Patterns of Blues

Chapter 30

"I'll go check it out," Johnny muttered in a rush, leaving the dining room and turning for the stairs. Asher looked at Liam for permission, and with a quick nod from the other, darted after Johnny. Liam told the younger three to wait there, though Sully wasn't the listening type and Harry certainly wasn't going to sit around with Charlie while all the action happened, so the two followed everyone else. 

Inside the older boys' room, Silvio pinned Parker to the ground, shards of a broken lamp scattered around them. The older boy was shouting for Johnny to do something, but Harry couldn't make out the words over Parker's wild screaming. He figured it out soon enough, though, when his eyes landed on what was in his hand. Johnny pushed Silvio off of him to try and get closer, a bad choice, allowing Parker to free his wrists from Silvio's grip and slash his weapon at them. It nicked the back of Silvio's arm as he stumbled away. Blood dribbled down onto the carpet, a thin stream flowing down his elbow to his wrist. He didn't appear to have noticed it, madly propelling Johnny away as Parker tried to swing the knife at him before attempting to pry the weapon out of his hand. 

"Put it down," Silvio commanded through gritted teeth, pulling each of his slender fingers off the handle of the weapon. Parker's head slammed back on the floor when Silvio tugged the item away, and Johnny quickly took over, pulling the smaller boy to his feet, holding onto his arms tightly to stop him from going crazy again,

"What just happened?" The question was directed at Silvio, who was studying the knife in his hands,

"I-I'm not sure," he looked up and then shook his head as though clearing his mind, "He came up and just pulled this thing out at me out of freaking nowhere. Where'd he even get this?" Parker was staring blankly now, a dangerous sort of obliviousness to him. Harry inched closer to his brother, who only then seemed to realize he was there, grabbing his hand with a frown,

"Nate said there weren't any knives in this house." Johnny laughed scornfully, gaze dark, and Harry noticed Silvio wince at the reference,

"Of course, there are knives in the house, how do you think we make meals? Scissoring everything?" He paused and glanced at the object as well, "That's a kitchen knife, all right." He let go of Parker, who no longer appeared threatening, and held his hand out to Silvio for the knife. The dark-haired boy hesitated, looking at it carefully again, and Harry wondered if he was going to refuse. Instead, he handed it to Johnny and jerked his head at Parker,

"What are you going to do about that?"

"Deal with it," Johnny said with a huff, "I'll need to make sure that drawer is locked at all times."

"Should have been a priority already," Asher observed thoughtfully, his arms folded over his chest and misty blue eyes narrowed. Johnny began to look genuinely annoyed,

"Well, there have been a few distracting incidents happening these few days, haven't there?" He paused and waved the hand that wasn't armed, "Besides, there hasn't been a real problem like this since Nate pulled that stunt, I suppose we've let our guards down." 

"He didn't try to hurt anyone," Silvio snapped quickly, considerate expression hardening, "He was freaking out and not thinking right."

"He tried to kill himself!" Johnny retaliated, "I'd call that trying to hurt someone. If you remember right, he nearly succeeded in his goal. That takes premeditation. Thinking right or not, that was freaking dangerous and he knew the risks of it." That touched a nerve, and Silvio's eyes watered up. Instead of blowing up like Harry had expected him to, he took a step backward,

"Please just take care of that." Johnny's face softened, and Harry noticed how vulnerable Silvio looked,

"Okay." Then he turned to Parker, "Come with me. We've got a few things to discuss." The younger boy nodded and absently followed Johnny out of the room. Liam's grip on Harry's hand loosened when they left, and Sully took the brief silence as an opportunity to talk,

"Nate tried to kill himself?" 

"Out," Silvio ordered coldly, pointing to the door, clearly not in the mood to discuss it. 

"Geez, sor-ree," Sully grumbled, but obeyed, pulling Harry out with him. Liam followed quickly, probably to make sure Harry was safe (which he internally rolled his eyes at), leaving Asher and Silvio in the room alone.