A/N: Thanks to my two anonymous reviewers, Jessica and Marie. I hope you all like this chapter :) The next one will be up tomorrow or the day after.
The anger and newly-realized hatred continued smoldering inside Shawn's chest. He was sitting on the floor, still in the living room, with his back against the wall, knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees. Shawn had been sitting like this for several minuets now, while Verna slowly got Chet drunk in order to keep him compliant. Shawn was officially numb to his physical pain, and he was ignoring the pain of Chet's betrayal, and Verna's hatred. Shawn knew he only had a couple of seconds left before Verna and Chet started to 'punish' him and, honestly, Shawn was almost too angry to feel fear. But that fear was still lurking, if only in the deep recesses of his mind.
"Okay Chet, are you ready to deal with Shawn yet?" Verna asked, her tone a little impatient. Chet put down his bottle of whiskey and gave Verna a look of deep confusion.
"Who?" He asked in genuine, although drunken, confusion. Verna rolled her eyes and Shawn glared at him in disgust. It figures that Chet would forget his existence.
"Your son, remember? He tried to runaway and steal your money." Verna said, trying to jogg Chet's memory and staring at the whiskey bottle, suddenly wondering whether she gave him too much.
"Oh, right." Chet slurred. He and Verna were seated on the couch, directly across from where Shawn sat. Chet squinted at Shawn's scrunched up form and Shawn glared back defiantly. "He looks like someone already bet the hell outta him. Why do I gotta do anything?" Chet asked, his words blurring together in his drunken slur.
"Because honey, he..." Verna stared at Shawn, obviously trying to think of a lie that would spring Chet into action. The room was dead silent for several minuets. Chet went back and forth from staring at Verna, waiting for an answer and taking another swing of whiskey. Verna was staring at Shawn maliciously, her eyes roaming over his entire body as she struggled to come up with the perfect lie.
Shawn glared at Verna, never looking away and refusing to back down. No matter what, Shawn decided, they will never see him beg again. Shawn didn't care how badly Verna, or Chet, beat him, Shawn refused to give them the satisfaction of knowing how much pain he was in.
"Chet, he..." Verna's eyes sparked with an evil idea and Shawn began to feel very uneasy with the amount of confidence Verna was showing. "He hit me, Chet." Verna said, her voice a whimper and her lower lip stuck out a little. Shawn's eyes widened, he was dead. Chet's face contorted in rage as he looked from Verna's deceptive sad face to Shawn's shocked one. Chet stood up, walked over to Shawn and crouched down in front of him.
"Did you hit her?" Chet demanded, his words more clear then they had been earlier. His breath was stale and stank of alcohol. Chet's face was less then an inch away from Shawn's and Chet reeked of whiskey. The smell clogged Shawn's throat and he gagged, then turned his head to the side in an effort to avoid the stench.
Frustrated by the lack of response, Chet grabbed Shawn's face in both of his hands and forced Shawn to look at him. "Did- you- hit- her?" Chet asked again, more forcefully this time. Shawn tried not to breathe through his nose, but the stench of alcohol was still overwhelming. Shawn coughed for a minuet, but Chet refused to let go.
"No." Shawn finally answered, his hands on Chet's wrists as he tried to wriggle out of Chet's grasp. "She hit me!" Shawn exclaimed indignantly, his blood boiling. How dare Verna try to turn this whole situation on him? Shawn never touched her! Verna was the one how beat him, not the other way around!
"You're trying to blame your mother for this? What the hell is wrong with you?" Chet demanded, a look of utter disbelief and disgust on his face. Shawn struggled to see around Chet's large head, and finally managed to catch a glimpse of Verna. She had a wide smirk on her face and Shawn desired nothing more then to have that smirk wiped off of her stupid face.
"What do you want me to do, babe?" Chet asked, finally releasing Shawn's head and going back to Verna's side. He grabbed her hand gently ad planted a kiss o her temple in comfort. Shawn gratefully sucked in large gulps of fresh air and wrapped his arms tighter around himself, shivering. Shawn was afraid, but it wasn't just fear anymore. It was exhaustion and betrayal and pain and anger all wrapped up in a disturbing blend. Shawn was worn out, physically and emotionally and Shawn didn't know how much longer he could last like this.
"Hit him." Verna said, her voice disturbingly excited. Shawn glared at them defiantly, his heart pounding painfully in his chest. Chet shrugged, nodded and stood up. Shawn pushed himself even tighter against the wall and wrapped his arms tighter around his knees. Shawn was trembling frightfully and his breathing was ragged.
Chet approached Shawn and loomed over him, looking down at him with disgust and some hesitance. "Get up, Shawn." Chet finally said, motioning with his hand for Shawn to stand up. Shawn shook his head, fighting back the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. Shawn wasn't going to give in, this time he was going down kicking and screaming. "I said, get up!" Chet roared, reaching a hand down to grab Shawn's arm.
Boldly, Shawn sunk his teeth as hard as he could into Chet's arm. Shawn twisted his face from side to side, ripping Chet's flesh to the best of his abilities. Chet yelled with pain and hit Shawn as hard as he could on the top of the head with his other hand. Shawn yelped and released Chet's arm. Shawn had black spots encroaching on his vision from the blow, but tried his hardest to shake it off. He stared at Chet's arm and was satisfied to see that it was bleeding.
"You little bastard." Chet growled, all hesitance gone. Shawn raised his eyebrows in challenge. Shawn knew that he couldn't take Chet, or Verna, and especially not the two of them together, but Shawn wasn't going down without a fight.
Verna was still watching from the couch, scowling and looking around the room. "Chet." Verna called, apparently finding whatever she was looking for. Chet turned his head and Verna walked over to Chet, then handed him a large, leather belt. Chet nodded his head at Verna and took the belt from her hands. Shawn tried to swallow his fear, but his mouth was so dry it was like trying to swallow dirt.
"Stand up, Shawn." Chet demanded, standing in front of Shawn with anger. Shawn chastised himself; why didn't he bring a weapon with him when he came back to get his stuff?
"No." Shawn answered fiercely, his voice wavering with fear, but Shawn merely tried to curl up tighter.
"That's it! When I tell you to get up, it means get up." Chet boomed. Faster then Shawn knew was possible, Chet raised the belt and swung it at Shawn's face.
"Ah!" Shawn screamed in surprise and fear. He just barely had time to raise up his arms to take the blow. A huge welt formed across the length of both of his forearms, and Shawn was incredibly thankful that Chet didn't get his face. His arms burned madly and stung painfully. Imagine the needle sensation you get when a limb falls asleep, and then multiply it by fifty.
"Up." Chet said simply, drawing his arm back to deliver another blow if Shawn didn't comply. Shawn buried his head under his arms and stayed perfectly still. Chet hit him again, this time in the legs, and Shawn was able to keep himself from screaming this time, although barely. "If I have to tell you to get up one more time..." Chet trailed off, leaving Shawn to interpret the threat as he wanted to.
Shawn felt tears drip off of his eyelashes and sighed. He wiped them away and stood up as quickly as he can. Shawn's ankle was killing him from the position it had been in, so he tried not to put any weight on it what-so-ever.
The second that Shawn was fully upright, Chet lashed the belt across Shawn's face vindictively. "Ah!" Shawn cried out and fell back against the wall. Chet had a hand on Shawn's chest to hold him upright and both of Shawn's hands were over his face. Shawn's cheeks and mouth burned painfully and his lower lip was bleeding profusely. Salty tears were streaming from Shawn's eyes and irritating his wounds further, causing Shawn to shudder with suppressed sobs.
" 's what you get for not listening to me." Chet said, his words slurred. He turned around and took a large gulp from his whiskey bottle.
Shawn tried to get a hold of himself, but it was useless. Shawn could barely keep himself from outright sobbing with the pain his face, and the rest of his body, was in, and the terror of what was going to happen next.
"Hands down." Chet's voice broke through the cloud of tears that surrounded Shawn and he slowly lowered his hands from his face, keeping them up around his neck.
Chet raised to belt to swing it again and Shawn cringed against the wall. Shawn squeezed his eyes shut tightly and sucked in a deep breath, more tears streaming down his face.
Shawn's eyes burst open and he nearly fell over with surprise when the trailer door burst open. "Put your hands in the air. You two are under arrest."
Shawn couldn't take in what he was seeing. Three police officer's ran into the trailer. Chet tried to fight, but two of the officer's disarmed him, and tackled him to the ground. They cuffed him, and Verna was already cuffed and being lead out of the trailer.
John and Cory ran through the open door and Shawn fell to the ground in relief.
"Oh my God! Shawn!" Cory called, tears already working their way down his face as he got a good look at Shawn. John rushed over, took Shawn's chin gently in his hand and stared at Shawn's face with horror.
"You came." Shawn croaked, his throat clogged with tears. "I can't believe you came."
"Of course we came Shawn. We love you." John answered him, releasing his chin and putting a soothing hand on his shoulder. A paramedic was standing behind John and was obviously trying to get to Shawn, but all three ignored him.
"I love you guys." Shawn said, and then he let go of all his inhibitions, lunged forward and wrapped his arms around John. He smothered his face into John's shoulder and closed his eyes tightly, although that didn't stop the ceaseless tears. John hugged him back tightly and ran a hand through his hair soothingly.
"It's okay Shawn. Everything going to be okay." John whispered, resting his cheek on the top of Shawn's head in comfort and hugging him as tightly as he dared, he didn't want to hurt him.
Shawn cried so hard that he thought his lungs would fall out of his body. Shawn was sobbing desperately, choking in deep, spluttering breaths whenever he could. John and Cory love him! Shawn felt safe in that moment and he ignored how much physical pain he was in.
"I'm sorry, Shawn. I'm really sorry." Shawn could hear Cory saying from somewhere to the right. Shawn released John from one of his arms and wrapped it around Cory instead. John did the same and suddenly, Cory was there. He was hugging Shawn as tightly as he possibly could, and crying right along with him. And, although Shawn couldn't be sure, he was pretty sure that John was crying too.
They stayed like that for what felt like forever, but in reality was probably only a couple of minuets. Finally, the paramedic tapped John on the shoulder and said sympathetically, "I'm sorry, but we really need to get Shawn to the hospital."
"Right. Of course." John said, his voice hoarse and rough. John went to stand up, but Shawn clutched him and Cory tighter to him, a new fear overtaking him.
"Don't leave me! Please, don't leave me!" Shawn begged, his tears coming even faster now.
"I'm not going to leave you Shawn. We just need to get you to the hospital, to make sure you're okay." John said soothingly, trying to comfort Shawn as much as possible, but at a loss for words. "I'll be right there with you, every step of the way. I'll never leave you again, I promise." John said fiercely.
Still, Shawn refused to let go. He didn't know if he could believe John in this situation and Shawn couldn't handle it if John or Cory left. The paramedic whispered something in John's ear and he looked angry for a second, but resigned the next. John nodded his asset and the paramedic went away.
Shawn sighed in relief, believing the danger was over. However, moments later he felt something sharp enter the skin on his arm. Blackness coated his vision and Shawn drifted off to a superficial sleep. The last thing he heard was John's soothing whispers as someone carried him away.