After his brothers arrived, they all sat in the living room while he had Becky lay out on the dining room table. He needed to be at her head to hold her in his hands, but he freaked out a little seeing her laid out like a buffet. He was still berating himself for those thoughts as he had her lay on the floor. For some reason, he thought she liked that better anyway.
“Here is what I need you to do. Just think as much as you can about the morning of that day. You don’t have to remember what happened; I’ll find it easier if you just find me the day by thinking of as much information as you can.” She stopped him. Sitting up, she turned to him. “You’ve changed your mind?”
“No. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to forget the day before and after too. Sandy was hurting Jon that day because he wouldn’t do something for her.” She looked at her brother, and Jon just got up and left. “He wouldn’t ask you to take that day from him, but it hurts me something terrible. Don’t make me have to repeat it, all right? Just go there and take that from me too.”
“All right.” She laid back down and smiled up at him. “All right, honey. Just like I said, you remember as much detail as you can about the morning. After that, you won’t have any thoughts that stay with you.”
He moved to a position of having his hands over her ears. Of all the Crosbys, he was the only one that could do this. They all, as he’d learned over the years, had at least one very strong talent that they could use. His just happened to be removing memories or at least blacking them out.
As soon as she had the morning in front of her mind, he put her into a deep sleep. That way, she’d not relive it again. It was not just easier on her, but him as well. If Becky were to struggle through the dream, he’d lose hold of it.
As soon as he was able to enter her thoughts, Sean could see what Jon had suffered.
“You miserable fucking cur.” Jon stood there in front of his mother. His face was bloodied, and she had a long ruler in her hands. “You fucking bastard. I wish I had smothered you when I had the chance. I want you to do what I told you right now, or so help me, Jon, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
“No. I’m not going there. You might be able to make me go by putting a gun to my head again, but I promise you this, that man will not survive trying to touch me again.” Sean calmed his beast, telling him that he had this. “I swear to you, if you try to send Becky, I’ll kill you. And you know damned good and well I can do it now.”
All the hate he’d been feeling towards Sandy the last few days was nothing compared to the hatred coming from Becky. She was hot with it. A monster like thing rose up in her, and he feared she’d release it. Instead, she dragged her brother back to their room and locked the door.
“She’ll just go get him.” Becky told him to run away. “I can’t. You know that. I won’t leave you behind, and right now, you can’t run with me.”
It was then he noticed that she had a large cast on her leg. The pain was still there, so Sean thought it was a recent break. She told Jon she’d run later, but he wouldn’t do it without her.
Just as they were making plans to leave in the evening, the door burst open, and there stood a large man with a ball bat in his hands. What happened next was almost too much, even for him. Sean had been to war, wars of olden time that were more savage than today’s wars, he thought. But what was done to this boy while his sister was made to watch was something Sean hoped never to see again. The rape of him was bad enough. But the abuse he also withstood was sickening. Once the man was finished, Sandy touched the boy in ways that no mother, no one, should ever touch their child. If Sean didn’t hate her already, this would have been the thing to solidify it.
What’s his name? He heard Emerald there, just outside the circle of what was happening before him. Can you see his face, Sean? Show him to me so I can end him in ways he’ll suffer for.
The man’s face appeared, and he looked deeply into the man. His name was there for him to touch. His face would be nothing he’d ever forget, for he would be the only thing Sean compared all monsters to for the rest of his life. He stopped Emerald before she moved out of the memory.
You’ll wait for me. It wasn’t a request but a demand. He was well aware that she knew it too. You’ll wait for me so I can avenge my son.
She appeared then, her face and body covered by her armor. The two dragons that were forever with her were there as well. When she looked at Jon and then Becky, she nodded once and disappeared.
This torture went on for hours. In the end, Jon was unable to do anything but curl into a ball. His mind had closed down. The beating of his heart, a sound so low it hurt Sean as well, was the only reason he knew the boy wasn’t dead.
The day flowed slowly into evening. Neither child moved. There was no food offered to them, not that Sean thought either of them would have eaten. He could hear the sounds of Sandy, enjoying whatever she was doing on the other side of the door. Rage replaced any feelings the children might have had for the woman that birthed them.
Sean wondered how Jon was able to deal with the day’s events. How he was able to be the one that— Then it occurred to Sean. Jon was braver because his sister couldn’t be. Sean wanted to go and find the boy, tell him that he had so much respect for him. That he loved him beyond what a man would his son. Also, his respect for him as a human was tenfold what he had for his own father. And that was a great deal.
The next day started nothing like the day before. There was no sound coming from the other rooms. Becky got up and went to the kitchen. Sean had a feeling this was the routine they both knew well when they’d been hurt by their biological breeder. He could never call Sandy any relation to them ever again. Monster. That was forever what he’d think of her.
Becky gathered up two bottles of water, something in a pill bottle, as well as a sleeve of crackers. As she was sneaking back to her room she shared with her brother, a voice from the living room startled them both. It was the monster.
“Don’t think that just because he failed to help me, you will too. I’m sick of the two of you acting like I’m not the owner of you. You will pay the man when he comes here.” Becky didn’t answer her mother but went into their room. As she laid the things out for her brother, Jon got up and helped her move the dresser back in front of the door. Sean wondered if either one of them realized the door didn’t open the way they were protecting it.
The two children talked quietly to each other. He didn’t know the time, but he figured it was well after lunch. Jon made the trip to the kitchen this time, and when he returned, he had the same meal for them—crackers and water. Nothing like fruit, which Sean had come to realize they both loved. There was no peanut butter, again something they both loved.
As he covered the memories, not taking them from her, he noticed their room. There were no games around. The beds, old mattresses on the floor, had no sheets. There didn’t seem to be any pillows either. The room was devoid of things he thought of as childhood items—no stuffed animals. There were no books in the room and no shelves to have held them. It was a room, that was all. A room that was just as monstrous as anything else he’d witnessed.
They ate their crackers and laid back down. So far, neither of them had spoken about the day before. They never cried anymore, either. Even he had tears flowing down his cheeks at the thought of the things these children had endured at the hands of a monster.
When the door opened, the dresser they had in front of it fell onto the bed, pinning not just Jon but also Becky. As she struggled to get free, Jon was snatched up and chained to the floor. It was only then that Sean noticed the eye hooks on the floor at the bottom of each bed.
The man, different than the one before, shoved the dresser into the opposite wall. Becky tried to run. She went to the window to leap out. Sean could feel her thoughts—she was going to jump out so she could end her life rather than suffer again and again at the hands of this man.
> There were three men that took Becky. There were no words to describe what they did to her. Rape seemed to him such a tame word for the horrendous things they did to the child. He thought she was not only brave to be able to live with the things done to her now but to be able to deal with anything thus far. To him, it was a small wonder that Becky was functioning at all.
Blacking out the day, taking the memories from her, he hurt, hurt in ways he thought he might not ever recover from. As he looked for references for the following days, he took those away from her too. Sean wished he could replace them with good thoughts, but he couldn’t. They would be a lie, and he’d promised her that he’d not lie to her.
~*~
Jon sat next to his sister as she slept. He held her hand gently in his while he thought of the things he wanted to say to her. Dad had had a long talk with him, too, about the day he’d been hurt. Dad told him he’d never been so proud of anyone in his life as he was him.
“She needed me.” Dad said he was still proud of him for being so brave. “I didn’t want to be brave, you know? I wanted to die that day. A lot of days after that one too. I know she didn’t want to remember that either, but I really wish she’d not told you about it.”
“Why not?” Jon looked out the window of his room before answering him. “Jon, what was done to you, the things you endured, I don’t think that was the first time, was it?”
“No.” He thought about what he wanted to say to the man who never touched him with anything but love. It didn’t freak him out as it did when others tried to hug him. Neither did hugs from the rest of the family. “She was forever selling me off. I can’t tell you the number of times she did it. But I keep telling myself that had things not happened to me the way they did, I’d not be the person I’m going to grow up to be.”
The two of them sat there for a little while longer. Jon wanted to just close his eyes and not wake up on some days. Today was one of them. He wouldn’t. Jon hadn’t any delusions that if he were to do that, he’d only hurt. Being immortal was a hard thing to have if you were just sick of being alive.
“I have an idea.” Jon didn’t want him to fix him too and told him that. “No. I’d never do that to you. You’re right. You are what you are because of what you’ve been through. No, I have an idea that you and I should go and find the computer you want to use for your book. You have a good head on your shoulders, but I think you might benefit from taking some information from Grayson. He knows things about computers that none of us have ever been able to tackle. I was thinking the three of us could go and figure out just what you need to do this.”
He thought that a great idea, then he looked at his sister. Dad told him she wouldn’t wake until he let her. She needed this kind of sleep if for no other reason than to let her mind repair.
“She might need me when she wakes up.” Dad told him she would forever need him. And that he and Rachel would as well. “Thank you for that. Sometimes I think I protect her too much. Maybe that’s why she can’t deal with this.”
“No. That’s not the reason. Like you, she’s been abused more than most people have to endure in an entire lifetime. It’s not that you’re braver than her, son. But you’re strong for her. Does that make sense?” Jon told him it did. “If both of you had fallen apart when you were treated the way you were, there is no telling how either of you would have turned out. Or, for that matter, if you’d have been able to live through it.”
“I thought about it a lot.” Dad nodded. “I could never make myself follow through with it because Becky might need me.”
“And that right there is what makes you what you are.” Dad laughed. “I cannot be prouder of you two than I was when I saw firsthand what you endured. You’re a survivor, Jon. Not only that, but you’re dealing with it on your own very well. I think this book you’re writing is going to not only be a bestseller, but I believe you’re going to be able to help a great many people in similar situations. Some of them, I hate to say, might well be in worse situations.”
“I need to write this for that reason.” Dad agreed with him. “If you’ll hold her here until we come back, I’d really like to go and do something fun. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. About the man.”
“Jon, I want you to know that you can talk to me at any time about anything.” Jon knew that and told him so. “Good. I’ve spoken to Grayson, and he is going to meet us at the computer shop in town. Then the rest of my brothers are going to meet us for dinner. He said he’d help you with it because he loves you. Grayson is the mushy type.”
They were both laughing as they headed down the stairs to the car. Jon decided he was going to write down everything that had happened to him that day. His plan had been to make it just about Sandy and the things she’d done to him and Becky. But in order to make this something that could help someone, he needed to tell it all.
The computer store was overwhelming to him. There were things in it that he didn’t have a name for, which he supposed was all right since Grayson seemed to know everything. The man really did know about computers.
Jon began to worry when the pile of things he was suggesting was getting huge. Grayson would suggest things he’d need and also told him of some things he could use but weren’t necessary. Dad would pile them on the really expensive pile anyway.
“My thoughts with this are that if you have it, you can use it. However, if you need it and it’s not there, we’re going to have to make another trip with another hook up. This way, Grayson can get you completely set up on the first run, and you won’t have any trouble making it work for you.” Dad told him again, not to worry about the price. “One thing I’ve learned over the years is it’s much easier to do a project when you don’t have to keep going back to get the things you didn’t realize you needed.”
Uncle Grayson asked him what else he wanted to do on the computer. That was easy enough for him to answer. He wanted to be able to do his homework. Smiling, Grayson asked him if he wanted to do any kind of games.
“Like your dad here, I work on things easier when I have something around to distract me. Sometimes I might have an issue with one thing or another, and I find it easier to think it over when I make my mind blank for a few seconds. It will come to me while gaming, and you would not believe how productive I can be that way.” Jon had no idea if that would work for him, but he was willing to give it a try. So, after returning the computer they’d already picked out, the three of them got one that Grayson could help him add onto as he needed it. It was going to help him keep writing if this book went beyond what he thought it would.
When they went to dinner, the rest of his uncles were joining them. Just to be able to hang out with them was more fun than he had thought it would be. They were huggers, and he didn’t shy away from that anymore. When one of them patted him on the back, it felt good. Even when they leaned in to say something quietly to him, Jon never felt the urge to back away. He knew these men would never harm him. If possible, he thought, they’d die for him and his sister.
Dinner was fun. The uncles teased him as much as they did each other. Dad told him he was as bad as they were a couple of times, and it made him feel good. He loved being a part of this big loud family. He’d never thought he’d have a family like this one. Jon felt like he was part of something huge because of these men.
It only took Grayson two hours to set him up. In addition to the computer, printer, and other things they’d gotten, Mom had picked him up a larger desk to go with it. Jon was itching to get to play with it. Instead of asking Uncle Grayson again when he was going to be done, he went to see Becky.
Dad had taken the sleep off her as soon as they returned home. She was still resting, her body so relaxed she snored a little. Touching his hand to hers, he was surprised when she turned and looked at him. The smile she gave him was one he’d never had the pleasure of seeing before.
“Hi.” He kissed her hand and
told her he loved her. “I love you too, Dork. I feel so good. I must have needed this nap.”
He didn’t mention why she’d been napping. Dad had told him if she brought up what he’d done to her, then he could talk to her about it. However, if she didn’t, he shouldn’t either. Not that she might not want to talk to him about things, but just let her do what came naturally to them both.
“I’m starving. How about you?” He said he could eat. It was a lie—he was still stuffed from dinner. But if she wanted to eat, he’d suffer through eating again with her. “You know what I want? You remember those hot things you microwave in a box? I want one of those meatball ones. Oh. You think we could have a meatball sub for dinner?”
He followed her down the stairs. When she asked about the uncles being there, he told her about the computer he was getting. Before they were on the last step, Becky turned to look at him. Whatever she had to say, he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it.
“I know something is different.” He asked her how she felt. “Good. I don’t remember what was done to me or why, but I feel different. Lighter. I don’t know. Am I supposed to feel this good, you think?”
“I think you feeling good is always a plus. As for being different, that’s all right, too, isn’t it?”
Becky nodded, then hugged him tightly. When she took his hand into hers, the first time she’d done that without fear behind it, Jon felt like everything was going to be all right. That, for the first time in longer than he could remember, he had his sister back with him.
She had a whole sub made for her, and he nibbled on his. He wasn’t the least bit hungry but enjoyed her company. Becky was happy, and he loved Dad all the more for it. Even if what the monster had done to her came back to her tomorrow, Jon would remember this day forever. His sister was free of it for now, and he was going to make the best of it.
Sean: The Sons of Crosby: Vampire Paranormal Romance Page 13