A Tortured Soul

Chapter 25

"Tatiana." Justin said softly placing a hand gently on the bottom of her chin turning her head slightly to get a better look. "What happened?" He asked. She wasn't crying anymore but Justin could still see the dried trail her tears left behind on her cheeks. She dropped her head and tried to keep him from looking at it any longer. He climbed inside the slide next to her and wrapped his arms around her doing his best to comfort her. She rested her head on his chest, covered her face with her hands and began crying again. He held her sweetly with one arm in front of her holding her shoulder and the other resting on her head keeping her close. Her tears stained a small section of the front of his shirt, but he didn't mind.

JT poked his head into the slide and seen them sitting there. He noticed his sister crying and Justin gave him a look of concern with a mix of 'it's ok I got this'. He backed up and ran to tell his mom and dad he found Tatiana and led them to the slide. Jack leaned over to peak inside the slide and nudged May to do the same. "What's wrong?" May asked reaching in and placing a hand on Tatiana's knee. She didn't respond or budge from Justin's hold. They waited patiently for her to pull her self together enough to come out.

When they arrived home Justin helped Tatiana out of the car and walked her to her room. She crawled into her bed and grabbed her favorite teddy bear she has had since she was born. It was the perfect size for snuggling, it was white, with sparkling green eyes and a red lace tie. Justin pulled her covers over her, kissed her forehead, and closed her bedroom door as he walked out. Jack, May, and JT were all standing outside of her room in the hallway waiting. "That was very sweet of you Justin, Thank you!" May said happily. A few days passed and the conversation about what happened at the park was never finished, Tatiana refused to talk about it and changed the subject so they assumed she got into a fight with one of her friends and moved on.

Justin continued to help Jaz with her school work and her grades improved dramatically, in the process they became close friends. One day while the two of them and JT were outside skateboarding up and down the road back and forth between her house and JT's, a new kid from a few houses down that had only been in the neighborhood for a few weeks decided to walk over and shove Jaz off the board causing her to fall and hit her head on the asphalt. He was a chunky kid with red curly hair, green eyes, and freckles running along the bridge of his nose and underneath both eyes. He wore tattered shorts cut from blue jeans, a plain white shirt with a big mustard stain in the center of his chest, and worn out dark blue vans tennis shoes. Justin tried to catch her but was unsuccessful.

Blood began filling the cracks between the tiny rocks and spreading out to form a puddle, JT ran to get her parents for help, and Justin took it upon himself to show the kid how he made Jaz feel. She was unconscious on the ground by the time her parents reached her. Her mom scooped her up, rushed her into the house, and called for an ambulance while she grabbed and damp towel to place on the back of her head to try and stop the bleeding.

Her dad tried to pull Justin off the kid but couldn't, every time he would pull Justin backwards Justin grabbed the boy's shirt and dragged him along with him. He beat the kids face so badly it was already showing signs of swelling underneath the veil of blood, he had bash the boy's head into the asphalt because that is what he made Jaz do. Justin was furious and couldn't calm himself, no matter the amount of pain he inflicted on the kid he wasn't satisfied, he felt the boy deserved more. The same old lady that called the law on Justin for beating Samuel called them again.

Jaz's dad tried to keep them from taking Justin away and explained that the only reason Justin did what he did was because the kid did the same to his daughter and she had already been rushed to the emergency room. Jack and May begged the police not to take him in but the cops didn't listen. They explained it was their job, slapped Justin in handcuff like a mini criminal (now a repeat offender), placed him in the back of the patrol unit, and drove off.

When they arrived at the juvenile center they placed Justin in the same room he had been in twice before and went to notify his parents that they had him in custody again. Luckily, his parents changed their phone numbers when they moved and the police had no other way of contacting them. When they asked Justin for the address so they could notify his parents he gave them JT's address, but Jack and May were already there trying to have Justin released. Since they were not Justin's parents and the police couldn't locate his parents Justin was forced to stay. There was nothing the Thomas' could do to help him, he would find out his fate in the morning during court.