Do You See Me Now? ✔

Chapter 9 - The Eviction

Wednesday, October 17th

     Yoni had encouraged him to text Loek back, and since Jesse didn't have anything to do other than sit still while she was colouring his hair, he eventually did so. Ever since, they'd had an ongoing conversation, mostly about soccer and school. Jesse learned that Loek was 18 and had taken a gap year after finishing high school the year before. He had been working at Unity since for about a month and hadn't found time before to join a soccer team or make many friends.

After Yoni had finished dyeing his hair, he took a quick shower to rinse it, before they had watched some series on Netflix. It was around nine in the evening, after dinner and binge watching almost a full season, that Jesse realised he hadn't thought about his father wanting to pick him up. They had left school early, since their last class got cancelled, and Jesse hadn't paid any mind to his father coming over later.

Not that he had been planning to get in the car with his dad, or to go to the appointment to get his tattoo removed, but he hadn't purposefully avoided him for the entire day.

Which made him scared to go home. He had read Loek's last message—which had seemed a bit of a flirty text—before jumping on his bike to go home. Might as well rip the bandage off right away and see how angry his father exactly was.

Still, Jesse was nervous, and even a bit afraid. His father had a history of overreacting and even some violence when it came to Jesse not doing what he wanted. It wasn't late enough for his parents to already be in bed, so Jesse decided on sneaking in through the back and heading straight upstairs to his room.

It was to no avail, because as soon as he walked through the back door, he heard footsteps, and within seconds, Felipe was in front of him with anger seeping from every pore in his body.

"Where the hell have you been!?" He shouted at him, grabbing his hoodie to pull him closer. "Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to get you an appointment this quick? And you just decide to miss it?"

"I told you I wasn't going," Jesse snapped back, trying to get his father to let go of his hoodie. "Let go of me."

"I have had it with your behaviour, you ungrateful brat!" The first blow was a fist hitting him on his jaw and Jesse instantly covered his face with his arms.

"It's my body!" Jesse called out, wishing his mother would come and get his father to leave him alone, even if she was scared too. Eventually, he kicked his father's leg, causing him to let go and jump backwards with an angry shout.

"That's it! You're out! Get your stuff and get the hell out of my house." His father pointed towards the door. "Give me the keys and leave before I kick you out."

"What?" Jesse exclaimed in shock. Was he actually pulling through with his idiotic threat?

"You heard me: out." Felipe wildly gestured towards the door. "You can come back once that hideous thing is removed."

Jesse wanted to reply, but Felipe instantly raised a fist, so Jesse chose his honour, ran up the stairs to his room and grabbed the bag he'd already packed early in the morning. As if he wanted to stay there for another second.

No thank you.

He shook his head in disbelief. He never expected his father to really kick him out over this. But knowing there was a spare key hidden in the yard, he decided to come back for more stuff once he knew where he would go. He had no idea where he was going to stay for the time being, but even the park sounded more appealing in that moment.

He just wanted to leave, instead of staying around for too long and see his father become even more aggressive.

He didn't even say anything when he went back downstairs and passed his father on his way out. His father didn't say anything either, and his mother stood a few meters away, too scared to stop it from happening, but visibly upset.