LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 58

"You can't make me go, not unless you drag me out by my fucking hair!" Jack shouted a mere thirty-eight hours or so earlier.

Evan Merridew stood on the other side of the large, blindingly white kitchen counter, his hands flat on the marble surface, cruel eyes fixated on his stubborn, pain-in-the-ass youngest child.

"You damn well know I will drag you out if I have to" Evan sternly clapped back at him.

"I'm not going" Jack sharpened his gaze, slamming his hands on the counter to match his father's stance, to prove that he was powerful enough to take on Evan Merridew.

"You are" Evan countered. "Out of fucking respect, you ungrateful bastard! You hear me? You have no goddamn respect for anyone 'cept yourself!"

"Wonder where I got that from!" Jack smugly yelled back, pushing his weight forward into the counter to prove that he wasn't afraid.

"That does it" Evan dropped his voice as he moved to get around to the other side of the counter.

Jack refused to show fear, even when he felt it. He turned around to face his father coming up beside him, crossing his arms smugly over his chest. Evan pinned him up against the counter top, his hand around the boy's small neck, a mere half inch of space between their bodies.

"You think you're fuckin' smart, huh?" Evan tightened his grip a little around Jack's neck, his voice intensely low and bone-chilling as it usually was.

"Yeah" Jack smiled, "I do."

It was quiet in the second floor office where Paige was studying, foam earplugs in her ears to help her focus. And then all of a sudden, it wasn't. A clear, loud bang compelled her to remove her earplugs, turning around abruptly, wide-eyed and concerned. She already knew what caused the sound, but she was hoping she might be wrong this time.

Maybe when pigs fly, she thought.

"Get off!" Jack's deafening shout evidently washed away the ounce of hope Paige had a sheer second earlier. She was out of her seat in half that time, running down the grand staircase. She stopped in her tracks in the archway, horrified but not surprised by the sight of her well-built father sitting on top of her brother's small frame. She watched as Jack managed to shift from his side onto his back, a trail of blood trickling down his face to pool on the beautiful, white floor beneath him.

"Dad!" Paige urgently screamed. "Please get off! It's enough!"

Neither Evan or Jack acknowledged that they heard or even saw Paige standing a mere few feet away from them. Jack continued to fight beneath his father, slapping and pushing at him, struggling to move his legs behind and underneath his dad's body. Evan simply held him down, pressing his shoulders against the floor as he waited almost boredly for Jack to stop struggling.

Jack thrashed beneath Evan as his agitated sister watched in horror. She held her hand over her mouth as tears formed in her eyes, not wanting to watch but unable to look away. Droplets began to trickle slowly down the girl's face as Jack became weaker; his twisting, turning, flailing, and hitting, slowing down until he surrendered completely. Jack laid still on the floor beneath Evan's heavy body, crushed by the overwhelming weight difference, trying but failing to catch his breath. One day, Evan would simply crush him to death, Paige feared. Jack's face was red and hot, and Evan could see tears welling in his eyes. But he knew Jack wouldn't cry, not in front of him. He never has, not once since he was a toddler.

This was all Evan wanted; the whole point of attacking Jack in the first place. He surrendered, stopped fighting, gave up, admitted defeat. Evan solidified his dominance over Jack, and the fact that he'd win every last time. And today was no different. He stripped Jack of his power, his dignity, his self-esteem. That was the point, it was always the point. If the kid got injured in the process, so be it. If he'd only surrender sooner, it wouldn't always end this way. Evan stood up, and spit down on the floor beside the boy, missing him by a half inch. Jack glared up at him, red hot in the face, humiliated but unwilling to admit it, as Evan stepped over him.