A/N: Ok, so here's the next chapter. I hope y'all like it... I actually wrote all of this today, in about an hour... I'm so proud of myself! :D
Jackie had fallen asleep on the bed after fifteen minutes. Setting him down as gently as possible, Bobby had slowly made his way downstairs, his legs and arms stiff.
"Bobby, what happened?" Evelyn asked as he sat down at the table. She had been waiting for him, and already had coffee ready.
"I… Shit, ma… Fuck…" He swore, staring into the blackness of his coffee cup. There was no way he could explain to his mother what had happened. What had been done to Jackie defied explaining.
There was no explaining it.
But he tried anyways.
Tears were streaming down Evelyn's face long before Bobby finished telling her what had happened. When he was finished, she cleared her throat, and stood up, pouring herself another cup of coffee. "Well… Well… At least now we know," She said hesitantly. She knew it wasn't what needed to be said, but something needed to be said to break the awful silence. "I'll call Nishi tomorrow and tell her about it."
"Ma… He's… He's just a kid, Ma. How could somebody do that to a kid?" Bobby asked, his voice hollow. "I don't get it. I don't understand."
"There is no understanding it, Bobby. There are cruel people in this world, and they take it out on people who can't fight back. People like all you boys. The most we can do is make sure that we stop as much of it as we can."
Night time. Usually it was always Bobby's favorite time. He always liked to joke that sleeping was his favorite past time. But not that night. That night, it took him until well after three o'clock to get to sleep.
Bobby never had nightmares. He'd always slept like a log. But not that night. That night, he had a nightmare that chilled him to the bone.
"Come here, you little brat!"
"No, please don't! Please!" There was a scream as belt hit flesh. "No, I be good, I swear! No!" The little boy cried, pulling hard against the belts wrapped around his wrists and ankles as the belt bit into his skin, over and over and over again. "Please stop! Please! I promise, I be good! I no bad anymore! Please! Please!" He screamed.
It felt like all the skin had been torn off his entire body. Not even his head and face were spared , large cuts dripping blood into his eyes, and dirty-blond hair.
An older Bobby watched from the corner, unable to move, unable to yell, as the small boy grew stiller and stiller, his little body slowly giving up the struggle.
But before those large brown eyes closed, they locked onto Bobby.
"Bobby! Bobby, wake up!"
Bobby lashed out wildly, still screaming, his throat raw, before he saw Evelyn's face.
"M… Ma?" He shocked even himself as he pulled her into a hug, his body still shaking.
"Shhh… It's ok, Bobby. It's ok. You're safe," She said softly.
She looked back at the door. Angel and Jerry stood just inside, their faces showing their alarm. They had never seen Bobby like that before. But Evelyn's face drifted past them to the little blond mess of hair peering around the doorway, blue eyes wide in fear.
"It's ok, boys. Go back to bed," She said quietly, still holding Bobby's shaking form.
Jerry was the first to respond, nudging Angel into movement, and then practically shoving him out the door.
Evelyn waited until they were gone, before she spoke again. "Bobby? Bobby, look at me. We're going to go downstairs, and get some coffee, ok? C'mon. It's ok now."
Evelyn stared at her oldest son. He hadn't said a word to her the whole time. She leaned across the table, and gently rested her hand on his. There was a few minutes of silence, before she quietly said, "Bobby, I have to ask you something."
Bobby gave no sign that he had heard. But his hands were paper white against his coffee cup that he hadn't taken a drink of.
Evelyn hesitated a moment, before clearing her throat. "Bobby, you've always told me you don't remember anything that happened before you woke up in that hospital room. I've never questioned you, not in all the ten years you've lived with me. I assumed that someday you'd remember, and someday, you'd tell me if you could. What happened tonight? You haven't had a nightmare like that since you first came to me. And you never remembered those, Bobby.
"I know you don't remember much of your first few months here, Bobby. But I don't want you like that again. My heart would break. And you've got that same look now, the same look you had when I first saw you. Bobby, please, say something," She begged. When she got no answer, fresh tears welled up in her eyes. "Bobby, I want to help Jack. That poor child has gone through hell and back, and he deserves a break. But I won't sacrifice you for him. I want to help Jack, but I love you, Bobby. You're my son. Maybe, someday, Jack will also be my son. But until then, Bobby, you come first. It breaks my heart to put it like that, but there's no other way to say it. I couldn't take it if I lost you."
Bobby looked up at her slowly, his eyes still unblinking, and unfocused. She wasn't sure if he had heard anything she said. She ducked her head down, determined to hold the tears back this time, but Bobby spoke.
"I thought it was Jack. But it wasn't. It was me," He said slowly, staring into his cup. "It was me."
Evelyn couldn't stop the tears. "What was you, Bobby?" She asked, her voice strangled sounding. "What happened?"
Woodenly, Bobby began to speak.
"It… There was a man. And he was beating a kid… Beating me. With a belt. Over and over, and over again. He just wouldn't stop. The boy –I… begged him to stop. Kept begging him to stop, please, he'd… I'd be good. I wouldn't be bad anymore."
"What happened, Bobby? Why was the man beating you?" She managed to ask.
Bobby was silent for a full four minutes, before a dark comprehension came to his face. "I… I'd broke something. A… A lamp, maybe? I was excited about… about getting an 'A' in school. I… I went running in too fast… I couldn't stop fast enough… I tried fixing it before he got home… but I couldn't, there were just… too many damn little pieces. I tried cleaning it all up… Hoped maybe he wouldn't notice it was missing. But he did… He always knew when I'd done something wrong…
"I tried hiding when I heard his car in the driveway. Tried hiding under the bed… But he pulled me out, tied me down… Dragged me down the stairs by my hair, and threw me onto the glass. I… I made it worse… I tried crawling off of it… Just cut me more… The more I struggled, the more he beat me… The more the glass cut me…
"I… I screamed. They'd always told me to never scream. 'Don't ever scream, brat, or it'll be worse', they'd tell me. But I couldn't help it… It… It hurt so damn much…
"The… I think it was the neighbors who heard. Somebody must have called 911. 'Cause next thing I knew, he was shoving me into the crawl space underneath the stairs… I was trying not to make any noise… He said he'd kill me if I did… I could hear him talking out there to the cops… Told 'em I was still at school, or maybe at a friend's house. They asked to search the house, but they didn't find me."
He finally looked up at Evelyn, tears running down his face. "I didn't make a sound, Ma. I stayed quiet.
"Why didn't I say something?" He whispered.
Evelyn moved her chair over to him, and put her arms around his shoulders. "You were a child, Bobby. You did what you had to do to survive. It wasn't your fault."
"I could have screamed. I could have… even if I had just breathed louder, they might have heard me… But I didn't. He… He'd told me I deserved it… If the cops took me away, I'd grow up… grow up to be a bad boy."
"Bobby, look at me," Evelyn said firmly. "You did what you had to do. You didn't deserve it. And it wasn't your fault. You were a child, Bobby. You listened to the man, because you were just trying to survive. You did nothing wrong, Bobby. Nothing."