Chapter 4

-Breakfast-

"You know Ma, you could've just told us that you picked up a new kid over the phone." Bobby grabbed a carton of orange juice out of the fridge and placed it on the long wooden table before flopping into a seat.

Bobby and Jeremiah had descended the stairs to greet their mother at the door. After helping her dump her shopping bags in the kitchen and being enveloped in multiple bear hugs, the boys had helped her set breakfast on the table.

"Yeah, Mom," Jeremiah continued as he lowered himself in to his own place at the table. "We know you take in new kids all the time. We meet them all eventually, and it's not like you're adopting anyone."

Evelyn Mercer turned away from her two sons at the mention of adoption to flip her pancakes. With so much to worry about already, she had no intention of sharing her recent thoughts concerning a certain teenager upstairs.

"Well, I'm sorry to interrupt your busy schedules." Evelyn carried a large bowl of scrambled eggs over to the table with a playful smile on her face. "I'm just sad to see that my boys are to busy to come see their mother." Shesent a pointed glance at Bobby with her last comment.

"Oh, come on now, Ma." Bobby reached out to grab Evelyn's hand. "Don't get on a guilt trip. You know me; I show up eventually."

She smiled down at this young man she'd so grown to love over the years. From the first moment she'd laid eyes on him, she'd known he'd be trouble, but it'd all been worth it.

"Yes, I know, Bobby. And Jeremiah, if you so much as look at that bacon again I'll beat you with it."

Jerry grinned and retracted his hand from the nearby platter. "Sorry, Mom."

Evelyn retreated back to the stove to retrieve the golden brown pancakes, which she quickly placed on the table in front of the boys. After grabbing a stack of napkins, she finally sank down across from her sons. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples lightly before shaking her head slowly.

"What's wrong?" Jerry watched as his mother tiredly looked up at them.

"This about the girl in my room?"

Evelyn smiled and said, "Well, I could hardly put her in with Angel and Jack, now could I?"

Bobby shrugged and slouched down in his chair. "So, what's up with her? You look exhausted."

Evelyn sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I think I'm going to need some help with this one."

Bobby and Jeremiah exchanged a quick glance.

Still looking up as though she could see through the ceiling to where the new resident stood, she quietly continued, "I've never seen anyone quite like her. Ms. Collins called after midnight, practically begging me to take her. When I went down to the station, Clapper practically had a hernia over me agreeing to take her in.

Bobby straightened at the mention of the detective. "Clapper's an ass."

"Bobby!"

"Sorry, Ma, but you know it's true."

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever the case, that wasn't what bothered me. I was expecting that at least."

Jerry and Bobby silently urged her on.

"I've seen or heard of all manners of abuse over the yeas, but I can't imagine what happened last night to that poor girl. She was still bleeding when we got to the car, but she didn't even acknowledge any pain. She didn't acknowledge anything at all after we left the station, just stared out window with dead eyes and didn't seem to care where I was taking her.

'When we got inside the house and she took off that jacket," Evelyn gestured to a piece of black fabric draped over an end table, "I could get an even better look at her. By then, her face had turned almost completely black and blue."

Evelyn wrapped her hands around her neck and whispered, "I could see finger marks all around her neck."

Jerry reached out to grab Evelyn's hand and seemed to pull her out of her recollection momentarily, but tears suddenly appeared in her eyes.

"And, my God, her arms. The worst part was that she didn't seem to care at all, like she couldn't feel anything at all. I mean, Jack was stand-offish when he came, but at least he seemed… alive." Evelyn, shaking now, closed her eyes and regained some composure before moving on.

"She didn't mind me looking at her wounds, but when I moved to clean her up, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Then, she just asked me to show her where the bathroom was and where she'd sleep, which I did. Locked herself in the bathroom then for near two hours.

"I didn't get a wink last night; I just stayed up listening to her move around up there, too shocked to go check on her. When she finally did come out of the bathroom, I think she ran into Jack up there. I kind of heard them muttering something to each other, but after that, nothing."

Evelyn shook her head again and walked over to wipe her face on a dish rag.

Bobby, sitting with his arms crossed, looked over to the stairs. "I didn't get a good look at her, but Jack did seem to know her up there, well her name anyway. Ally or Amy-"

"Arlyn," Evelyn walked back to the table and leaned down to hug her two eldest sons. "Arlyn Chandler."

The sound of footsteps upstairs broke the silence. Mrs. Mercer straightened and walked over to the foot of the stairs and yelled up, "BREAKFAST!"

Almost immediately, Angel came bounding down the stairs, stopping only to say good morning to his mother. He flew to his seat at the table and reached for the bacon, but Jerry reached across the table and smacked it out of his hands. "You wait till we're all here, pig."

Angel frowned, but crossed his arms and glared in the direction of the stairs, where after a few minutes Jack slowly trudged into view.

"Hurry up, white boy!"

"Angel!" Evelyn frowned in his direction and reached out to ruffle Jack's still damp hair. He didn't even shrink back this time. Progress, she thought.

When all five were seated at the table, they briefly connected hands and prayed quickly. The boys all dug in quickly, grabbing whatever was closest, but Evelyn only watched them and then looked back at the stairs.

"She's not coming down." Everyone at the table turned to look at Jack, who rarely spoke at breakfast while he took advantage of the pile of pancakes in front of him.

Evelyn, who turned back to look at the stairs, asked, "What, Jack?"

Without looking up, Jack mumbled, "She went back in the bathroom when I got out. Said she wasn't hungry."

Angel and Jeremiah just shrugged and went back to eating. Evelyn sighed and spooned some eggs on her plate.

Bobby, now, looked towards the staircase and thought Well, this shit's gonna be interesting.