"How did Jim get the bruises on his arms?"
Sebastian paused, his blue eyes sharpening, lips parting with grim horror, teeth showing through the gap.
"Bruises? What are you on about? Why's he got bruises? When are they from? Where on his arms?"
Dawn tilted her head to one side and stared at Verity, her own blue eyes displaying a rare anger. Clearly Sebastian didn't have a clue what he was even in trouble for and he seemed a very unlikely culprit indeed. Sebastian looked genuinely shocked and outraged. Getting visibly more and more dangerous by the second. But there were still the stages of fury and emotion to break through before the wave crashed down and Sebastian hit his real red area.
"There's no point in pretending now, we know everything already," Verity said smugly, raising her eyebrows with a condescending expression. Sebastian was one of her biggest troublemakers, and it was a relief to the head care worker to finally catch him red handed. She was convinced she'd been right all along, that Sebastian was dangerous, and would be more suited to somewhere more secure where there was the possibility of sedating him to prevent injury to others.
"Then fucking tell me! I want to know which fucking cunt did it!" Sebastian shouted, punching the bean bag he was seated on repetitively.
"Language, Sebastian!"
Seb stood up, grabbed the bean bag, tore it apart with his bare hands, splitting it at the seams, making tiny polystyrene balls rain down on the ground, before chucking it forcibly into the wall, further showering the insides.
"The vandalisation of property will have to go on your report," Verity said calmly. "Let's not add it to your list of wrongdoing, young man, because I can safely say you're in enough trouble already."
"Who the fuck hurt Jim?!" Seb thundered, ignoring the threat and beginning to pace, needing to kick something solid that wouldn't give a pathetic slumping noise and then dent into the area of impact.
"You did."
Seb, who was now wearing a pair of jeans which had been handed in by Frank, when Verity thought it was inappropriate for the interview to take place with the boy just wearing a towel, flashed his teeth again and moved into Verity's personal space, his body language displaying a very real threat.
"I fucking did not! Are you a fucking idiot, you stupid piece of shit?!"
"Sebastian Moran!"
Sebastian was too distressed to register the concern on Dawn's face, perhaps even slight fear. If his brain hadn't been fixed on Jim, that might have shamed him into lowering his fists.
"As if I'd ever hurt a hair on his head! You're a stupid fucking cunt and if you don't let me see him I swear to God I'll break out and I'll fucking stab anyone who gets in my way!"
"I can believe it," Verity scoffed. "Am I going to have to call someone in to restrain you? Are you threatening the lives of the children in this home?"
"I'll threaten anyone who tries to stop me from protecting Jim!" Sebastian shouted. "That includes you, you stupid cow! You got a problem with that? I'll fucking end you!"
Dawn placed a hand on Verity's arm. She knew Sebastian exceptionally well, and while his behaviour was not acceptable, there was no sense in further baiting him. It would only provoke more danger, more violence, and more anger. Sebastian wouldn't, to Dawn's knowledge, start attacking innocent people, but he would definitely go on a vigilante form of crusade in defence of his adored best friend. The first thing that had to be understood about Sebastian was that he was loyal, painfully so. Without grasping that fact, there was no hope of reasoning with him or understanding him.
"We're going to need Frank," Verity muttered, knowing that Sebastian would hate that. He kicked up such a fuss whenever the man was involved, because, to her mind, Sebastian was a coward who only attacked the weak, like poor Jim. It had to be that, she thought. The idea that a boy who had suffered violence at the hands of a man who had considerable control over his life once might be afraid of the same thing happening again did not even occur to her. After all, Sebastian could look after himself, and had done more than his fair share of damage to others.
"Dawn, where's Jim?" Sebastian appealed to the blonde. "Dawn, where is he? Who hurt him? Dawn? Was it someone here? What did they do?"
"Don't answer him," Verity decreed strictly when Dawn seemed to open her mouth, ready to respond. The head care worker turned her attention back to Sebastian. "Violence and threats won't get you anywhere. And you certainly won't be going anywhere near that poor boy. He needs medical attention, not another round with you and your temper."
Sebastian let out a long roar and then collapsed on the floor, the polystyrene beads connecting uncomfortably with his bare feet. There was no winning. Not with Verity. Think, Sebastian, he told himself. Mission statement. Objective. Do it step by step. First target, calm down. Second target, get the hell out of the cooler and find Jim. Third target, get the facts. Fourth target, end the fucking wanker that had dared to touch Jim. Make them pay by any means necessary, no matter the cost or the consequences.
"I'll be good," Sebastian promised, running his hands through his blond hair, which was still damp from his shower, comforted by his own plan of action. "I'll be good. I'll be good. Lemme see him?"
"So you admit you were bad?" Verity said, which caused Dawn to screw up her features with distaste.
"He needs to calm down," Dawn insisted. "Look at him. The interview should happen after. Innocent until proven guilty."
"I'll make the decisions here, thank you, Miss Young," Verity hissed, fed up of her authority being undermined by a woman with little to no qualifications. The two adults exchanged a hateful glare, but Sebastian's mind was whirring. This was serious. This wasn't just a simple punch. It couldn't have been.
"Medical attention," Sebastian pointed out. "You said medical attention. Why? Why's he need medical attention?"
"He's been injured," Verity said vaguely. "By a certain thug."
"Yeah, a certain thug that ain't me!" Sebastian roared.
"Isn't. That isn't you," Verity corrected.
"I'd sooner slit my own throat than beat him up!" Sebastian exclaimed, opening his palms to show honesty, trying to get Verity to understand and to let him out. Jim needed him. Jim needed him and it was his duty to get himself out of this and be there. "He's just a kid!"
"A vulnerable child, yes," Verity agreed. "And he's been in the company of a much bigger, much stronger, much more manipulative boy…"
"Manipulative my fucking arse! How am I manipulative? You're just making stuff up!"
"I think we all need to calm down," Dawn suggested quickly, holding out her hands as a barrier between Verity and Sebastian. She knew from her courses in child psychology that boys with anger problems tended to disengage more quickly when a physical line separated them from the target of their fury. "We won't get anywhere like this."
"I think you need to learn your place in this establishment," Verity snapped back, glaring at Dawn and ignoring the boy who looked about ready to punch her in the face. "Can you not see what's in front of your own eyes? This isn't an innocent child, he's a teenager who needs to be held responsible for his actions!"
"What actions?! Someone tell me!" Sebastian yelled, needing someone to listen to him for once in his life. Verity was right that he wasn't an innocent kid, and he needed facts. Jim was hurt somewhere in the building and he needed to get to him.
Verity stood up, fixing her thin necklace and motioning that Dawn should join her. Clearly Dawn was in trouble, but Sebastian couldn't care less right now. Were they just going to leave him here? What was going to happen to Jim?
"Dawn!" Sebastian shouted desperately. "What did they do to him?!"
"Miss Young, this way, please," Verity said sternly, giving Sebastian a cold and accusatory glance as she closed and locked the door behind them.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The newest care coordinator was called Danni and had cropped hair that made her look a bit like an elf, in Jim's opinion. She seemed cleverer than Monica had been, which was good, although he didn't appreciate the sympathetic looks she kept shooting him. There was nothing worse than false kindness, Jim thought furiously. She wouldn't care about him the moment she left the building, wouldn't even look at his notes until she had to type up her report. Jim decided to hate her on principle. Danni was prying, and Jim didn't like people prying into his business.
"We haven't met before, Jim," she told him in a voice that didn't suit her. It was quite deep for a woman with such a childish face. "But I'm Danni and I'm here to help you. Now please don't worry, this isn't an interrogation or anything like that, I'm simply here for you to talk to so we can get to the bottom of things. How do you feel about that?"
They always ended with questions, these mental health workers. They thought it made them sound kind and accepting, but it came off as forced and Jim couldn't help but feel like he was being talked down to.
"I have things to tell you," Jim began, needing to cut through all this professional rubbish. Sebastian could be heard yelling down the hall, and although the actual words were muted, that growl was unmistakable.
"Please go ahead. I'm here to listen," Danni said sweetly, pausing in a play of complete attention.
"First of all, Sebastian didn't do it," he told her firmly.
"I see, and Sebastian is your friend?"
"He's the one yelling in the other room."
"He's making quite a lot of noise," Danni commented with a smile. "Is he usually like that?"
"They've taken him away and put him in quarantine," Jim informed her, rolling his eyes. "So obviously he's going to be angry. They always blame him for things that he hasn't done."
"And does that make you angry?"
"Very," Jim said quietly, widening his eyes. "In fact, sometimes the injustice of it makes me want to hurt myself. You would think the authority figures should be impartial in a place like this, but they're very cruel to Sebastian. And Frank pushes poor Sebastian around."
Danni's eyes narrowed and she clicked her pen, getting ready to write something down.
"What do you mean by that, Jim?" she asked kindly. "Would you please explain that in a bit more detail for me? Just to give me a picture of what goes on?"
Jim nodded. It was easier for him to focus on making life difficult for Frank and Verity than to have to think about his bruises and the day he'd had. He didn't want to have to talk about that. Not even to Sebastian. Every time his brain strayed to dangerous places, he forced himself to focus on how much he hated Verity and hated Frank and how he could use this to hurt them.
"Well, Sebastian got beaten up by his father when he was little, and even though they know about it, sometimes Frank grabs Sebastian and pushes him around. It's very upsetting to the littler children like myself."
Danni frowned but showed she was still paying attention. "You spoke a little about what happened to Sebastian. Does he tend to get violent often? Do you think it might be because of what happened to him?"
Jim could see the trap he was being led into and he wasn't going to fall for it. He wasn't an idiot. "Sebastian has never hurt me," he said very clearly, so his words couldn't be changed or warped for the purposes of 'evidence.' "And he never will."
Danni wrote something in her notepad and her bangles jingled as she did so. The noise put Jim on edge, sending an unpleasant shiver through his teeth. It reminded him of the silver chain around the man's neck and the way it had made a noise each time he moved, over and over again…
"Now, this might be uncomfortable, but please remember I'm here to help you and I'm on your side," Danni said gently. "You have bruising on your arms, torso and hips. Could you tell me about how those marks came to be?"
"I can't tell you who did it," Jim said carefully, looking around the room as he constructed his response. "But I can tell you that it wasn't Sebastian, and that I'm scared they'll use this as an excuse to blame him and hurt him like they always do. Will you promise me they won't do that? Please?"
Begging made him feel sick, especially on today of all days when he had pleaded for a full ten minutes already, but Jim needed to free Sebastian of any potential blame, and that meant manipulation.
"If you tell me who did it, then we can count Sebastian out," Danni said, nodding her head encouragingly.
"Those things aren't mutually exclusive," Jim countered swiftly. "You can count Sebastian out without knowing who actually did it."
"How can I do that?"
"Take a look at his fingernails," Jim said, rolling his eyes at the stupidity of the adults he was forced to associate with. "Sebastian bites his nails, probably because he gets nervous about being manhandled by nasty Frank, and I have nail marks on my wrists, look." Jim showed Danni one of his bruised wrists and then pulled his arm back protectively.
"Don't you want to see whoever did that to you facing the consequences of their actions?" Danni asked, brushing a strand of dark hair behind her ear.
"That's a very unprofessional and leading question," Jim pointed out. "You're here to help my emotional wellbeing, not to pressure me into giving you information."
Danni blushed pink and nodded her head immediately. "Of course, I apologise for making you feel uncomfortable, Jim. I just wish I could help more children like you."
"You can help me by stopping them from hurting Sebastian," Jim said in a quiet voice, determined to get some benefit out of this meeting. "I think Verity likes it when he gets hurt, so I'm afraid to say anything to her, because what if she hurts me?'
"I assure you I won't let that happen," Danni promised. "In fact, I think I might need to do a little investigating into the conditions here."
Jim nodded his head. "Thank you, Danni. I like you. You're nice to me. The first adult that ever has been nice to me except from Dawn," Jim whispered, laying the act on thick. Adults loved to play at being heroes, and he could see Danni catching the idea and embracing it.
"Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow for another meeting," Danni told Jim kindly. "And perhaps then we can talk a little more about how you can cope with what happened?"
"And you'll make sure they let Sebastian out of that horrible place?" Jim demanded, looking nervous. "I need Sebastian to stay with me. He's my only friend here and without him I might get too sad and have to do something about it..."
Danni nodded her head, brows furrowed. She'd read Jim's file and he had a history of self harm. "I'll see what I can do. But after we've had a look at his nails I don't see why that should be a problem. You need your friends now, Jim. You've been a very brave boy and you should be proud that you found the courage to speak to me today."
"Thank you, Danni. You're my friend," Jim said sweetly, hating the words and the way they tasted, although his eyes remained wide and fearful. It worked in his favour sometimes that he appeared so 'cute' with his large, sorrowful eyes and long lashes.
"That's right, I am your friend, Jim. I'll try my best to help you."
It seemed to Jim, as Danni handed him her office number and left the room, that life was made up of lies. Big ones and small ones. Lies for self preservation and for the preservation of others. Lies to incriminate and lies for fun. Everything was a big, nasty old mess. Adults lied and children lied and even the stories lied. Telling the truth led to trouble, being good led to trouble, doing as you were told led to ignorance. The only way to reach the top of the pile was to accept the way things were and adapt to it.
Jim was going to adapt to it. He wasn't going to break. He might have his bruises, but even they could be turned to his advantage if he was clever enough. He had his brain and he had Sebastian and he was going to combine those two things to become very fearsome indeed.