Jesus took a deep breath as he and Timmy enter his old apartment. Old memories started to flood in and he was not happy about it.
The majority of the apartment was a mess. There were clothes and cigarette buts all over the floor. The kitchen had trash piled high and out of the can with roaches running around and there were dirty dishes in the sink.
Ana was in the living room with Mariana who stayed home that day because she was sick. They were reading a book when Jeffrey and the Jesus kid came in.
"I swear you let these damn kids run wild women!" Jeffrey spat. He then turns to Jesus who was still shaking. "Didn't I tell your punk ass to be back here at three?!"
Jesus didn't say anything, he was still reeling for the fall from outside. Jeffrey didn't like that at all, so he punches him in the shoulder.
"Didn't I!" he snapped. He also made Marianna jump.
"Y-Yes sir!" said Jesus.
"But you think that everything was a joke, don't you?" he spat angrily.
"You think you can go around and do what the hell you want me to do right?" he snapped. "You're out there dancing like a damn fool instead of being in here cleaning this junky ass house huh?"
The kid Jesus stares at the floor.
"So you feel like clowning around huh?" Jeffrey spat.
"Babe," Ana tries to get up and tries to intervene.
"Woman sit down!" Jeffrey barked. "Don't be sticking up for his ass."
Jeffrey goes over to the table and gets his mug of beer. He then storms back over to the Jesus kid.
"You like to clown around right?" Jeffrey got in the kid Jesus' face again. "You know what?"
SPLASH!
Jeff splashed the full mug of beer in kid Jesus' face. After all these years, watching that action take place made Jesus cringe.
"How about that!" spat Jeff. "Now look at yourself, how stupid you are!"
The Jesus kid started to cry.
"What are you crying for, huh?" snapped Jeff. "You want to act like a clown, I'm gonna treat you like a clown!"
Timmy then stood at Jesus' side, with his hand on his shoulder.
"You don't listen!" spat Jeff. "You ain't amount to nothing! Just like your mama and your damn father!"
The Jesus kid whimpers as he looks up at Jeff. He was now shaken all over.
"Now clean your ass up!" spat Jeff. "And you have two hours to clean this damn place up from top to bottom. And you better do it right, or I will give you something more to cry about. Understand?!"
"Y-Y-Yes sir!" stammered the Jesus kid.
"Now get the hell out of my sight!" Jeff pushed the small kid away from him, as he storms to the bedroom and slams the door.
Jesus instantly looks at Anna as she gets off the couch making Mariana fall to her side. She rushes towards the bedroom.
"Mom!" the kid Jesus said tearfully. "MOM!"
"Just do what he says!" Anna shouts as she goes in the bedroom after Jeff.
The Jesus kid drops to his knees and put his face into his hands and sobbed loudly. Mariana looks at him with a worried expression.
Jesus walked over to his seven year old self. Tears filled up his eyes. He wanted to comfort him, to tell him that everything will be okay. But he instant felt like they were both light years away.
"I was never the same after that day," said Jesus, heavily. "I was worse than experiencing a death in the family. It took me a long time to get over the pain."
"Eventually Jeff would be out of your life for good," said Timmy.
"You're right about that," said Jesus. "But the scars are still there. Honestly, to this day, in the back of my mind I always feel that I'm not good enough...That no one will love me, or me not knowing how to love."
"Yes, it can be difficult," said Timmy.
"Yeah," said Jesus. "And that also meant that I stopped trusting people completely. I became very introverted for a very long time. I put this wall up so I didn't let people in."
Jesus turned to Timmy.
"And another thing," Jesus continued. "I really thought that I can depend on Anna to stick up for me! But she didn't, she didn't try hard enough! She just gave up! I have never been so pissed off with anybody as I was with her. I was done with her completely."
"Yes, quite emotionally," said Timmy. "Jesus, do you know remember what happened that same night?"
The scene had clouded out and they found themselves in Jesus old bedroom. The Jesus kid was kneeling at the edge of the bed praying. Jesus walks over to witness.
"Dear God," the little boy whispered. "When I grow up, I want to run away, far, far away from here! I want to be free!"
Jesus eyes stung as he listened.
"Mom's with a very bad man, and I hate him! Please let me run far, far away. I wanna dance! I want to become an entertainer!"
Jesus chuckled.
Then all of a sudden the kid stopped and hesitated for the moment. Then he got up.
"Amen," said the kid as he head towards the closet.
"I was planning to run away," Jesus said to Timmy. "And to never come back."
They watch the kid stuff some clothes into his backpack and sneak out of his room careful not to make a sound. Jesus and Timmy followed right behind him.
The kid was about to turn the knob and go out the front door when…
"Jesus?"
The three of them turned around to see Mariana, who was wearing her pink pajamas and holding on to her favorite stuffed animal.
"Don't she look adorable?" asked Timmy.
"Yes, she does," said Jesus with a smile.
"Where are you going?" Mariana asked in a little voice.
"Out," said the kid, in unison. "Ah...What are you doing up?"
Tears filled Mariana's eyes as she runs over and gives the kid a big hug.
"Please don't go!" she said into the kid's shoulders.
A smile kept on the little boys face as he dropped his bag and hugged her back.
"I won't," the kid said. "I promise."
"She was my twin sister," Jesus said to Timmy. "I couldn't imagine leaving her behind to face that bastard."
"You had to do what you had to do," said Timmy. "And nothing was wrong with that. And you have to understand that none of the stuff that man did to you was not your fault."
"Yeah," said Jesus, as he sees both the Jesus kid and young Mariana walk back to the living room. "We still managed to run away together a few weeks later. That's when we both met our other mom Stef."
"And you all lived happily ever after," said Timmy, with a grin.
"Well, at least we tried to," admitted Jesus, with a shrug. "I'm kind of stuck here with you, remember?"
They both chuckled.
"But seriously bro," Jesus said. "I vowed from now on til the day I die that I wouldn't let nobody hurt me or my sister...ever again!"