Chapter 15.

A Chapter by lilfeather

The 15th chapter

Conner listened to the dial tone for just a second, eyeing the empty kitchen and then the number in his hand. He saw a flash outside. Lightning. He wondered why there hadn't been any thunder.

He dialed slowly, deliberately, holding down each number for at least a half a second before moving to the next. He was just pressing the last number, a seven, when something caught his eye.

Jason was standing in the doorway.

He'd already pressed the last number and before he could even blink he could hear the phone begin the first ring on the other end.

"Who you calling?" Jason asked.

Conner hesitated for a moment. The phone suddenly felt like a heavy weight in his hand. He wasn't sure what to do.
Jason stared at him, a quizzical look on his face. "Conner? Who are you calling?"
Conner swallowed. And then he made another rash decision. He dropped the suddenly heavy phone and ran, right past Jason.

Startled, Jason attempted to grab his arm, but Conner slipped past him and darted away. Jason could hear him run up the stairs and rolled his eyes. Finally he stops tiptoeing, and it's to run away from him. It was somewhat infuriating.

Jason walked over to the phone and picked it up. He hung it back up and sighed, realizing that he should have known coming to the kitchen to get a mid-night drink would entail a lot more than he'd imagined.

As soon as Conner raced upstairs, he panicked. He was out of breath, heart racing, and froze. He stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, just listening to his heartbeat. He could still feel the phone in his hands. He still had the piece of paper in his hand. He stuffed it in the pocket of his sweatpants.
The rain was still pouring outside. He almost would have run outside if that weren't the case. But at the same time, where would he have gone outside?

He waited for a moment, looking back down the stairs behind him. He didn't know what to do. In a way he thought that Jason would have already followed him.

He didn't know how he would answer the questions. He didn't even really know why he'd decided to call Anthony. He didn't know what he would have said to Anthony, or even if Anthony would have answered. For all he knew, and it was probably the case, that wasn't even really his number.

Was that what he was trying to find out? He couldn't even remember.
Conner was almost about to convince himself to calm down, using the fact that Jason wasn't two steps behind him as a reason, when suddenly the phone rang.

He gasped.

The phone was ringing at 4 am. And it was his fault.

Immediately he ran into his room. He didn't even shut the door. He ran straight for the closet, pulling open the door, ducking inside, and shutting the door behind him. He dropped down to the floor, pulling his knees to his chest and breathing heavily.

Now he had woken up the whole house. S**t. It was four am. What was he thinking? Why had Jason been up? But why was Conner up? And why was he calling someone at 4 in the morning? What had made that seem like a good idea? He had absolutely no good reason.

He was dead. He was clearly dead. He didn't even have a good excuse. He didn't know what to say at all.

The phone had stopped ringing. Maybe. Or maybe he just couldn't hear it from within the closet. He blinked back tears in the darkness. He couldn't hear the rain either. Maybe the phone was still ringing. Maybe he'd woken up the whole house by now.

Everyone hated to be woken up. It was a universal fact. He wasn't sure he had ever instantaneously angered a whole house before. He even topped himself, giving an entire household a reason to be angry at the same time.

He began to get more scared, sitting there in the dark, and squeezed his eyes tight. There wasn't much he could do at this point. He couldn't run away. He couldn't say anything. He couldn't explain himself or turn back time.

It felt like eternity sitting there, and the more and more he started to think about things and what would probably happen to him, the more he became scared and began to upset himself further.

He didn't like the dark, or the enclosed space, or the impending doom. His heart felt huge in his chest and was pounding so hard that it was all he could hear. He felt like something was lodged in his throat and it was like he couldn't breathe. But then he realized how hard he was actually breathing.

Even though it was inevitable, when the door opened it startled him, and he tried to scramble back, only to hit his head against the wall.

"What the f**k are you doing now?" Jason asked, standing in front of him.

To Conner, with the light behind him, Jason just looked like a huge silhouette. Conner whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting.

Then there were hands under his arms, lifting, although trying to pick him up, and Conner opened his eyes and began to struggle, pulling back and pushing himself into a corner of the closet, wishing the closet were bigger. "No�" he bemoaned.

"No, what?" Jason responded, aghast when Conner started to cry. "What?"

"What's going on?" came a new voice. It was Judy.

Jason turned to see her in the bedroom doorway, arms crossed and wearing a robe. Her hair was disheveled, and she looked exhausted.

"Jason," she said sternly. "What is going on? It is four o'clock in the morning."

"I know that, Ma," Jason retorted. "You think I don't know that?"

"You both should be in bed," she persisted. "What are you doing? Why is he in the closet?"

"I�m trying to get him out of the closet, that's the point," Jason answered, reaching for Conner's arm again.

"Don't, Jason," she answered. "Don�t touch him. Can't you tell you're upsetting him?"

"I'm upsetting him?" Jason looked at Conner in question but Conner's sniveling and tears didn't help him understand.

"Who just called?" Judy asked.

Jason frowned at her. "Anthony."

She paused. "And why did Anthony call at this hour?"

"Why don't you ask Conner?" Jason looked back in the closet. Conner hadn't moved; he was still sitting in the same corner, sniffling pathetically. "Huh, Conner? Why would Anthony call?"

Conner looked up at him, eyes shining with tears.

"Oh, come on, and get out of there,"Jason said exasperatedly. He reached his hand down again, but Conner whimpered, his lower lip trembling, and Jason sighed, shaking his head. "Oh, please�"

"I mean it, Jason," Judy persisted. "Listen to me, and just go to bed."

Jason looked at her and shook his head. "Ma�"

"I will talk to you tomorrow, Jason," she said, giving him a pointed look. "Now just trust me, and go to bed."

He sighed and just rolled his eyes. Judy gave him an appeasing look, and Jason finally muttered under his breath and walked away from the closet towards the door.

He was going to just walk past her, but Judy caught him by the wrist and gave him a look. "Good night, Jason."

"Night, ma." He kissed her on the cheek.

Conner watched Judy approach him uncertainly. He didn't say anything as she got closer, not until she crouched down a few feet away from the door and placed her hands on the floor at her sides. "Conner�" she started.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, tipping his head back to rest against the wall of the closet.

"You have nothing to be sorry about as far as I know, sweetheart�" she said. "What happened?"

Conner swallowed and just stared past her, taking a deep breath. He didn't know how to explain. He didn't know how to begin to explain. All he knew how to do was apologize. So again, he repeated, "I�m sorry.

"Honey, you don't have to apologize�" she said softly. "You don't have to do anything. You don't even have to come out of the closet if you don't want to, although I'd imagine for sleeping your bed is far more comfortable�"

He pressed his lips together and didn't say anything. His heart was beginning to quiet down a little bit. A stray tear rolled down his cheek.

"I don't blame you for being afraid of Jason," she continued, "and I know me telling you that he's your brother now probably doesn't help at all. I can see exactly why you're afraid of him, but you have to believe me when I say he doesn't want to hurt you."

Conner just listened. He'd heard that before. The 'I didn't want to hurt you but�' speech. He couldn't say that it made him feel any better.

"You know that I will never hurt you, don't you?" Judy asked.

Conner didn't answer.

"You barely know me," Judy said. "I understand that. I know bad things have happened to you, Connner. Look at me." She paused. "I said, look at me, Conner."

He turned his head and reluctantly met her eyes.

"I know what happened to you," she continued. "And I know you're afraid it will happen again. I guarantee you that it won't with me. Not in my house. Do you understand me? Not in my house."

He could hear the rain again. It was almost relieving.

"I don't care who was on the phone," Judy persisted. "I don't care what you had to do with the phone ringing. And whatever Jason tells me tomorrow isn't going to change that. The only thing I care about is that you're safe."

Conner sniffled. He felt like her eyes looked right through him. He blinked and turned his head away.

"Now it's late," she continued. "We all need to get our sleep, okay? You're welcome to sleep in the closet if you want, or in your bed, or in my room if you want to. I don't mind where you want to sleep. Go ahead and lock your door if you want, too. But you are safe, Conner."

She got up out of her crouched position and straightened. She reached down slowly towards him and while he began to stiffen in response, she simply stroked the side of his cheek and said, "Good night, Conner."

He didn't respond. His eyes locked to the floor and just from peripheral vision caught her leaving the room.

Judy slowly closed the door behind her and was startled when she turned back around to find a man standing in the hall. She gasped.
"Ma."

It was Jason.

She put a hand on her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. "Jason O'Riley�. You will be the death of me, I swear�"

"Ma, I want to talk."

"Jason." She gave him a stern look. "It is four o'clock in the morning."

"You just talked to him. Can't I have five minutes?"

"Jason, he's just a baby, you on the other hand�"

"It's about him."

She sighed. "Jason, I know I said I would talk to you about him, but this is not the time nor the place," she said, softly but unyieldingly.

"But�"

"All I will say to you now is never to handle him like that. You can't corner him or expect to just pick him up, Jason. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Now have a good night, and I will talk to you in the morning." She took a step towards her room.

"Ma�" he objected.

"Jason. You know what time it is. Do not make me angry with you. Right now I�m just tired."

Jason set his jaw and relented. It was remarkable that small Judy could instill such obedience in a grown man, but that was Judy. "Okay. Tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow," she agreed. "Now sleep well."

He nodded. "Good night, Ma."

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