The Delancey Brothers

Chapter 4: Normal Day

Hello readers I'm back! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The bell rang signaling the end of class. The boys ran outside as fast as they were glad to be done for the day. The girls left giggling. The Delancey Brothers ended up being the last ones gone.

"What are we gonna do, Morris?" Oscar asked, still having his breakdown.

"Go home and hope father didn't mean any of it."

"But what if he did!"

"Shh. It's okay. We'll be fine as long as we have each other."

Father wasn't home yet when they entered the house, so Morris helped Oscar with his math.

"If I fail this test and my grades go down, the father will beat me!"

"You're not gonna fail. I'm gonna make sure of it!"

"Why does everyone beat kids?"

"What do you mean?"

"Father, teacher, and kids on the street get beat."

"Some people are cruel."

They heard the door open and realized Father was home. Oscar got nervous.

"Hey, it's ok." Morris hugged Oscar.

Their father opened their room door to find them sitting on their bed.

"What are you boys doing back?"

They didn't answer.

"Didn't I tell you that you should've never been born?"

Morris nodded while Oscar tried to keep himself from trembling.

"If you understand that then why'd you return alive?"

Oscar was fighting tears.

"STOP CRYING BOY! COME HERE!"

Their father roughly grabbed Oscar's arm and dragged him from the bed and beat him five times. Morris hated seeing his little brother like this. He HATED his father. Still, he didn't allow himself to cry, he had to be tough for Oscar's sake. You can mess with me, but not my brother thought Morris. Every time Oscar got beat he cried out more.

"Every time I see you cry you get a beating."

Oscar tried to stop his tears, but he couldn't. It hurt. He just wanted it to stop! He felt blood flowing down his back. He was bruised all over his body. His tears made everything blurry and there was darkness in the corners of his eyes signaling he was about to pass out. He couldn't stop the tears, so his father beat him until he passed out.

Oscar didn't notice because he was too focused on the pain, but after his father had said that, Morris got off the bed, and tackled his father. Punching him as hard as he possibly could.

"YOU CAN MESS WITH ME ANY DAY, BUT NOT MY BROTHER!" Morris screamed at his father.

"Is that so?"

He nodded.

"Well then. Every punishment Oscar gets, you get double."

Morris was afraid, but he didn't allow his father to see.

"Take your shirt off."

"What?"

"You heard me, boy! Take your shirt off."

He slowly pulled it off.

"Now, Oscar got ten beatings with his shirt on, doubled that would be twenty with your shirt off. Go lay on your stomach on the bed."

Morris did what he was told. Once he was in the position, his father started beating him. He didn't let himself cry out in pain, not even once the skin had got rubbed off and his back was dripping with blood. Everything hurt, but he didn't let his pain show. Once their father had left the room, he slowly got off the bed, put his shirt back on, hopefully, it would help stop the bleeding, and carried Oscar to the bed. He cried himself to sleep again that night,

The next morning, he and Oscar stirred around sunrise.

"Morris? What happened?"

"Father beat you again. Do you remember what he said?"

"About us dying?"

"No about your crying."

"No."

"He said every time he sees you cry, he's going to beat you five times, and whatever punishment you get, I get double."

"Morris, do you ever cry?"

"Only at night, you're usually asleep."

"Oh. Teach me how to be tough like you!"

"Ok. First of all, you can let people's words bother you. Like at school I either laugh it off or ignore it. Second of all, when Father beats you, don't let him know you're hurting. Don't cry out or let tears spill and don't show fear."

"How do you keep yourself from crying?"

"When the tears are threatening to spill just blink them away a few times, make a fist, and your nails will dig into your skin and help, and last of all, clench your teeth."

"Got it, thanks Morris, you're welcome."

Once they got to school, kids immediately started pointing, laughing, and gossiping about them.

"Ignore it," Morris whispered to his brother. Oscar nodded. They went to sit on a bench waiting for class to start.

Some of the boys came over to them. They just stood there not saying or doing anything.

"What do you want?" Morris asked them.

"You two dead." They dragged Morris and Oscar off the bench and threw them onto the ground. The brothers tried not to show the pain they were in from the beatings last night. Oscar just lay there terrified, but not letting it show. While Morris started by kicking the bullies off, he got up and punched his attackers, then got the boys off Oscar. The next moment, the worst possible thing happened. Their teacher walked outside and saw Morris beating up the boys.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The bullies backed away and pointed at Morris who was frozen on spot.

"What happened?"

"They started beating up me and Oscar!"

"No! He's lying! He started attacking us for no reason! Just because your mom is dead and you're dad abandoned you doesn't mean you have the right to take it out on everyone else!"

"Morris, Oscar come with me!"

They followed their teacher inside. He grabbed a whip. Oscar trembled behind Morris.

"Was it just Morris or both of you?"

"Just me," Morris answered.

"Five beatings."

"No!" Oscar cried out.

"SHUT IT!" He whipped Oscar, who didn't cry out again or show fear.

Morris put a brave face on and didn't allow himself to cry out. By the time the teacher was done whipping him, Morris' back was bleeding and he was in agony. The teacher gathered the rest of the kids and started class.

At recess that day a similar thing happened that had happened that morning. Morris got in trouble for it again. Ten beatings this time.

At lunch, food was thrown at the Delancey's.

That afternoon their father beat them more, Oscar fought that time and stayed conscious until it was time for bed. Both boys were bleeding badly and cried themselves to sleep.

Things like this kept happening for the next six months. Beatings from everyone, getting blamed for everything, food thrown at them, starvation, and teachers purposely failing them.

1129 words! Whew! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! If you somehow still aren't crying, then you will be in the next chapter!

- Marla out!