birds of a feather, obx

008. mean dad

Cora has finally reduced her cries to sniffles. She trudges up to her house, glancing over at the truck parked outside letting her know her dad's home.

Cora walks up to the door and pushes it open, grimacing as it creaks. She shuts the door, avoiding stepping on the forgotten beer cans.

Cora walks into the living room, finding her dad on the couch. He's leaning over the table and sits up, wiping his nose. She frowns in confusion, looking down at a line of some sort of white powder.

"Daddy?" She quietly calls, getting him to look over at her. She knows she shouldn't. She should do what JJ tells her to do -- be quiet and go straight to her room. But she can't help it.

"What do you want?" Luke asks, sucking the line of powder up his nose. Cora frowns, thinking that must hurt. She hates when she gets water up her nose while swimming, how could somebody possibly willingly put something up their nose?

"I dunno." Cora mumbles.

"Then get out of my face." Luke says, rolling his eyes.

Cora nervously gulps, but quickly retreats to her room. Cora sits on her bed, sighing as she worries about JJ. He could go to prison, she could never see him again. What if she's stuck alone with Luke forever?

Cora jumps when she hears a phone ring.

"Yeah?" Luke answers the call. "What? Are you--" She hears the anger in his voice making her curl into herself, knowing it's probably about JJ.

Luke gets off the phone after a few minutes, Cora's heart racing as his boots stomp against the floor while he storms to her room.

"Did you know about your stupid brother?" Luke asks.

"Know what?" Cora asks.

"He landed his ass in jail. You know about that?" Luke asks, an angry look on his face.

"N-no." Cora lies.

"Don't lie to me!" He shouts, roughly grabbing her arm.

"I'm not!" Cora cries out. "I'm not. I don't know." She whines.

"Come on." His grip around her arm tightens, dragging her out. Cora whimpers in pain, his tight grip sure to leave bruises later.

"Daddy." She whines as she trips over her own feet, barely able to walk as her father practically drags her after him, not letting her stay up.

"Get in the damn truck." He shoves her towards the vehicle. Cora knows not to argue and quickly climbs into the backseat. She gently shuts the door, scared anything could set him off.

+++

Cora follows Luke into the police station. Luke goes up to the desk, Cora listening to him and the cop talk about bailing JJ out.

"You his guardian?" Plumb asks, getting the paperwork. Cora looks up when she sees movement, her lips quirking up slightly at the sight of her big brother. However, JJ's chest tightens at the sight of his little sister. If she's here, she'll have to watch Luke let his anger out.

"Sorry to say, I'm his father." Luke says.

JJ walks over, standing a bit behind Luke. Cora goes over to him, wrapping her arms around him, tightly hugging him. JJ rests his hand on her arm, looking down at her. He stops, spotting the light bruises on her arm in shape of fingers. He clenches his jaw, knowing they'll be darker later and his father's at fault for them.

"Well, his hearing will be in two weeks. If you fail to show up, you will forfeit your bail. The restitution will be based on the average of three outside estimates of the cost of the damaged article."