Well, this chapter is finally finished; sorry it took forever, it was one of those mad times in my life. And I will be honest. I did almost give up, but thanks to three people. I was determined to finish. I would like to dedicate this to the three people. The GroundedAviator, JonnyB and Dax. Thank you guys so much. And here we go, chapter 8
Chapter 8
"And well, that's the day I met you", Kit finished before growing silent. Baloo still holding him, let the images Kit has described shudder through his mind. Baloo had tears brimming from his eyes, as Kit described the abusive life, he was forced to endure. Baloo could feel Kit growing uneasy as if he was waiting for his reaction, even though Baloo was a big man, with a booming voice, all he could say was "Why didn't you tell me this?"
Finally, Kit raised his head and looked at Baloo, swallowing nervously. "I thought if you know the truth, you'd get rid of me, or turn me over to the cops". Kit began to struggle over his words, "And then I'd wind up in Juvie or something…" Both Baloo and Kit knew what the "something" was.
Kit had already been on the streets before, he knew the harsh realities of life, in a way most adults never could. Then, a sick thought suddenly occurred to Baloo; Kit had spent his life being abused by those, who were meant to protect him. Did Kit think the same of Baloo? That Baloo was going to eventually betray and hurt him? The thought was so sinister; he wisely kept it to himself.
"Besides", Kit continued, "I'm a Sky Pirate, Baloo, I hurt people, tell me how do you explain that to someone? Even you didn't believe me, when I told you…how do you explain to anyone that you were taken in by Sky Pirate's, and beaten until you submitted? That you robbed and hurt people?" Kit's voice was becoming bitterer, as the tears spilled to his eyes. "How he laughed, as you screamed him to stop, and then he beat you more".
"Kit", Baloo finally urged. "It's not your fault". Kit moved his gaze from Baloo, and settled back into his chest, staring into space. "Yes it is". He replied softly, "Yes it is my fault, Baloo".
"No Kit". Baloo said with more urgency. "It's not your fault, you're only a child".
"Who willingly walked into being a Sky Pirate because I wanted to…I wanted to…" Kit's voice was now on the edge of cracking and Baloo hated himself, but needed to know the rest. "What else, Kit", he urged.
"I don't know, I just don't, why did I go with him Baloo? Why didn't I escape sooner?"
Finally, after a year of holding it back, Kit felt the tears he had contained within himself for too long, rise to the surface, as wave upon waves of sadness washed over him, and the tears spilled onto his brown fur. From the depths of his stomach, came the pitying sobs, as Baloo wrapped his arms around him once more and let him cry. Baloo felt the tears begin to fall from his own eyes, but never released his hold from the boy. As the sun began to rise across the horizon, in that in-between state between morning and night, Kit feeling mentally and physically exhausted, drifted off to sleep.
As the sun rose across Cape Suzette, Kit was sleeping soundly in Baloo's arms, when the air was disturbed by a familiar sound.
"Baloo, why are you not answering you phone? I've been trying to call you all night". Rebecca pushed open his door, still talking to the thin air, waiting for her voice to connect with her pilot. "All I want to know if Kit came home?"
Baloo was fully awake by this point as Rebecca turned into the living room; she fell silent…which Baloo at any other time would have been grateful for, and her gaze fell onto Kit. Sometime in the night, Kit had grown restless, causing his towel to slip from his body, revealing his scars to the world.
"Oh my…" She finally exclaimed, her gaze never leaving his back.
In response Kit jerked suddenly, as if subconsciously aware of her presence in the room. As Baloo, still holding the boy, rose to his feet, "Give me a hand Becky", he whispered, not loud enough for the boy to hear. As Baloo, went over to the room they shared, Rebecca, being a mother knew exactly what to do, as she stripped back the bed, Baloo, gently placed the boy on the pillow.
Mercifully, Kit didn't stir as the blanket was wrapped over him and Rebecca gently began to tuck him in. Baloo wondered if Kit had been awake would be outraged at this tender act, as Rebecca finished, Baloo leaned over suddenly and gave Kit a small kiss on the forehead, hoping that this paternal affection, would reach him through his dreams.
As they both left the room, Baloo glanced into the small bathroom, in the harsh light of day, the evidence of the night before made the room resemble a crime scene.
Mud was spattered onto almost every surface; the bath had a thick ring of grime around it. As Baloo picked up a bottle of bleach and went to work. Scrubbing the bath, erasing the evidence of the night before, Rebecca knelt next to him and assisted. Several times she stole looks over to him, but the look on his face, made it awkward to ask him anything. As Baloo finished the bath, and Rebecca turned her attention to the sink, the tension between them was suddenly interrupted by the sound of Baloo's stomach growling. Without a word, Rebecca left the bathroom and a few minutes later, the smell of a delicious cooked breakfast began to filter through the shack.
Baloo by this time had cleaned the bathroom, above its usual standard, and quickly washed, erasing his own body of traces of mud, that had lingered there. He looked at his refection, and suddenly felt very old. As if he had aged 10 years in the past few hours, Baloo then noticed Kit's green sweater still on the floor caked in mud.
Picking up Kit's beloved item, he made his way into the kitchen, throwing it in a bucket he adding water and soap powder. By this point, Rebecca had already made coffee and a round of bacon and eggs in the frying pain. The pair they ate the meal in silence, the tension between the too almost proving unbearable. Rebecca had that questioning look in his eyes, which seemed to pierce through Baloo's skull, even as he took the plates to the sink, he still felt her eyes upon him. Finally he could take it no more, "Don Karnage did that to Kit".
Even with his back to her, Baloo could almost feel Rebecca's eye widening, but she remained silent, as Baloo began to tell her everything, his voice sounding hollow as he regaled the story of the last year of Kit's life. As he reached the end, drawing it back to the present. Baloo felt his emotion retuning suddenly as a wave of guilt fell upon him, "I am such an idiot Rebecca". Normally Rebecca would have given him factual evidence confirming this, but carefully remained silent. "I was so stupid, to even think he betrayed me. And I left him there; I threw him back into that life, when he was trying to save all of us". Referring to moment Kit had tricked Karnage and Baloo into thinking that he was going back with the Sky Pirates. "And even you told me, that Kit wasn't bad, but I didn't listen, what kind of bear does that make me?"
"Baloo, you weren't to know at the time", Rebecca finally said reassuringly. "It doesn't matter Rebecca, yesterday, Kit said something about, and every time I scored a victory against Karnage, I celebrated at Louie's, like it was some kind of game". Anger overtook Baloo suddenly, "And he's right, damn that kid is perceptive, I did exactly that. I sung a merry song at Louis's whist a kid was almost being beaten to death". Baloo run his hand through his hair, feeling a sense of anger he had never felt before. "I want to kill him, I really want to kill him…I want to get in my plane right now, and ram it into his head for what he did to MY KID!" The raised voice at the end of the sentence caused Rebecca's eyes to widen. This was the first time Baloo had ever mentioned Kit in the paternal sense. Personally, it was what she had been hoping to see, ever since she realised they were not father and son. "That won't help anyone Baloo, and your anger will not help Kit right now". Baloo shook his head, "Then tell me what will? Because, right now all I want is to kill him".
"And are you?" The adults both turned to see Kit standing in the doorway, a scab was forming on his forehead, the only physical evidence of the night before.
Rebecca rose, quickly and gestured to the table, putting on the maternal face, she usually granted to her daughter. "Morning Kit, there's food if you're hungry?"
Kit glanced at the breakfast, the food looked better than anything Baloo usually made, but Kit didn't feel like eating anything, even though his body protested otherwise.
Kit looked at Rebecca, and from the look on her face knew that she knew everything. Kit didn't know how he felt about that, or that the two adults were looking at him in a combination of concern and expectation. "I'm just going for a walk", he said turned away and into the cool morning air, which bristled at his fur.
Kit made it as far to the end of the dock, before sinking to the ground. When he woke up in that bed, clean, under the cool sheets, his body and head were aching, a reminder of the night before. Kit at that moment felt like running, but his body was in too much pain for him to even consider it. He had looked around for his sweater, and then remembered where it would be and had finally dipped into his runaway back pack, until he had found the red sweater, Baloo had brought him. It was new and felt strange on his skin.
Dipping his toes in the water, watching the ripples spread out, he just stated at the horizon for a few minutes, until he heard the familiar footsteps of Baloo, as the older bear sat down next to him. Thankfully any silence Kit was dreading was broken in seconds. "Are you ok Kit?" All Kit could do was stare at the sea. Kit heard Baloo, clear his throat, knowing he was struggling with what to say. "Listen Kit, I'm sorry you had to hear that" Finally Kit looked up. "Are you going to kill him Baloo?"
Kit was no illusion Baloo was capable of it. He had already seen, the other side of Baloo's temper, like so many people Baloo lived under the illusion of being happy go lucky, but Kit already knew too well that under most souls was something darker waiting to leap out. Baloo decided to be honest, and in all honesty it was a relief to confess all. "I want to Kit, Heaven knows I want to, but we both know it won't happen".
Kit was relieved, "That's good…I don't want you to go to jail". Baloo suspected that if he did kill Karnage, he'd get a ticker tape parade and the keys to the city, but Kit, was only 12, and didn't think about consequences like that. Kit drew one of his knees into his chest and rested his head on it, before turning to Baloo, suddenly realising something he needed to do. "Baloo", "Yeah Kit".
"I'm sorry I hit you yesterday". Kit's face was so sincere that Baloo couldn't resist cracking a smile.
"Ahhh it's alright Kit, not the first time it's happened, knowing me won't be the last". Kit's eyes widened suddenly and Baloo realised it was the wrong thing to say. "Not by you anyway", Baloo paused, "Sorry I'm no good at this". He confessed, "Most people would know what to say, sorry you're stuck here with me". Kit smiled suddenly, "You're pretty alright Papa Bear, you saved me after all…really thought I was going to die last night…still can't believe you did that". Kit sighed and looked out to the blue horizon, seeing the sun gap between the cliffs of Cape Suzette. "Baloo", he asked suddenly. "What happens now?"
Baloo gently smiled at the young boy. "You know Kit; if I could do anything, I would get rid of these". Baloo gestured to Kit's back, but never touched the scarred boy. "I would erase everything that happened to you, but I know I can't. All I can promise you is this, One I will always look after you, two, I will make sure no one ever hurt you like this again…and three, please don't even think of running away as I need my navigator. And finally, I'll never give up on you. Do you understand?"
Kit smiled his first honest smile since Baloo had met him. "I know Papa Bear, I know". As the two leaned together for a hug, the entire scene had been witnessed by Rebecca. As a mother, she had guessed the conversation, and had noticed the shift in Kit's body language going from tension, to relief. Even though Baloo had told her everything, and she had seen the extent of Kit's injuries, there was something else she needed to see. Stepping over to the bucket where Kit's green sweater was soaking, she reached amides the suds, and pulled out the worn green cloth, turning it inside out, she could see, the crisscross blood stains formed from prolonged beatings. Soaking the material back into the bucket, she made up her mind, walking over to the phone, and with a heavy heart she dialled some unfamiliar number. "Hello Operator, Cape Suzette Police please. I wish to report a prolonged case of Child Abuse"
Ok the final chapter is next, what will the family do now, what will happen to Karnage, it will be a short one, but hopefully sweet. Please read and review xxx