HOME AND AWAY

Chapter 7

Casey headed down to the beach, his head was spinning as he tried to piece together broken memories. He needed to talk to Heath, how well this would be received was another matter.

He thought he would have found Heath out surfing, but there he was sat on the beach staring into the ocean. Casey and Heath had never been particularly close, their personalities were pretty opposite. Casey was the sensitive and Heath was a hot head, he'd always been closer to Brax and that didn't bother him.
Heath didn't even look up when Casey sat down beside him. "She was supposed to be happy." Heath muttered. Casey didn't know what to say, he had so many questions himself but since Summer had arrived there had been no time for them. Instead, he placed a comforting hand on Heath's shoulder. However, he hadn't expected Heath to throw himself at Casey in search of a hug, of comfort.

Casey sat there as Heath was wracked with sobs, he rubbed his back softly and felt him flinch slightly as Casey caught one of his scars. "You weren't to know." Casey said.

"But I should have, we took her way from dad to safety." Heath said, trying to man up as he pulled away from Casey.

"Heath?" Casey asked cautiously.

"Yeah mate?" Heath looked at his little brother and saw how much guilt and confusion he was carrying in his eyes.

"What... happened... with dad?" Casey asked slowly, not sure how Heath was going to react.

"Do you remember anything at all?" Heath asked calmly, surprising Casey.

"I remember dad being angry and Brax taking me to the beach. That's it." Casey sighed, angry that he'd blocked out so much.
Dad used to beat me and Brax black and blue." Heath said quietly shocking Casey with his honesty. "He was angry alright, jumping between each crook job and the bar. In the beginning mum was hopelessly devoted to him, desperate to keep him from lashing out. As the eldest, Brax copped a lot of it. When Brax started to defend

himself and mum, he turned to me. When you were born and then Summer, Brax and I decided that he needed to protect you and I Summer. Anything you two did wrong in dad's eyes, we copped it for you; you were both so young."

Heath paused to look at Casey, who couldn't look him in the eye; he hadn't realised that his brothers had sacrificed so much for him. "Brax and I would take it in turns as to who would leave the house with one of you. We'd either take you to the beach or as weird as it sounds, hide you in a cupboard or under the bed."

"I remember." Casey muttered.

"One night, Brax took you to the beach but I didn't have time to hide Summer. Dad put me in hospital and he turned on Summer. Neither me or Brax have ever forgiven ourselves for leaving her unprotected. She was beat up pretty bad and we decided that we needed to take her away, we could protect one of you but not both." Heath sighed; he couldn't believe that Casey didn't remember. He was also jealous, he wish he could forget all the pain.

"And now I've brought dad back into our lives. Things were so much better when he left and that's saying something" Heath put his head in his hands trying to push away the emotions still bubbling at the surface.

"Did he hit me?" Casey asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer good or bad.
Yeah." Heath answered, "That scar above your eyebrow, that was when dad slammed your head onto the edge of the coffee table. Your scar on your knee started innocently, you'd fallen over and we crying. It wasn't much of a cut but you were making a lot of fuss, I was trying to get you to be quiet when dad came in. He said he'd give you something to scream about and opened your wound with a knife; there was so much blood." Heath shuddered and Casey tentatively touched the scar on his knee, he'd blocked out those memories.
"What have I done Case?" Heath asked, tortured by guilt, "I've brought him back here."