Disclaimer: I don't own Holes
"Not to mention he is...nice...to us. Yeah, he is dorky and annoying but...he could be worse. He could be like Mr. Sir." Squid said.
"I know what you guys will think, but I think I care about Mom. We should at least ask. See if we can help somehow." Armpit said.
"Alright! Alright. We'll ask during our next group meeting." X-Ray said. The others nodded in turn.
X-Ray's POV
A few days passed and it was time for a meeting. We made sure to work extra hard to finish digging early so we could take showers. For once Armpit doesn't smell so bad. When we begun to walk in Mom was beaming with joy, "Hello boys! How are y'all doing?" He asked.
We all said in union, "Okay."
If possible, his grin grew. "Great! Now, today I wanna discuss-"
"Mom, wait." I said, "Today...can we pick what we wanna discuss?" I asked.
He seemed confused but quickly nodded, "Yeah, sure." He said.
"Okay, now hold on a sec." I said and we went in to move the chairs around. We made it slightly different to how we usually do. We made it so that our chairs were lined in order to face Mom's. We sat down and he joined us after a few seconds of confusion.
"So, what do you boys wanna talk about?" He asked, his smile graced his lips once more.
"Well...we kind of...wanna...talk about you." I said. The others nodded in agreement.
His cheeks went somewhat red, "What about me?" He asked.
"Well...you see...we wanna get to know you. You've been such a help to us that we want to get know you better." I said. We had planned out what to do, but now that we were actually doing it I forgot everything. Oh, well, we'll just go with it.
"Okay."
"Where are you from?"
"California."
"Is it nice there?" Squid asked.
"Yes, it is."
"Did you always wanna be a doctor?" Magnet asked.
"Yes."
"Do you like working here?" Armpit asked.
"It's okay, most of the time." He said in a somewhat dark tone. He seemed angry about it. But, he quickly cleared his throat and smiled once more, "But, I did get to meet you fine gentlemen. There for I have no right to complain!"
We nodded in response. I tried to think of something else to stay but couldn't. We were trapped in silence. Mom cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. He was obviously uncomfortable with the fact that we were asking personal questions but was trying to be nice about it.
I looked to the guys. The nodded in response. "Okay, Mom, let's just get to the point. We...know. About what you do to your...legs." I said.
His grin fell completely and his eyes widened slightly. He sat there for a long time just staring. He cleared his throat and his grin returned, though a little more forced than before. "You know I don't know what you are on about."
Was he...lying? Mom never lied! We did that to him! And the fact that he knew we knew and still lied-! Just, "Mom, I know your lying. We all know your lying." I moved my arms around to pin my point.
His grin left once more and he frowned, "You don't know anything." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Mom, we...I-" I tried speaking but he cut me off.
"Shut up! You don't know anything, okay?! I don't cut my legs!" He stood up, knocking his chair over.
I cleared my throat, "We never said you cut them." I said. He paled, realizing that he was caught. For a long, long time he just stood there. Eventually he frowned than turned around and left.
"Well...that wasn't very productive." Squid said.
"We know." Armpit said.
A few days passed and Mom carried on as though we didn't talk about it. He seemed to be dead set on ignoring the topic no matter what though. We saw the water truck pull up and we moved to get in line. We had a certain order to the whole thing and Mom never fully approved. He said it was kind of mean to the person in back and said stuff like 'you can take turns' and 'it should be no labor to be nice to your neighbor' and the usual.
"Now, there will be a meeting during dinner. So you all clean up when you finish." He said.
"Mom, can we talk about it?" I asked. We planned something and I really hoped we wouldn't have to resort to plan B.
"I don't know what you wanna talk about so no." He said than handed me back my canteen.
"Mom-"
"Next." He said, ushering me away.
"Mom," I said again.
"Go back to your hole, Rex." He said.
"If you would just-"
"GO BACK TO YOUR HOLE!" He nearly screamed at me. His eyes were full of anger and I sighed. "Get em'." He looked confused before Zig-Zag and Armpit rushed him. They pushed him onto his back and pinned him rather easily.
"Ricky, Theodore let me up this instant!" He said, trying to kick at them but Squid and Magnet moved to hold down his legs. His cheeks seemed to catch fire at being pinned by kids but we were taller and bigger than him so...eh.
"Mom, I didn't want to have to do this but you left us no choice. Technically. We wanna know why you...hurt yourself. We may not show it but we do care about you so please tell us. If we have to we will resort to torture."
"Torture?!" He asked.
"Well, we'll be real annoying and ask you dumb questions so yeah, torture." I said the guys looked at him as he rested his face in the dirt.
"It's too hot for this."
"Just tell us and we'll let you up." I said.
He begun to rant on the fact that we would be puinshed for assaulting him and blah-blah I didn't really pay attention. Eventually we handcuffed him to the bumper of the truck with a pair of handcuffs Magnet stole from a cop when a new kid came. "Do you have any idea how angry I am?" He asked.
"Do you know how bad we wanna know why you hurt yourself?" I asked he frowned at me and looked the other way.
We didn't bother to finish our holes, we are that desperate to know why he hurts himself. We hope he cracks soon, though. If we are gone too long Mr. Sir or another counsler will notice. "Man, I'm really starting to not like you kids."
"Your own fault." Magnet said as he took another drink of water. Mom groaned, "The least y'all could do is get me a rootbeer out the cooler in the front." Squid went to the front and handed Mom a rootbeer.
"Thank ya." He said and opened it. "Seriously though, if you uncuff me now I won't tell anyone, not ever Mr. Sir, about this."
"We'll let you go when you tell us why." I said, I never knew Mom could be so stuborn. He huffed like a child than looked at his legs. His socks were pulled up in that dorky style, though now we knew why. "Why do you wanna know?"
"Because we do." I said. I, like the others, didn't wanna go into detail.
He rolled his eyes and looked into the desert. "You don't wanna know." He said bluntly and looked ahead. We all turned to see another water truck coming towards us. It's Mr. Sir.
"FINALLY!" Mom says.
Pendanski's POV
"I can't believe you got jumped by a bunch of kids." Mr. Sir said, a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes, my face hot ask can be. We were in his office now. He was filling out paper work and I was sitting on the edge of his desk, eating dinner. The boys had gone to the meeting and had been sent to their tent. They were on dish duty for the next three weeks.
"I didn't 'get jumped'. I was simply over powered by em' is all." I say and take a bite out my sandwhich. "Sides, their twice my size." I say and he laughs.
"Oh, man! Remember how little you use to be?! You were so short and small!" He laughed and nearly fell back in his chair. "You still are but at least than you use to be cute!" He laughed harder and this time, he did fall out his chair. "Ow!"
"That's what you get you sideburned neanderthal!" I laughed but he quickly got up and caught me in an iron grip. One hand wrapped around my throat and the other grabbed my wrist.
"Whater' you laughin' at?" He asked, a sneer on his face. I swallowed and let out a strained cough. "M-Marion!" I gasp, tears filling my eyes. Memories flashed before my eyes.
Flash Back, No one's POV
The small, dark haired child let out a cry of pain as belt struck him across the face. "Don't you run from me, boy!" The dark haired man yelled in anger. The small child, Jacob Conrade, let out a cry as he tried to escape his father's grasp.
"Please, I'm sorry!" Jacob cried but the words fell on deaf ears. His father grabbed his wrist and seized him by the throat. He lifted Jacob off the ground. Causing him to sputter and kick widely. He landed a kick and his father dropped him.
He fell, got back up, and ran. He ran out the house and out the neighborhood. He ran and ran and ran. He didn't look back. All he could hear was his father's sceams of anger behind him, "Come back here you useless, worthless piece of crap!" He yelled and Jacob begun to sob.
He ran for what felt like hours before he finally tripped and decided not to get up. He fell asleep as a boy, well more a teenager than a boy, walked over to him. The boy, Marion Sevillo, picked the boy up and carried him into the house. His parents were out, not like they even notice, and he wanted company.
Several hours later, Jacob stirred and sat up. "You're awake."
He looked at teenager before him. "Hello." He said quietly.
End Flashback
Pendanski's POV
Mr. Sir quickly lets go of my neck, "I'm sorry. You know I-"
"I know." I say quickly and stand and try to leave, sobbing hard.
"No! I'm sorry Jacob. You know I wouldn't hurt you." He says than grabs my arm and pulls me towards him. I flinch but he smiles, "I'm not gonna hurt ya'. You know that." He says.
"Your my little Jacob Conrade." He says and I frown when he says my real name. "Don't you call me that!" I say.
"Sorry." He mumbles and rubs my back.
"How'd you like it if I called you Marion?" I asked and he frowns.
"How'd you like it if I went and talled everyone you aren't a real doctor?" He asked with a smirk.
"You better not"! I say and he laughs. "I could've gotten my degree!" I said.
"Yeah, could've, not did." He laughs and I scowl, glaring up at him. Damn, why do I have to be so short?
"Calm down, I ain't tellin' no one." He says. "Sides, your still the little kid who I found passed out in my yard."
"And your still the jerk who got his rootbeer stolen." I laugh and before he realizes what I mean I snatch his last rootbeer and make a break for the throat.
"Pendanski come back here right now or so help me I'm gonna kick you in your-ah!" He cries when he trips over himself.
"That's what you get!" I laugh before I bump into someone suddenly.
"Mom?"
In this chapter I wanted to show more about Pendanski's past and as to why he hurts himself how he does. Mr. Sir and he met when they were young and now their kind of friends. Please, review and tell me what you think.