Disclaimer: I own Chad's family. But I don't own Chad, or any of his friends.

The Man Behind The Mask
Chapter Three

Basketball, dinner with the Boltons, and helping Troy set up for the party. That was what my evening had been.

Pain, bedrooms, and grounded. That was what my night had been.

I often wish I had been born into a different family, the families of any of my friends would've been fine. Like Troy's family, for example. He had his two younger sisters, his basketball playing father, and his mother. Sure, Leanne and Emma were extremely annoying, but Troy would still take a bullet for them.

And then there's Jason's family. Mr. and Mrs. Cross, they prefer to be called Alex and Samantha, are stuck in the past, and let Jason and his siblings get away with anything. He may have at least a thousand siblings, but they're all close, and there's never a dull moment with the Cross family.

Zeke's family, it's just Zeke, his dad, and his younger brother. His mom died when we were in sixth grade. She had cancer, she had since she was 15 years old, it had gone away, but it came back, and her body wouldn't fight it, and treatment was only making it worse.

Even though Troy, Zeke, and Jason's families all have their issues, they get along with their parents and siblings. I don't have that kind of luck. I get along with my mom, and my older sister Brenna, 19. But my father and older brother Devon, 22, hate me. My father hits me, and my brother does too, luckily he's in college, but this is his last year, and knowing him, he'll probably move back in once he graduates.

I don't know why they hate me so much, or what I did to make them hate me. Sure, I don't get perfect grades like Brenna, and I don't play football like Devon. But I try my hardest, and my "build", as Coach Bolton says, is perfect for basketball, and I'd get my back broken if I played football. Of course, I've almost gotten my back broken because of basketball too.

I held half of my phone in my hand, my father had smashed it.

Here's how it went…

When I got home from Troy's I slipped into the side door, into the kitchen. That's where he was, sipping his vodka. "Chad, where have you been?"

"Troy's." I said quietly.

"What was that?"

"I was at Troy's house." I said, before realizing what he wanted me to say, "Sir."

A twisted smile appeared on his face, and I swallowed a lump in my throat, stepping back.

But that was a mistake, because every step I took back, he took two steps forward. And before I knew it, he had grabbed my arm. "Dad… Father… Sir… Please…." I tried to pull away, "Let go."

With every word I spoke, his grip got tighter. I bit my lip, and he threw me into the counter, my head hitting the drawer handle. Luckily my hair held back some of the pain. It didn't stop all of it though, I winced, and he pulled me up by my hair.

He glared at me, "No one," Smack. "Knew," Smack. "Where," Smack. "You," Smack. "Were." Thrown to the floor.

I was shaking now. "Please… stop…"

"Too much for you?" He growled, pulling me up by the hair again, and then smacked me across the face, "You're grounded." He snarled. "Until I say otherwise."

I couldn't speak. He threw me out of the room, and I heard something break.

I had landed on my lifeline. My cell phone. My flip phone had snapped in half, and I was now without phone.

Which leads me to where I am now. A rock hit my window, and I opened it, "Who the…" I looked down, Jason stood beneath my window.

"You okay?"

"No."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow." I said, looking down at Jason.

"Your driveway at 7 to start walking?"

"As always."

"See you then." And he hopped over the fence back to his house.

It's all really messed up. I don't even know why he hates me so much. He seemed to always hate me, but he never physically showed it until I was nine.

I was on my way home from Jason's house. I didn't know who would be home, Brenna was twelve and Devon was fifteen. Since it was a Saturday, I assumed that my father would've been at Devon's football game, he was a sophomore on starting varsity. I didn't know what the big deal was.

I remember Brenna sitting on the porch, crying. "What's wrong?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"Go back to Jason's." She said, looking up at me, "Just go Chad."

"Brenna…"

"Chad, please. You shouldn't have to deal with this. You're only nine."

I blinked, "Deal with what?"

"It's nothing Chad…" There was a loud crash from inside the house, and her tears fell faster.

"What's happening in there?"

"Damnit Chad!" She exclaimed, "Don't worry about it."

"You're crying. It has to be something."

She grabbed my hand, "Chad, the only thing that could make me feel better, would be if you went back to Jason's. I don't want to see you deal with this."

"Just tell me what's happening."

She opened her mouth to say something, when the front door flew open. Our father stood there, anger obvious in his eyes. "You." He growled, pointing a fat finger at me. "Get in here. Now."

I had never seen my father this angry before, and I was afraid. I stood, trying to get back to Jason's.

Bad idea. He growled, and grabbed me by the back of my shirt, "Chad Nicholas Danforth," He snarled, pulling me into the house. "I'm sick and fucking tired of you sneaking out without my permission." He smacked me.

My brother walked into the room then, watching.

I whimpered, that may sound pathetic, but it was a hard smack, I was already on the verge of tears because of my sister, and my brother was watching me getting hit, while…

Smirking.

My older brother was smirking while I got hurt. Just seeing him smirking at me, cued the tears that I'd been holding back. I knew he hated me, but I didn't know it was this bad. I wanted nothing more than to run away. I wanted to run next door, to Jason's. But as I thought about it, I wanted to run further. I just wanted to run until I couldn't run anymore.

My thoughts were interrupted when he threw me into my brother, "Devon, get him out of my sight."

"Yes sir." And then my dad walked into the kitchen, leaving me alone with Devon. The smirker. He looked down at me, "Pathetic."

I bit my lip, my brother smacking me now, "Poor Chaddy can't handle a little pain?"

"Stop."

He smacked me harder. "Don't tell me to stop." He growled.

I looked away. Pain flowing through me, both physical and emotional.

My mother walked into my room, as I stood there at the open window, "Chad?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry about your father."

I turned, looking at her, "It's not your fault Mom."

She walked over to me, "You know you can talk to me about all this, right?"

"I know." But I knew there was nothing she could do. If she tried to stop him, he'd just add her to his list of conquest. He had already dominated Brenna and I.

"Your sister is coming home this weekend."

"What's the occasion?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Brenna called and told me to tell you to hang in there she'd be here Friday." She looked at me, "Do you have a test or something that she's going to help you study for."

"Yeah," I lied, I love my mom, but she was kind of slow at times, "Big one."

Thanks to CassieLovesRyne, ChaylorFnficPrincess (Yes I did, and reviewed.), HSM-FREAK-x, imjustagirl0077, Corbin4eva,dcsprousegirl- (That's okay, you can add it to alerts, can't you?) and Dracoisalooker76 (I see the abusive Mr. Bolton ones all the time, but in the movie Troy & Jack seemed a little too close for that. But that could just be me...)