Already Broken

Who's Richard

*Updates story with no excuse for absence*

Love ya'll

~

Quietly. Indistinctly.

"He'll bleed out..."

Loudly. Forcefully.

"Let him..."

Silence and then softly again.

"...can't do that..."

"...work for me, don't you?..."

Tommy was conscious, his face to the floor. Spit leaked from his mouth; spit mixed with blood. He coughed; his chest felt like it was on fire. His hand was wounded; it hurt to move it. It hurt to move anything.

"I thought we worked together," Tommy heard.

He tried to speak but his voice came out gravely. Tommy moved his eyes around the room. He had been here for a while. Feet bound, arms bound. The floor was still cold and hard against his side.

His eyes landed across the room on a man, Teddy. That bastard.

There was someone standing next to him. That someone spoke.

"He's awake, Teddy," he said.

Theodore approached Tommy like an Angel of Death. He yanked Tommy up by the collar and shook him.

"How many times are you gonna pass out, eh?" He threw Tommy back to the ground.

"I don't know," Tommy coughed and attempted to sit up. "How many times are you gonna beat the shit out of me?" His speaking was raspy and labored but he held onto his humor.

Tommy spit out the blood that had pooled in his mouth and Teddy looked down in disgust.

"You disgust me," Teddy said.

"Same to you," Tommy said.

For reasons unbeknownst to him, he had been taken to this room and tortured for the last few hours. His body would endure as long as possible and pass out when its endurance expired.

A part from the consistent pain, he was not overly bothered. Hours ago he was going to kill himself, so he honestly did not care what happened to his body. Teddy could kill him for all he cared. Tommy just wished he wouldn't take so damn long and get on with it.

"Richard, get out!" Teddy yelled at the third person in the room.

Richard made intense eye contact with Teddy before huffing and doing what he was told. He slammed the door on his way out.

Coming at Tommy again, Teddy forced Tommy's face upward by grabbing a handful of his hair.

"Do you know why I'm doing this to you?" Teddy asked; his knuckles were bloody from the work he'd been doing for the past few hours. He'd had men to help him but after a while, he wanted to be the only one to make Thomas suffer.

"Why?" Tommy asked.

"'Cuz you're a fucking liar." Teddy let go of Tommy's hair and kicked him across the mouth. Thomas fell back from the impact.

Once he had gotten back up onto his hands and knees Tommy felt his mouth and the blood spilling from it.

"When did I ever lie to you?" He asked almost inaudibly.

"My sister," Teddy whispered. He shook Thomas by the collar as he fell to his knees. "You lied to me about my sister. She's dead and they buried her without me."

Theodore couldn't keep himself from crying and he couldn't keep himself from falling onto Tommy's shoulder. He cried for a while and Tommy let him; he did not exactly have the strength to stop him.

"She's dead," Thomas said. "I know that now, I'm sorry."

Teddy stopped and looked at Tommy. "You don't get to be sorry. You don't get to decide fucking anything anymore." He began to stand up, finding new strength in his hatred of Thomas. "I'll decide for you. Your life is in my hands."

Tommy said nothing as Theodore left the room.

~

"Hello?... Yes, I'll wait... Oh, he's not there?...No...no, I don't want to speak to John... Thank you, ma'am...Message?...umm, tell him I was looking for him, I guess...No, he didn't come home last night, I thought he might've stayed there...thank you ma'am...good afternoon." Toni hung up the telephone.

She thought for a while and dialed again. Someone picked up on the other end. "Hello, Polly...yes, I'm alright, don't worry about me...the baby's fine too...yes, asleep...I'm worried about him...I know, I know, but...just, do you know where he is? That's all I ask...yeah?...you talked to John?...and?...Oh, yeah, I don't want to talk to him right now...No, please just...sorry, I gotta go, Pol." She hung up.

Toni dialed again. She would not give up. "Hello, Arthur...you're drunk...please, I know but-," the call ended.

Toni rested her back against the wall and closed her eyes as a tear fell down her cheek. She slid down until she was resting on the floor. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed for long enough, all of this would go away. Maybe he would come back...just maybe.

Just then, the phone rang. She scrambled to pick it up. "Hello, who is it?" she stood. She gasped, "John...uh....I....umm....no, I'm sorry, I can't..." her hand went to her hip then to the back of her neck then to the bridge of her nose where it was wetted by the tears on her face. "John...that night...it was a mistake...no...I...I've got to go...I've got to go find Tommy...sorry...goodbye." She hung up on him.

Toni slid to the floor again. Tremulously, she reached up and blindly felt along the table for the pack of cigarettes that Tommy always kept there. She found it and brought it down to herself. She reached up and found the matches, bringing them down also. She slowly opened the packet of cigarettes. She would have done it faster but her quivering hands would not allow it. Toni never did this, she never smoked, but she heard it calmed you. Taking a cigarette she placed it in her mouth with two fingers and lit it. She inhaled it like it was a part of Tommy and exhaled like she was exhaling all of her transgressions. Her tears caused her mascara to run down her face and smear her into a portrait of sadness.

With trembling fingers she slowly brought the cigarette to and from her mouth again and again, missing Tommy, missing love. She began to feel cold all over and so she drew into herself.

She almost did not notice when the telephone rang again. Toni took her time to get this one:

"Hello...Pol?...a call from who?...who's Richard?...Oh my God, what happened?...where is he?" She stood. "Tell me where he is, Polly, I'm going after him...I don't have time to wait for the men...my uncle?...Polly tell me where he is...please, Polly...7201 Waterfront street, I got it," she scrambled to write down the address. "Thank you, Polly...I'll be safe." She hung up.

Toni called for the nanny to watch over Junior. Afterwards she threw on her coat and rushed out the door. She knew where Tommy was and she was going to find him.

~

Thanks for reading! Goodnight :)