Forged Bonds (BxB)

CHAPTER 16

"Destroying cars, John, really?" My father screamed at me once we got out of the car "What do you want, huh? Do you want me to destroy your face?"

You already did that, I thought, feeling the blood drip down my nose.

"Why don't we do it like this?" He grabbed a baseball bat lying forgotten on the floor of the garage "Why don't we destroy yours now, what do you think about that?" He smashed my car's window "Pick it up" He nodded towards the glass.

"What?"

"Pick up a piece" He pulled my hair and pushed me in the direction of the hood of the car, where there were some glasses scattered across it.

"What do you want me to do?"

"You know what I fucking want you to do"

I woke up with Mallory singing from the kitchen, a regular occurrence since I moved here. Surprisingly, I felt comforted when I woke up with her voice – or Alvarez' or Danielle's voices – instead of waking up with the alarm. Their loud personalities grew on me. They had the words and the joy that lacked in me.

I was hoping to dream with Jeovanni today. Since I was damned to dream with memories, then I might as well dream with a good one. But that's not what my unconscious had planned for me. Honestly, I was freaking tired of my unconscious.

The memory that my dream brought back was one that confused me. I despised everything my father did to me – every punch, every kick, every slur, every yell. Yet, I managed to repeat those behaviors. To put me in the same position. To put others in the same position, making me relive it all over again. I hated when my father destroyed me. But when he wasn't doing it, I did it myself. It was an obsessive cycle that made me go round and round and return to the same place. It was exhausting.

I think sending me here was the only nice thing my father ever did to me. And he only did it because he thought it would be the worst thing. It didn't matter anymore, though. I was here now. And that was good. But I brought a lot of luggage. Luggage I wasn't being able to get rid of. And some days seemed worse than the others. And the second I woke up from my dream, I knew this was going to be one of those days.

"Good morning" I said when I entered the kitchen, stretching my long sleeves as a habit.

"Good morning" Mallory grinned at me "Waffles or pancakes?" She extended two different plates in front of me, each one with a different type of food.

"Pancakes" I replied, taking the plate from her.

I curiously watched Mallory as she danced around in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for her still asleep daughter and husband. This woman was my father's sister. Even though I was here because I was her nephew, that detail always escaped my mind. How? How could she and my father have the same blood, have been raised the same way, and turned out to be two completely different people? I felt extremely unlucky. And I didn't want to, but I felt jealous of Danielle.

"Hey, Mallory" I called her "How was my father like when you two were growing up?"

I felt like an idiot for being interested in my father's life after everything he had put me through. Yet, I think that's exactly why I was curious. How did he turn into... that? Why did he do the things he did? Why?

"Hm..." She pressed her lips in thought, focused on frying some bacon on the pan "Sorry to disappoint, sweetie, but your dad and I were never close. He was... I don't know, he just lived his own life. Stayed up in his room, hung out with some friends... He never had much interest in talking to me or our parents"

My shoulders sagged at her response, causing me to realize that I was actually hoping Mallory would tell me a story where he acted more... Well, more like his sister. Warmer, nicer. But apparently Mallory had none of those.