4:Betrayal's Child: Misplaced trust
Junior sat on his beat-up sofa eating chips and flipping trough channels.
Where are all the good shows today?, he though. He had been channel surfing for almost half an hour and still couldn't find anything good. He finally gave up and decided to turn it off and listen to some music. He went trough the stations for a while before finally settling on Highway to hell.
One of the upsides of having my own place, I can play my music as loud as I can and no one can say anything.
"Hey Rock n' Roll guy!" a familiar voice came trough the door. Or was it one of the walls?
"Turn THE MUSIC DOWN! You've got neighbors!"
Ok so maybe I can't really play mi music as loud as I want. But I can still play it louder than I did back home. No. Back at my dad's. Junior tough as he turned the volume knob down.
Not my home. Not a home. Not without Dani at least. Now that we're both out of that house. It's not a home.
As his thoughts shifted to Dani he felt the worry and guilt he had felt almost every day for the past week wash over him. Worry for what their dad might do to her if he was mad enough, or drunk enough, or both.. And guilt over both the fact that he wouldn't be there to protect her and that he had hardly seen her since Isabelle walked in to the picture. When it came to families theirs was amazingly small. It only consisted of the two of them. Of course there was also the Ritter's but it still wasn't the same. That was Matt's family. He ate dinner with them and felt safe under their roof. Matt knew he could always find comfort in that house whenever his world stopped making sense. The Davis kids however…
They found anything but comfort in that house, Felt anything but safe. Whoever said "A house is not a home" really had it right. The big house made them feel trapped while growing up, like there was no escape,. Instead of being a sanctuary, it was a purgatory. Junior thought back to all the times he had been forced to stand up to their father in order to keep Dani safe. Their father worked hard day and night to keep his alcoholism a secret-in fear that it would ruin his image. But he didn't have to worry about that in the privacy of their own house. Inside of it their father would get drunk beyond reason and terrorize them, taking out all the anger and frustration he held for whatever reason on his kids. But mostly, he would just babble on about the soul-stealing witch that had gotten him stuck with Dani. Dani was always his verbal punch bag when he got that way. And sometimes, not only a verbal; punch bag but a literal one.
That's enough. Junior ordered himself.
His mind was taking him to a place he didn't want to go. But it was too late, his mind had already wandered into a realm of repressed memories and now he couldn't turn back. He could see all his childhood memories, clear as day, rushing before his eyes like a fast-forwarding movie. Image after image….
Dani curled up into a ball in her bed at the age of 4, after their father had hit her for the first time the day she questioned him about her mother. After hearing from her own father that her mom had abandoned her as soon as she could without looking back. Dani cowering in a corner at the age of four as their drunken father showed his abusive tendencies for the first time. Dani showing a burnt hand at 5 when their father got mad because she hadn't made him a hangover food-of course it had never occurred to the bastard that a 5-year-old had no idea of how to handle the stove. Junior had never really known where the few maids that didn't have that day off where. But he knew they weren't anywhere near the kitchen-then again, it was a big house. The next flashbacks were just repeated occasions of the first ones. Dani lying in a hospital bed after "falling down the stairs" at seven. Junior himself showing bruises in his arms and back after every attempt to protect his sister . Dani at thirteen back in the hospital with 3 broken ribs, after their father lost his temper again for the first time in 3 years.-their father hadn't been home that much and usually came straight to his office. They actually believed it was all over. Until 2 months after Dani turned 13, Junior, no longer a seven-year-old kid but a sixteen-year-old had to keep himself in check. He knew he was still a minor and that if he told anyone what really happened to Dani they would probably split them up. But seeing Dani in that hospital bed, knowing what really happened. He felt like he was going to loose it and beat his father's rich jerk faced butt up and down the stairs.
The memory flashes ended as quick as they came and Junior found himself shaking in anger and guilt at the remembrance of those times. And knowing that Dani had been at that house for a week in the company of their father wasn't exactly helping .
I need to make sure she's ok, he thought.
And if she wasn't…….
She had to be.
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Dani listened intently by her door. Hoping he would leave soon. It hadn't been as bad as before. But it still scared her. She heard footsteps fade away and the front door closed. For a moment she just sat there, afraid to even move. She heard her father's car pull out of the driveway and felt a wave of relief wash over her. But it left as soon as it came.
He would be back.
Dani walked over to her mirror and stared at her reflection. A bruise was slowly forming on her cheek and there was a cut above her right eye. She felt tears come to her eyes as she realized how familiar this was. She reached for the cover-up and applied it almost expertly. Her phone rang startling her half to death. She took a moment to compose herself before mumbling a shaky "hello" into the phone.
"Dani? What's wrong? You sound like you've been crying. Everything ok?"
"hi Junior, Yeah I'm fine. I was just watching a movie and it had a sad ending" Dani replied lying trough her teeth. She usually told her brother everything. But lately he had just been so busy. He never asked how thing were in the house anymore.
At least not since Isabelle came into the picture. Besides it's not that bad. This is the first time in a while. Hasn't happened since the Porsche incident. It'll probably stop soon enough…
"You're can be so emotional sometimes", Juniors' relieved voice broke Dani out of her reverie. "It was just a movie Dani. In real life the actors get paid millionaire amounts of money, buy each and everyone of their heart's desire and live happily ever after."
Dani smiled at her brother's wit. He always managed to make a joke out of anything.
"You know if the club doesn't work out you 'd make one hell of a story-teller" she said sarcastically.
"I'll keep that in mind. Listen. I heard about this new music store at the mall and I was thinking maybe we could go check it out. Get some CDs, maybe grab a bite to eat"
Wasn't expecting that.
"Yeah ok," she said "When and where?"
Before Junior could answer a beep came from the phone. On the other end of the line the same thing happened.
"I have another call", they both said at the same time.
After about five minutes Dani returned to the conversation a few seconds later, Junior did the same.
"It was Matt" Dani informed him. "Is it ok if he tags along?"
"Can Rebecca tag along too? It was her on the other line"
"Yeah ok. Wait, who's Rebecca?"
"She's a fiend of mine. She's the one helping us with the club."
"Uh-uh"
"What?" he said irritably. He already knew thought he knew that tone. He hated that tone.
"Nothing" Dani said defensively, "It's just that if there's one thing I learned from growing up with you. Is that the term friend can have a lot of meanings"
"Dani!"
"I'm just saying.."
"Say good night Dani" He said tensely. He had forgotten how much his sister got on his nerves
"Goodnight Dani"
"Dani…" he said in his warning voice.
"Ok. Ok. God you're such a hot-head..Towmorrow work for you?"
Tomorrow's fine by me"
"Kay. I'm sure your girlfriend's very nice"
"She. Is. Not. My. Girl…."
"Good night Junior"