Violated: What's a Happy Ending

chapter 4

I don't know what it is about Craig. He terrifies me, but I worry about him. He was getting beat up earlier, obviously, doesn't have a decent family life. He is 15 so he says, ok. Then his mother looks in her late 30's, at most, maybe early 40's but I didn't see a ring on her finger, so father wise I'm not too sure.

Craig seems to be pretty tired and comfortable on that couch, indicating lack of sleep because of a lack of comfort, indicating a lack of either care for the boy or money. Or perhaps he is just lazy or something.

I don't know, but besides my worry for him, he scares me most. I probably shouldn't try to help him unless I have solid proof, but I'm always worried about others. I should probably stay out of it.  

"Are you okay?" I heard a soft voice ask, taking me out of my daze. 

I looked up and realize Karen was looking at me concerned. I nodded and she weakly smiled. "If you want you can eat up in your room or the attic. Just bring the plate down when you're done. Then you can help me clean up a bit." 

I nodded before standing up and grabbing my plate. It would be a lot better because I could probably gulf this down in a minute then practice on the piano some more before coming down to help. Also, I don't have to worry about being down when her husband comes home. God only knows what he's going to do to me, so I'm enjoying my piano and guitar practice while I can. 

I walked up to my room quickly, ignoring the glare I got from Craig on my way up the stairs. 

I sat on my bed and quickly ate, being cautious to not make a mess. Once I finished I played a bit of piano for a few short minutes, then started down the stairs. 

I noticed Craig was done as well. His plate on the coffee table and he was, once again, asleep on the couch. 

I sighed and set my plate on top of his before looking back over at Craig. He looks so peaceful when he's asleep. 

I smile and cover him up with the blanket which he cuddles against. I pick up the plates from the coffee table and start to head into the kitchen before I heard a knock at the door. 

"Craig get the door! I have my hands full," I hear Karen call from the kitchen. 

I look back at Craig and he grunts and slowly starts to get up, holding his head. 

"I-I got it. Don't worry about it Cr-Craig," I say, putting the plates on the table as I head towards the door. 

I hear Craig mutter something before lying back down on the couch and I roll my eyes. 

I look through the peephole and see a boy about my age. He looked cheerful and tired at the same time. 

I open the door and he looks at me confused. I nervously stand there before he smiles at me and holds his hand out. 

"Hi! I'm Clyde. I live down the road; I'm assuming you're the foster kid." He says cheerfully. 

I hesitantly shake his hand, "H-hi." 

He smiles and lets go of my hand and I feel a hand on my shoulder causing me to jump. 

"Sorry Twink, I didn't mean to scare you," Craig says from behind me and I glare at him as I move out of the way for Clyde to come in. 

"Go get yourself some food then let's go, we have to practice," Craig says to Clyde as he falls back onto the couch.

"I already ate, Craig. I am going to get my guitar and we can get going," Clyde says, starting up the stairs. 

Craig nodded and he covered back up with the blanket as I grabbed the plates from the table again. 

I went into the kitchen and placed the plates into the sink as Karen smiled at me. "Don't worry about it, Tweek. I got this and Craig is about to leave so you can go and do whatever you like. If you want to bring the guitar down I could help you out a little. I play a bit."

Her voice is kind along with her facial expression, but I don't want to risk it. I feel it was more of an order anyway.

"Okay, I'll go get it," I say before turning on my heel to leave.

"I'm home!" I heard a loud voice call from the living room.

Karen seemed to perk up at the voice and gestured for me to follow.

"Richard, this is Tweek; Tweek, this is my husband Richard." Karen introduced us.

"Ah, my boy! You can call me Richard, or whatever you are comfortable with is okay! It's great to finally meet you," the taller man greeted, holding a hand out for me to shake.

I nodded and shook his hand, a forced smile on my face. He smiled back and turned his attention back to Karen. 

"You're okay. The shop has been busy recently," she said with a smile and he nodded. 

"So am I on Kitchen Duty?" he asked, gesturing to the few dishes in the sink that you could see through the doorway. 

She shook her head. "Well if it's alright with Tweek, you could help him with his guitar. I was just about to help him down here, but you can play much better than me." 

He nodded and looked back at me, "What'd'ya say?" 

I nod. "Th-that's okay. I'll g-go get the g-guitar." 

He smiles and I rush upstairs and pass Craig and Clyde, who were going downstairs with an electric guitar and a snare drum. 

*really short time skip because all he does is go upstairs gets his guitar and goes back down while Craig and Clyde leave* 

I got downstairs with the guitar in my hand and Richard was already sitting on the couch with an older looking guitar. 

He smiled as I sat down next to him and he handed me a tuner. After I tuned it we started going over the basics to refresh our memory. 

"Okay, so I think we have it pretty much. I have some music if you want to try some of it out." He said, grabbing a binder that sat next to him. 

I shrugged and took the binder from him and looked through it. 

"I l-like your taste in m-music," I say, noticing the music was a selection of different styles. 

He nodded, " I went through my fazes of liking something more than the rest, but I've always loved practically every music." 

I smiled as I flipped through the pages, recognizing a lot of the songs. 

"Wh-why don't we just pl-play through them? Fr-from beginning to end." I suggest and he nods.

"Why not?" He smiled and took the binder, placing it on the coffee table where we could easily see the music. We played the music for about 2 hours.