Damn people XD Y'all are so needy when it comes to updates, but so fantastic! I love all of y'all enthusiasm about this story, it makes me feel really proud to have written it. I keep wanting to put off the next few chapters because it is sadly wrapping up, I think I will make it about 24-25 chapters if I end up doing an epilogue... haven't decided yet.

Since it is the last few chapters, I have to ask, is there anything y'all would like to see happen? If it goes against my plot that I already have planned out I won't be able to do it, but shout out your ideas!

I slept through the entire next day, not once seeing Jeb. As much as I used to fear him coming home and finding me, I almost wanted to him to walk through the door. I wanted him to know that I knew what really happened to my mom, I wanted him to know that I was no longer terrified of him and that I had suddenly gained strength over my little adventure with Fang. But I also knew, that if he did walk through the door, all my sudden "toughness" would melt away once he set his eyes on me.

So it was a huge relief when he didn't come home Thursday, most likely spending his Christmas eve eve with his buddies down at the local bar. Now that it was no longer pitch black in the house, I finally noticed how it looked like complete and utter shit. The curtains in the living room were slanted with long tears running down the middle, the couch was slightly turned with the cushions thrown haphazardly around the room and the coffee table was smashed in. I suddenly realized all this happened the last time I was home, when Jeb's friends ganged up on me. He never cleaned up, and I wasn't here to do it for him.

I walked around the house, picturing all the times he hit me and thinking about where and what he did to my mom all those years ago. Did she get kicked to the ground like I did, forced to clean her own blood off the floor? Or did I just get lucky with the best father of the year... There were still several blood stains in the wooden floor, giving it an old rustic type look. If I didn't know what it was, I would have thought it was pretty neat.

The house felt eerily quite, the TV wasn't droning on about the latest football game and the air didn't smell as heavily of stale beer. It was an almost sereneness that fell over everything, like one of those houses you can walk through of some old famous couple that has long since died. It was the first time in a while I didn't know what to do with myself, so I started to clean. Playing classic rock and putting my hair up out of my face I set to work on making it look like a somewhat decent house once more. Which trust me, was not that easy...

Fixing the couch last, I plopped down on the middle cushion admired my hard work. It actually looked like a place someone would call home and not just a run down drug house. My moment of glory was short lived when I heard a bunch of voices on the porch and something slamming into the door, mentally preparing myself for what might be on the other side, I stood up and went to open it.

Jeb was sliding down the door frame with a beer bottle still in his hand when I opened the door, he had three of his friends behind him laughing and drinking still. He stood up and wobbled slightly on his heels before pushing me aside and walking in, his friends following close behind.

"Where ya been Maxi, I didn't have any fun this weekend." he slurred, swinging side to side as he tried to walk down the hallway

"I went to see an old friend, and I learned some interesting things about you while I was gone."

Still standing by the front door, I watched as his friends scooted past him to the kitchen and he turned around in the hall to face me. Slowly walking towards me, with one hand braced against the wall for support, he smiled slightly "Oh?" was all he said.

I stood up straighter and braced my shoulders, glaring at his drunken face, "You killed my mother..." his smirk quickly disappeared and he straightened up as much as possible. Letting his hand drop from the wall he walked closer, causing me to walk backwards with each step he took until my shoulders hit the wall behind me. Slowly losing what little amount of courage I had, I let my head drop slightly, trying to mentally and physically prepare myself for the blows that would soon come.

He raised his hand and backhanded me, causing my head to move to the right. Leaning down, he hissed in my ear"Your mother was a whore who tried to take your brother and you away from me so she could be with someone else. I would have gladly let her go, but she just had to come back for you. She could be alive right now if she didn't turn around. It's your fault she's dead Max, it's all your fault. Not mine, not hers, but yours. You killed her by being born." Leaning away from me, he laughed before throwing the bottle he had been holding at the wall beside my head.

Stale beer and glass sprayed me, cutting my face before falling to the floor. "Clean that up then bring me another beer." he mumbled, trying to stagger down the hallway once more to be with his friends.

I wiped the few tears that had managed to fall before going to grab a rag, wiping the beer that was still sliding down the wall first, I bent to pick up the glass off the floor. One piece cut my hand and I stared as it started to bleed, suddenly becoming extremely fascinated in the crimson color. After awhile I cleaned up the rest of the glass and got Jeb another beer like he asked.

I had almost made it to the stairs when he called me from the living room, stopping with my hand on the banister I closed my eyes and sighed in defeat, being so close to getting away from him. I walked back into the living room to see it already destroyed, all my hard work from earlier gone to waste.

He stood in a half circle around the coffee table with his friends, "Since you finally know what happened to that bitch of a wife, I figured you'd want to know where she was buried." his friends laughed slightly before he turned and glared at them, then walked over and placed a hand on my back, steering me towards the back door.

"You remember when she was here, and you wanted to build a tree house Maxi?" I nodded slightly, not trusting my voice, "Well, she picked the biggest tree in our backyard, and was so excited to start building it for your birthday. But then she tried to leave with you..." we walked outside and I noticed that it had started to rain, the ground was muddy and my feet slipped here and there. Jeb's hand was still on my back, guiding me to a tree in the far left corner of our yard.

"Do you remember what you did for your birthday Maxi?" He asked, stopping a few feet away from the tree, and I noticed a shovel leaning up against the trunk. I racked my brain trying to remember, but it was hard since I had had so many shitty birthdays. "No" was all I muttered, he brought his hand to rest on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly before continuing.

"Well Maxi, for your birthday after your mom left and didn't build your tree house, I thought of a better thing to let you do. You wanted a sand box, so I told you to dig a hole so we could make it ourselves. Do you remember now Maxi? You dug the hole right here under this tree." My eyes started to burn and I felt bile rise in my throat as I realized what really happened.

"You made me dig my own mothers grave didn't you..." I said, my voice cracking slightly from trying to contain the tears, he looked down at me and slapped my back, "Gold star for you Maxi! You finally put the pieces together. But unfortunately, since you know everything now I can't risk you going to the cops. So, I'm afraid you're going to have to dig another sandbox."

He pushed my forward and I fell to my knees, cold mud seeping between my fingers as I landed in front of my mom's unmarked grave. I turned around to face Jeb, noticing his friends now standing behind him. "Get going Maxi, we ain't got all day" Jeb shouted, barely being heard over the thunder.

I slowly grabbed the shovel and turned to face them again, Jeb's friends were off to the side drinking and laughing about the situation. Jeb was standing roughly ten feet away and the back gate was to my immediate right, thinking quickly I took a few steps towards Jeb and swung the shovel at his head, dropping it once it connected with his skull and making a beeline for the fence. Reaching the gate I went to unlatch it before noticing the padlock, cursing slightly to myself I hooked a foot in a hole in the wood and started to climb. Getting one leg over the top before one of his friends grabbed my other foot, dragging me back to his side and forcing me to the ground.

Jeb yelled orders at his other friends and I was soon being carried back over to the tree, I was forced to my knees, hands pinned behind my back and hair pulled so I would be facing Jeb. "How's that headache coming Jeb?" I asked, smirking slightly when he spit up blood. He backhanded me and muttered about me being a bitch before pulling a knife from his pocket.

"You want to be like your mother and try and leave? I'll treat you like I treated her then." He nodded to his other two friends and they each grabbed hold of my arm and leg, forcing me to lay flat on my back and holding me down. Jeb cut my shirt open and I started to squirm, not wanting to know where this was about to lead. With his friends still pinning me down, he leaned over my face, "You might want to find something to bite down on Maxi, this is going to hurt a bit." he said, smirking before he started carving into my side with the knife. I screamed until my throat was raw, but nothing could be heard over the sound of the rain and his laughter.