Bombshells ~ Complete

Chapter Eleven: Background and Strength

There was a silence. A horrible, sickening silence. Jaydon was just standing there, watching with his mouth open and a silent scream escaping it. My father was standing there, not knowing what to do.

He'd never been caught red handed before. 

Father grabbed Jaydon by his shoulder and pulled him into the room, locking the door behind him. Wasn't the door locked before?

"So, Jaydon, I think we need to talk." Father said softly. Jaydon, obviously having a good survival instinct, nodded and gave a small smile.  I watched everything with wide eyes, except when I bent over to spit blood out of my mouth. 

I couldn't stand the coppery taste, but I was used to it. 

"No, man, I get it. Sometimes it's just nice to get your anger out." Jaydon shrugged nonchalantly. Was he a really good actor or a genuinely bad person? What was I going to do if it was the latter of the two? I was gonna die, that's what. 

Father smiled, and clapped Jaydon on the back again. 

"Good, good. I wonder, are you gonna tell your mom about this?" Father asked. I looked at Jaydon with wide, pleading eyes. He looked down at me briefly, as if sensing my gaze, before his eyes flicked right back to my father's face. 

"Only if you let me have a go once or twice." Jaydon laughed. I felt sick. 

Father laughed once more, before glaring down at me with a sweet smile. Apparently, he was enjoying himself much more than anyone else in the room. 

"See that, sweetie? People like me are all around. You'll never get away." Father sneered, before exiting the room. Guess he didn't want to test Jaydon's bounds on how much violence he could take. The second that the door shut behind Father, Jaydon was crouched down and helping pick me up. 

A groan escaped my lips as I sat on the bed. I wanted to die, not gonna lie. Hey, that rhymed!

"Please, please tell me you were acting. And that you aren't going to beat the crap out of me. And you aren't going to tell anyone else." I begged. He hesitated, only for a moment, but it was enough to make tears well up in my eyes. 

"I was totally acting. I would never hit a girl, call it chivalry. And I kinda have to tell mom and the boys. They're going to tear your dad to shreds. How long has this been going on anyways?" Jaydon asked. 

I stopped breathing for an instant, but then when it started back up again, it was way too fast. I was hyperventilating and gripping onto his sweatshirt sleeve. 

"You cannot tell anyone. He will kill me and then anyone else you tell. Including your mother and brothers. Don't be the cause of your family's death. Promise me you won't tell." I hated myself inside for saying anything like that when pain flashed across Jaydon's face in waves. 

"I... I promise. But when I ask a question, I get an answer. And you have to tell me where your dad's been hitting you." He held out a hand so we could shake on it. I shook his hand, then breathed a sigh of relief. 

I then slumped against my headboard, Jaydon right next to me. 

"It's been going on for as long as I can remember. My mom was his original punching bag, but when I was born, protecting me became her number one priority. So, to see my mom hurt much worse than anything he could do to her, he would beat me. My first memory is pain. A fist flying towards my face, or something like that. It's fuzzy. As I got older, the beatings got worse. 

     "When I was about six years old, my mom sorta lost her mind. She was never one for pain, and getting pain every second of every day really does something to your head. She was always in a daze, could never remember anything, and would do anything someone told her to. My Father got great joy from it, but I was sobbing and pleading for her to wake up and help me. I could never quite understand why we never ran away. One day, she refused to help me with any of the chores or cooking or even my school work. I used to be pretty smart, but once the beatings got worse, I went to school a lot less and fell behind quickly. I started failing and no one could figure out why. School just took a backseat to what was going on at home. 

     "Three months ago was when something terrible happened. I had just gotten home from school, and was prepared to throw away another failing report card that my Father would surely find and hit me for. I guess he was tired of my mom being this frail, ditsy thing so he was trying to talk her out of it. She'd been like that for years, so I didn't even know why he tried. Turns out, he was telling her how much he loved her and how he needed a new chapter in his life. One where he was single again. And then he pushed her. 

     "A flight of stairs, a snapped neck, and one hasty cover up, I was left motherless and my Father was starting his new life chapter. Normal people just buy expensive cars or boats for their mid-life crisis. My father murdered my mother for his. And I watched." I finished. 

Jaydon was sitting straight up, paler than normal, and breathing heavily. I couldn't tell if he was angry or panicking. 

I think it was a bit of both. 

"I think i'm gonna be sick." He muttered, leaning over and clutching his stomach. I calmly got my trashcan and handed it to him. 

"I don't judge." I muttered right back before he started heaving up his guts. I glanced at the door worriedly, afraid my father would hear him. The last thing I needed was for my father to find out Jaydon didn't actually approve of his sick method of punishment. 

"How did you survive?" He asked, panting. I grabbed a pack of gum from my desk and I got him a stick. He gladly popped it in his mouth. I shrugged, sitting down on the edge of my bed. He was trembling.

"I just had to. I grew up having to find out ways to survive, and I didn't exactly have a lot of help. It's like my fight or flight instincts have been triggered permanently. And flight died a while ago." I told him honestly. It was weird talking to someone about this. 

Kas and I avoided the topic like it was the Bubonic plague. We had a friendship that was based solely on not talking about said topic. 

"That's horrible." He whispered, looking at me with a different look in his eyes. I shuffled around on my bed, then slumped down against my headboard again. Jaydon slumped next to me.

"Do you think he'll hurt my mom or my brothers?" Jaydon asked. I chuckled at the thought. My father would get his ass kicked. 

"Your mother and you boys are strong. You would never let him walk over you like he walks over me. You're too independent to allow anything like this to happen to you." I said confidently. Jaydon looked at me in shock. It wasn't like I said something surprising. We had already gotten past that point. 

"Trust me, Ariel, you're the strongest person I know." He told me, grabbing onto my hand and squeezing it tightly. I looked at him, my lips pursing and eyebrows lowering from confusion. 

"If I was strong, I would be able to do something about this. About him." I gestured lazily towards the door. Jaydon glanced over at it, like my father was going to burst in at any second. 

"You're stronger than you know."