Tommy's POV
"Shall I go after her?" Arthur asks.
I shake my head. "Let her be. I'll talk to her later. We have to deal with the bodies first before someone finds them."
"How'd you know for sure they're dead?" John says.
"Oh they're dead. You two might had a complete mental alienation, but I hadn't. You did not left much of their faces."
"Hm.. What about you Tom?" John scoffs.
I ignore it, knowing what he means, knowing he's right. I molested to kid.
"What about the other two? They saw us."
"Arthur please shut up about it. They have no proof, I'll sort it out okay. Rather think about a way of making this up to Vive. I told her this morning we one of us would pick her up from school and we..."
"Got held up." He finishes my sentence. "We couldn't do anything about it Tom."
I nod. "How's that make the situation better? Look at her. Hardly haven't seen her without cuts, bruises and tears this whole fucking year for Christ sake." I spat back.
"Well, this time she started it herself by sneaking away with that boy..." John suddenly interferes.
I frown my eyebrows, not really sure what he's meaning by that.
"So?" I ask.
"Well, she could've expected trouble and we warned her."
"John, she's just a child..." Arthur says calm.
"Yes and that's the exact reason we warned her, because she's a child. Now we killed three other children because of that shit." He responds.
I'm trying to calm my nerves but as he wants to continue something snaps inside.
"John! Shut your fucking mouth. Haven't you done anything stupid at her age, oi? Does sneaking out with a boy mean it's her fault she gets assaulted and humiliated by a whole bunch of guys?"
It's a rhetorical question which he seems to get. He pulls up his eyebrow and looks at Arthur.
"You know what I mean right? Of course she didn't deserve it, I'm just saying that's what you get when you don't listen."
"Would you say the same to your daughter if she was her age John?" I scoff back at him.
"Alright, alright, let's just all... stay calm." Arthur interferes. "John, go to Charlie and tell him about the bodies.
"I'll go to the shop and tell Polly about all of this and I'll come back later today."
I nod at him. They both leave and when I hear the front door close I pour myself a drink and light a cigarette. With my elbow I open the door of the living room. Vive is sleeping on the couch, her face pointed towards the pillows beside her. I'm glad she's not awake and didn't overheard us.
Not long after John and Arthur left the house Polly storms inside and in one line towards my workroom.
"Where is she?" She almost screams to me.
"Calm down Pol. She's asleep." I answer as I look up from my paperwork.
"That's not an answer. Arthur told me what you did." A blank and scared face expression falls over her. I cross my arms and lean back onto my chair.
"... killed three kids?" She continues.
I shake my head.
"They were hardly kids and I know for sure you would have done the same if you kne..."
"Don't." She spats back at me. "Don't talk this right for yourself Tom. It were just KIDS and don't tell me what I would have done because..."
"Kids? KIDS, oi? You know what they did to her Pol?! You know what we walked into this afternoon? Two boys pinning her against the brick wall, beating her and ripping the clothes off her body while the others were humiliating her, again! What would you have done, oi?!" I cut her off.
I let out a sigh and lean my arms on my desk, trying to maintain my calm. "Pol, I don't want to fight you."
"How is she?" She says after a few seconds of taking in what I just told her.
"A few cuts and bruises, but we took care of that."
"What about her school Tom, how can she ever go back after today?"
"She won't." I say demonstratively.
"She won't?" Polly repeats.
"Yes, just like you said, there's no way she can go back, nor would I let her if there was. I'll arrange homeschooling for her."
Polly nods. "What if she don't want that?"
"Oh, I'll bet she wants that."
As she walks away she suddenly stops and turns back at me. "Oh and Tommy, you know what day tomorrow is?" She says. I shake my head since I have no clue.
"Her birthday." With that Polly leaves my room and shuts the door. I let out a deep sigh while I light a fresh cigarette. Her birthday... what a time for a fucking birthday.
Vive's POV
"Love, wake up..." a quiet voice speaks to me. When I open my eyes I see its Polly who sits on the side of the couch next to me. I try to stretch myself while rubbing my face, completely forgetting the side of my back.
"Ouch!" I flinch and recoil into the position I was in.
"Careful." Polly says while putting a pillow behind me.
"How are you feeling?"
"I've had worse." I say, smiling a little. "How long did I sleep?"
"Uhm, about two hours. Not too long."
"You want to talk about it?" I see she hesitates about asking me this. I hardly ever talk to Polly about serious 'stuff', I don't really know why, but I just rather talk to my brothers about my problems than with her. She knows and I feel like she respects that.
I shake my head while looking into my hands instead of her eyes. "No need to. I'm fine."
She nods, still looking at me with a concerned look.
"You know, if you don't want to talk to me, please talk to your brothers."
I nod.
"Alright then, I'll go get dinner ready. You stay here and rest."
"Where's Tommy?" I ask. "In his room.."
As Polly disappears into the kitchen, I make my way off the couch and I stumble towards Tommy's room. I knock and wait patiently for him to answer.
"Yes?"
I open the door and he looks surprised as he sees me standing in the doorway.
"You up already? Come'ere, sit." He gestures to the big chair in front of his desk. I take place.
"How you feeling?" He asks as he puts away the papers he was working on, giving me his full attention.
"Wounds still sting, but it's fine." I say, answering this question honestly this time.
"I can give you something against the pain if you want?" He answers, giving me a serious look.
I shake my head being stubborn again. Still wanna play a tough act while I would love to have some medicine right now. "No, that's okay. I'll manage." I answer.
"Uhm, I just wanted to inform you that I am not going set foot into my school ever again. I want to go to a different school, or you have to arrange homeschooling for me." I continue, trying to be a confident and determined as possible.
Tommy raises his eyebrow.
"You're informing me?" He chuckles. I nod violently.
"Well, after everything that has happened, you don't have to. I'm actually glad you came with this yourself. You'll never see those kids again"
"You mean the two you didn't kill?" I spat. Immediately regretting my sarcastic tone.
He clears his throat before reacting to my "About this afternoon..."
"No, it's fine." I cut him off, not wanting to hear about it anymore. I just want to move on from today and never think about the whole Luke situation again.
"Vive..." He continues. "I want you to know that we got held up on our way to you. That's why weren't in time, not because we forgot you."
I shrug my shoulders. "What difference does it make?"
Tommy turns his gaze to his desk, pressing his lips together.
"It doesn't, but I just want you to know." He almost whispers.
"I know, but I'm not mad anymore. Like John said earlier, it's my own fault. Thereby, you warned me about killing them, too pity Luke's the one that got away." I spit, again using a passive aggressive undertone.
Tommy now looks up his eyes locked on mine while shaking his head, clearly shrugged by my comment.
"John didn't mean it like th..."
"Yes, he did, but that's fine, really, I agree with him." I say, giving my brother a blanc face expression, trying my best to not show any sort of emotion before getting up from the chair, planning on going back to kitchen.
"Wait. Come'ere." Tommy says.
I turn back around. He gets off his chair and walks up to me, pulling me into a soft hug. I feel he's trying to be careful with me, not wanting to hurt me or touch my bruises. He lets out a small sigh before pulling away from me and getting himself on the same height as me.
"You didn't deserve that and it wasn't your fault."
I nod but continue my way towards the door of his office, leaving Tommy standing in the middle.