A/N: This chapter contains physical abuse. If that could be potentially triggering, turn back!

James Hamilton didn't return for two days. It was two days of misery. Rachel moped around the house, hardly bothering to cook for any of them. Alex was starving, and he knew his mother must have been too.

Rachel stayed in bed almost all day, getting up to use the bathroom only when it was absolutely necessary. She didn't sleep. Whenever Alexander looked round her door, she was lying down, staring at the roof. It worried Alex. He needed his father back. He'd know how to fix this.

That was when he heard the key in the lock. His eyes widened, and he ran to the door, away from his mother with her dead eyes.

James stumbled into the house, stinking of beer and vomit. Alex was repulsed by the stench.

"Son!" He slurred. "This is-" he hiccupped, "all your fault!" He stumbled to the holey sofa and all but fell into it. When he was drunk, his scottish accent was very distinguishable. He tended to use a lot more slang that Alex wasn't familiar with, but could work out."If you hadn'ae come along and taken all my money, we'd be fine, your mother and I!"

Alexander froze. So it was his fault? He had been telling himself that he was the cause for days, but to hear it out loud... Well, it hurt, simply put. It was like a slap to the face for the child.

What was even more like a slap in the face, however, was the punch he got right in the cheek.

It wasn't very hard - Alex was sure it must have been accidental. His father simply wouldn't do that on purpose. He loved him!

But did he? Now he came home stinking of alcohol and blaming Alex for it all, did he love him? Surely he must.

Alex burst into tears, both from the shock of the blow and his conflicting feelings. It was all too much for his four-year-old brain to handle,

"Shaddap", his father hissed. This only made the child cry more. "Fer fucks sake, son!"

The noise had attracted Rachel out of her room. "James?" She whispered. "I didn't think you'd come back!"

"Well where else was I fuckin' gonna go?" He demanded with a heavy accent.

Rachel just laughed and ran to him, the most alive she had been in days. She seemed not to notice her sniffing son not a meter away.

But her face fell when he shoved her away. "James?"

"Fuck off," he slurs. "You fuckin' cheated on me!"

Alexander recognised the foul words and was shocked that his dad would use such phrases. Wasn't he the one that said that those words were forbidden?

"James, not this again, please!"

"Yes, this a-fuckin'-gain! You slept wi' my mate from work!"

"He was paying me! We need as much help as we can get, James!"

"An' who's fault is that? If you didnae go around wastin' yer money on this brat, we'd be fine!"

This made Alex start to cry more, and his mother came and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "He's our son!"

"Yeah, and you go 'round buying 'im everythin' you see! We'd be better off without 'im!"

Rachel stepped forwards and held James's shoulders, staring deep into his eyes. What she saw scared her more than what happened next. There was no warmth, no trace of the happiness that had once graced his features. There was only anger and darkness. "You don't mean that!"

But she wasn't so sure.

He shoved her off, pushing her with such force she fell to the floor. "Aye ah fuckin' do! An I'd be better off without you, too!"

Rachel always thought his accent was sexy and cute. Now it was just terrifying. He slowly stepped towards her, meaningfully, a menacing expression on his face.

"James..." She shuffled backwards as he advanced "James, please..." Her back met the wall. "James! Stop this!"

"You've been cheatin' on me for god knows how long," he said, the darkness she found in his eyes pouring out of his mouth in the form of vile words and threats. "I'm gonnae fuckin' kill you!"

"James! James, stop! You're scaring me!"

"Good."

He punched her - not the kind of punch he threw at Alexander earlier - that had been quite light and wasn't likely to even leave much of a mark. No, this punch was the kind that could break noses. And it did. With a sickening crunch, Rachel felt a crack. She lifted a hand to touch her face, and was horrified to find it dripping with blood. At first it was numb, then the white-hot pain got through. She screamed as James kicked her. In the ribs, the stomach, the back... Rachel curled up into a ball, screaming and crying, until she passed out.

Alex stood in shock against the wall. He had fallen down. He didn't remember how he got there.

He was numb. Silent tears poured down his cheeks. A feeling akin to horror twisting in his stomach as his father turned. The blood... so much blood. On James' hands, his boots, the floor, his mother's face...

That kind of trauma wouldn't fade from any child's mind, and certainly not Alexander's.

His father stepped towards Alex, eyes full of loathing. His mother had begged, pleaded. Alex was too shocked to even think straight.

Don't beat me, please don't kill me, were his only thoughts.

As if James had heard, he said "Don't worry, I've got somethin' else in mind for yeh..." He pulled a poker from the hot flames of the hearth, and Alex began to tremble.

When Alexander was three, he fell and skinned his knees. To the toddler, it was the worst pain imaginable.

Now he knew how wrong he had been.

Help me, help me, help me.

The searing pain in his back was worse than anyone could have ever imagined. The sheer intensity of the heat paired with the alien look in his father's eyes was enough to make anyone scream.

Help me help me help me!

James beat the child with the red hot stick of steel, letting the metal linger on his son's back until he was shaking.

Helpmehelpmehelpme-

He couldn't cope. No one could help him. Alex screamed until his voice was horse. Until the pain became so bad it hardly even registered as pain.

Nobody could cope like this.

Rejecting the pain and terror his father was inflicting, he cut himself off from the horror. His mind fractured. Broke off from the rest.

Became someone else.

His world would never be the same.