Chapter One-Hundred and Twenty-Nine
Claire stepped back from the wall she was working on, wiping the sweat from her brow as she admired she and John's work. She took his hand in hers, leaning her head on his shoulder as she took in the lyrics and images on his walls.
"Perfect." He smiled, pressing a kiss to her head as Amelia rushed toward the young couple. He stepped so that he was facing her, his foot tipping a bucket of pain over so that it spilled onto the carpet. "Fuck!" He cursed, rushing to right the bucket before any of the adults could see.
Claire touched her fingers to the back of his shoulders, able to see the panic in his movements. "John-"
John's hands flew up to his head, as Clarissa knocked on his open doorway. "No! Please!" He turned so fast that his feet slipped out from under him, causing his ass to become covered in paint as he rushed away from her. "I- I didn't mean to do it!"
Clarissa nodded, motioning for Claire to take Amelia from the room. "Johnny…" She reached toward him, pausing when he flinched back, able to see the fear in his eyes. "Johnny, it's Clarissa…" She eased toward him, kneeling down in the paint puddle to see if he would somehow snap out of it faster. She risked a touch to his knee, jumping back at his violent reaction as his fist narrowly missed her nose.
"Don't touch me!" He screamed, hot tears streaming down his face as his mother's face shifted to that of Clarissa's. The dark tan of Beverly's skin changing to the light pink of Clarissa's, the dark hair becoming the auburn of Clarissa's. "Mom!" He lunged for her, his paint-covered arms wrapping around her body as his hands gripped at her back. "Mom…"
Clarissa shushed him, her hands softening against his body as the first harsh sob escaped him. "Shh… it's okay, Pumpkin. I'm okay." She rubbed her fingers in little circles over his back, ignoring the raised scars she could feel under his shirt.
"Burns…" He cried, his long fingers digging into her back.
She closed her eyes against the image of the cigar burn on his arm, wishing that she could erase them from his body. "How about a shower?" She asked, hoping to distract him from what had happened.
He shook his head, pulling her closer as his mind tried to run back to his craving for drugs. "No."
She sighed, her heart aching with every choked cry from the boy in her arms. "I'm sorry baby." She felt his shaking start to slow, able to tell that he was toward the end of his flashback. "I wish I could have stopped it."
Asher stopped in his tracks as he reached the corner of John's room, able to hear the end of John's fit. He wanted more than anything to help his nephew, to comfort him and run to his aid, but he knew that John was still to fresh from Jacob's home for that. He listened as Clarissa's voice began a soft song, smiling as John's rough, healing tones mixed in with hers, recognizing the song from his childhood. He was amazed that John knew the words, the only way that he'd been able to remember the words to anything, was to actually see the writing on a paper. He chuckled as John's voice began to crack, and the boy stopped to let Clarissa finish the song. "Sounds just like his dad…" He shook his head, remembering Jacob's little garage band from when they were young. "He's gonna go somewhere with that voice." He smirked, remembering how energetic John had been on the stage before his vocal cords had blown.