mercy ; peter ballard

36. misery business

[REDACTED], 1974

the emergency lights began to blare from the rainbow room. bea sprints out of her room. she looks to the nearest doctor who runs down the hall.

"what the hell is happening?" she runs next to her.

"number three is trying to fight peter," the doctor shakes her head.

"again? goddamnit," bea curses before full on running to the rainbow room. she throws open the door and yell, "boys, stop!"

the other kids were huddled in the corner, watching the two boys duke it out. peter had a bloody nose and three had a cut lip. the two boys continued to try to take hits.

"you can't win this one, three." three held out his hand to use his power, but peter grabs his arm before he could use it and yanks forward, throwing him off his rhythm.

bea shakes her head. "why is no one here helping me. i guess i gotta do this the hard way." she looks to the other children in the corner. "children, go to your room. i'll take care of these two."

the children scrabble out of the room, trying hard to not get caught in the crossfire. bea walks to them as they somehow hit the floor. she grabs both of their ears, tightly like an angry mother. the fighting ceased as they winced, holding their ears as she pulled them up by their ears.

"ow, ow, ow, ow," peter complained, looking at bea.

"what have i told you two about fighting?" she makes them sit at the table in the corner of the room. she points at three. "you were supposed to stop fighting. do you want me to go tell papa?"

three shakes his head. "no, miss bea. i'm sorry, miss bea."

"exactly." she looks to peter, who smirked at three being yelled at. she points a finger at peter. "don't even get me started with you. i told you to stop encouraging the kid when he tries to pick a fight. come on, peter. you are too old for this."

"sorry, bea," he says, looking down in embarrassment.

bea holds the bridge of her nose as she paces. "what am i going to do with the two of you?" she mutters. "next time, at least, wait for the children to clear the room. i'm gonna go make sure the children are in bed," she sighs, walking out of the room.

"bea, wait," peter says, following her out.

bea ignored his calls.

"bea! hold on!"

"peter, i have a job to do right now," she says, not turning to face him.

peter rolls his eyes and pulls her into the supply closet.

"can it wait?" he whispers, looking at her with puppy eyes.

she could never say no, could she?

"fine," she shakes her head. "you know, i hate when you do that."

"do what?" he laughs with a smile growing on his face.

a small smile peaks on her lips. "i forgive you. as long as you stop fighting with a fourteen year old."