New story! Yes you heard right! A new story!
Fang: Sorry I Just Did doesn't own anything!
*Max is 13 in the chapter. Ella is 10 and Gazzy is four. Angel is in Valencia's womb.
"Valencia, you don't understand! This could change the world, we could protect mankind!" Jeb yelled. He was always Jeb, never Dad, Daddy or Father. Just Jeb. He was just Jeb to all of us, Mom, Ella, Gazzy and me. For as long as I could remember, he was Jeb.
"I will not subject my child to this- this experiment! My child is a human being not a science lab rat. I will not allow you to test it, put it through various kinds of torture just so you can advance technology. I've seen the statistics Jeb; it's not even likely that our child will survive!" Mom yelled back at him, glaring fiercely.
I was standing at the top of the stairs, watching them. They didn't know I was there; it wasn't likely that they would ever notice considering how much they were yelling. Both of their faces were getting redder and redder.
"Max, what's going on? I can hear them all the way from my room." Ella asked, coming out of her room at the end of the hallway.
I swore under my breath, she couldn't see them like this, "Ella, go to your room. Lock the room and stay there." I ordered, pointing to her door.
She raised an eyebrow, "Why? What's going on? Max, what's going on?" She asked, suddenly way more concerned then she had been a few moments ago.
I sighed, pacing my hand on her shoulders, "I'll explain later but you need to go to your room now." I said sternly. She looked in my eyes and saw that I was serious. She nodded and ran to her room, locking the door behind her. I let out a sigh of relief and turned around, resuming my vigil.
"Valencia, this could change everything!" Jeb shouted.
Mom glared at him, "I don't care if it meant saving the whole damn universe from coming apart at its seams, I will not put my baby up for such torture!" Mom shouted back stubbornly.
Jeb rubbed his temple, "When will you stop being so ignorant, Valencia?" He asked her exasperated. Mom's face grew even redder- a feat that I didn't think was possible. They had been arguing like this for a month now, ever since they found out that Mom was pregnant again. The fights grew worse and worse each night.
But they all started and ended the same. Jeb would bring up The Question- as I have grown to call it- and Mom would immediately refuse. Jeb would try to convince her to say yes but she wouldn't give in. I had to take her side on this- just like I always did. But then again, even if I liked Jeb, I still would have taken her side. What Jeb wanted to do was disgusting and horrific. I can't believe he would want to do that to his own child, my soon to be brother/sister.
I can't believe Mom would forgive him afterwards. She would always calm him down and convince him to put it aside for now. But then in a few days' time, he would ask again and the fights would start all over. They grew worse each time, they started to call each other names, insult each other. I always watched from the top of the stairs quietly. They don't know I watch them, though I think they know that we can hear them. But then again, who couldn't? I'm pretty sure the neighbors could hear them, they screamed so loud.
"What? I am in no way ignorant; if anyone here is ignorant it's you! You can't see that your experiments will destroy our children!" Mom screamed at him. I could see the tears streaming down her face. I turned my head to look at Jeb; he was also crying but not as much as Mom. There were a few tears, just a few. Jeb didn't cry, he almost never did.
Jeb narrowed his eyes at her, "I'm not ignorant! I am trying to chan-" He began but was interrupted by mom.
"Change the world, I know. You've mentioned a few times." She snapped bitterly, venom dripping from her every word.
His gaze softened, "Valencia, I know this is hard for you to understand but this could really be life-changing!" He tried to explain to her.
Mom just kept glaring at him, "It could also destroy lives." She countered quickly. Jeb moved forward, placing his hands on her shoulders. Mom just yanked her shoulders out of his grasp, glaring at him fiercely.
He sighed, "Valencia, a few lives are going to have to be sacrificed for the better of mankind." He explained to her.
"Well not the lives of my children." She snarled at him. Jeb's eyes suddenly got cold, colder than I have ever seen them in the thirteen years I've been alive.
"Will you ever stop being so damn foolish?" He shouted in a rage.
Mom didn't seem fazed, "If foolish means loving your children in your book then by all means, I will never stop." She replied just as coldly as Jeb. Jeb let out a cry of rage and reached for a nearby vase. My eyes widened as he threw it at the spot right next to Mom. The vase crashed onto the ground and shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. Mom cringed slightly at the broken vase but held her ground.
Suddenly a cry pierced through the air, wailing. My eyes widened even more, Gazzy was still down there! I rushed downstairs, avoiding any pieces of broken glass that lay on the ground because they were everywhere. I found Gazzy in the living room, right next to the room where Mom and Dad were arguing. He was wailing.
I scooped him up in my arms and began to rock him, "Shush Gazzy, it's okay, it's okay." I murmured to him. He calmed down a bit kept crying.
"Mommy! Daddy!" He cried out.
I tensed up, "They're not happy right now." I explained to him.
He sniffled, "Will they be happy again?" He asked sweetly.
My heart melted, "I don't know Gazzers." I said to him, he sniffled and buried his head into my neck. I carried him upstairs (struggling the whole way- he was quite heavy for a four year old) avoiding Mom and Jeb as I passed by the room where they were currently standing, glaring at each other.
Once I reached the top of the stairs, I ran to Ella's room and began to knock on the door, "Ella let me in, now." I ordered. I heard the door unlocking and she opened it just far enough so I could squeeze in with Gazzy. She closed the door behind her and I placed Gazzy on her bed.
She looked at me sadly, "He asked The Question again, didn't he?" She asked quietly. I nodded, trying to calm down Gazzy who had started to cry again. I sat down on Ella's bed myself and put Gazzy in my lap, comforting. I looked up to see Ella starting to cry.
I didn't say anything, I just motioned for her to come sit with us and she did, wrapping her arms around my waist and sobbing into my shoulder. I wrapped my free arm around her shoulder and placed my head on her head, murmuring comforting words in her shoulder.
I glanced at the door; did they know we were up here? Did they know that I was the one comforting them through all of this while they were screaming at each other? Did they know that I had to stop myself from crying just to take care of the younger ones? Did they care at all?
I stopped myself at that thought. Jeb may not care, but I sure as hell knew that Mom cared. Otherwise she wouldn't be there yelling at him. I felt a trip slip down my cheek and I wipe it away hastily.
Ella looked up at me, "It's okay to cry, Max." She told me and with that I let it out. I began to cry. I cried really hard, clutching Gazzy and Ella, burying my head in theirs.
Crash!
I immediately stopped crying when I heard the second crash. I lifted my head up, waiting for any more sounds. A door was slammed; I'm assuming it was the front door. Ella, Gazzy and I remained silent as we listened, stifling our cries and sniffling. Then there was a slam of a car door and an engine turned on. We shot off the bed and raced to the window where we saw Jeb pulling out of the driveway in his car.
We watched as the car drove away, leaving the house silent except for our sniffles. I turned to them and they looked at me, questions obvious in their eyes. Did Jeb just leave? I wanted to answer them, I opened my mouth to do so, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. How could I? I didn't have the answers myself.
We just sat there on our knees, staring blankly out the window for a while. The only sounds were the occasional sniffle and cry from Mom coming from downstairs but other than that it was silent. What just happened?
I didn't cry after that day.
R&R?
