Closer
Chapter 1 – Before
When Shauna first came to the neighborhood she was only eleven. The same age as one of the boys who lived in the house three houses down the street. Jack Mercer. One of four adopted children of Evelyn Mercer.
Angel, who was four years older, a dark-skinned boy with an attitude of a real ass, especially when it came to alcohol and women. Yeah, at his fifteen he was a true lover boy, a saint who was too far from heaven.
Then there was Jerry. Jeremiah Mercer. He was seventeen at that time. Jerry has always been his mother's refuge. Always the smart one, always the good one, the intelligent head. He was dating a girl, Camille, the-next-door type of girl.
And Bobby. The infamous Bobby Mercer. Handsome, dangerous and…overprotective. The oldest, he was nineteen; he was always overprotective about Jack and me of all after I've come to be kind of a family to them. Bobby…bad news, that's what everybody called him.
Shauna Silvery came to the town one cold winter night with her stepparents Jackson and Rita who abused her (as the Mercers would find out later).
"Hi!" Evelyn greeted as she saw the newcomers bring the boxes into the house when she was getting home from the grocery shop.
"Hello." The dark-haired woman in her early thirties. She was holding a box in her hand with some heavy stuff.
"I'm Evelyn Mercer, live a couple houses down there." And she showed at the iced street in front of her.
"I'm Dana Silvery and this is…" She pointed at the small girl on the bottom of the stairs with her head. "Shauna, my step-daughter."
"Well, hello there!" The white-haired woman said kindly.
Shauna looked at the ground shyly, her short dark hair floating in the wind.
"Hello." She looked up to show her bright blue eyes.
"Oh, I have a son your age. You can come meet him if you want." Evelyn smiled.
"Oh, she shouldn't be a burden for you." Rita argued.
"Don't be silly!"
"Well she can be." The woman said sarcastically.
Evelyn was silent for a couple minuets:
"Well, if you'll need a place to leave her for some time while you're at work or something, she's always welcome at my place."
"Ok, thanks." Rita answered.
Than she pushed the box into Shauna's hands rather rudely so the girl almost fell from her feet. Evelyn didn't say anything but she saw the pleading look in the small girl's eyes.
"What? Can't you take it upstairs!" She heard from behind Rita's angry voice.
But Shauna met the Mercers only two weeks later when Rita called Evelyn and asked her to look after the girl for a couple hours while she's not home and Jackson's away on business trip.
Shauna showing up at the Mercers' household turned its life upside down. The boys adored her. In a matter of weeks she became Jack's best friend, Jerry's student (he liked tutoring her in math), Angel's partner in crime (pranks to be exact) and Bobby's favorite.
That's strange how Bobby's heart, closed for almost every single person on the planet, formed a bond with a little girl's one.
It was seven days before her twelfth that it happened.
There was a soft knock on the door no one would've heard if Angel wasn't standing near the door.
"I'll take it." He said to no one in particular.
The second the door was opened the almost limp body of Shauna's fell through it.
"Jesus!" Angel cried and fell on the knees in front of her. "Bobby! Jack!"
"What the fuck are you screaming for?" Bobby, still looking sleepy, walked into the hallway and that same second was on his knees as well. "What Happened? Sha…"
She didn't move. Bobby didn't give it second thought picked a fragile girl up and took her to the guest room, Angel trailing after him with wide eyes and still shaking hands.
"Call Ma! Tell her it's Sha!" Bobby screamed at him.
Angel looked at him strangely but then swept out of the trance. "Ok…"
"Hold on, Sha, hold on…" Bobby whispered to a girl whose lip was sliced and there were bruisers all over her face. He put a loose strand of hair behind her ear but she didn't stir.
When Evelyn was treating Shauna, Bobby and Angel were pacing in the living room; Jack fell asleep there on a couch.
"It's this Jackson bustard! I know it's him!" Bobby said angrily.
"Asshole." Angel took a sit on the edge of a coffee-table.
"I'm gonna kill him." The uncontrollable rage could be seen in his eyes.
"I'll help you with that." His brother whispered.
"How's she?" They both were on there feet when Mo came down the stairs.
"Bad, actually." She started quietly. "A poor girl's got a cracked rib, bruisers all over her body, sliced lip."
"Jackson did it, didn't he?" The oldest son looked straight in her mother's eyes.
"I don't know, hon…" But she did.
"Don't, Ma. You know it was him!" He was gone in a blink of an eye.
"Bobby!" Evelyn cried after him but it was Bobby, he wouldn't stop. "Angel!"
And he fallowed suit. Evelyn looked at the floor then carefully put a pillow under Jack's head and went back to Shauna.
No one knew what really happened that night but at 11:30 p.m. the Silvery house went on fire and Jackson who was drunk asleep in front of the TV stayed there forever. No one questioned Bobby's actions. No one ever said anything.
Shauna was of course told that everything was an accident. But as the weeks passed Rita never came back from her business trip and, regarding as Jackson was no longer around, Shauna stayed at Mercers' for good. Well, she used to spend most of her time there anyway and the boys bagged her to move so everyone was pretty happy with the way things were.
At fourteen Shauna had three big brothers that would do anything for her, a fairy (who was also her best friend) and loving Aunty Evy. For the first time in her life she didn't want anything else.
But the day came. The worst day of her entire life. It's strange and unfair how everything can change so drastically in a blink of an eye. The day Bobby left. He was saying something among the lines of leaving to Chicago but no one actually believed he would.
He did.
And he did it in such a coward way. The car took off at night when everyone was asleep or out. Bobby was never good with words so he decided not to use them.
Afterwards, after having cried her eyes out, Shauna would remember that some time ago when she and the oldest of the Mercer brothers were lying on the couch, watching TV, and Jerry came by and was fixing something to eat on the kitchen, Bobby told her:
"Listen, kid, if I ever have ta leave you, you just remember to look under the bathroom, ok?"
Shauna would laugh at it but still say 'yes'.
Two days after he'd left she would go to his bathroom (he was sharing with Angel) and search for something under the tub. The latter.
'So…he has words…" Shauna would think.
But it all happened a long time ago. Three and a half years ago to be exact.
Everything's changed since then…
TBC