Jack slowly stepped down the hallway as he wondered if he was doing the right thing or not; his presence could only ignite Mark further, but nobody would speak to his sister the way Mark was, never mind his niece.
"What the hell do you think I'm doing all day too!" Mark screamed, his voice deafening. "Maybe this would be a lot easier if you got off your fg arse and actually did something! Or maybe get that lazy daughter of yours to pull her fg finger out and help you. She does nothing but sit in her room reading all those stupid books!" Jack was almost at the end of the hallway, his uncertainty turned to anger as the man continued to berate his family.
"Shut your face Mark," he herd Casey yell, her voice full of anger too, but before she could say anymore her mother interrupted her. She had wanted to tell Mark he was only jealous because she could actually read.
"Don't you dare bring her into this you bd this is about you and me and this fucking shit hole you moved us into! I'm at work all day just like you, but I'm the one who's expected to start working on it, on top of cooking your dinner and washing your fg clothes! Who do you think you are you arrogant fk? Take a look in look God damn mirror Mark, do us all a favour and see who you really are." She stopped for a moment taking a breath before she started again, she was furious and wouldn't stop now. "You're just a small tiny minded man who's got nothing. Other than me and Casey, you have nothing. You can't even do your God damn job and you've been working there for 9 years!"
There was only a moments silence before Marks attack started again. Clearly not capable of winning the argument he resorted to his only logic, shout and scare. He'd ignored everything she'd said which he knew were right, he was never wrong when he was like this.
"We only came down here at all because of your brother," he yelled, spittle flying from his mouth as he did so with his fingers pointing, "so don't give me that shit!"
Casey had fallen silent for the moment, and even though she knew her contribution to the argument would get her in trouble with her mother she didn't care. "Well why didn't you stay there on your own we wouldn't have missed you!"
"Casey!"
"Yeah well don't think I'd have missed you, you're nothing but a little brat." He turned his attention back to Carol now, he was jealous of Jack and often brought him up into the argument. She could only hope he wouldn't but now his name had been mentioned it was a sure thing. Jack continued to stay silent in the hallway, waiting for more to be said before he tried to intervene. "Why don't you bring him round, eh, tell him to get round here and I'll fg kill him! You all think he's so good I'll show him how fg good he is," he roared.
He was getting angrier, Jack realised as he stepped into the kitchen, wondering if he'd try make good on his prophecy. He doubted it.
"Jack?" Carol said shakily as she saw him walk into the room. The tears that had been coursing down her cheeks suddenly stopped as she realised this could get a whole lot worse. Jack didn't hear her, he walked straight up to Mark, shoving him into the cabinets with a quick push before keeping his distance, he couldn't do this here in front of the women.
"I'm here Mark, so why don't you show me, eh? Outside. Now." His voice left no room for discussion.
He turned around to walk away and he caught a glimpse of Casey. She looked terrified. He didn't realise it was because Mark threatened to go 'kill' Jack every time they argued. Once Casey had told her mom to tell Jack what he was saying so Jack could hurt him but Carol had been adamant that Jack never knew. She said a fight between would be horrible, because they'd hurt each other and neither would stop.
Mark would turn psycho and feel nothing and stop at nothing; and so would Jack. Only he had his training, and whether he used it or not he could get into trouble. It had almost been her worst case scenario and now it was about to happen right front of her. Carols head was spinning out of fear; she couldn't tell them to stop and she couldn't try get in between them. She'd seen the look in her brothers eyes; it was the same look Mark held when he was mad about something. There was nothing she could do to stop them as they both walked through the door.
Making a shaky decision Casey decided she couldn't let this happen. She grabbed the phone and dialled 911. She reported the fight and the police told her they'd be there soon; she asked, no pleased for them to hurry. As it was classed under domestic violence it would be a priority, they were on there way.
Carol told Casey to go upstairs, and she did after some resistance. She said enthusiastically that she wanted to see Mark get his butt kicked but Carol assured her that was the last thing she wanted to see.
She stood in the kitchen and was pleased to see it was only eight minutes before the first police car rushed up to their house. Then a second came, and then a third which was holding police dogs. She hoped they wouldn't all be needed. She greeted the police in the front yard before quickly showing them through the house, indicating where they should go to get to the back yard where the two men were.
She ran into the living room and closed the door as the police rushed through, she didn't want to see anything. She had dreaded this moment for years and like all fears, she had finally been forced to face it.