Haunted

c u f f e d

𖤣𖥧𖡼𖤣𖥧 Gabriella 𖤣𖥧𖡼𖤣𖥧

I learned in my few months of knowing Joey, it wasn't abnormal for him to skip a few days of school, but it was the opposite for his job at Aoife's fathers garage.

So, him missing two weeks of both school and work had my stomach churning. He had answered my texts and called me every night claiming he had 'family business'. Which was total bullshit, something was going on at that house.

When my legs started walking and I wound up outside his house, I was shocked to see a Garda car. There was also a group of women standing at the wall smoking.

"What's going on?" I asked them, feeling myself start to panic, "What happened?"

"Domestic disturbance, apparently," One of them replied.

"What's new in that house," Another scoffed.

"Marie's young fella's gone off the rails again," The first one added, "Pity about it too, because he's a fine lad, if only he could keep ahold of that temper of his."

"Joey?" I asked, looking between them.

The door to the Lynch's house swung open and there was Joey in handcuffs.

My heart quite literally dropped to my stomach, and I bolted towards him, "Joey! Oh my god."

His face was swollen and his nose was clearly broken, with blood pouring out of it.

"Gabriella," His eyes met mine, "What are you doing here?"

"I-I was visiting my dad," I lied sidestepping a Garda in order to wrap my arms around him, "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"It's grand, baby," He soothed me, but his words weren't helping.

Not when he was being arrested for what his father started. Why was no one looking into it?

"Why aren't you taking him to the A&E? He could develop a septal hematoma!" I was glaring at the Gards.

"Step away," A Garda instructed me, while tearing me away from Joey.

"Don't be worrying, Gray," Joey called over his shoulder as he was escorted to the squad car, "I'll call you later."

I watched as the car drove off, leaving me a mess of worry and anger. None of this was fair.

Doing my best to avoid the rest of the Gards, for fear of them recognizing me from earlier this year and having them call my mother, I walked straight to the Lynch's door and pushed it open. My eyes immediately went to the vast amount of blood on the floor. The human body has like 12 pints of blood so I don't know why I was shocked.

"Gabby?" Shannon sniffled, jumping off the couch and running into my arms.

"Hi, Shan," I tried my best to stay strong, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"He left," She cried, "He was gone for almost two weeks. Until tonight. He came back and they got into a huge fight."

"Your father and Joey?"

She nodded, "It was terrible. The worst I've ever seen them fight. The neighbors must have heard them and called the Gards, because they showed up and arrested my brother."

"Why? Why did they arrest Joey?"

"Because he won. He got the better of dad for once," Her voice shook as she spoke.

"Where's your da now?"

"Gone to the doctors."

Like he fucking needs it.

"And the boys and your mam?"

"The boys are next door with Fran," She sobbed, "And Mam... she went with dad."

"Oh," Was all I could say in response to that.

Because in what world did a mother choose the abuser over their son.

"I don't want him to go to prison, Gabby," Shannon sobbed harder.

I hugged her tighter, "He won't, Shan."

"He's all alone in the world."

"He's not. He has us."

After a solid five minutes of standing in the living room embracing the girl, I pulled back and took a deep breath.

"Look, Shan," I swallowed hard, "I don't know a lot about your family, only bits and pieces that Joey has told me, but I think it's time you go to the Gards."

"No!" She practically yelled, "You can't tell them, Gabby. Please, you can't."

The look of fear in her blue eyes was enough to make me agree, "Okay, I won't." She gave me a small smile and I sighed before looking back to the door, "Look, your parents are gone and my da lives across the street, did you want to come over for a bit?"

"I-I don't know," She blushed, seeming extremely nervous.

"It's right there. We can look out the window to make sure your parents don't come back," I smiled, nodding to the door.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, following me out of the house.

"This is my da's house," I explained, pointing to it, "I live at my mams but I visit my dad as often as I can."

My dad was nearly a year sober and that made it easier to pop in for surprise visits. I knocked on the door and my dad appeared in less than a minute.

"Hi, Gabs," He grinned, his eyes moving to Shannon, "Hello."

"Dad this is Shannon," I smiled, "She's my... um boyfriends little sister."

I didn't know if I could call him my boyfriend but it was easier than explaining what we actually were.

"Hi, Shannon," Dad smiled, "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," She whispered, obviously uneasy around men.

"Come in, girls," Dad opened the door wider, "I'll put the kettle on." He spoke as he led us to the kitchen, "Shannon, do you like tea?"

"Yeah," She nodded, "Barry's tea with two sugars and a small drop of milk, please."

"Coming right up," Dad replied, "The usual for you, Gabs?"

"Yes, please," I nodded as I sank into a seat at the kitchen table and gestured for Shannon to do the same, "Take a seat."

"Thanks," Shannon smiled.

"So, Gabs, I didn't know you had a boyfriend," Dad chuckled, "Tell me, Shannon, is your brother a good lad?"

"I think so," Shannon nodded.

"He's great, dad," I smiled, "I think you'd really like him."

"I'll have to meet him sometime."

Shit.

Joey and I had strict 'no meeting the parents' rules enforced.

"Yeah, sometime."

I knew my dad would like Joey, or at least understand him a lot more than my mam. But the idea of introducing him to my dad scared me.

Good thing Joey was against that. And that way if he broke my heart my dad wouldn't know who to murder.

Not that I planned on Joey breaking my heart, when he was so good at protecting it.