Stall 2

Chapter 33.

"And that's me, that's me
The boy with the broken halo
That's me, that's me
The devil won't let me be"

***

"Say they don't suck!"

"Jimmy!"

I hiss his name, grabbing hold of him and tugging him away from the two boys he has cornered across from the kennels at the end of the hall.

I walk him away from them, like a mother tugging a bratty child and when we stop I turn and point a stern finger at him with a mortified exrpression while I whisper yell,"You can't point fucking guns at kids! What the hell is wrong with you!"

This has been a disaster.

An absolute fucking disaster.

Jimmy frowns, looking down to the gun in his hand, while Harry is leant against the wall a few feet away, watching us with a look on his face that screams 'hey, you wanted me to bring him with me, This is what you get.'

He also looks amused that Jimmy is getting in trouble.

"Awe c'mon Peaches, I wasn't gonna shoot em', " Jimmy whines, giving me puppy dog eyes,"They weren't listening to you and pointing guns at people makes em' do stuff. Plus they were being rude. I was just givin' em' a scare that's all, bet they don't think they're so tough now."

My mouth drops, as I stare at him with wide disbelieving eyes,"Jimmy! You. Can't. Point. Guns. At. Children. How do you not understand that!"

"They started it," he argues, gesturing his hand that's holding a gun in their direction and I see the two boys who have their backs pressed hard against the wall with frozen expressions yelp and duck down,"and besides I didn't aim it, I just kinda ...held it in their general direction."

"Saying happy meals suck is not a reason to point guns at someone!" I screech at him but still keep my voice hushed, my face becoming more incredulous by the second.

I've never seen Jimmy look so offended in my entire life than when he offered those boys the Happy Meals and they stared at him like he was an idiot, told him where to shove the happy meals and then added that they sucked.

These kids really don't have the best attitudes, but then again, neither do Harry or Jimmy a lot of the time -- so maybe they've met their match slightly with that.

I also suppose the boys didn't appreciate when Jimmy saw them and grabbed chicken nuggets out of the box; waving it at them with kissy noises saying "C'mon, wan'na treat?" like they were puppies to try and coax them over to him.

"I've shot people for less - and it wasn't just that. They were rude to you too," he points out with a shrug, but then he adds,"And besides, getting guns pointed at me got me to do what I was told as a kid."

I pause blowing a blood vessel in my head, with my face dropping; glancing to the gun Jimmy is holding and back to his face,"David pointed a gun at you when you were a kid?"

Jimmy tucks his gun back into the waist of his pants, shrugging again,"Yeah, real father of the year stuff, right? It worked though, if it wasn't a gun it was a kitchen knife or somethin - scared the fuck out of me, made sure I always listened to him."

My stomach drops lower, as I realise properly that Harry hasn't been the only one that had a childhood that nightmares are made of, which I think I forget sometimes. I know Harry's father was a monster but David was the mastermind behind it and I can only imagine what Jimmy had to endure growing up with a father like David.