“What are they going to make us do to have food?” Jennifer looked at Valyn, then at Connor again. “I’m not going to do nothing with them. I won’t do that again.”
“No, you will not.” Valyn got down to be on the same level as them. “You will never be the slave to someone so long as I have breath in my body. And that is forever, as I will not die.”
“You have to die. Everyone does.” Valyn knew this was risky, but he wanted them to be aware of what he was from the beginning. Trust, that’s what he wanted them to have, and in him. When he stood up, he let his wings go and felt them spread out behind him. “What are you? An angel?”
Davy moved a couple of steps closer to him. And when he put out his shaky hand to touch him, Valyn moved so that he could. He could feel the child’s hunger. Not just for food, but for someone to care for him.
“I’m what you call a Protector. Or I used to be one. Now I’m a Mystic, someone that helps others like me look like everyone else when they’re here.” Connor touched the wings too, and from him he could feel the distrust, the pain he was in despite being taken care of in the hospital. “There are as many of my kind in the world as there are creatures in this world. Someone is with you from the time you are born and take your first breath to the very last one that you’ll breathe. They help you, try to protect you in ways that you might not know of.”
“Why didn’t they protect us from those men? Why did they not help us when my dad was beating us and starving us?” Valyn pulled his wings to him and reached out for the boy. When he pulled back, he took him to his chest anyway. “Let me go. I don’t like to be touched.”
“No, you do like to be touched—you don’t like to be hurt. I will never do that to you. As far as Jennifer and I are concerned, you are our sons and we will get hugs from you whenever we can.” Slowly Connor started to weaken. He was tired of fighting, Valyn knew that. Sick of trying to stay safe for his little brother. “Your Protector was there with you when your father was. He said to tell you that every time you were able to hide from your father, every time that he took your supper from you, he whispered in your ear where to find something to eat for you both. He also hid you as much as he could.”
Connor pulled away to look him in the face. There was a moment there when he thought that he’d won him over. But it was short lived, as the boy had more distrust than most people. Then when he moved back to his brother’s side, he watched them both. It would take a while to have this child feel safe around them.
“Come on now. We didn’t know what you’d like, so we have pizza for you. There is milk too, chocolate or white, and juice.” Jennifer moved toward the kitchen without the boys. When she turned to them, asking them if they were coming with her, Connor looked at him again.
“I don’t like you.” Valyn told him that was all right for now. “And what if I run away and take Davy with me? Are you going to tie me up and then beat me? I won’t let you.”
“I’ve told you this before—I won’t harm you like that. But if you do run away, I’d hope that you’d give us a chance to make up for whatever we’ve done to upset you.” Connor wasn’t buying it. Not that he blamed him. “How about we discuss this after dinner? I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been hungry since I found out what we were having.”
He didn’t put out his hand to guide them with him. Nor did he look back as he made his way to the kitchen. It was their decision to make, he supposed, but he was going to be very hurt if they ran away so soon.
The pizza was just coming out of the oven when he entered. Jennifer just looked at him and he shrugged. When the door swung open he held his breath to see if it was them or someone else coming in. It was the boys, and Davy looked like he’d been crying. Valyn asked them what they wanted to drink, and acted like it was nothing unusual for them to have children there.
“I want some milk. Please?” Jennifer asked Davy if he wanted white or chocolate. “I don’t know what that is. I only ever had white, and it wasn’t all that good. It tasted bad, but it was all we were allowed to drink.”
Janie, their cook, huffed at him before speaking. “I milked the cow myself just this morning. I know that ‘tis fresh. Next, if you want to be sure of its freshness, you can go down to the barn with me and watch me milk Sassy. She’s a little on the grumpy side most days, but we get along.”
The milk was poured into two different glasses. Janie mixed the chocolate syrup in one glass and plain milk was put in the other. Handing them to the boys, Janie told them to eat up or the pie would be too cold to eat soon. Davy picked up the first slice of the pizza and moaned when he chewed it up.
“I never had hot pizza before. Have we, Connor? We would have to steal it from the trash when it was there. But this is really good.” Davy ate his piece and was on his second one when Connor reached out and took one. He didn’t say anything, but Valyn could tell that he was glad for it. As they sat there, talking about nothing, the boys filled their bellies with not just pizza, but a plate of grapes as well as peach pie. They were nearly asleep on their feet as they took them up to their room.
“I’ve put you both in this room for now. If you decide that you want to have separate rooms, we have the other one set up for whomever.” Jennifer helped Davy put his new pajamas on and brush his teeth. This too was a new experience for them. It was no wonder they were so beaten, not even to have simple things like pajamas and a toothbrush. “Now, tomorrow we’ll show you around the house. There aren’t any rooms that are off limits to you so long as you’re careful of the things in each room. All right?”
“You’ll beat us if we break anything, right?” Jennifer told him no, they weren’t going to be beaten. “Then you’d better tell us what you want with us. I’m telling you, I won’t do nothing with you. Never again. So you can just fuck off if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Jennifer smacked him across the mouth. It wasn’t hard, but she had his full attention now. Connor stiffened when she reached for him. But instead of letting him flinch away from her, she pulled him onto her lap.
“I don’t know exactly what sort of life you lived before coming here with us, but we do not use that sort of language when we’re here. We’re trying our best here, and all you’ve done is push us further and further back. We’ve told you, several times, that we will not beat you. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t discipline you when you need it.” Jennifer turned Connor’s face up so that she could see it. “You’re a good boy, I know that. And I know some of the things that were done to you. I can’t imagine what you had to do to make yourself stay alive all this time. That’s more than any adults would have done, I think, under the same circumstances.”
“He hated us. And we had to run off when it was bad.” Jennifer held him to her bosom and rocked back and forth. “I killed him for us. It wasn’t Davy like them other people think. It was all me, and if I have to go to prison for it, I don’t want Davy hurt.”
“No one cares that he’s dead, no matter who killed him. He was a hurtful, mean man, and he didn’t deserve to have someone like you two in his life. That’s why we wanted you to come here. We want you to be not just a part of our lives, but to be happy and carefree while you’re here.” She kissed him on the nose and helped him back in bed. “Now, no more talking about beatings or going to prison. No one will harm either of you, not over my dead body. And let me tell you, I’m one tough woman.”
When they left the room, they were both talking quietly. Valyn asked them if they wanted the light on or off and they both said on. Monsters were still lurking around them, and a light, he thought, could keep them at bay.
Valyn joined Jennifer in the living room. It was going to be harder than he thought to take on children if they were all like these two. But he’d have it no other way. He was going to make this work if he had to work on it day and night. Laughing, he wondered what he’d think about that comment in about a week. He hoped it wouldn’t be a problem. He hoped.
~*~
; Beth didn’t understand why her daughter had to move so far away from her. Of course, she was glad to have her out of her hair after she turned about eight or something. Life was too much fun to have a child hanging onto you for every little thing.
She’d kept up with her over the years. Not really looking for her or anything, but she’d see her name in the paper about this and that. The diner incident had her believing her daughter was just like her—taking out the bad guy to look like a hero and maybe getting some cash while she was at it. But she soon found out that the man had killed other people in the place, and Jenny hadn’t only saved her own ass but the entire diner full of people. Nothing like her momma would do. She was more into looking out for only herself and she’d be just fine.
The next time she’d seen her name—well, somebody else had seen it and showed it to her—Jenny had gotten married, to some rich fucker that she was sure her little girl was going to run dry. But that didn’t happen either. She was turning out to be a Miss Goody Two-Shoes about the credit cards someone was taken out in someone else’s name. A credit card scam of all things. She wished she’d have thought of that. And Jenny had not even taken a dime of it for herself. Nor a finder’s fee for her work.
“Stupid brat. She never did learn the value of money. Always wanting to put it away for something.” Beth snorted and looked around to see if she had any more coke left. “I’ll show her just how to make life a happy ending. She’ll fork over some money or I’ll tell Daddy Money Bags that she’s not whatever he thinks she is.”
Snorting some more up her nose, she laid back on the couch that she’d been crashing on for the last few weeks. She was getting the hint that the couple that she’d known for some years didn’t like her as much as they used to. Changed, they had, and she hated them for being so stuck up all the time. They had had all the fun sucked right out of them because they had a few kids. Well, she’d taken care of hers. Beth often wondered why they hadn’t done the same thing.
Soon she was going to head out and make her way to Ohio. Hitching rides as much as she could. Beth had a nice sleeping bag that she’d stolen a few months back and some jerky to eat on the way. Whatever happened, Beth figured she was ready for it. And if not, then so the fuck what. She was living the good life.
Beth heard someone on the stairs and tried to cover up the mess that she’d made on the coffee table.
“Beth, you told me that you’d be out of here first thing in the morning. That was five days ago. You’re going to have to get your act together and get out. I’ve told you several times, we don’t live that life any longer, and we don’t care for you bringing that stuff in the house either. I have children now.” Margo tossed her backpack at her and said to pack it up. “I want you out of here within the hour, or I’m going to have to evict you with the polices’ help.”
“You sure have changed your tune, Margo. What happened to the woman who could get as high as a kite and still drive home in a reasonably safe way? At least you didn’t hit too many things while you were at it.” Margo told her that she wasn’t twenty any more. “No, you sure ain’t. And you look like it’s passed you by at least three times over.”
“And how do you think you look, Beth? Your hair hasn’t been washed in months. I’m betting that your body hasn’t either. And no matter how many times I’ve scrubbed the couch, your smell just will not go away. I’m going to have to burn it as soon as you leave.” Beth laughed at Margo and her woes. “You look your age too, only you look as if you’ve been run over several times and left to die. That is not a good look on anyone. Especially on a fifty-year-old hippie who thinks the world owes her.”
“I’m nowhere near being fifty. You just want to make yourself look good.” Margo told her what her birthdate was, as well as the year she was born. Then she counted it out for her. “Well, with that sort of logic, I guess you must be right. But the thing is, I don’t feel it. Not once have I looked back on my life and thought I’d do it different like. Nope, I’m really happy with everything I did back then and now.”
“I want you out of here now.” Beth stood up and was going to slap Margo into shutting up, but she was either too stoned to do it or she tripped over something. Ending up on the floor face down didn’t feel right. “I’m calling the police. Let them deal with your skanky ass.”
Skanky? No one had ever called her that before. Not that she’d been aware of anyway. She might have put a smackdown on them had she known about it. But Margo had been her friend for a long time. And now she was doing this. Makes a girl hate to have friends, Beth thought.
“I’m leaving.” Beth got up and looked around for her stuff. She was sure that she’d come here with more than a little backpack. “Where are my things? Are you stealing from me now?”
“There is nothing that you have that I would even touch, much less steal from you. You’re just nasty, Beth. And I hope when you find Jennifer, you get what’s coming to you.” Beth told Margo that she was going to give her the keys to the castle when she found her. “I hope she uses those keys to lock you up. That poor girl went through a lot when you left her standing on the side of the road after hitching a ride with a stranger. Why would you do something like that?”
“He, like me, didn’t want to be hauling around a kid all the time when we were going to have some fun. What should I have done, Margo, let her get high with us? Maybe let her blow the man for the ride? No thanks, he was mine.” Margo asked her if she even remembered the man’s name. “Don’t remember, only that he had himself a nice dick that he knew how to use. And by the time I figured out that he was not for me, I couldn’t remember where I left her or nothing.”
She was slowly making her way to the door. The sooner she got on the road again, the sooner she’d have some money. Turning to ask her old friend for a buck or two, the door slammed in her face. Christ, what a cunt Margo had turned out to be.
Walking in the snow wasn’t easy. Not while you’re stoned, she thought with a giggle. And the fact that her boots leaked like a sieve didn’t help matters none. By the time she’d made her way to the highway, she was shivering again, and her feet were soaking wet. What a way to go on, she thought.
Beth tried to think of anything else but the cold and wet. She decided to think about the money that Jenny would be forking over. And she’d better too. Being her momma had better bring her some perks from her daughter marrying a rich bastard.
She really hadn’t been a good mom. Not that anyone cared about it. Jenny had been a pain in the ass, from the moment that she came screaming out of her to the minute Beth left her standing there. Jenny had had the most crushed look on her face. When she needed a good laugh, Beth would think of her little face.
Over the years she’d thought about her daughter. What she was doing, if she had a place for her momma to crash for a few months. But Beth had never really pursued finding her until she was desperate. And that happened more times than she cared to think about. There was a couple of times that she’d find her number and call her. They’d meet someplace and then Jenny would tell her to leave her alone, she had a good life now. Beth was never invited to her home, she only just realized. Probably thought that she would take her things again, which she would.
There had been money for her then too. A fifty here and a twenty there. Sometimes she’d give her a hundred, but that soon dried up too. Jenny wanted her to get clean and find a job. Beth had told her that she had a job, taking money from her. That had been the last time she’d given over anything, including a lunch like she used to buy her when they were together.
Thumbing for a ride had always been easy for her when she was younger. The years, she knew without Margo pointing it out, had not been kind to her. Other than the nasty hair that she said she had, Beth didn’t care if she was clean or not. It was the way she liked to live. On the side of danger. Laughing, she put out her thumb for the trucks that passed her by.
It was nearly midnight when she walked to the rest stop. It felt like she’d been
walking for hours and hours, but she knew that it had only been a couple of them. She wasn’t cut out to be walking anywhere. She should have a man to cart her ass around. But those too were few and far between since she’d gotten a bit older.
Getting a ride from one of the truckers had cost her a blow job for him. Not that she minded them, but some men could be real pigs when it was time to pay up. But Beth was getting smarter. She’d only blow them when they were in the truck. That way he couldn’t leave her stranded after she’d done her part.
Beth asked him how long before they hit the little town outside of a stupid town called Zanesville. “How could anyone live in a place called that? It must take them ten minutes to write it out when they need to. They should call it something short. Like one of them other towns in that area. Sure would be nice if they made things easier on a person instead of hard.”
Having no idea what she’d been talking about in the first place, Beth laid her head on the window and decided to let her buzz take her to bed. Smiling, she thought of the look on Jenny’s face when Beth showed up out of the blue. She sure was going to be fit to be tied when she did.
It wasn’t going to be a homecoming so much as a war between them. Beth knew it too. She’d have to convince her that she’d changed, and then put out her hand for her to fill it. And she’d better fill it to the top, by God, or she was going to get medieval on her ass.
Laughing at the thought of trying to beat her daughter’s ass, Beth decided to let sleep take her under. She had to look good for her son-in-law if nothing else. This was going to be epic, Beth knew it. And if her daughter wouldn’t pony up, she’d work on the husband. Surely, he’d want his mother-in-law to be set up, wouldn’t he? Beth hoped so. Life was gonna be difficult on them if they didn’t.
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