Way Down I'll Go

Blood in Madness Run

"Lieutenant Boyce speaking."

"Charlie. It's Frank Lewis."

"Frank! It's been awhile! You staying out of trouble?"

"Listen, I wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't important, but you're the only cop I know who isn't dirty."

"Hey, we're making progress on that, Frank. This new chief is on the level."

"I don't know who I can trust right now, Charlie, and this is urgent. It involves one of your guys. Maybe more."

"I'm listening."

_______

Rachel would have given anything to hear Mikey tell a stupid joke or chatter endlessly about his favorite superhero. As it was, she couldn't even get the boy to look at her. He was curled into her side, staring at nothing, and hadn't said a single word since they'd returned. In fact, none of the boys had said much after their initial, shocked outbursts. Drew, however, was doing just fine at filling the silence.

"So we're just supposed to sit here and do nothing while they do God knows what to him?! This is ridiculous!" 

He paced by the door once again, and Frank's friend straightened up in his chair, ready to tackle the teen if he tried to made another break for it.

"Drew," she called to him from the couch, her voice weary, "we've been over this. There's nothing we can do without getting in the way or making things worse. Let Frank handle it. You know Jo would want you to stay put."

"Yeah. Yeah, he would. He's been making me "stay put" ever since I can remember." 

Drew's voice escalated in anger until he was yelling. 

"Do you know how many times I've seen him get the shit kicked out of him to protect me? Do you know how many times I didn't think he was going to wake up? How many times I counted his breaths after a beating just to make sure he was still alive?" 

His voice broke. 

"I know, Rachel. I fucking know. And I'm fucking sick of it."

He dropped his face to his hands and his shoulders began to shake. Rachel pried herself away from Mikey and went to him, wrapping him in her arms.

"This was supposed to be over," Drew choked between sobs.

Together, they clung to each other and wept.

_______

Jo had never forgotten the feeling of being whipped. He could feel it every time someone bumped into him on the bus, ever time he slid his shirt down his back, every time one of the boys hugged him. Yet, the memories contained in his skin did nothing to improve the experience.

*Crack*

His father waited a second for the pain to register and then brought the whip down again in a different spot. Jo could feel the blood dripping off his toes and wondered if he had any skin left on his back or if it now hung in shreds. They had taken turns: his father first, then Tony, then Tony's uniform-clad brother, then Carl again. Jo had passed out after Tony had finished, but his father had been kind enough to wake him up with an ammonia-soaked rag shoved in his face.

"Sure is a quiet fucker," Tony mused to no one in particular.

The whip fell again and Jo sucked in another ragged breath.

"Always was." Carl was panting ever so slightly from the exertion. "He won't be for long."

He set down the whip on a table nearby and Jo could feel his eyes raking over him.