(In a musical fashion) BING RING BONG BING – BONG BING RING BING- RING BING BONG BING
Fourteen year old Jack Hale groaned as the bells of the old church tolled, waking him from a fitful sleep. "God," he moaned into his pillow, "What I wouldn't give for one fucking moment's peace."
"Jackie?" The shrill voice of my latest case worker calls, "Jackie Hale, get up! I know that you're tired after getting back from the hospital, but we have to leave now if we're going to make it to your new temporary foster home by the time we said that we would be."
Jack sighed, pulling the covers off before sitting up, wincing at the painful tug of sore skin against the cloth of his shirt. "Fucking dumb bitch, always sticks me with the psychos."
CLICK-SQUEAK, CLACK-CREAK, CLICK-SQUEAK, CLACK-CREAK
Jack rolled his eyes as her attempt at sneakiness. The woman was born without the grace of a three legged cow.
Pulling out the blade he had lifted off a gang banger in the ER last night, Jack held it at the ready, waiting for her to burst in, as she usually did. "Three . . . Two. . . One. . ."
And sure enough, the door creaked open and the she-bitch jumped in, her face set in triumphant lines until she went cross eyed looking at the blade.
"What's wrong with you, you little freak?" She screeched, snatching the switch from my hand, "How many of these things do you have?"
I grin cockily at her, delighting in the fact that she can't hit me no matter what I do to her.
She scowls, the look in her eyes promising untold horrors as soon as I turned of age. "You'll be the death of my, Hale." She grumbles as she slides the blade into her pocket after closing it like an expert.
If there's one thing to admire about this one, it's that she's seen it all; gang banger, to emo, cutters to heroin addicts. Nothing really fazed her.
"And you'll be the death of me. I mean, who was it that put who with the Thompsons? Or how about the Garza family?"
The She-Bitch at least has the decency to look remorseful as I gather my bag. "They had the best records for someone willing to take in a kid your age. I thought that you would fit in there long enough to get out of the system." Sighing, the She-Bitch looked around my sparse room. "But this woman that we have you going to now, she's a legend. She used to be a case worker before she retired."
Jack rolled his eyes, hefting his bag onto his shoulder, motioning for her to lead the way.
BANDON-MAKES-A-BREAK
The ride to the Mercer house had taken longer than Jack had though it would. Almost an hour of poorly sung Christmas songs and a broken heater later they pulled up in front of a medium sized brick house.
Jack stared at the place; it was like something out of a fairy tale. Old bricks were freshly painted, a chimney puffed curls of smoke, and a white picket fence completed the ensemble.
"It looks great, don't it?" the She-Bitch asked.
"Most people with nice things did bad things to get them," Jack answered warily, opening his car door.
Before he could take a step towards the porch, She-Bitch was there, grabbing his arm in a death grip, "I'm warning you, Hale. If you don't want to spend the rest of your childhood getting shuffled around centers then you better try harder to make this work. Evelyn is your last option. If you fuck this up you don't get another case worker, you get a file in some cabinet somewhere. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah," Jack hissed, "I get it; end of the line, fuck up one more time and no more chances for a happy ending."
"You're forgetting the most important part, kid; if you screw this up you won't go back to the kiddy center, you go to the inner city homes. They don't look out for cute little boys there." With a last snarl, the appropriately named She-Bitch stalked away, leaving Jack to grab his bag and carrier.
Jack scowled at her back, following her to the door. They waited side by side on the wrap around as they listened to people shuffling and a woman whispering for quiet.
"Come on in!" A soft voice called.
The She-Bitch didn't even look at me as she pushed me inside, stepping in behind me and laying a warning hand on my back.
The clapping that had greeted us suddenly stopped as I took in the pink banner proclaiming 'Welcome Jackie!' and the small group of people waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
"Well," the She-Bitch said, clapping her hands, "Here he is; little Jackie Hale. I can trust you all with the introductions, right? Good, great. I'll just be going then."
Jack didn't turn to look, but he was pretty sure that the cow had left a vapor trial behind her, along with skid marks from peeling out of their drive way.
Several seconds of silence rang in the hall as Jack took in the assembled people; a boy near his age with a jar shaped head, one slightly older who was very lean, and one who was either in his late teens or early twenties were surrounding a woman with bright blue eyes. A man stood slightly to the side of them, staring at Jack with the same 'deer in headlights' look as the others.
"Um," Jack muttered, glancing anxiously between them, "Hi."
"Oh," the woman tittered, "Oh, well, hello."
"Yo, moms," the jar headed boy said, "I thought we was getting a girl this time?"
Jack's jaw fell, "What?" He gaped, "I mean, I know I'm kinda small for my age, but I'm definitely not a chick."
"Oh," the woman repeated, "Oh, well, I'm terribly sorry, I think we got some inaccurate information."
Jack frowned, "If there's been a mix up I can call the She-Bit- I mean, I can call my case worker back."
"No, I-I'm sorry, no, of course not." The woman hastily replied, "When I got the call last night, they called you Jackie, and I just assumed. They said that the local center would print your file for me, since they didn't keep it at the center you were staying at."
Jack nodded warily, "Yeah, I was there for the longest time, but they never moved my file since they thought that I was leaving."
The woman nodded, "Well, in any case, Jackie- Jack?"
Jack nodded, shuffling his feet.
"Well," the woman said, "I am Evelyn Mercer, and these are my sons. Boys?"
"Hey," the youngest said, chewing on his bulging lips, "'m Angel."
The Lean one stepped forward, giving Jack his hand, "I am Jeremiah. I'm seventeen and have been with mom for five years; Angel had been with her for two and he's sixteen."
Jack nodded and looked at the oldest boy, who starred at him with barely concealed mistrust, "I'm Bobby," He said in a deep, oddly accented voice, "I've been with moms for seven years. I just turned nineteen."
Evelyn nodded her head, pointing to the man at the edge of their group, "This is Mister Grocer, he lives in the house next door, and if you ever find yourself in need, you can go to him."
Mr. Grocer stepped forward, reaching out his hand for a shake but dropping it when Jack flinched. "I'm a longtime friend of Ms. Evelyn, and I help her out with the children whenever I can. If you need anything just ask me and I'll help you get it."
Jack nodded, "I'm Jack Hale. I turned fourteen last month. And this is Trash Bag." He said, lifting his carrier.
"Trash-?" Evelyn asked, peering at the cage that she hadn't noticed.
"My cat," Jack explained, "I found her tied up in a trash bag when she was a kitten. Apparently whoever owned her momma didn't want trash or her siblings."
"Oh, poor little kitties," Evelyn gushed, bending down to look into the cage, "Is she potty trained or do we have to pick up our rugs?"
"She's trained to go outside." Jack answered, "And she sleeps on top of me, so she won't take up space."
"Oh, well," The woman smiled, "I'm sure we could find space for her. Do you mind if we see her?"
Jack shook his head and opened the cage, dumping a white ball of fluff onto the floor. "This is Trash Bag."
"She's so cute!" The woman exclaimed, kneeling down to pick up the cat. "Such beautiful eyes. I love how one is green and one is blue."
Jack smiled internally, "She's a ham, though, so beware. I take her to all of the places that I stay long term."
The woman handed Trash to the lean boy, who stroked her between the ears, making her purr. Jack actually rolled his eyes at his feline friend, know that she was buttering up their new housemates.
Evelyn watched Jack from the corner of her eye, though she pretended to be involved in a conversation between the oldest boy and the man. "So why don't we move this to the kitchen? I'm sure that Jack wants to see more than the foyer."
"What's a foyer?" Jar head asked.
"It's the entryway to a place. The space right in behind a door." Jack explained.
Evelyn smiled at them, glad that the two youngest were getting along better, though she had doubted that Angel would take kindly to being the second youngest person in the house.
"I have to be going, Evelyn," Mr. Grocer said, "With my eldest away at college I have to look after the store more."
"Oh yes," Evelyn said with a nod, "I'm sorry for keeping you, Frank. Don't for get to tell Randy that I say hi in your next letter!"
Mr. Grocer said that he would and departed, being careful not to touch Jack on his way out the door.
"Come along, Jack," Evelyn said as she moved through an arch and into what looked to be the living room, "I prepared a room for you, but I'll show it to you later, once we've had breakfast. Bobby, can you get Jacks bags from the porch and take them upstairs?"
"Yeah, Mom." Bobby said, never taking his gaze off of Jack, almost as though he were sizing him up for a coffin.
"No," Jack said, shuddering under the other boy's fierce scrutiny. "I only have the one bag, and I'll take it up to the place I'll be staying later, if that's okay."
Evelyn frowned, "Where are the rest of your things, dear? You jacket or clothes?"
Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "I didn't have time to get a jacket from the mission before I left, and all of my clothes and stuff fit just fine in a back pack."
Evelyn nodded, "I'll just get you a jacket when I go into town tonight. Since I have to pick up your file anyways, why don't you make a list of the things that you need while I'm out?"
Jack blushed, "I'm fine, really. I have two pairs of jeans and four shirts and sets of under clothes."
Evelyn pursed he lips but didn't say anything else on the topic, sensing that to push the issue would stress out her new charge.
"Hey mom," Angel asked, "Can you pick me up some of that cool aid? The watermelon one, not the orange one."
"Sure thing, Angel." Evelyn responded, using the change of topic to usher her charges into the kitchen.
BANDON-MAKES-A-BREAK
Jack sighed as he lay down on the bed in what was to be his temporary room. The day had gone alright, after the awkwardness of introductions. They had eaten three square meals on time, pausing only to watch a movie in the living room or catch the most important parts of the news. They had had polite conversation over the table, most of which evolved around hockey.
Jack had been intimidated when he found out that Bobby was a professional player. The older boy was already the one that Jack felt the most unease about, and finding out that he got paid to beat people for entertainment wasn't Jack's idea of a good revelation.
Sitting up, Jack took off his shirt, lying on his stomach to get the pressure off of the damage on his back.
Tensing as he heard footsteps on the stairs, Jack drew a deep breath, hoping that they would pass by his room without incident.
"Yo, Angel, Jeri, where you guys at?" He heard Bobby yell.
"We're in the attic!" Jeremiah shouted back, pounding on the roof for emphasis. "Just looking at some of mom's old stuff."
Bobby sighed, walking a step closer to Jacks door, "Has anyone seen my iPod? I thought I left it on the couch, but I can't find it for shit."
"Ummm," Jack heard Angel mutter, "About that..."
"What the fuck have you done with my iPod, Angel?" Bobby snarled.
"We were only barrowing it!" Jeremiah said in defense, "We took it to Michael's house when we were playing his games."
Jack heard Bobby sigh, "And where the fuck did you put it when you got back?"
There was silence for several beats, "Ummm, can we go to Michael's real quick?" Angel asked.
"You fucking left it there?" Bobby snarled and pounded up the ladder into the attic.
"We'll go get it!" Jeremiah said, obviously the voice of reason. "Ten minutes and you'll have it back! I swear!"
"You better get it back to me right fucking now or I'ma shove my foot so far up your ass you can spit shine it!"
"We're goin, we're goin!" Angel said as he and Jeremiah rushed down the stairs. "Fucking violent asshole!" He muttered under his breath as he ran past Jacks room.
Jack shivered, wishing that the other boys weren't going and leaving him alone with Bobby. He had been the scapegoat for aggravation too many times to not realize what would happen when Angel and Jeremiah were gone. Curling into a ball, he sighed, wishing to god that he could just sink into mattress and disappear.
"Fucking little assholes." Jack heard Bobby mutter as he came down the attic stairs and passed Jack's room.
Jack tenses as Bobby's footsteps halted just after his door.
"Fucking gonna take them forever getting back," Bobby said irritably, "and now I can't fucking play my games."
Jack winced, already knowing what the obvious form of entertainment was. He knew what was about to happen. He forced his body to lay flat, legs spread slightly, hands clenching around the bars. He evened his breathing, hoping that if he were compliant enough Bobby wouldn't be so rough with him. This wouldn't be the only time Jack had been taken, and it would most likely happen again, but the first time with a new person was the worst. You never knew what they would do to you, what kind of things they enjoyed. It was the fear that made it so much worse than it actually was.
Jack unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down to his hips, leaving himself more vulnerable to the attack. Shuddering as the door creaked open, Jack had to bite his lip to keep from crying; he really had hoped that he'd be safe, at least until he healed. But what did he expect? They were all the same, these foster homes, the weak got hurt and the strong got their way. Clenching his eyes shut, Jack let out a deep breath as he squashed the bars so tightly that his hands hurt.
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Bobby couldn't believe his brothers. All he wanted to do was listen to his music as he played his video games. Now what the fuck was he supposed to do? Sit around for ten minutes with his thumb up his ass?
Sighing, he looked at Jack's door, wondering what the kid was doing. If anything, he should try to get to know the squirt like his mom had asked him to. He had watched him all day long; every unconscious flinch, every sharp intake of breath had been seen and stored away in Bobby's mind. He sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair as he placed his hand on the knob.
Twisting in, he heard the bed creak, like someone was shifting on in into a more comfortable position. Opening the door, he heard a heavy sigh from the figure on the bed.
"Kid?" Bobby whispered into the darkened room, "Kid, you awake?"
Bobby saw Jack freeze completely still, not even the steady breathing that had filled the room a moment ago giving the sign of life.
Bobby closed his eyes, shaking his head. They had had kids like this before, kids that had been hurt so many times that they couldn't hear footsteps in that hall without having panic attacks.
Bobby padded closer, taking his time as he walked to the bed, "Kid," He asked softly, "Why are you shaking?"
Bobby saw that Jack had his eyes clenched shut, his hands grasping the headboard for support.
"I don't know what you want," Jack murmured quietly, flinching into the bed more.
Bobby sighed, "The first time with a new person is always the hardest, isn't it?"
Jack's head shot up in shock, staring up at Bobby with wide, terrified eyes. Jack had hoped to see a little sympathy on bobby's face, but it was hard, empty. Jack closed his eyes again and nodded, biting his lip to keep from begging. He knew that it wouldn't do him a damned good. Bobby knew how the game was played, he knew the rules. You don't pass up fresh meat, not even if it's already broken in.
Bobby placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, squeezing it a little, though the other boy had tears rolling down his face.
"You're safe here, kid." Bobby whispered, "Mom won't let anyone hurt you, I can promise you that."
And then Bobby was gone, running form Jack's room as his past reared up at him, threatening to break his calm resolve.
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Jack stared at the door that Bobby had just slammed shut, wondering what the hell had just happened. He had been close, so close, to losing it. He knew it; his mind may have told him to be a still as he could, but his body was taut with fear, tensed to run for it, to fight Bobby for the right to his body.
And then it was over, Bobby had left and Jack lay unscathed on his bed, hands still wrapped around the bars and jeans halfway down his thighs.
Giving a shaking breath, Jack sat up, rolling onto his side to stare out at the moon from his window.
The first time was always the worst, because you never knew what to expect. Jack didn't know if tonight's outcome was good, or bad, but it was definitely different.
BANDON-MAKES-AN-END
H, this is chapter one, revamped. I hope that someone liked this!