DISCLAMER 

This chapter depicts violence, read discretion is advised.

Hey my cuties, please read the advisory above, and be aware that this part does contain violence, nothing over the top but at the end of the chapter I will put a little disruption of that interaction if you do wish to skip.  It starts at "Abe looks at it...", and ends at "'Cyrus.' Abe's voice cut in..." 

And if you like this, and the rest I have put out please vote and comment. Love every one of ya.

Playlist: 

My Own Worst Enemy by Lit

Should I Stay Or Should I Go by The Clash

when the party's over by Billie Eilish

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"Where's the kids?"

Abe swivels the chair around, leaning back. "Probably in the backyard, I don't know."

"You're supposed to be looking after them."

"Well, there's six of them, and if someone wants to kidnap them, that's fine with me."

"You're being an extra smart ass today, for someone that's suspended." Abe seems to stiffen up a little. "Yeah, that's right. I got the voicemail. If they want another home visit, I'll break both your goddamn legs again, Ham, I swear to it." Abe mumbles something. "What did you say?" The man took two steps towards him.

"Nothing." He turns away from the man.

"Whose bag is that?" My skin turns cold, I forgot my bag where it sat on Abe's bed.

Abe looks at it, avoiding a glance my way. "Probably one of the girls, I don't know."

The man notices his gaze avert to the closet and looks in my direction. He makes a move towards it; Abe jumps up quickly, grabbing the man's arm. His father turns on him faster than I could blink, wrapping his hands around Abe's throat, slamming back against his desk, and swiftly planting two punches into his face within seconds. He lets go, letting Abe's body drop to the ground, and turns his attention back to the closet.

My chest tightened the second I saw his hand close around Abe's neck, I felt as if my body wants to hyperventilate, but I am too scared to make a noise, too frozen to move.

"Cyrus." Abe's voice cuts in weakly, the man turns back at him. "There's a girl in there, we were fooling around, and she's indecent. Please, she'll get dressed, and she'll leave. I'm sorry."

The man looks from Abe to the closet, and back to him. With a headshake, he walks up to Abe, reaching into his pocket, and pulls something out that glistens red against the sunlight, as he tosses it at Abe.

"Get her the hell out of my house." He takes one more glance my way, as he left the room.

I swallow hard, trying to keep my panic inside, this wasn't about me, I needed to help Abe. Clumsily, I jump out of the closet, stumbling my way over, falling to my knees in front of him. "Are you okay? You need to call the cops, Abe, I have my phone. I can stay with you until they get here." I sit up, reaching for my bag.

"Thea." He put his free hand on my arm, bringing it back to his chest, his other hand clenching onto whatever his dad had tossed him. "You don't think the cops haven't been here before?"

I remember what my mom had said. "Abe, what can I do?"

He closes his eyes, leaning his head against my shoulder as if the next words hurt him more than whatever his dad could do. "You need to leave."

"Abe." My hands stroke at the back of his head slowly, the only comfort I could come up with.

"Please, I will be okay, but you need to leave." Painfully, he gets up, and I follow him. He picks up my bag and hands it over to me, letting his fingers linger against mine. Then he throws me one more of his half smiles. "I know this isn't traditional, but you'll have to leave out the window."

With a nod, I'm unable to bear the idea of going out there to confront that man again. I climb up onto his bed and open the window.

"Hey, Vidal," I shift my attention to him, observing a trickle of blood running down his chin, as his eye and neck bear witness to his father's actions. "Do you want to..." He nervously rubs his mouth, feeling the stickiness of blood on his chin that smears across his chin. He looks down at his hand, and without looking up, mumbles, "I'll see you Monday."

I gaze at him for a moment longer, contemplating whether my actions were correct, and then affirm with a nod. "See you Monday, Woods." I say weakly as I climb out the window and walk away from the house, the cool breeze brushing against my face as I glance back one last time, but Abe is nowhere to be seen.

Once I was out of view of the house, I sit down under a tree and let the floodgates open. My chest heaves, as I struggle to breathe, tears blur my vision, spilling out from the shaking of my body, I can't gain control. I believe I am going to die; I'm going to die out here and the only person who would find my body is Abe's insane father. My mom's voice yells through the fog in my head, telling me to breathe in through my nose, and out my mouth, and focus on that. I have a challenging time breathing at first, but the more I force myself to breathe in and out, the more I began to calm down. Finally, I can pick myself off the ground and walk towards my house.

Once I walk inside, the familiar sounds of my brothers engrossed in their video games fill the air, but I pay them no mind and head straight to my room. My mind is consumed by the idea of Abe and all those children alone with their father, it overwhelms me. I curl up on my bed, pulling the blankets over my head. Hours must have passed, listening to the movement and noise outside my door, but the pounding nausea inside my head pins me down.

"Thea?" My dad opens up my door. "Are you in here?"

"Yeah." I sniff.

"I made carnitas, come get some before the boys eat it all."

"I'm not hungry."

"Is this about that boy?"

"Dad, can you go away?"

"You need to talk to her; I think she's hormonal." He says out the door as he walks away, and soft steps come inside.

"Hun," I feel pressure at the end of my bed as my mom sits down. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I remove the blankets from my head and gaze at her. "Why did we have to move here? I want to go home."

She puts her hand on my leg and softly rubs. "You know why. Your dad is making more money at this job, and it doesn't hurt that it's cheaper here. Did something happen?"

I shake my head. "I want to go home."

My mom looks over at the door, and then back at me. "I know me too. But this was an impossible opportunity for your dad to pass up, and it was for everyone's best interest."

"Mom?"

"Hm?"

"What if someone was being abused by their dad?" Her eyebrows knit together, but she lets me keep talking. "Like there's a bunch of them, and the dad is cruel, and abuses them. And the mom, the mom is gone, and the cops go out there, but nothing seems to change. Mom, is there anything anyone can do?"

"Sometimes the justice system fails, and there are a lot of examples of this. They don't want to put the kids in a foster system, and without the proof, it's near impossible to prove anything."

"He gave him a black eye! He had bruises around his neck!" I was yelling now, so loud I was sure my dad could hear.

"Then Monday, if the education system pulls through, then they will report the abuse. But I read about the family, they never show evidence of abuse, they've been trying to get Cyrus Woodman for years, nothing ever turns up."

"I saw it!" Tears spilled out of my eyes. "He could kill them; he probably killed his wife!"

"His wife? His wife isn't dead."

"She is, Abe told me, he said it was of cancer, but I think he must have killed her and lied."

"Honey, she left, she's not dead. You need to trust me."

"It's a lie!"

"Thea!"

I throw the blankets off me and snatch up my shoes. "Whatever."

"Thea, I think you should stay home tonight."

"No, you force me to live in this shit town, I'm going to go out with my friends on a Friday night." I pull my shoes on and storm out the door.

"Thea, don't you walk out that door?" My dad calls after me as I pass him.

"Diego, let her go." I hear my mom as I stomp down the stairs and out the door. The sun has already began to set, casting a golden glow on the street as I turn away from Abe's house. The thought of seeing him crosses my mind, but I don't want to disrupt anything, so I opt to make my way towards town.