A Dark Secret

Chapter 4

"Son of a bitch!"

Wally gasped as his father punched him in the ribs. Rudy's eyes were dim, he was drunk. He grabbed a beer bottle, half empty. He smashed it on Wally's stomach. Pieces of broken glass littered the floor, and the disgusting liquid splashed all over Wally. Wally grimaced. Now he smelled like beer.

"You're a worthless piece of crappy shit, you hear? Worthless! You don't deserve to have people who care about you. You're a thing. You ain't my son! My son didn't chase Mary off. You hear? It's YOUR fault she's gone! Asshole! You're...fault!"

Rudy picked up with a shaking hand a long piece of sharp glass. Realizing what his dad was about to do Wally began to panic. He could run. He could run to the ice cream store 4 blocks away and be back in time to do a little dance before the makeshift knife could ever hit him. But he didn't, instead, he waited for the pain.

You see, after living with a man who beat you every day and called you terrible names, you start to think about yourself in those ways. Wally had gotten it inside his head, and that's why he didn't run. First of all, his dad was the one holding the glass, the one whom had broken and bruised his ribs more than he could count. His own dad. There had to be something wrong with him.

Maybe there was?

Second of all, he couldn't leave his dad. He wouldn't know how to fend for himself, (his dad) and if Wally told Uncle Barry or Robin or the team or anyone, his dad would be arrested. He didn't want that. Why? Why wouldn't he want that? With the things he had been forced to do he should be drowning in anger towards the man. But all Wally found there was sadness and broken trust. All he had ever wanted was for someone to love him. For someone to hug him and for him to know he was safe in that person's arms.

There was definitely something wrong with him.

"No, dad don't!" He begged, but his father did not listen.

Instead, the blade came down into his stomach, cold. It cut into his chest and carved a line straight down to his abdomen. Wally screamed.

His dad finally dropped the knife, and kicked him, right where he had been cut. Wally swore the world tilted. He was survived worse. His leg had once shattered and he had been forced to drag himself 44 feet before Flash found him, but this somehow felt worse. Why? Because his dad was the one inflicting pain.

Through teary eyes Wally watched his father stumble off the couch and collapse. Wally was scared, he had never seen his father so drunk before. He had gone so far as to cut him. Wally was shaking in pain and from the struggle to keep his emotions in check. He couldn't cry, he wasn't allowed to, no matter how much he wanted to call Robin and sob into his arms. But he couldn't. So, Wally began the painful process of walking up to his room.

The next morning, Wally felt like hell. This time he had no visible bruises, so he had the excuse of being sick. Since he had taken a food pill, ok, ok, ok, a couple, his knife wound had faded into a scar, but Wally still felt the pain. His father had cut him. His father hadn't allowed him to eat last night, nor this morning. On the occasions he did get to eat, there was food in the refrigerator. Wally liked to think it was a way of his father saying sorry. Otherwise he had no money, and could not afford food unless he was bringing it home from the mountain. The food pills came from the mountain as well, specially made for speedsters when they were injured and couldn't eat real food. Although he had taken the food pill and the scar had healed, Wally still felt in really weak. He wondered briefly how long he could stay like this.

Grimacing, Wally stumbled off to the Zeta Tube, vision blurry and his head threatening to kill him.

Wally was a yellow blur crashing into the mountain. He fell face down on the floor after slamming into the wall.

"Quite the entrance Kid Idiot!" Artemis laughed. Wally groaned. The rest of the team laughed around with her. Until Wally failed to get up. By now the team had turned their attention to the T.V. Robin's eyes, however, did not leave his best friend.

For a few seconds, Wally lay on the floor. It was cold. He liked it. But he could feel Robin's eyes on him, so he pushed himself onto his feet.

"Sorry." Wally murmured, his eyes everywhere but his friend. The team had cranked the volume of the T.V up so they could not hear Robin and KF, convenient, because Robin expected answers, right now.

"Come here, now," Robin growled, stalking off to one of the private conference rooms B.C used for meetings outside of Superboy's hearing range.

Wally followed, slower, dreading every coming moment.