Chapter 8

John: After laying in bed for a while, Claire and I went downstairs to find that the movie had finished. The guys started laughing when we came down, they knew what had happened upstairs. We'll probably never hear the end of this, hahaha.

It was late now and we were all hungry. The diner would be closed and we didn't want another take away. So we decided to go to the off licence and see if they had any food.

Jodi: When we go to the off licence it was about 10:15pm. Claire and John walked in front, then Brian and Allison, with Andy and I last. Andy was walking behind me with his arms wrapped around me, we were laughing.

As we were looking for some food, we heard someone else walk in. We didn't pay any attention to it until our father walked around the corner. Shit. He started laughing and he was clearly drunk, so John and I stepped in front of him. He started shouting stuff at the guys, just nonsense stuff.

"Johnny my boy!" He shouted.

"Dad go home." John replied.

"Home? If I go home I have to see that whore of a mother of yours!"

Everyone gasped. "Don't you dare speak about her like that!" I screamed at him. John put his hand on my shoulder to calm me down. John was surprisingly calm.

"Dad. You're embarrassing yourself. Just go."

Dad turned and I actually thought he was listening to John for once. But then, he turned and swung at John. He must have seen it coming because he ducked and managed to dodge it. I couldn't help but laugh. Dad heard me.

"You're just like your mother." He said to me, bitterly. I could see Andy stepping closer to me.

"I'm nothing like mom. I'm nothing like either of you. And neither is John. We would never hit our own kids. You disgust me, dad. Just go home."

He didn't like that. He pushed me over but Andy stopped me from falling. Andy, John and the shopkeeper all managed to get dad outside. I apologised to the guys for my dad and then went outside with the boys. The rest of the guys followed me.

John: Dad was still shouting outside. He nearly hit Andy. The shopkeeper gave up and told us to deal with him, before walking back into his shop. I kept pushing him, hoping he would just leave and give up. But he wouldn't. He was swinging for me but he was so drunk he couldn't throw a good enough punch. He did catch me a couple of times; in my stomach and chest. He pulled his blade out and pointed it at me, but Jodi came behind us and managed to take it off him. Eventually, the cops turned up.

Jodi: The shopkeeper must have phoned the police. I hid dads blade in my pocket. The police asked us if we knew him. I looked at John.

"Uh no sir, we were just going into the shop and he started shouting, so we tried to calm him down." John replied.

The policemen believed him. They handcuffed dad and put him in the back of the car while he was shouting all sorts of crap.

"Is he going to go to jail?" I asked.

"Probably not. We'll keep him for the night so he can sober up, and then give him a warning and let him go in the morning."

Andy: We go back to Claire's at midnight. We had our food; mainly chips and candy, and discussed where we would sleep for the night. Claire and John wanted to sleep in Claire's room. Claire didn't want anyone sleeping in her parents room so Brian and Allison took her brothers room and me and Jodi slept downstairs.

I woke up and my watch said it was 3:30am. I looked around and couldn't see Jodi. I got worried at first but then I saw the French doors open. I walked outside and saw Jodi sat by the edge of the pool.

"Hey, what you doing out here? Got worried when I couldn't see you."

"Oh sorry. I didn't think you'd wake up, I was going to come in soon." She wiped her eyes, had she been crying?

"How long you been out here?"

"Couple hours."

"What? You woke up?"

"No. I didn't sleep. I'm not used to sleeping all night."

"Are you okay?" I moved closer to her and put my arm around her. She started crying so I hugged her tight.

"I'm sorry. I don't like crying."

"It's fine! Do you want to talk about it?" She stopped crying and turned to face me. She had her dads blade in her hand.

"You know, when I was little, before he started beating us, I used to be so impressed with this blade. He would carve sticks with it for me and John to play with. I remember this one time, I got a cable tie stuck around my finger and he used this knife to cut it off. And another time, John was climbing a tree and got stuck because his shoe lace was twisted around a branch. So dad cut it and pulled him down. And then things changed. It was just threats at first. I remember the first time he beat John. He was about seven and he came home 4 minutes late. 4 God damn minutes. So dad took his belt off and hit him four times. Even then John didn't cry, aged seven. I cried, I could see it and hear it from my bedroom. It became common from then on. Common for John anyway. I think I was around 7 as well when he first did it to me, but for me it was just a slap on the palm of my hand. When I was 9, it changed. That's when the blade came out. He said he was going to cut me because I asked for an eraser. I've been scared of this blade ever since then. And ironically, this was the blade he cut my hand with the other week." She stood up, and threw the blade as far as she could. I stood up with her and gave her the biggest hug possible.

"I'm so sorry", I said, "I had no idea it was that bad." I was nearly crying myself. She hugged me back and we sat down again.

Eventually, Jodi fell asleep in my arms. It was about 4:25am. I picked her up and carried her back inside. I placed her down on the floor where we were sleeping and noticed John sat on the sofa.

John: "Hey John, how long you been there?" Andy asked.

"Long enough. I heard Jodi explaining everything to you."

"Oh right."

"Look Sporto can I talk to you?"

"Of course Bender."

"When we were younger, Jodi and I went to a counsellor and she wouldn't even tell the counsellor what she just told you. So you mean something to her alright, and I don't want you messing her about."

"John, I would never do anything to hurt Jodi. Honestly."

"Alright good. Because I'm going to be working quite a bit now, and she's going to need you around. She acts strong and pretends she doesn't need anyone, but she does okay. So please just look after her."

"Of course I will!"

"Thanks Sporto."

"Bender, you don't have to thank me, I'd look after her even if you didn't ask me to."