The Ties of Family (RotG Fanfic)

Chapter 19

"Jamie, what's wrong?" Jack asked, cautiously.

The winter spirit had never seen the boy look that angry before. Jamie was glaring at the couple, his cheeks burning, hands balled into fists. Jack returned his gaze to the couple, but he still could not make any sense of Jamie's anger. The only thing he saw was a couple snogging and a bottle of beer on the table. Without a warning, Jamie sprang up from his seat and marched over to the couple, his face contorted with fury and disgust. Even when he stood beside the table, neither man nor woman noticed him there.

Till he snatched up the beer bottle and smashed it with a loud crash against the side of the table.

"What the... Jamie?" the man yelled, looking up instantly, just as the woman let out a small scream as she cut herself on pieces of the glass from the shattered beer bottle. Everyone in the cafe turned, startled by the loud crash and stared, bewildered at the scene developing before their eyes.

"How could you, dad?" Jamie yelled at the man, fighting back tears. Crying would only make him look weak. And he didn't want to show his infidel of a father that he couldn't live without the latter. Mr. Bennett seemed to cower beneath his son's glare.

"Insolent boy!" the woman piped in, which earned herself a glare from Jamie.

"You dare?" it was the lady's turn to face the wrath of Jamie Bennett as the boy's hands went instinctively to her long bony neck. She was young, definitely younger than his mother and father. "I bet it's you! I bet it's all because of you!" Jamie's fingers tightened around the lady's neck as he began yelling obscenities at her, unable to control his temper any longer. He allowed the tears to flow freely and as images of his mother sobbing flashed through his mind, he could no longer think straight.

Jack was behind Jamie in a flash, though no one could see him. The winter spirt held the boy by his shoulder and attempted to tug him away, but even the chill radiating from him couldn't distract Jamie, though he did try to shrug it off.

"Jamie, stop it!" Mr. Bennett attempted to prise his son's fingers from the lady's neck, but Jamie, completely oblivious to his surroundings, only viewing his father's new girlfriend as the source of his mother's unhappiness, the whole family's unhappiness, the little time Mrs. Bennett had left to spend with her children. The only thing going through his mind at that moment was to crush this harlot like a cockroach before the ink dried on the divorce papers.

"Hands off, Jamie," Jack whispered in his ear, sending a cold wind across the room which made everyone shiver and take their eyes off the dramatic scene before them and divert their attention to detecting the source of the cold air. Mr. Bennett was finally able to prise off his son's fingers, leaving red finger marks on the lady's neck as she choked, spluttered and gasped for air. Jamie lashed out at his father.

"What's wrong with you? Leaving us with nothing? I bet you gave everything to her, didn't you?" Jamie gestured rudely at the lady. "Do you have any idea what mom's been through? Why don't you try juggling two jobs and two kids? Oh, maybe you already have two kids!" His eyes flickered for a moment between his father and the girlfriend. Despite his rage, he noticed that people were heading out of the cafe in a hurry due to the cold wind sweeping continuously through the room, into the warm summer air, as most of them had donned summer clothes. He silently thanked Jack.

Mr. Bennett fixed Jamie with a weird look. He seemed to be taking deep breaths of air, despite it being cold at that moment, probably a way of calming himself. "What are you talking about? What is all this nonsense about juggling two jobs?"

Jamie could feel his ire rising again at his fathers ignorance. "You left us with nothing!"

"Nothing?" Mr. Bennett blurted out, in a way which startled Jamie. "You think I can leave you with nothing? I paid your mother a sum of money! It's more than what she deserves."

For the first time since the announcement of the divorce, Jamie thought things over in his currently addled mind. Of course, he should've seen it earlier. There was no way his father could leave them completely broke. It would be illegal. But his mother... Jamie couldn't seem to find the words to say nor did he have any idea what was the right thing to do at that moment.

"You don't love her anymore?" he finally asked, after what seemed like an eternity.

Mr. Bennett did not reply immediately. When he finally did, it was a stiff response.

"No. Our whole marriage had been a charade anyway." He didn't look Jamie in the eye. "I'm sorry, Jamie." With the lady in tow, he headed for the exit of the cafe.

"Where... where do you..." Jamie found it hard to get the words out, but Mr. Bennett understood. He paused momentarily before the door.

"I'm leaving in the morning. Got a job offer overseas. See you, Jamie. Perhaps one day, our paths will cross again." Without turning, he left the cafe. The lady turned once and shot Jamie a dirty look before she left, too.

The cafe was almost deserted, save for some of the waiters and those working in the kitchen. They had practically heard every word of the conversation, but all kept to themselves as Jamie walked past them on the way out with Jack. He felt a surge of gratitude, though he was sure they would begin discussing it the moment he was out of that place.

"Perhaps it's best if we get you home fast," Jack said, before grabbing Jamie and flying off, over the rooftops, trying hard not to be spotted by those on the ground before landing on Jamie's doorstep. Jack noticed the boy looked completely miserable. He was about to say something comforting when Jamie spoke first.

"I think I should probably apologise to that lady," Jamie said, bitterly. "I don't know what got into me. Perhaps I think it was really unfair." He got to his feet and entered the house. The light was on in the dining room, where Sophie was having dinner alone. "Where's mom?" Jamie asked, peeping in.

"Gone out. Why? And what happened? You look like you've just lost a dollar and found ten cents," the 11- year old replied.

"Spotted dad playing tongue polo with a lady in a cafe today," Jamie replied.

"Ugh. That just ruined my appetite." Sophie said, nonchalantly, gazing down at the bowl of instant noodles.

Jamie looked up at his sister. "Why are you being so casual about it? You don't think it's shocking or anything?"

"That's because I already knew."

A/N- I apologise, if I went overboard with the angst, but that would be how I would've reacted as well. (Yeah, I'm pretty much an angsty person, sorry about that.).