The City of Havamon

Chapter 9 - Black Eye

Fathers, male parental guardians, are made to protect, love, help, and bring happiness to their children. But what happens when there's a... faulty father?

Well Laine didn't really have the best dad, as Jeremiah clearly demonstrated earlier. And in this chapter, you will realize more and more what exactly I mean by that.

It's two weeks into school and Pauline came home to her son with a huge black eye and various cuts and bruises all over his body.

"Oh my lord, what happened, Laine!?" Pauline exclaimed as she rushed up to her son, checking how badly he was hurt.

Laine averted eye contact immediately and stepped back. "I... fell..." he very clearly lied.

Pauline clenched her fists, trying to contain her anger for whoever did this. "Laine, sweetie, you can tell me who did this, okay? Please tell me who did this!"

Laine shook his head no and tried to flee to his room, but Pauline stopped him.

"Laine I can't let you leave when you haven't even told me how this happened!" His mother pleaded.

Laine darted his eyes to the floor, averting all eye contact. "It was just some stupid kid at school, okay? I'm fine." He was lying. And it was very obvious to Pauline. But if he was lying then it wasn't someone from school, but rather from home... no, no. He must be telling the truth, no one from home would ever hurt him. Would they?

Pauline crouched down to meet her son's eye level. "I need this kid's name, Laine."

Laine paused for a little bit, he didn't actually know any kids who would do this to him. ... Except... "I- it was Gabriel."

"Gabriel? Like Gabriel Andris!?" Pauline asked.

Laine nodded his head. He probably shouldn't have thrown Gabriel under the bus like that, but Laine just couldn't tell her the truth, it would hurt her! … And him.

Pauline was fuming with rage, she clenched her fists and looked the other way. "I'll be back, Laine." Pauline promised as she began to head out the door again.

"W- wait! Where are you going?" Laine called out, chasing after his mother.

"I'm gonna talk to Gabriel's parents about their son's behaviors." Pauline shut the door behind her as she walked out.

Laine began to tremble, she was going to find out he lied! Or Gabriel will get severely punished and know not to mess with Laine again...

"You threw a kid under the bus instead of being honest with your mother, huh?" Jeremiah asked from the corner of the room.

Laine froze in place. How long was his dad there, did he really hear all that!? "I... I didn't know what else to say... I'm really sorry..." He murmured.

His father laughed strongly. "Are you kidding? You did exactly what I would have done. Good job this time, Laine." He added with a slight sense of a threat.

Laine felt his stomach sink. He didn't know how to feel. Horrible that he did what his dad would have done, or relieved that his dad was proud and wouldn't hurt him any further? Does he really want to become his dad just to avoid the pain of being his son?

Laine trudged to his room, feeling his head throb with confusion. What was he supposed to do now? He can't tell his mom he lied, or she'll find out who really hurt him! But if he keeps throwing kids he doesn't like under the bus, he'll become his father! The inner turmoil was overwhelming and painful.

Laine stuffed his face into his pillow, blinking hastily to keep his tears in. He knows better than to cry over something so small. What was he thinking? He could've just said he didn't see who it was! No, his mom wouldn't believe that. Why did this have to be so difficult! Why couldn't Laine just obey his father? Why couldn't Laine just be a better kid?.