Author: veiledndarkness
Title: The Silence of Suffering
Rating: PG
Pairing: Surprisingly, none.
Summary: The day that Jack escaped.
Warnings: Usual disclaimer. Not mine, never will be.
000
The harsh words always hurt more than the slaps. Jack figured that while a bruise shaped like a fist hurt, cruel words cut deeper and lasted longer than it took for a bruise to heal.
He no longer screamed, did not beg or plead for help He took the blows in near silence, muffled gasps and groans of pain as the belt buckle lashed again and again.
At the moment when Jack was sure that he couldn't possibly endure another week, another minute, the beating stopped. His breath hitching, Jack glanced over his shoulder and saw a small army of people in the doorway.
Behind one man that he recognized as his caseworker, was a woman, one who had hair that caught the pale sunshine and filled the room with light. Jack's eyes widened.
"The angel," he murmured more to himself than aloud.
He had dreamt of the moment when someone would care enough to intervene, had feverishly prayed to a god he wasn't sure he believed in to take him away. And now, as the woman approached him slowly, with a smile that eased his pain, Jack felt a calmness fall over him.
It would be better now, he was sure of it. The woman held out her hand and said that her name was Evelyn and that she would take care of him now. Jack took her hand shakily and began to move with her, away from the wall and the bloodied belt that hung limply from his mother's hand.
"He's mine," she wailed desperately as they made their way to the door.
Evelyn stopped and looked at her, pity and anger mixing together in her eyes.
"Children are a gift," she said stiffly. "I only wish that more people understood that."
She gently tugged Jack's hand and nodded to the caseworker as they left, closing the door and swallowing up his mother's screams.