Taking Chances, Learning To Love
Jamie left to get some kid-friendly grocheries as Russ gave Hailey and Cole the "grand tour". "This is where you'll sleep," Russ explained as he showed them his messy room, "I'll clean it up a bit later."
"No, it's fine," Cole said quickly, "at least it's a bed." he added. Russ paused. "Cole, Hailey, I know you might not want to talk to about it but..." he couldn't find a way to finish his question.
"You mean how was it like living with a monster?" Hailey asked and didn't wait for an answer, "we hated it. But it wasn't always like that. Just 'til it was just us. Before, he'd be so nice. He didn't care about religion. But when mom died...It was all about religion. We weren't to 'converse' with other religions. We were to read the bible every night and every morning. He made up sabbath even though we weren't Jewish; so he'd have so free time with his girlfriends."
Cole took over. "At first, it was just the insane rules about religion. No this, no that. Then, though, the beatings started...First for stumbling over a word in the bible, because we shoud know it by now. But then it became for everything, not just religion-related...Mostly school, or if we were two minutes later.
And then he nrealy killed Hailey...Last year, he got so mad because she laughed about he said 'hell' from the bible, from something that had happened earlier in school. To make things worse it was a Sunday. We aren't allowed to have fun of Sundays. Anyways, he beat her and then shoved her into a tub full of water. He didn't pull her up until she stopped thrashing. Then he called 911. They kind of investigated it, but not much...He was real religious so they wouldn't think of anything."
Cole sighed as he struggled back tears.
Russ was about to comfort the two when the doorbell rang. He answered it and was surprised to see a bloody, crying Jon.
"My dad is looking for you and me. Don't let him find you. He'll kill you, and anyone you're near!" Jon said through the red/clear mix on his face.
Jamie left to get some kid-friendly grocheries as Russ gave Hailey and Cole the "grand tour". "This is where you'll sleep," Russ explained as he showed them his messy room, "I'll clean it up a bit later."
"No, it's fine," Cole said quickly, "at least it's a bed." he added. Russ paused. "Cole, Hailey, I know you might not want to talk to about it but..." he couldn't find a way to finish his question.
"You mean how was it like living with a monster?" Hailey asked and didn't wait for an answer, "we hated it. But it wasn't always like that. Just 'til it was just us. Before, he'd be so nice. He didn't care about religion. But when mom died...It was all about religion. We weren't to 'converse' with other religions. We were to read the bible every night and every morning. He made up sabbath even though we weren't Jewish; so he'd have so free time with his girlfriends."
Cole took over. "At first, it was just the insane rules about religion. No this, no that. Then, though, the beatings started...First for stumbling over a word in the bible, because we shoud know it by now. But then it became for everything, not just religion-related...Mostly school, or if we were two minutes later.
And then he nrealy killed Hailey...Last year, he got so mad because she laughed about he said 'hell' from the bible, from something that had happened earlier in school. To make things worse it was a Sunday. We aren't allowed to have fun of Sundays. Anyways, he beat her and then shoved her into a tub full of water. He didn't pull her up until she stopped thrashing. Then he called 911. They kind of investigated it, but not much...He was real religious so they wouldn't think of anything."
Cole sighed as he struggled back tears.
Russ was about to comfort the two when the doorbell rang. He answered it and was surprised to see a bloody, crying Jon.
"My dad is looking for you and me. Don't let him find you. He'll kill you, and anyone you're near!" Jon said through the red/clear mix on his face.