Jacob

Chapter 6

⚠️TW⚠️
Some heavy topics in this chapter such as depictions of mental, physical and sexual abuse/assault .
Homophobia is also evident aswell

<Graham's POV>

"Uhm... A..All three?"

The words echo around my heads as I stare at the kid in front of me. Just a fucking kid. I'm at a loss for words. I have nothing to say all I can do I stare at this kid before me as he refuses to look up at me.

A kid who when I first met him would have never given the punk a second thought but after living with him for nearly a week I've begrudgingly grown somewhat attached to. He's a good kid, he likes to act like he isn't but he is. He's a good kid who's been through fucking hell and back. Yet he still wants to see the person who has ruined his life.

Finally after several moments I find the words caught in my throat and compose myself enough to continue.

"May you elaborate on each category in detail when you're ready?" Seeing the hesitation on the kids face makes me hate having to ask this of him. Don't get me wrong I love a lot of things about my job but this? This is certainly not one of them. I fucking hate this part of my job.

"If it helps I can pick one to start with" I offer and I receive a nod and a quiet croak of a 'yeah'
"Okay.. why don't we start with the
emotional/psychological aspect of the abuse?"
"Uhm. The mental stuff really wasn't that bad-"
"Don't try to justify if Jacob. I dont need you to justify it, nobody does, I just need you to explain it to me" I explain to the boy before me as he sits there genuinely trying to justify the Hargrove's actions. They really did a number on this kid.

"Ok..It was mostly just calling me things like stupid or useless, a mistake. Things like that. If I did something wrong they would degrade me and say I was worthless or good for nothing. When I was little it fucked me up a bit but as you got older you just got used to hearing it.
As I got older they stopped the name calling unless they were drunk, they mostly would just manipulate me as the older I got" he explains as he begins to shift in his chair uncomfortably.

"Can you elaborate on the manipulation?"
"Kind of? I don't know you don't really realise you're being manipulated, ya know? It was small things you started to notice. If we were short on money they would convince me it was because of school fees or because they had to feed me. If the water cut out it was because I hadn't paid enough of the bill. If da- Sorry Marshall. If Marshall hit Clarissa it was my fault because I should have taken the blow"
The more the kid talks the angrier I become with the despicable people he calls his parents.

"That's all for emotional. They didn't really bother with words as I got older when they could just hit me" I nod as he takes a moment to compose himself and get up to get a drink then sit back down.
"I suppose this brings us to our next one then. You mentioned them hitting you so why don't we talk about the physical side of the Abuse when you've taken your minute" and he does take a minute in fact he takes 5 minutes and I can't blame him. I myself need a minute to calm down and wrap my head around everything. I was expecting physical abuse and possibly emotional abuse however I was not expecting him to say he applied to the sexual aspect aswell. It's fucking heart shattering. I don't think I am at all prepared for listening to the physical or the sexual side.

Jay clears his throat which gains my attention as he begins to speak and explain.
"Physical was the main abuse that happened in that house" I grimace at the mention of the house. You could tell things happened in that house between the broken glass, the beer bottles, the patched up holes in the wall. It was one of the reasons why I was expecting him to have been physically abused . That and the fact that his best friend blatantly told us the first day when we asked him to describe to us Clarissa and Marshall.