Chapter 10

Jack was horror struck. Was his father communicating with Sam? Was Sam going to help his father get him? Was Sam here to kill him? Jack thought. He didn't like the look in Sam's eyes. They were dangerous. They were smiling in an overjoyed and yet threatening way that made Jack's complexion turn deathly white.

"Damn I hate salesmen! They're so persistent. Kinda felt bad for the poor guy though. I bet he don't sell a damn thing all day." Bobby said as he walked back into the kitchen.

When Bobby looked at the two boys, he realized that something had happened. Judging by the look of horror on Jack's face and the look of 'I'm an angel and I didn't do ANYTHING wrong' on Sam's face, he just knew.

Bobby whipped around and grabbed Sam by his shirt lifting him from the chair. "Look kid! I said I won't tolerate you if you hurt Jacky! What the hell did you do?" Bobby yelled furiously.

Sam looked as innocent as he could. He knew Jack would be too scared to say anything and Bobby would have no proof of anything. "I didn't do anything wrong. Maybe he's just remembering something." He said with fake fear.

Bobby turned, still holding on to Sam's shirt, but lowering him back to the chair. "Jack, all you have to do is tell me what he did. I promise nothing will happen to you." Bobby reassured.

Jack quickly wiped the scared look of his face and let his emotions go limp. "He didn't do anything Bobby."

Bobby knew that was a bunch of bullshit. Bobby knew what Jack was doing. He was going into survival mode. Keeping your emotions buried often kept you alive when you're in the foster system. What Jack didn't understand was that he no longer needed to resort to his survival instincts. Bobby wanted so badly for Jack to let go completely of his distrust. Jack thought he trusted them, but trust meant telling people what was wrong when something was OBVIOUSLY wrong. Bobby knew that Jack was doing all of this on default. It was more of a reaction than anything else. And it was going to be very hard to break him of it. Sam definitely wasn't helping though.

"Jack…don't you trust me?" Bobby tried to pull him back.

Jack looked up slowly and then looked back at the ground. "Yes."

"Then just tell me. What did he do?" Bobby tried again.

Jack wanted so badly to tell Bobby, but Sam would for sure get him. Either through his father or Sam himself, but he would get him.

"It's like I said. I didn't do anything, Bobby." Sam said struggling slightly against Bobby's hold. "Don't you trust me Bobby?"

Bobby glared viciously down on Sam, releasing his hold on him violently. "No."

Bobby went over to the chair Jack was in. "Com'mon. Let's go watch TV."

Jack slowly stood up and watched for Sam out of the corner of his eyes. Bobby caught Jack's eye's roam over to Sam and look cautiously. Bobby grew extremely angry because he knew Sam did something.

Once the two were in the living room, Bobby turned the TV on and turned the channel to some soap opera that was on for lack of anything better on. Bobby noticed that Sam was starting to walk into the room. "No you don't!" Bobby said aggressively, but not raising his tone. "You can go sit your ass in the kitchen and sit there or you can go upstairs and sit in my room. No, scratch that, sit your ass in the kitchen."

Sam looked at Bobby warily, debating on whether or not he should object. Then he let out a sigh and put a smile on face and left to go sit back in the kitchen.

Bobby turned to Jack. "Jacky please. Just tell me what he did?" Bobby pleaded.

"Nothing." Jack said flatly.

"Jack stop saying that!" Bobby yelled in frustration, making Jack jump to his feet and back away from him in fear.

Bobby was scaring Jack in a sense that Jack had started seeing more of his anger lately. He yelled at the kitchen table that morning, he grabbed Sam and looked as if he would hit him, and then he yelled at Jack. This was beginning to look like one of the homes that would be real sweet and caring at the beginning and then just blow up out of no where. Jack was slowly loosing trust in Bobby and that scared him.

Bobby quickly realized what he had just done. "Jacky, I'm sorry I didn't mean to get angry at you." Bobby said standing and taking step toward Jack.

Jack let out a whimper and backed further away from Bobby, keeping his gaze on the ground at Bobby's feet.

"Jack, come on. You've been around me long enough to know that I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not tricking you, com'mon." Jack didn't answer and Bobby let out a sigh. "Why don't you trust me anymore?" Bobby asked.

Jack shifted on his feet and lifted his gaze to Bobby's. "I…what if you're some of the others?" Jack said.

"What others?" Bobby asked confused.

"What if you're getting sick of me? I've been to homes where I thought they loved me and…and then they change out of no where and they…" Jack trailed off. "What if you're like that?" Jack looked up at Bobby for the longest time Bobby had ever held eye contact with him. The look in his eyes made Bobby sad. They practically pleaded for him to not be like the other homes he was talking about.

"Jack, if you really believed that I was like that, then you wouldn't have asked me if I was like that." Bobby said softly.

Bobby's words confused Jack. It was true, he would have NEVER have said that to any of his other homes. But something in Jack still felt wrong. Then Jack felt anger take over. Why were his emotion's screwing with him like this. i trust the Mercers, i trust the Mercer's, i TRUST THEM!!!! He yelled in his thoughts.

Bobby noticed how Jack's gaze reverted to the wall and his whole mood changed. He was no longer frightened and scared. He was flat out pissed off. Bobby didn't know how much longer he could stand these sudden changes in behavior. They were exhausting.

Jack then thought, Sam's the reason I feel like this! He's the reason I can't sort out my emotions. He's the reason that Bobby's acting this way, NOT ME!!!

Jack looked up and into the kitchen where he met Sam's gaze. He was smiling at the scene in front of him. It even looked as if he were holding back laughter. It made Jack sick. He took a step forward towards the kitchen, ready to fuck Sam up so much that he wouldn't ever be able to smile like that again. Then he remembered what Sam had said about his father and how he didn't know what Sam's intentions were. He retracted his step and clenched his fists. Then he unknowingly grabbed his wrist with one of his hands and dug his nails into it.

"Jack!" Bobby said in a panicky voice that broke him out of his thoughts. "What are you doing?!" Bobby said reaching for Jack's arm. Jack flinched away and then thought to himself. Relax Jack. He's not going to hurt you, he won't hurt you, he won't. Jack let out a deep and nervous breathe and let Bobby take his arm.

Bobby lifted Jack's long sleeves and revealed the bandages that were now soaked in a new layer of blood. He saw the look of surprise on Jack's face and figured that he didn't do it on purpose.

"Com'mon, upstairs. We need to get these cleaned and bandaged again." Bobby said as he led Jack up the stairs.

About twenty minutes later Jack and Bobby descended the stairs. When they came down they saw Sam lounging on the coach, flipping through channels.

Sam looked up at them casually and noticed Jack's tear stained face. It made him happy to see the killer of his father in pain.

"Sam…" Bobby said in a tone that was clam but terrifying at the same time.

Sam didn't answer. He could tell Bobby was using everything in his body to not tear him from limb to limb. Did Jack tell on him? He thought.

"Why did you say that to Jack?" Bobby looked furious, but his voice remained calm. It scared the shit out of Sam. His eyes darted threateningly to Jack who was standing slightly behind Bobby, staring at the ground and letting a few more tears stream down his face. He was shaking fiercely and looked like he scared that Sam would tell the man Jack was scared of.

"I didn't say anything." Sam said in defense.

"Sam…Jack told me that you said something about his father knowing where he is. Last night you had no idea who Jack was afraid of." Bobby explained clenching his fists.

Sam knew he was loosing this fight so instead of playing dumb, he was gonna go out with a fight. "So! I said it to him so he would feel the pain I'm feeling! My father is dead and it's his fault." Bobby's expression never faltered. "I don't know why you're so scared of your dad, but I can assume it's for good reason…and I hope he finds you." Sam finished off in a low and vile tone.

Sam watched their reactions. First was Jack's. His shaking increased and his legs buckled underneath him. The look on his face showed that he wasn't with the rest of the world. He was inside his head. Probably remembering something about his dad. Sam was pleased with this reaction. Bobby's not so much. His reaction was scary. He took one look at Jack and bolted toward Sam. He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up the stairs. Then he opened up the bathroom and locked him in by putting a chair under the knob.

Bobby was extremely pissed and wasn't sure if he could keep himself from killing Sam, so the next thing he did was call Evelyn. "Ma?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby? What's wrong?" She asked calmly.

"I need you here now." He stated quickly.

Evelyn didn't bother asking questions. "I'll be right there." They both ended the call there.

Bobby went back over to Jack who now had his knees curled into his chest.

"Jacky?" Bobby didn't want to touch Jack after remembering what happened during the nightmare. "Jacky, look at me. Sam is gone now okay."

Jack didn't answer.

"Jack. Please come back. Snap out of it." Bobby pleaded helplessly.

Jack's eyes grew wide with fear and he started sobbing. "Please st-stop. I-it hurts. no more…" Jack begged through sobs.

What the hell is he thinking about? Bobby thought contemplating whether or not he really wanted to know the answer.

Just as Bobby was about to try and coax Jack out of his horror, he stopped the begging and looked at Bobby threw his tears.

"You okay Jacky?" Bobby asked quietly.

Jack sat on the ground for a moment, just looking miserable and frightened. Bobby couldn't bare the sight and wrapped his arms around Jack and embraced him in a brotherly hug that caused Jack to break out in another set of hysterical tears. But they weren't 'You're gonna hurt me, don't touch me tears', they were 'I believe in you, protect me' tears.