Free Violence Begets... by Pt Denys, Myra Shelley

school.”
    “Why’d you move here?”
    “Sylvia got a new job.”
    “Is your real mom in the picture?”
    “Nah.”
    “Where is she?”
    “Not around.” Well, that was something
we had in common. “So, what set your dad off last night?”
    He hesitated before responding. “He’s
a jerk.”
    Fuck! He wasn’t going to make things
easy. “You said this was the first time he…lost it?”
    “Yeah. Why all the interest in me, Kevin?
Wanna date?” he laughed. The pills had certainly loosened him up, too much.
    “Shut the fuck up,” I snapped at him,
and he glanced worriedly at me.
    “Sorry, man,” he mumbled, and I knew
my window had closed. Within ten minutes he was passed clean out on my couch. My
plan to invite him over to figure him out had been a colossal waste of time.

Chapter 6
    Rick
    My dad didn’t come near me again for
a while. He fixed the Christmas tree and even added some additional presents under
it for me. He acted like it had never happened, but it was there, the unspoken words
of what he’d done. The bruises on my face, the ache in my ribs, they made me hate
him even more.
    Christmas day actually went surprisingly
well. I think dad and Sylvia were on their best behavior for Emma. It almost felt
like it had before the accident; however, in this new life of mine, easy didn’t
last. On New Year’s Day he struck again. I had worked up the nerve to ask him about
the guitar Jason had given me, while Sylvia and Emma had gone to exchange some Christmas
presents. I should’ve known better. This time I tripped over a chair in the kitchen
as I tried to get away from him. I crashed into the corner of the counter and it
caught me right above my left ear. We both found out that head wounds bleed a lot,
enough to make him back off. It became routine that he expected me to clean up the
evidence of our fights so Emma and Sylvia wouldn’t find out.
    I flinched more when he was around and
that irritated him. One time he actually asked me if he should just hit me and get
it over with.
    He apologized every time. He usually
thought I was asleep, though I never was. Apology or not, I couldn’t help feeling
that I deserved what he was doing.
    Emma certainly picked up on the tension
between us, and I caught her watching us cautiously more than once. Sylvia pulled
me aside several times, advising me in her cool tone that my dad was having a hard
time adjusting to his new job, and that I should try harder to do what he asked
of me.
    Kevin had tried several times to find
out what had sent my dad over the edge, but I wasn’t about to give anything to him.
He wasn’t much of a threat anymore. He could hit me if he wanted; I couldn’t imagine
it being worse than what my dad was doing. But he watched me, waiting for me to
slip up.
     On the nights Kevin didn’t have plans
for us, I found myself avoiding my house by spending time at Jessica’s. Things were
moving quickly on the physical playground with her, and I wasn’t complaining. She
was completely out of my league. Anyone with two eyes could see that. But it was
more than the making out. We’d stay up late watching old Quentin Tarantino flicks
and eating sunflower seeds. Our conversation never seemed to get stale.
    But Kevin wouldn’t allow too much of
a good thing. And while I wasn’t as scared of him, he still held my popularity in
his hands. I had the feeling he could crush any social life I had if I pushed back
too much. And I had to admit, any excuse to get away from my dad was a welcome one.
Sometimes I felt bad about not spending more time with Emma, but I knew dad and
Sylvia paid her enough attention to fill in for my absence. When it came down to
it, things were probably better for her when I wasn’t at home upsetting my dad.
    Zarahemla, while insanely cold during
the winter, offered shelter from the wind and my dad’s rage, so I never turned down
an invitation to join the guys. Thankfully, a makeshift fire and some serious alcohol
kept us warm