Sleight of Hand [Show 'em Who's Boss #1]

15: Hoplophobia

During this time I had been so wrapped up my own problems that I'd forgotten all about Jakob's. Over the next few days I noticed that he was beginning to slip back into old habits. I've never questioned him on why he does it or what was actually going on but Jakob regularly came home in a state that suggested someone has beaten him up.

For Jakob's mother, it was no longer a shock. She was used to him coming home all bloody and bruised because he'd done it for years. I, however, wasn't yet used to seeing Jakob in this state. I've always known that he has a habit of going out and getting into fights, I've never known who with though, but that doesn't make this any easier. Every day Jakob leaves for work in the morning and then he doesn't come home until late in the evening. I begged him each day to be more careful but he seemed to do the complete opposite of what I asked because his injuries were worse every day.

Jakob went to work on the 23rd of December even though I asked him to take the day off to celebrate his birthday. I spent the day playing with Mary in her room as a distraction for me because otherwise I'd only sit around worrying about what state he was going to come home in. We played with her dolls in the dollhouse that Jakob had built himself for Mary. Every now and then I'd wander to the window and glance outside, hoping to see Jakob pull up in his crappy old car, but he didn't.

The whole day passed and soon it was almost midnight. Mary had tried so hard to stay awake until Jakob came home because she wanted to give him his birthday presents but she had eventually fallen asleep on the floor with two dolls still grasped in her hands. I carried her to bed and then went downstairs.

Jakob's mother, Eve, was sitting on the sofa in the living room with a glass of wine in her hand. We had wanted to throw Jakob a party but knew he wouldn't be home to celebrate with us. She offered the wine bottle to me and we both sat there for an hour drinking and talking half-heartedly. My mind was elsewhere, wondering how bad it was going to be when Jakob came home. Eve was probably partially wondering the same thing, but was possibly angrier more than anything. Jakob had promised Mary that he'd be home early enough to see her but clearly he'd broken that promise. Eve hated it when Jakob made promises with Mary that he couldn't keep.

It was in the early hours of the morning that Jakob finally got home. I rushed to him when he limped through the front door, desperate to examine the damage done. He had a black eye, his lip was bleeding, he held his right arm in an odd way that suggested it may be injured and I had no doubt that once his shirt was off his chest would be coated in black and blue. I quickly hooked myself underneath his left arm and led him to the upstairs bathroom to see if I could help fix him up.

"Where's Mary?" asked Jakob. He'd probably remembered the promise he'd made to her but there was no point worrying about that now. It would crush her to see him in this state.

"She's asleep," I explained as I sat him down on the edge of the bath. Immediately I set to work cleaning the blood from his face. Then I carefully pulled of his shirt to see how bad it was.

"I need to go see her." Jakob began to stand up but grabbed hold of his shoulders and forced him back down again. The action was probably a little too violent as Jakob flinched a little.

"You are not going to wake that poor girl up. Now stay there so that I can sort this all out," I replied, referring to his numerous injuries. I spent the next half hour washing away the blood and bandaging up his cuts. I was certain that he'd either sprained or broken his wrist but I knew he wouldn't go to hospital no matter how much I insisted.

"Thank you," he said when I was done. "I'm sorry that I didn't keep my promise. I tried to get home early, I really did, but I messed up."

"Don't apologise to me because I don't care. So long as you're here now and you're not too badly injured then I'm happy. You'll need to apologise to Mary in the morning though, but I'm sure she'll forgive you almost instantly."