CHAPTER 3

I barely slept that night. I was staring up the ceiling and I still could not make sense of anything that had happened the previous night. I fell asleep around 4AM, but was awake again as the sun was rising. Immediately I jumped up to wake Pete up as I wanted answers. As it turned out, Pete was already awake, knowing that I will be asking questions of what the fuck was going on in that office.

Pete started talking:

"Look, I know this is a lot for you to take in and I know you don't understand it, but I can assure you that this is the best thing that could ever have happened to you. You are now a part of our cult, our gang if you will, and you will now be looked after and have a brilliant future. We stand together and Vladimir looks after us all. He selected you and he wants you to be one of us. You have great potential Gordon and with the help of Vladimir you can reach that potential and finally live your life to the fullest."

I was having none of it and said: "I don't want to be part of any gang or cult or whatever the fuck that was last night. I need to find a new school or a job. I have a baby on the way for God sake. I don't have time to waste on this shit. You're a fucking asshole for what you did last night and I never want anything to do with you or any of those fucking lunatic motherfuckers that were part of all this shit. I went through enough shit in my life and now is the time for me to stand up and try to make a better living, try to be someone. So fuck you and all those clowns of last night. Don't ever come near me again because if you do, I swear to God I will fucking kill you."

"Gordon, wait and…."

"I don't want to hear a fucking word from you, I'm leaving now and I never want to see or speak to you ever again. If you come close to me I will hurt you and that's a promise you fucking dickhead. Fuck you!"

I picked up my bag and left the house, slamming the doors shut as I left. Pete did not come after me or say anything else, which was good because Pete scared me in a way and I was in no mood for a fight, verbal or physical. I acted tough while I was in there, partly because I was mad and I think the anger got the best of me. On the other hand, I hoped that by acting tough, Pete would be a little cautious and not attack me or something. I got as far away from his house as fast as I could. I was on my way to my parents's house where I felt a little more secure even though I knew they didn't give a fuck about me. At the moment, it was better than being close to Pete. Who knows when those fuckers of the previous night would pitch up there? I was not taking any chances because after I now told Pete that I didn't want anything to do with them, they might try to kill me or something like that. I was so pissed off because of all the shit that had happened that I forgot about all the shenanigans of the previous day at school and how furious my parents would be when they saw me. They were probably waiting since yesterday for me to set foot in that house so that they can fuck me up. This was not going to end good but by the time I realized it, it was too late.

I finally got home, my mother was in the kitchen filling up her wine glass. As I walked in, she turned around and just grinned. She looked like Lucifer himself at that very moment. That's when I knew that I was in deeper shit than I could handle. Suddenly I felt a punch to the back of my head, knocking me to the ground. I was dazed. After a while when I got my bearings back together again, I saw that it was my father that had pummelled me and he looked pissed. I have never in my life seen him as angry as at that very moment. He was red in the face and was breathing heavily. My mother kept on yelling and calling me names, saying I was useless, disgraceful, a fucking loser, and the list goes on. I tried to explain myself but every time I opened up my mouth to speak, my father gave me a back hand to the face. My nose was bleeding and my lip was cut open so I figured it would be in my best interest to rather just stay quiet. He was going to truly hurt me if I said anything else.

My mother finally settled down, gulped down her glass of wine, filled it up again and left the kitchen, which left me and my dad all alone. My father just started beating me up, punching me any where he could find a place to land a punch, I fell to the floor and he started kicking me. My whole body was aching by now.

He finally stopped when he was out of breath and said that I had better leave his house and never ever come back again and that if he sees me again, he will make sure that it is the last time that I ever see the light of day. I didn't even bother to say anything back as I knew that it would only infuriate him further.

I slowly got up, struggling due to all the punishment that I endured and limped out of the kitchen to the front door. I stopped at the door, looked back for one last time and saw both my mom and dad staring at me from the kitchen door. My dad was still out of breath and my mom stood there with a smile on her face, holding the wine glass in the air as if she was saying "cheers". I turned around and kept walking as I knew that I won't ever come back, not even if they begged me to but I knew that would never happen.

Now I was completely fucked. I had no friends nor family. I had no place to stay and no money for food or anything like that. I did not know what I was going to do, but I knew that I would be better off not living in that house. Nobody cared for me and nobody loved me and after what my father just did, I would never be able to forgive him.

I found a quiet corner under a big oak tree and just sat there with my back against the wall, contemplating on what I was going to do next. Nothing came to mind and then out of the blue, Pete Scully came and sat right next to me. If I had the strength I would have kicked his ass right there but after the beating I took, I knew that it was an impossible task. It would be difficult to accomplish if I was at full strength. I just sat there and asked:

"What the fuck do you want?"

Pete laughingly replied, "Got your ass handed to you did you?"

I wanted to smash his fucking head in at that very moment, because he thought that this was all a big fucking joke.

"Pete, just fuck right off, I don't have the energy for you and your bullshit now."

"If you stayed and listened this morning, none of this would have happened. You would still be fine and would not have endured all this pain."

"I don't give a fuck. You could have gotten me killed last night with your fucking gang and I told you this morning that I wanted nothing to do with that shit and I have not changed my mind."

"Gordon, we aren't bad people and we can help you to build a better life."

"Please just leave Pete. I don't want to see you ever again"

Pete got up, stood there for a few seconds just looking at me and started walking. After taking four steps, he stopped and said, "We have dinner at 6 tonight, see you there. I will get your blanket and pillow ready so long as well."

I said nothing in return and Pete left. I have to admit, the guy was not giving up. He was very persistent.

I sat there in immense pain and eventually I fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw that it was 17H30 and it was slowly getting dark. I tried to stand up but my body was so sore that I just fell to the ground again. I mustered up all of my energy and forced myself through the pain to get to my feet. Now I needed to find a place to sleep and some food as I my tummy was rumbling, begging for some food.

I walked a couple of steps but my leg was so badly injured after my father had kicked me repeatedly on the knee that I could not walk any more. I stood there, started crying as I did not know what to do and fell back to the ground. It would be near impossible for me to walk, let alone find a place to sleep and get some food.

Suddenly a man crouched next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. When I looked up, I saw that it was Pete again. I tried to push him away but he was not letting go.

"You can fuck me up when you're back to full strength but for now, you're coming with me so that I can help you heal."

I kept on crying and slowly Pete helped me to my feet, put my arm around his shoulder to help me stay upright and we walked to his house. Pete supported me all the way as we walked, but neither of us spoke. I would have struggled to walk and speak anyway. I was focused on the pain and it was killing me. Every step I took caused me pain, but Pete wasn't letting up until we made it to his house.

When we got to his house I saw that he had made a nice bed for me using pillows and soft blankets in order to aid my sore body. He helped me lie down and then left the room but returned a couple of minutes later with a plate of macaroni and cheese. He gave it to me and left again. I sat silently and ate the food. It was so nice and I was beyond hungry so it was like heaven on earth. I finished all the food and put the plate down next to me, tried to lie back down and all the pain shot through my body. Felt like I was hit by a truck. I groaned and moaned as I tried to move around and then just decided to lay dead still as that causes the least pain.

After a few minutes, Pete came in with a glass of water and a hand full of pills. He helped me sit up again and handed them to me. I looked at all the pills in my hand and then looked up at Pete. I was reluctant to drink them after what happened the previous night and I felt like I could not trust Pete completely at this moment.

"Just drink the God damn pills Gordon. It will help with the pain and will help you sleep tonight."

I put the pills in my mouth along with some water and swallowed it all down. I then downed the rest of the water to quench my thirst and handed the empty glass to Pete.

He took the glass, put it on the night stand and then helped me to lie down again which was absolutely agonising. Pete sat there while I was lying down. We did not say a word to each other. I looked away from Pete, but could see from the corner of my eye that he was watching me. I started to feel very sleepy, but tried to fight the urge in fear that Pete might just be waiting for me to sleep before he did some fuckedup shit again. Maybe he planned on killing me and all of this was just part of his plan. He had been nice to me and helped me a lot, but I could not know if his intentions were completely pure. I felt myself drifting away and then and I knew Pete had given me a sleeping tablet which made me even more anxious. I tried as hard as I could to stay awake but not long after, I was out.