying silent while he walked around me a few times. I could almost feel Jack's fear coming through the closet slats, and it took everything in me not to look at the doors and hope to see him. 

"You still pretendin' to be a crip?" He asked, and once again, I remained silent. He grabbed my face and forced me to look at him, clearly getting angrier. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" I tried as hard as I could not to cry, but a few tears eventually streamed down my face, and my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. "Why the hell did I get stuck with you?" He let go of me, walking out of the room quickly. I nearly collapsed under myself right then, but Jack ran out of the closet to help me stay up. 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I whispered to him, feeling destroyed.

"You have nothing to say sorry for, alright? Breathe." Then, the stomping began again, and I let go of Jack so he could hide. Jack ran back to the closet, and my Dad appeared moments later, holding a new bottle of beer. 

"Walk." Was all he said, beginning to drink. I froze, staring at the ground and wondering how I could possibly do this, especially considering my foot was worse than when I left. "Did you hear me, dumbass?!" He screamed, getting in my face. 

"Yes, sir," I managed to say back, making him calm down a little.

"Then walk." I took a deep, shaky breath, slowly putting my right foot out. 

The second I tried to put pressure on it, I fell to the ground, screaming out in pain. I immediately felt him standing over me, and I braced for whatever was to come. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back violently so I was looking at him again, and he was inches away from my face.

"Are you that fucking useless?! Get up!" He yelled, and I stood as quickly as I could once he let go. "Just walk! It's not difficult!" I tried again, and had the same results as before. He kicked my side so I fell down completely, no longer holding myself up with my arms. I looked up to him and saw that he was getting ready to hit me with his now empty bottle, and I put my arms up over my face to protect myself. Pain shot through my back just seconds later as the bottle shattered over me, only making me cry harder as it hit the spots that he had whipped yesterday. He knelt down beside me, grabbing my hair again. "If you woulda walked, you would've gotten food. Guess you don't deserve it. Actually, you don't deserve anything. You fucked up this entire family, so I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you go through what you made me go through." He threw me down to the ground, leaving and locking the door behind him.