The Revelation

Are you even serious?

"He did not!" Lisa sneered, clearly convinced I was lying.

"Oh yeah, he was pissed," my roommate Shannon interjected, recalling that night she bore witness to Mike's tirade.

Lisa looked at Shannon with wide eyes and her mouth hung open as she recounted what she saw.

"I've never seen anyone that angry." Shannon shivered remembering Mike's mood.

"What did you do, Julie?" Lisa asked me.

"I had to drop a class cuz there was no way I was gonna pass it. A required class I would have to pay to retake. Well, they would have to pay for me to retake." I shuddered, replaying in my head my punishment from Mike that night.

"Oh," Lisa replied sadly, understanding full well how Mike would have reacted upon finding out I had to drop a class.

"I could hear the slap of his belt all the way from Kim's room," Shannon said looking at Lisa, "and her door was closed and she lives in the last room at the end of the hall."

Lisa looked at me in shock, hearing that Shannon knows how we're disciplined.

"It's alright, she grew up Baptist," I said to Lisa, referring to Shannon's familiarity with corporal punishment as discipline.

"Mike really drove all the way up here just to spank you?" Lisa still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that I wasn't immune to Mike's or Shane's heavy hands when it came to correcting my misbehavior.

"Yeah. Weren't you and Carrie there when Shane summoned Stacey home to whip her ass for losing her scholarship?"

"She lost her scholarship?" Lisa was honestly surprised as she had no idea. "I mean, I know she came home a few times rather unwillingly but..."

"And what about that weekend I came home after I got fined for having alcohol in my room? You do know Mike belted me pretty severely for that, right?"

"Oh yeah," Lisa was much less indignant now. "But still, those were kinda big things, I just left my frickin' gym bag on the floor."

"Ya know, Lisa, just because we live on campus, doesn't mean we're treated any differently than you or Carrie." I gave Lisa a look that said duh. Turning my attention to Carrie, I asked, "You seriously supported her on this? Come on, Carrie, you have more sense than that. How could you think running away would possibly end well? Did the two of you learn nothing from my escapade to Tristan's when I tried that?" I shook my head at my little sisters. "For shame," I pretended to scold them, before cracking a smile and chuckling. "Do you think Mike knows you're gone yet?"

Lisa replied, "No, I doubt it. He was probably asleep before we even left."

"Yeah, Mike sleeps like the dead, nothing will wake him. He'll be out cold 'til morning," Carrie confirmed.

"So what's your game plan now? You wanna stay for a few days? There's a party at Kevin's tomorrow night. You guys could come." I looked at Shannon, silently asking her permission to let my sisters crash in our room and hang with us.

"Yeah, you should come to the party, it's supposed to be pretty fucked up." Thankfully Shannon was cool with them staying.

I have to admit, she's a decent roommate. I got lucky gettin' paired with her. She's pretty chill about most things. Although, she's weirdly strict about dental hygiene, always making sure I brush twice daily and floss at least nightly.

Lisa looked at Carrie and said, "Good, it's settled then, we'll stay."

"Are you guys gonna call Mike tomorrow morning and let him know you're here?" I asked.

"Nah," Lisa replied, "He'll figure it out."

The next morning at the NJC

Mike's pov

I decided to head over to the girls' room early this morning to see if Lisa had changed her attitude and was ready to apologize to Shane for the way she disrespected him. I knocked softly on their door but no one answered so I knocked louder and waited. After knocking several more times and getting no response, I slowly opened their door and walked into an empty room. DAMMIT! Where are they? I thought to myself.

By the looks of their closets, they weren't just out for a walk. They planned on being gone for awhile. I tried calling Lisa and sighed heavily when I heard her phone ringing on her desk, right next to Carrie's. So much for tracking them, I thought to myself. I tried calling and texting our two oldest daughters but neither answered, nor texted back. I didn't want to wake Shane up so I went to the Foundation to talk to Neil.

At the Foundation

Mike's pov

I explained to Neil everything that happened between Lisa and Shane and then I reluctantly relayed the conversation she and I had last night as well.

"You told her to leave, Michael?" Neil asked.

I nodded and replied, "Yes sir."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, MICHAEL DAVID?" Neil rose from his seat and slammed his hands down so hard on his desk, my whole body jerked in reaction to the noise. Grabbing me by the front of my shirt, Neil pulled me out of my chair and held me in front of him. My face just inches from his own, he tightened his grip on me and hissed angrily, "Why didn't you just punish her for her insolence? Why in the world would you throw her out?"

Gulping, I replied timidly, "I wanted to teach her a lesson, sir, about what it means to be an adult." I looked down to avoid Neil's harsh glare.

Grabbing my chin, Neil forced me to look him in the eyes.

"I will help you find Lisa then you will discipline her accordingly. Tonight, I will return the favor. You'll come back to my office and I will teach you an extremely painful lesson. Am I clear, Michael?" Neil narrowed his eyes at me in a menacing warning.

He didn't release his hold on me until he heard me say, "Yes sir."

"Good. Now sit down and shut up while I find your daughters," Neil ordered crossly.