The Queen Of Spades

Chapter 6, Continued, Again

First things first, I thought as I ran from the house, Gideon. I had to deal with his dad. Next, go to the train graveyard, I could stay there until Oliver cooled off. Earlier, before school started, I looked everyone up, so I knew where Gideon lived. It was a decent sized walk, and I found myself wishing I had a bike, a motorcycle would be amazing. Sadly, with no motorcycle in sight, I walked the whole way to Gideon's house and knocked on the front door. After a couple minutes, I heard voices and footsteps coming to the door. The door opened and a little girl with her arm in a cast appeared. I crouched down so that I was eye level with her. "Hi. You must be Amanda, I'm your brother's friend. Can I come in?" I asked.
She hesitated, "Um, Gideon!" She yelled over her shoulder. "Your girlfriend's here." Footsteps pounded down the stairs and a shirtless Gideon came to the door.
"I don't have a girlfriend, Mandy. Remember, dating is yucky." He stuck his tongue out and made a face before he seemed to realize then that I was standing there and practically jumped out of his skin. "Oh, um, hi." He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling. "Come on in, let me just go grab a shirt and I'll be right back." He ran off and I came inside so that Amanda could close the door.

I looked around and saw beer and whisky bottles crammed into every hiding spot, and a man that must be their dad in another room. He looked close to sobriety but yet still not able to drive. "So," Gideon said as he came back in the room "What brings you here."
"Friday."
"What about it?"
"How did Amanda break her arm?" I lowered my voice as I asked.
"She slipped on the stairs outside. We're a very clumsy family. Wanna go to my room and talk?" He seemed to get the hint.
"Yeah." I followed him as we went upstairs and entered a small room that seemed to be the only clean place in this house. I closed the door, leaning against it. "I need to fight someone, so I thought who better than a deadbeat dad."
Gideon raised his eyebrows, not as surprised as I thought he would be. "You can't fight my dad Lyn. Especially not with Amanda here."
"So you guys go to my aunt's house, and I'll make sure your dad has the fear of God put in him."
"No Madelyn, I'm sorry but this is just life." His voice was calm but his hands were balled into fists.
"No it's not Gideon, trust me, I know a little something about this. I'm not gonna hurt him. But I'm doing this. I need this. And so do you."
He groaned and dragged his hand down his face before saying, "Fine. Give me your aunt's address and I'll say I'm taking her to the park." I smiled and wrote down Nada's address on the back of one of my drawings because I didn't have any other paper. Once I heard the door open and close I went downstairs into the kitchen where Gideon's dad was opening another beer. "Excuse me, Mr. McLain?" I reached up and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Yeah?" He asked sluggishly.
"Stop beating your kids. This is your only warning."
"Hell are you talking about? You're warning me. You're half my size. Get out of my house." Okay, first of all what does my size have to do with anything?
"Stop beating your kids." Children deserve to be loved by their parents. I pulled out my handgun and aimed it at him. "If I have to come back, I shoot." I turned and started to leave and heard the smash of glass as his beer bottle collided with the back of my skull. Spinning around, I cocked the gun and shot him in the knee cap. Then I left, touching the back of my head and feeling blood on my fingers. The ground under me shifted and I couldn’t focus on the things I was seeing as I slowly made my way to the train graveyard. I most likely had a minor concussion, but I wasn't really planning on going to a hospital, so I just staggered into my boxcar and held an old shirt to the back of my head.