The Untold Past of Chazz Princeton

Chapter Three

-Five years later (Chazz is now eight)-

His eyes opened.

Staring at the ceiling.

How long had it been?

Five years.

This damn room had been his home for exactly five years.

And he hadn't left it once.

Food was given to him three times a day, but otherwise he had no contact with his brothers.

All day, he wrote. He had asked for pencils and they had given him a bunch of half-used ones. He wrote on the walls and erased when needed.

He made up friends, and talked to them. The card that had been in his pocket since then seemed to join in on the conversations.

This day was no different.

Night came and he slipped back to bed.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Jagger stepped in. "Chazz? Are you asleep?"

"Do I look like it?" Chazz snapped.

Softly, Jagger padded over and picked Chazz up, carrying the half-asleep boy to the bathroom.

Unbeknownst to both Chazz and Slade, Jagger would come down to the basement and just....sit with his brother. Sometimes he would say things he would never say to Chazz in front of Slade, like, "I know our parents' death wasn't your fault," and "You'll always be my little bro, 'kay?"

Jagger set Chazz in the tub and stripped the young boy of the filthy fabrics he had worn for five years, wrinkling his nose at the smell. "Why didn't I do this sooner?" he muttered as he ran water over his little brother.

Chazz laid there, oblivious to all feeling. A warm sponge ran over his skin, and fingers worked through his hair, untangling it.

"Gah, it's too long..."

After he was clean, Jagger gave him some new clothes and haphazardly cut his hair. "It came out all spiky," he muttered apologetically.

 Chazz shook his head. "It's fine...I like it."

-Two weeks later-

Chazz listened to some yelling upstairs. That was nothing new, there was yelling all the time. Finally, it ceased and Slade barged in. "I found out about what Jagger did, you idiot," he snapped, ripping Chazz off his bed by his hair. "You really thought you could get away with that?"

The small boy whimpered at the nineteen-year-old's harsh touch. "Please stop, nii-san," he whimpered.

Slade proceeded to throw the boy to the table in the room and tied him down. He yank off his belt and Chazz's shirt, firmly striking the boy as his younger brother cried out. "Slade, stop!"

"You need a decent lesson in manners, Chazz," Slade snapped, hitting him again.

Chazz screamed, but Slade didn't stop for long into the night.