Chapter 6:

Tad Spencer was a well know student at the academy, not because he was that damn great but because his father owned one of the world's largest shipping companies, that rivaled that of UPS and Fed Ex. He was a mild mannered teenage boy who appeared no different from the other preps on the outside. He was stuck up, snobby, and just flat out thought that he was far better than any and everyone else who was nowhere near as rich as he was. However no one knew the real reason for his conceited attitude and prep like behavior, no one knew why he walked around with his nose turned up at the rest of the world with a look that said I am mightier than thou. No one knew that he did those things simply to hide the true nature of his life.

Most days when Tad strolled into the office to meet with Dr. Bambillo, it was simply for the Dr. to check in on him and see how he was doing. His mother had been the one to send him to the Dr. not because he had behavioral issues or any mental health problems like most others or at least she thought he didn't. No none of the before mentioned was an issue with Tad Spencer in the eyes of his mother, Tad had been sent to the Dr. because of the state of his home life…

This particular day they were meeting had been an ugly and gloomy one, it was rainy outside with large puddles of mud everywhere. The atmosphere had been grey and dreary and it fit Tad's demeanor perfectly. Walking into his office Dr. Bambillo took one look at the boy and could tell he was deeply upset.

"Hello Tad, it's nice to see you again." The Dr. greeted, Tad flashed him a fake smile attempting to be courteous,

"It's nice to see you again too Dr." The tone of his voice was filled with sadness and the Dr. knew this was going to be one of those meetings where Tad had one of his emotional meltdowns.

"Well now how has school been?" The Dr. asked deciding to start with a far less sensitive issue.

"Fine I suppose…" Came his dull response, Tad ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. It was obvious that he was on the verge of tears and fighting to hold them back and the conversation had barely begun. Tad didn't like to cry in front of other people, he felt like it made him look weak and aside from what others thought he also feared that if anybody ever did see him cry word of the incident would somehow find its way back to his father and then he would really have a reason to cry.

Knowing he had to approach the real issue the boy was in his office delicately the Dr. continued with caution.

"How are your grades? Are you still passing all of your classes?"

"Yes… of course… my grades are coming along well…" He tried to smile again but it quickly melted off of his face turning into a saddened frown.

The Dr. knew he couldn't keep stalling the more important issues for much longer.

"How are things with you friends? Do you still spend time with them?"

Tad fidgeted in his chair a bit before he answered, "Yes, we still see each other all the time…"

Silence

"What about Gord?"

Tad's eyes brightened significantly at the mention of Gord but it didn't last for long.

"Yes I still see Gord very often too, we just spoke on the phone with one another… last night…"

Tad's voice trailed off as he finished and for a brief moment his face winced in a twinge of agony. Apparently the mention of Gord and speaking with him on the phone had triggered another memory and it hadn't been a good one.

"Your mother?" The Dr. went on; Tad stared at him for a moment, his eyes full of dread and hurt at the mention of his mother. He swallowed hard and blinked back tears, he opened his mouth to speak but clamped it shut again clearly struggling to keep himself together.

"She's….." He paused for a moment and brought his gaze down to the floor, "She's …. Going… to be okay…."

'She's going to be okay'

That remark let Dr. Bambillo know that she currently wasn't okay. Pausing for a moment before continuing the Dr. took the opportunity to survey Tad's appearance. He had clearly been crying earlier and was on the verge of crying again. The outline of his left nostril was covered with a faint hint of red indicating that it had been bleeding not too long ago. The left side of his face held the vague outline of what appeared to be a handprint and there were minor traces of bruising around his neck…

Staring at the emotional wreck of a child in front of him Dr. Bambillo knew he couldn't stall any longer, it was time to address the issue that had landed him in his office to begin with. It was a very touchy subject but it had to be brought to the table.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" The Dr. asked him softly.

Tad squeezed his eyes shut no longer able to hold back his tears anymore; he put a hand up to his mouth trying to calm himself down enough to form audible words.

"It was my fault really," he managed to choke out in between his sobs. Dr. Bambillo thought about interrupting him, he wanted to tell him as he had numerous times before that it wasn't his fault but he sat and listened quietly.

"I was talking on the phone with Gord last night like I mentioned to you earlier… We were laughing and joking about something that had happened at school yesterday, I got so wrapped up in the conversation that I didn't realize how loud I was being…"

Tad paused again to try and catch his breath; it was painful for him to talk about things like this because he knew he was playing with fire by telling anyone what had happened.

"My father came to my room and told me to quiet down….again! … it… I… It wasn't his first time telling me to do so that night… really… he had already told me once but I was being ignorant and not paying attention…."

'A lie!'

Dr. Bambillo told himself, 'that was a lie'

He could tell by the way he was stuttering that he was lying, if he had told him once before that time he would have mentioned it beforehand.

"He had a right to be angry with me, he had a long hard day at work and just wanted to come home and rest but I was preventing that from happening…"

Again Dr. Bambillo found himself fighting the urge to interrupt the boy, he was clearly trying to make up excuses for his father's behavior and there was never any excuse for something of the nature he portrayed towards his family.

"When he had told me to be quiet a second time instead of acknowledging his request like I should have I decided to be a wise ass and try and shoo him away…"

'Another lie!'

Dr. Bambillo thought to himself, 'Chances were he told you to be quiet once and you simply told him yes sir and apologized profusely!'

"It was that remark that angered him with me even further, because of my smart mouth he started yelling and screaming at me and I started arguing back with him…."

'Again you lie, he yelled and screamed at you for no reason and you didn't say a word'

"My mother came in to see what was wrong, and at this point my father decided to get… a 'little' physical with me…"

Tad paused again, it was difficult for him to go on.

"My mother got upset with both of us and tried to break it up… in the midst of it all she ended up getting hit several times."

Tears began to stream down Tad's face but he forced himself to continue. "A few things got broken but it wasn't that bad …really … just another random spat between us is all…."

Seeing the boy's face was heart wrenching, every time it was the same thing, his father would beat him for no reason at all and every time Tad would come to see the Dr. he would make up excuses for his father's behavior. Dr. Bambillo hated it when he did this, he was sugar coating his father's abuse trying to lie and make it look like he did something to warrant the horrible treatment he had received when in reality he had done nothing to deserve that type of treatment.

Today's session ended the same way it always did, Dr. Bambillo suggested he go to the police not just for his sake but for his mother's as well, perhaps he could do what she was clearly too afraid to do. But as always Tad refused saying that legal interference was unnecessary, the Dr. himself could have reported the incident, but unfortunately they all lived in a society where money most certainly was equal to power and as rich and powerful as his family was it would be damn near impossible to form a case against the man. Therefore unless Tad or his mother decided to do something about their horrible home life they would be stuck in limbo for the remainder of their days… Or so one would think, unbeknownst to the Tad and his mother Dr. Bambillo was in the process of collecting evidence to use against Mr. Spencer, he had already contacted authorities and had begun to work with them in an effort to have the man put behind bars. It was a long shot in this case but he simply couldn't sit by and watch two human beings continue to suffer in the manner that they were…

"Who'd have thought the Spencer family had such a dark secret!" Dr. Crabblesnitch voiced out in disbelief at what he had just heard.

"Who'd have thought the Spencer family didn't have a dark secret!" Officer Monson spoke up, "It's people like them who breed the never ending generations of troublemakers who think they're immune to authority!"

"Yes," Dr. Crabblesnitch continued, "Those prep boys do tend to think they are above authority due to their rich inheritance."

Dr. Bambillo resisted the urge to throw his coffee in the face of Officer Monson and Dr. Crabblesnitch.

"Yeah well, they aren't the only ones with deep dark secrets, I've had several jocks from the academy come to see me, one of them was way over the top but the other one was a mental case on an entirely different level."