A Tortured Soul

Chapter 23

Two months flew by quick and Johnathan's dad was getting worse. Dr. Waller ordered round the clock care for him at home and the man himself hired a nanny to help take care of Johnathan and Justin. The day before the nanny was scheduled to come in and begin her work the man sat Johnathan down and told him what was going to happen and why.

From that moment on Johnathan's attitude changed. The once sweet and quiet little boy turned into a monster and hell to be around. Justin watched quietly as Johnathan stomped upstairs and tore his room apart in anger at the thought of losing his father. The man could hear Johnathan's outrage from down stairs and all he could do was listen. He didn't have enough breath to yell and not enough strength to make it upstairs to stop him.

Justin began thinking that his time in the house with them was up. He felt he needed to leave so Johnathan and his dad could spend time together before he passed. That night he packed what he could and headed out when he knew the two were asleep. He left a note thanking the man again for all he has done and explained why he was leaving.

*****

Saturday morning JT and Tatiana woke up, ate there breakfast and headed out into the backyard. Tatiana now nine years old, still enjoyed going into the cave and pretending Justin was in there, she missed seeing him. This time when she went in she was met with the sight of someone curled up inside. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she backed away slowly not realizing who it was that she was looking at. She stood and walked backwards quietly toward her brother, careful to not take her eyes off of the entrance to the cave. "JT." She said in a soft whisper. "Yea?" He said mocking her tone. "There is someone in there."

JT's ears perked at the news and quickly looked toward the cave, "What do you mean someone is in there?" He said with a slight pitch of fear in his voice. "I mean exactly what I said. Should we go get mom? Or dad, we should go get dad." She said and began walking quickly to the back door. JT grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back towards him in a protective manner. He slowly eased her behind him and told her to wait so he could take a peak. He inched slowly toward the cave and poked his head inside.

"BOOOOO!" Justin yelled pulling his hands up on each side of his head as if they were bear claws. JT screamed and fell backwards into the fetal position covering his face. Justin crawled out of the cave laughing and stood pointing at him curled up on the ground. "Oh man, you should have seen your face!" Justin said laughing harder with every word he spoke. Tatiana was inches away squatting down with her hands over her mouth in disbelief. JT uncovered his face and looked up at Justin towering over him laughing. "You think that was funny?" JT asked still shaking slightly. "Absolutely not!" Justin answered straightening his face into a serious look. "It was hilarious!" He continued as he began to laugh again.

JT stood up and dusted the dirt off his clothes and looked back to check on Tatiana, she was still squatting with her hands over her mouth staring at Justin. "What are you doing here?" JT asked. "I'm back!"

"You moved out?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"It was just time for me to move on that's all."

"You know your parents moved out right?"

"Oh really? Fantastic!"

"Yea they moved about a year ago I think. Do you want to come in and play some video games?"

"That depends on how mad your parents are at me for skipping out on them last time I was here."

"I'm sure they will be happy to see you."

JT walked over to Tatiana and helped her up from her seemingly frozen state. As soon as they began walking through the kitchen JT yelled to his mom who was washing a few dishes from breakfast. "Mom look who's here!" He yelled out holding his hands out toward Justin as if he was introducing royalty. May froze and dropped the plate she had in her hand back into the sink splashing soap suds everywhere. "Justin?" She said softly. "Yes ma'am." He responded scrunching his face waiting for her to start yelling at him. Tears developed in her eyes as she rushed over to him and scooped him up into a big bear hug. "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I thought I would never see you again! I'm so happy to see you! Jack! Jack! Come see quick!" She continued to hold him until Jack made his way into the kitchen. Justin glanced down at JT's smiling face leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Justin scrunched his eyes at him, he invited him in on purpose because he knew his mother would respond in a way that would embarrass Justin.

Jack walked into the kitchen and looked at May holding a child in a bear hug. "Whoa! May let him go! Your going to squeeze the life out of him. I'm sorry kid she gets emotional sometimes." Jack helped Justin down from May's over joyed grip not realizing who he was. Of course, it had been four years and a child can change quite a bit in that amount of time. When Justin turned around and faced him Jack was stunned. "Justin! It's Justin! Oh wow where have you been kid? It's great to see you!" Justin smiled and looked up at Jack. "I have been around, better now than I have ever been but I'm back." May looked confused. "Where are you staying? You can't live with your parents I won't let you. Besides they don't even live around here anymore."

"I'm not sure yet, but I will figure it out."