Amid the Roar - Sequel to M.A.L.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“I’ll be back,” Jo told her son. Jason kept his eyes on the TV but nodded. “Please bring your laundry down before I come back.”

“Yeah, mom,” the boy groaned. His mother bit the inside of her lip. Taking the car keys and gripping them tighter, she left for her weekly trip to the grocery store.

It didn’t take long for Joanna Majors to get to the supermarket and push the squeaky cart up and down the aisles. She took her time though. It was nice to get out of the house where the pressure had built more and more until the air was so thick with tension, it suffocated anyone inside. She held the cart harder. It was such a relief to be out of the house that her eyes were starting to tear up.

That’s not how a house should feel, she thought to herself. It should be a comfort, a place to rest your head, a safe place for you and your family.

It was done. There was a thought buzzing through her mind for the longest of time and it was strolling through the frozen section that she finally decided it.

It was time for a divorce.

Back home, Jason was still watching TV. He flipped to another channel when his show was done and shifted his legs. He didn’t feel like getting up to do his laundry. On another channel, he found an old classic childhood movie he remembered watching this with his dad. He let the movie on for a while, watching the Prince and Princess dance around the ballroom, lost in nostalgia.

“What the hell is this,” a voice growled angrily behind him. His stepfather walked into the room and pointed to the screen with the hand holding his beer.

“An old movie, Mr. Majors,” Jason responded. The boy quietly got up and handed over the remote which Andrew snatched quickly.

“Ah. So this is the garbage that made you the weak little scum you are.”

Jason balled his hands into fists and tried to walk away. “My dad would have kicked your ass,” he mumbled softly. He didn’t realize his stepfather heard his comment. Jason gasped as his collar choked him and flung him to the wall where his head bounced from the force.

“You’re old man is dead,” Andrew sneered.

The exact moment Mrs. Majors walked in with her bags of groceries was when Jason lost it. He shoved Andrew off and toward the couch. The boy’s face went red as he shouted profanities but Mr. Majors was better. Jason was thrown to the floor, toppling the little table by the stairs. Joanna dropped her bags at once with the milk exploding over the floor.

“Get off of him,” she cried out as she ran for her husband. Andrew was sending fist after fist into Jason’s cheek. Each strike his face was redder, ‘teaching him a lesson’. A splattering of blood came from his mouth as he coughed.

Suddenly, Mr. Majors' vision went black. The man slouched over Jason who pushed him off along with the ceramic pieces left of the vase. Jason’s mom stood there with bleeding hands. It was all she thought to do: grab the vase and knock him out. It felt right. She helped her son stand and move away from the man on the floor.

“I’m calling 911,” she mumbled. Joanna stepped past her moaning husband and toward the kitchen.

Jason was panting and holding his cheek. This had gone too far. Andrew had taken over their lives, bringing violence into their home. Jason knew he’d keep getting away with it too. Storming past his mother who wanted to first rinse the blood from her hands, he grabbed a kitchen knife. The boy didn’t realize what he was doing. Anger fueled his motions, taking over the sanity of his mind for a brief period of time.

“No more,” he quietly muttered.

“Jason,” his mother asked, picking up the cordless phone. The boy took another step, kneeled down and raised the knife. “What are you doing?! Jason, no!!”

~*~

“The rest is history,” Jason finished. They stayed quiet, sitting on the rooftop of their house. Gabrielle liked to go up there to think. Usually she doesn’t let anyone on with her but Jason is the exception. She never thought she’d be friends with her younger cousin. He used to be the biggest geek and now he’s the biggest geeky goth, not someone she ever thought she’d associate with. But having him living in the house with her, he had become a little brother. She needed to take care of him. Gabrielle took another hit on her blunt.

“You weren’t wrong,” she said as she exhaled. As horrible as it was to say out loud, Gabrielle meant it. She knew some people weren’t worth saving, some people deserved to die. “I promise I’ll never let that happen to you again.”

“Because you’re such a badass that can handle yourself?”

“Yeah,” Gabrielle replied. “And because it’s you and me against society.”

“That rhymed,” the boy laughed back. Gabrielle kicked Jason jokingly. The two stared at the sky and let their high take them over. It was relaxing to watch the clouds, silently guessing what they looked like. Jason ran his tongue over the stud inside his mouth.

“You and me,” he questioned his cousin quietly. Jason held out his pinky finger and Gabrielle looked at him funny. He really did need her. To her, it felt like it was time to start caring again. Jason fit the bill.

The girl responded by taking his pinky and joining it with hers. “You and me.”

.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's the true story of what happened... Thoughts?