Silenced

Chapter 4

"You're gonna pay now, faggot!" Steve said as he dragged Billie Joe through the front door of their small home.

He threw Billie into the house on the hardwood floor before turning to lock the door. Billie hit the floor with a hard smack as a wave of pain went up his whole body.

Steve turned back around and growled at Billie Joe with narrow eyes. Billie watched back, breathing heavily while he was still laid in the floor. He couldn't move, for his stepdad's stare was holding him down.

Billie Joe whimpered as Steve reached down and grabbed Billie by his shirt and dragged him to his feet. Steve smiled at Billie's pain, finding it amusing that the boy was so frightened by him.

"Does that hurt? Huh? Am I hurting you?" Steve teased as he breathed right in Billie's face.

He threw Billie Joe on the floor. Billie Joe looked up at Steve with wide green eyes as he found himself on the hardwood again. Steve stomped over to Billie and started to kick him in the ribs. His hard leather boots hit the bones that protected Billie's lungs over and over. Billie Joe flinched every time, for the pain would only progressively get worse.

"They said you came in late. Why were you fucking late for school?!" Steve shouted as he continued to kick Billie's ribs.

Billie Joe didn't answer and only cried out in pain. His skin was already bruised from the previous abusive actions his stepfather gave him, so causing more to appear wasn't making it any better.

Steve switch from kicking Billie into grabbing his hair and pulling him up once again. He dragged Billie and himself into the kitchen before he pushed Billie Joe against the wall. Family photos rattled as Billie smacked against it, only emitting another desperate cry.

"Then they told me that they saw bruises and cuts on your shoulder. And we both know who they were from," Steve hissed.

Steve was right in Billie Joe's face. He was so close that Billie could smell the alcohol and cigarettes that eroded from his breath. Billie scrunched his nose up at this, only causing Steve to pull his hair harder.

Before Billie even had a chance to comprehend the amount of pain that came from Steve pulling his hair harder, his stepdad proudly lifted a fits and punched Billie Joe right in the face.

Billie Joe went dizzy for a few seconds, feeling his cheek begin to swell up at the action made towards it. He just about passed out from the hit.

"Did you rat me out? Huh? Did you?!" Steve demanded.

Billie opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out. This only earned him another punch, this one directed towards his jaw. His lip was split open against his teeth and soon the bright red blood started to trail down his chin. Steve still firmly held Billie Joe's dark curls with his left hand.

"Answer me!"

Steve punched Billie again, the same cheek as before.

"I-I didn't," Billie Joe squeaked, his voice cracking. Those were the first words he's spoken all day.

Steve looked in Billie's pleading green eyes for a second, trying to find any sign that told him that Billie Joe was lying. Eventually, he pulled his face closer to Billie, intending to intimidate him.

"Bullshit," Steve hissed.

Billie Joe swallowed hard. Steve wasted no time before smacking Billie's head against the thin wall behind him with his hand still firmly holding Billie's hair. He smacked Billie's head one more time before letting go of his hair and watching Billie Joe fall to the floor.

Billie felt extremely dizzy and distant as he crumbled to the floor. The back of his head was excruciatingly sore, and he felt like he was going to vomit. His head still hurt from where his hair was being pulled just moments before.

Steve towered over Billie Joe and looked down at him in hatred as Billie pulled himself into a protective ball. His knees were to his chest as he waited for Steve to start punching and kicking him again. But Steve didn't. He only smiled at Billie Joe's cluelessness.

Billie's stepdad marched over to one of the drawers in the kitchen. Just by the sound of the shifting metal utensils, Billie Joe knew it was the drawer holding the silverware. He peeked up from his position on the floor in curiosity.

Steve dug around in through the spoons and forks until he found what he was looking for. A knife. A steak knife in fact.

The smile that was plastered across his stepfather's face scared Billie Joe into looking at what Steve was searching for. His eyes widened in great fear as he saw the knife held confidently in Steve's hand. Billie knew right then and there, Steve was planning on using that knife.

Billie Joe scurried himself back into the wall before using the wall as support to bring him to his feet. He whimpered in fear as Steve stomped after him. Billie started to run for the kitchen door, going slowly from the pain that came from his rib cage. His breathing quickened as he took off, Steve trailing behind.

Just as Billie went to go grab for the door, huge hands swooped down and grabbed his ankles. Billie Joe fell to the floor in a millisecond, smacking his chin on the floor as he landed. The impact split his chin open as well.

That's when Billie was starting to be dragged back into the kitchen by his ankles. The threatening hands belonging to his stepdad.

"No!" Billie Joe screamed.

He clawed at the floor as his skin made a squeaking sound against the floor of the kitchen. Billie bumped into the table on his way back to the spot he sprinted from.

"Please, nooo!"

Steve placed the knife on the kitchen table above so that he could get a better hold of Billie Joe. Billie swung his hands in every direction in an attempt to get away from Steve, but it was no use. Steve harshly grabbed Billie Joe's small waist and flipped him over onto his back.

Billie's green eyes were wide yet again in fear as Steve crouched over him. His stepdad grinned evilly before straddling his waist and pinning his hands down on either side of his head. His wrists were being held tightly in Steve's large grasp.

"Did you really think you would get away? From me?" Steve growled angrily.

Billie Joe swallowed hard and desperately tried to slow down his breathing. He didn't want Steve to know that he was scared. Scared of what he would do.

Steve snatched the steak knife off the kitchen table beside them, not once taking his life threatening gaze off of Billie. Billie Joe shook violently under his stepfather's frame as he held the knife in his hand.

Billie's stepdad traced the tip of the knife across Billie Joe's temple and down onto his bruised cheek. He then ran the knife through the blood that was seeping from Billie's lip, getting some of the red substance onto the cold metal.

"Now-"

Just as Steve started speaking, he took the knife from Billie Joe's face and held it up to his neck. Billie gulped in fear as Steve held both of his wrists in one of his large hands. The smooth utensil was held right against Billie's neck, so close that if he moved an inch, it would be sent through his skin.

"If you ever, tell anyone, about what I do to you...this knife will be in your throat within seconds," Steve threatened as he pulled his face closer to Billie Joe's.

Billie sucked in a fearful breath.

"Then you won't be able to say anything ever again. You don't say much now, but you won't have a choice when I'm done with you," Steve said fearlessly into Billie Joe's face.

"Faggot," Steve finished as he let go of Billie and stood up above his small frame.

Billie Joe scrambled to his feet and ran for the door as fast as his feet could take him. He didn't look back to see if Steve was following. He held his bleeding chin as he raced up the lengthy steps to his room.

When he got in his room, he didn't know what to do. He was too scared to cry. He was too scared to speak up.

And even if he did speak up, he wouldn't live through another day. Steve made that a promise.