Chapter 3 - Intervention

A few cars passed by Lynn, most containing people returning from work. She thought Jared wouldn't be among them. Lately, his working hours had been erratic; sometimes he wouldn't leave until noon and sometimes he would be out before the sun was up, and God only knew the pattern or reason to the hours he came home at. She usually didn't care. It was tense and too quiet when he was around, and if they two were alone together, it was strictly silent unless he needed to demand something of her. It was always a demand, never a statement or question. Give me that was a popular one, as well as Get out of the way. And the endless Don'ts. Lynn, Don't put that there. Don't skip your homework. Don't go out tonight. Don't leave that there. She felt no pleasure at seeing him and would have been much happier if Bridget had been the one to call and say that her spouse was dead. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around herself and kept walking.

Lynn didn't hear a car pass her, nor did she hear it suddenly brake and the driver's side door swing open. She continued to walk, looking at her feet and the sidewalk, trying to calm the emotional whirlwind that was threatening to reduce her to tears again. A large hand suddenly snagged at the back of her hair, grasping all the way down to the roots. Gasping and voicing a cry of surprise and pain, she almost fell backwards, hands flying up to grip the wrist attached to the hand.

“Where were you going?” Jared's voice was rough and unwelcome in her ear, his breath hot. Lynn tried to turn to face him and whimpered instead when he pulled harder on her head.

“I wasn't going anywhere!” she cried, eyes sparkling with tears of pain. “I was j-just walking!” Jared threw her forward, catching some of her hair in his fingers. Wincing as a few strands broke loose from her scalp, she managed to regain her balance before she went sprawling to the pavement. He was standing behind her calmly, unaware of the reddish threads caught around the ring on his hand. Sniffling and wiping at her eyes, she glared at him.

“Get in the car.” he snapped, pointing at it like she was a bad dog who was sentenced to a crate. Straightening her clothes huffily, Lynn strode past him, ducking out of the way of a swinging hand. “Don't take that attitude with me. I'm not in the mood,” he growled, eyes glinting in the fading sunlight. Lynn reluctantly climbed into the car, and he drove them back to the house in silence. She scurried inside before he could take another swing at her and retreated to her room, hugging herself tightly. If only he had been the one to die...

The black haired boy watched the girl rush inside with his brow furrowed. There was something wrong here. What had she been doing with that murdering son of a b***h? Clutching his wounds, he glowered with a dark fury as the older man went in after the girl. He had managed to track the b*****d that had slain his family back to here, but his main objective was finding his sister, who was supposed to live somewhere in this area. His father had only managed to give him the state, no real clues otherwise, so he had followed the scent of the attacker here in hopes of getting ideas. 

He thought it strange that this weeping girl, who was surely the one on the roof the other night (it was the same house of the rooftop and body shape of the person on the roof) had a father who was that good at killing. His father, at least, had been like himself, a Flawed, gifted with the aspect of a black bear. Not much could take Richard down, but this man, this human, had had enough strength to come after the boy and his mother after his father was reduced to lying on the floor. His mother was human and not much help, but she had been able to give the boy enough time to run away. Remembering her pale face in the dark, imploring him to leave, he sank down to his knees behind the shed he was spying from. One hand on his chest, he covered his face with the other.

It hurt him, how easy it had been to flee. He should have been stronger, should have stayed and defended his innocent mother. But no, he had sprinted out of the house like a coward, holding his bloody chest and sobbing like a child. Shame forced him lower to the ground in the shade, wiping the sweat off his forehead. It was chilly out despite his loose (stolen) jacket, but he felt like it was the middle of the summer. His face was slick with perspiration and pale, two dashes of red blazing on his cheeks like sick roses. His breath was coming short and harsh. Even the short dash between stalking the girl through the trees and getting back to the house before the car did had exhausted him. 

He knew he needed a doctor or something, but he didn't know where he was and had no friends or family to contact. He had only wanted to know what kind of girl lived with a murderer, but she had looked so sad, so alone, that he hadn't been able to help but follow her. He made up his mind to go to her, if (and only if, he was sure to promise himself that) she went on her roof again after the sun went down. Coughing quietly, the boy waited for darkness to fall.

Author's Note

I dunno if i should just make these chapters longer or what xD