The Ties That Bind

by T. Starnes

  "I need you to promise me one thing though. When we confront your father, I need you to listen to me. If I tell you to do something, I need you to do it.”

  She started shaking her head again, "But I can't …”

  "Yes, you can. This is important! I need you to trust me.”

  She took a deep breath and said, "Ok.”

  It was too far to just walk to her house. Maybe I was too wrapped up in my own thing to realize it before now, but she had been riding her bike over to my house every time. I knew I could probably keep up with her at a jog, but since she hadn't been brought fully into the family … or, at least, into our secrets … yet, I decided that wasn't the wisest scenario. I peeked into the garage and discovered that Mom did have her own bike. I figured she wouldn't mind if I borrowed it for a little while.

  Our ride to her house took thirty minutes, and was accomplished in complete silence. I knew she was probably still terrified about what was going to happen. For my part, I was lost in my own thoughts about how I was going to deal with the situation.

  The door burst open almost as soon as we pulled into the gravel driveway.

  "Where the hell have you been?" a tall, rotund man screamed as he stomped towards us.

  Emily was off her bike quickly, "I'm sorry, Daddy. I fell asleep watching TV. I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry.”

  He had taken what could only be called a menacing step towards her, when he finally noticed me standing slightly behind her.

  "Who the hell are you?”

  "I'm a friend of Emily's. It's my fault that she is so late coming home. She was with my sister Tina and me, celebrating New Years. We all fell asleep watching a movie.”

  He turned back to Emily and asked, "I thought you were going to be with one of your girlfriends?”

  "She was, Sir, with my sister Tina. I was kind of an interloper.”

  Yes, it was a lie, but the way things were going showed that it was clear he would not take the truth well.

  "Go home," he barked at me.

  I ignored him and looked over at Emily and said, "Go inside.”

  When she walked past her father and towards the house, the look of rage on his face intensified.

  "Where the hell do you think you're going?" he said as he started to step towards her, his hand reaching out to grab her.

  I moved quickly to interpose my body between Emily and her father.

  "Go … Now!" I said to Emily without turning to look at her, holding eye contact with her father.

  Looking at the greasy man in front of me, I recognized the type. He was a bully, plain and simple. He actually reminded me of those kids who were always picking on Sarah, although if I had to guess, I would say he was a more cowardly version of them. When he felt helpless in his own life, he took it out on his daughter, and probably his wife, too. Although I hadn't met Emily's mom yet, it was a pretty safe bet he abused her, the same as he did their daughter.

  "Get the hell out of my way," he shouted at me reaching out to push me.

  I intercepted his hand, grabbing onto his wrist. I started to squeeze, hard. He let out a yelp of pain as his eyes closed.

  "Look at me, you piece of shit.”

  I squeezed harder and his eyes popped open.

  "I know what you have been doing to Emily. Everyone knows. She has been covering for you because she's afraid, but that is going to stop, NOW! If I see one more bruise on her … if I find out that you have touched, hit or slapped her or done anything else to cause her even the slightest amount of unhappiness … I will make it my mission to destroy you.

  "I know that somewhere behind your beady little rat's eyes you're thinking 'what can this kid do to me?' The answer is, a lot. To start with, there is her history of injuries. It wouldn't take much for the authorities to start looking into that. Then there is what I can personally do to you. I would spend every penny I have … and I have a shit-ton of them … to bury you in private detectives, and attorneys. I care about Emily. She knows it, and she trusts me. At some point I will convince her to come clean to the world about what is happening in this house.”

  He was still trying to grasp that last little bit of dignity and winced out, "It's my house dammit, I will do …”

  "What you will do, is do right by your daughter. Do you understand me?”

  I gave an extra squeeze for emphasis and he gasped out, "Yes.”

  "Do you understand that if you lay a hand on her again, I will fucking bury you?”

  "Yes.”

  I released his wrist, "Good. Let's go see your daughter; she is pretty scared at the moment.”

  He paused for a second, and I gave him a dark glare as I growled, "You … first.”

  He was still rubbing his wrist, as he wobbled his way back to his house. Emily was standing just inside the front door, where she had been watching everything. She still looked panicked, so as we went through the front door I held out one arm to her. She came to me very skittishly, her eyes on her father.

  "I had a nice chat with your dad. I apologized for getting you home so late. He was nice enough to accept.”

  I turned to the older woman standing just down the hallway from the front door. I let go of Emily, stepped around her father, and walked towards Emily's mother with my hand extended.

  "You must be Mrs. Deakins. You have a lovely home.”

  She took my hand out of reflex but was looking past me at her husband. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw he was still staring down at the floor.

  "Well, I need to check on my sister, since we rushed out this morning to get Emily home. Again, I am sorry for getting her home so late.”

  I leaned down and gave Emily a soft kiss on the cheek, while she just had a 'deer in the headlights' look.

  "Call me later, ok?”

  I didn't wait for her to respond but instead turned around and made my way out of the house. I did make eye contact with her father, and gave him a hard glare in hopes he would remember our conversation. Once outside, I hopped on my bike and peddled a little way down their long gravel driveway, to a small stand of trees just to one side. I leaned my bike up against the tree and made myself comfortable, watching the house.

  Normally, I would be out of hearing distance; but my hearing seemed to have improved, along with everything else. I sat there for almost two hours watching and listening for signs of some kind of confrontation. It was an old house, and far from soundproof.

  I was just about to get up and leave, when I noticed Emily's dad coming round the back of the house heading out for the field. He looked pissed and frustrated. I hoped that frustration was from not being able to take out his anger on his favorite outlet, but only time would tell. I couldn't just stroll up to their house now and ask Emily if anything had happened since I walked out the front door, so it would have to wait until the next time I saw her.

  I knew I was playing with fire. This could either help her, or cause the situation to get a lot worse. Either way, her home life would be a lot more tense; but as long as she wasn't getting beat up any more, that was a fair trade off in my opinion. Of course, it could go the other way and he could lose it, going after her and her mom harder than ever.

  The problem was that I had a serious lack of options. Emily didn't want me to get the authorities involved, but I couldn't just kick the crap out of him. On the other hand, I couldn't let the abuse continue, either.

  Once he was out of sight, I moved out of the small stand of trees where I'd been hiding, and pedalled my way home. I found Tina sitting by the front door. It was weird, since when I left she was still inside asleep on the couch.

  She stood up when she saw me pull to a stop, "How did it go?”

  "I don't know, yet, we will have to wait and see. I hope I did the right thing, and the little confrontation I had with her dad will put a stop to everything, but there's nothing to do now but wait.”

  "I'm sure it will work out. I know you, Cas, and I know you did what you thought was best.”

  "Yeah," I sai
d not sounding at all convinced. "What are you doing out here? You were inside when I left.”

  "I went home just after you and Emily left. Mom was on a complete rampage. She tore into me about being out with you all night, and then went off about her work. Apparently, there have been more cutbacks, and some other people are getting promotions she thinks she should have. She was being impossible.”

  I opened the door and ushered her inside, "I'm sorry we all fell asleep, and you got in trouble with Margret, but cut her a little slack. She works really hard to provide for the two of you, and I really make her life more complicated. Add trouble at work on top of that, and anyone would be upset.”

  Tina put a hand against my chest and stopped me, "You don't understand. When I said she went on a rampage, I really mean it. She was going on and on about how people at her office were conspiring against her. She then somehow brought her insane ramble around, and started saying how she was certain you had gotten to them, and were pulling their strings. She said that you were out to destroy her.”

  She removed her hand and walked into the living room, flopping down on the couch, "She was throwing dishes around the kitchen, smashing them, and kicking the cabinets. I was actually scared. I came over here to wait for you. I've never seen anything like that.”

  I sat down next to her, "Has she done anything like this before?”

  "No, not really. I mean she has yelled about you occasionally, but she's never gotten violent like this. And all her crazy conspiracy nonsense about work … I just don't know what to do.”

  "For now there's nothing you can do, I think. Maybe it was a one-time thing. Just keep your head down, and come over here when things get bad.”

  "I guess …,” she mumbled.

  "Ok, so I don't really believe this is a one-time thing either, but I still think the best thing we can do is, wait and see. I know she's still home and knowing you're over here will just make things worse. You should head home and try and stay out of her way until things calm down.”

  "Ok," she said quietly as she stood to leave.

  "Hey," I said standing up and pulling her into a hug, "Chin up. Just keep an eye on the situation and let me know what happens. I am sure there is something we can do, but I don't want to jump into anything too rashly. I've already done that once, today. Best if we try to be a little more careful, here.”

  "Thanks, Cas," she said hugging me back.

  Tina headed out to go home and I sat back on the couch to think. I was still uneasy about the way I had left things with Emily's dad. Now there was the news about Margret's increasing instability. While there was no way to know for sure, I had a strong suspicion her mental state was in some way connected with my influence.

  Not that I was blaming myself for causing whatever was going on with her. Knowing what caused her current state of mind would point us … and by us, I of course meant Mom and Alex … in the right direction. She might hate me, but I still felt responsible for Margret. When everyone was back from the holidays, I needed to sit down with them and work out a plan for finding out what was up with Margret and getting her some help.

  I was still weighing the events of the holidays, the drone test, Emily and her family, and Margret; when I heard the door open, and what sounded like a small army burst in. I had just stood up from the couch when Zoe came into the room. Seeing me, she dropped the bag she was carrying and headed for me at a dead run.

  Even bracing for the impact, her hug nearly took me off my feet.

  "Cas! I missed you so much!" she said in between kissing all over my face.

  I pushed her back from me a few inches so I could look into her eyes. Still laughing at her antics I said, "I missed you, too, Baby.”

  Mom was just walking into the room when Zoe grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the stairs.

  "We'll be back in a little bit," she said over her shoulder as we went up the stairs.

  Forty-five minutes later, and a lot more tired, we dragged ourselves back down stairs. Mom just looked at us, snorted, and went into the kitchen to fix some lunch for all of us.

  When Zoe and I sat down at the table, watching Mom work, Zoe said, "So what happened while we were away?”

  "A lot. Let’s see, the demonstration went off without a hitch, we got an immediate order for five drones, and a long term order for twenty more.”

  Mom stopped cooking and turned around, "Cas, that's wonderful news. So I guess you guys are solvent now?”

  "Yep, Ted is going over the numbers, and I am going to sit down with Charles later in the week about the finances, and everything; but, things are looking up.”

  "I'm so proud of you," she said, giving me a soft pat on the cheek before returning to cooking.

  "Besides work, I had a chance to talk to Tina about her little personality change earlier in the year. Turns out she was trying to fight, ummm, feelings she has for me.”

  "I coulda called that," Zoe said with a snort.

  "Yeah, well, it's not over yet. She has agreed to table it for the time being, but made it clear she isn't going to give up chasing me.”

  "And this is a problem?”

  I chose to ignore her, "Also, Margaret seems to be slipping. She is starting to build some weird conspiracy theories, and throw tantrums.”

  Mom looked concerned, "Has she done anything drastic?”

  "Not really. At least, not yet.”

  "There isn't anything you can do but wait and see.”

  "That's pretty much what I said to Tina. She wasn't doing anything and Emily came over and joined us on New Years'. We all fell asleep watching TV. She was terrified about what was going to happen when she went home, so I went with her. We had a little … confrontation.”

  "Is he ok?" Mom asked.

  I held up my hand, stopping that line of questioning, "It wasn't like that. We had words and I made it clear things would go bad for him if the abuse continued.”

  "You're playing a dangerous game there, Cas. That could seriously backfire," Mom said, looking concerned.

  "I know, but I couldn't think of what else to do. Had I just let her go home alone, we all know what would have happened.”

  We all sat quietly, contemplating for a moment before Zoe broke the silence.

  "So, Vicki and Tami will both come back tomorrow. They already told their parents they were spending the night with me.”

  "Excellent.”

  "I better go invest in some ear plugs," Mom said with a laugh.

  I chose to remain silent, but Zoe gave her mother a raspberry in response.

  "So that's about it for my holidays. Did you guys have a good time?”

  "Yes, it was very nice. My brother and his kids showed up, which was a surprise because they had said they weren't coming, but I guess they changed their mind," Mom said.

  Zoe rolled her eyes, "Who are you kidding. My cousins are holy terrors. They are the most spoiled, least disciplined children on the planet.”

  "How old are they?”

  "Five and eight, both boys. They broke all of their presents before Christmas Day was over, plus several other people's presents, besides.”

  "Zoe, I told you we would replace that picture frame.”

  "Whatever," Zoe said rolling her eyes again.

  "So they were a handful huh?”

  "The Mongols were a handful; these kids are more like Satan's minions.”

  "Zoe!" Mom barked, chastising her.

  "Psh…you know it's true.”

  "Well, it's not polite to say that.”

  I couldn't help but laugh at the conversation, "Well, it sounds like you two had a good time. I'm glad.”

  "More than you know.”

  "Ohh, really?”

  "You wouldn't believe what Mom got me," she was practically bouncing as she was talking.

  "A car?”

  She stopped for a second and stared at me, "How did you know?”

  "A sixteen year old girl is excited about a present. You either got a pony or a car and
we don't have room for stables.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me, "Smarty pants. We are going to go pick it up this week.”

  "It's not that fancy. It's a used sedan," Mom interjected.

  "Yeah, but it's mine. No more begging for rides. We've got wheels!”

  Mom brought food to the table and we had a rather sedate dinner. I spent most of it listening to the two of them talk about their trip and their presents. As we wrapped up the meal, I excused myself and went upstairs for a moment. When I returned, I set a wrapped present down in front of each of them.

  "Since I couldn't go with you, I figured we could do our presents now.”

  "Ohh, in that case," Mom said cryptically and walked out of the room. A minute later, she came back carrying two presents.

  "This one is from me, and this one is from Zoe," she said setting each present in front of me.

  "Ok, you open first," I said to her.

  She opened her present to find a box. Inside was a small perfume bottle.

  "Ohh, you have excellent taste, Caspian.”

  "Well, to be honest, I had help. I admitted my ignorance on all things womanly, and asked Mary Ann from work for help.”

  "Smart boy," she said admiring the small glass bottle.

  Zoe opened her present to find a small silver necklace with a blue stone dangling at the end.

  "It's beautiful," Zoe said after a moment spent gazing at the jewelry.

  "Not even half as beautiful as you are”

  Zoe carefully put the necklace back in its box before launching herself across the table at me. Mom was clearing the table as Zoe pulled me towards the stairs, clutching the small case holding the necklace.

  "Night, kids," Mom said with a laugh.

  The next morning we got an early start. First, Mom drove us to an auto shop just outside our neighborhood. Before we left she had dropped her car off with them, to get a final once over. The old man who ran the place proclaimed Zoe's car to be in good shape, and admonished her to remember to change the oil regularly.

  We left in Zoe's new car. It was a little Toyota sedan. It wasn't fancy but it wasn't a junker either. We said bye to Mom as she got out at home, and I climbed out of the back and got into the front passenger seat. We spent the rest of the morning driving around. The only downside to this was that I had to ride around with Zoe driving. Turns out, she's hell on wheels, and more than once I was pretty sure, we were going to careen off the road. I made a mental note to myself to talk to Mom about Zoe's driving, or at least the speeding, because I could see a lot of tickets in her future.