Willow Academy (Spanking Story)

Chapter 20, Part 2: Owen's POV

Don't let history repeat itself. Don't let history repeat itself. I sat with your parents... different fate... don't let history repeat itself...

I was halfway in a trance when King Kong came into the holding room to take me to my brothers. Half of me was determined to fix this utter mess the moment I saw them, and the other half was trying to come to terms with what I'd heard not five minutes ago.

My parents were something we just didn't talk about- not with my siblings, not in our extended family, not even with my friends. They were all but padlocked in a box and shipped away to the edge of the earth, not that I cared, anyway.

I'll keep it short and sweet. One of the first "life lessons" I was forced to learn fairly early in my childhood was that people can get caught up in something so material that they lose contact with the real world. In other words, drug addictions + kids = inevitable failure. Needless to say, the Court deemed them unfit before I could truly grasp the situation I was living in. It didn't matter, because my brothers are better parents than they could ever dream of being.

... And I had possibly ruined all their countless hours of selflessness.

I didn't know how I was supposed to talk to them with this lump in my throat. It felt like I'd tried to swallow a rock or something, and my chest coiled tighter with each step toward the main entrance. I was a walking ball of tension, just waiting for the moment Ben told me to pack my bags and join my parents. I couldn't bear the thought of... I didn't want my name to be some taboo, never to be spoken if one knew what was good for them. I just had to get my brothers to listen to me, to realize that I had never wanted this in the first place.

King Kong nudged my shoulder none-too-gently, and I realized I'd stopped several feet away from the door leading to our destination, where my brothers were waiting for their juvenile delinquent.

Shit! What in the world was I supposed to say?! "Hey, Ben, hope you know I never actually took any drugs, and was just in it for the money, anyway!" or "Dana, I told myself a thousand times I was gonna stop; that counts for something, doesn't it?"

My determination melted into a soggy, weak mass the second I felt familiar eyes on me. It's easy to imagine standing up and taking the consequences like a man when it's all hypothetical. When it's the real deal, when you can feel the disappointment coming off your brothers in waves, when you know you've done the worst possible thing you could ever do, there's none of this "taking it like a man" thing. It's more like doing all you can to keep from sobbing like a wuss.

King Kong was talking, probably about how I was pretty much off the hook since I'd passed the drug test, sans the semester of probation and community service. I really wanted to ask if I could go back to the holding room; I wasn't even totally sure my brothers would object.

"Owen, let's go."

Ben. Shit.

I looked up, and King Kong had moved away to the desk on the right edge of the room. He was writing something down, and afterwards handed it to Dana wordlessly.

"Owen. Let's go."

Ben was standing in front of me, arms crossed and knuckles white around his elbows. He was gesturing towards the door impatiently, but I really didn't want to walk, unguarded, with him behind me. However, at this point, I wasn't even going to think about testing him.

I dragged my trainers against the linoleum, and inched around my furious brother. I'd sooner poke an angry bear with a stick than get any closer to him.

The night air was cool against my clammy skin, and the crickets chirping made the scene somewhat peaceful. The irony of the contrast to my actual situation almost made me laugh out loud, but I didn't have a death wish; Ben was right behind me.