Lay Low 'Missing' Chapters

Taking Control

The door slammed and I jumped out of my skin. Mum's voice was loud and full of expletives. The night had obviously not gone well.

"I wasn't looking at anyone else!"

"Yes, you were," she snapped back.

"How many times do I..."

"I won't have it Tony. If you even think about leaving me, that will be it."

"Eva, I don't want to leave you."

She cut over him.

"You won't be able to see her. You'll never see Hannah again."

"Come on Eva, calm down."

"Calm down?!"

"I am not going to leave you, like Max did."

"How dare you bring him up! Like his son isn't enough of a reminder. You are a cruel bastard Tony Harper."

"Eva, darling..."

The door to the living room shot open. Hannah was asleep on the sofa next to me and she opened her eyes sleepily at the noise.

Mum looked at me in disgust.

"You! Why isn't she in bed?"

"She fell asleep so I was going to take her up later."

"Do you see this, Tony? Again, he deliberately goes against what I asked him explicitly to do." She swang around to face me; the whites of her blue eyes tinged red. "Or maybe you are just too stupid to follow simple instructions."

"I just thought..."

"Who told you to think?" interrupted Tony, anger building in his voice. He pointed a meaty finger at me.  "You don't think, you just do as we say."

"OK, I'll put her to bed now," I stood up and motioned to Hannah. I wanted to get her out of this situation. 

"Hey, did I say put her to bed now?"  Mum said.

Hannah clambered into my arms quickly. Her grip around me was strong and I could feel her heart racing against my chest: it's pace matched my own.

"Fine. Put her to bed and then come back here."

As I went to walk past them, Tony's hand gripped the back of my neck.

"Hold on." His grip began to bruise me.  "Night, night angel."

He leant in and kissed her, as then did Mum. Only then did he let me go.

"Sleep tight," called Mum as we climbed the stairs, "don't let the bed bugs bite."

Bed bugs weren't what I was afraid of.                                

I carefully carried Hannah into her room and put her onto her bed. I heard their voices, raised again.

"Jake, stay here with me," she said as I pulled the covers over her.

I smiled sadly. She was a smart kid. She seemed to have figured out that Tony was less likely to hit me in the night if I was with her. The last time he had tried to drag me from my bed, she had been sleeping at the other end and had screamed the house down so much that he had been put off. Bless her, she was trying to save me again. But I knew well enough from their tones, that tonight even she wasn't going to be able to stop it. When they were arguing with each other, ganging up on me seemed to be their own brand of relationship strengthening. I think it was often Tony proving his commitment to Mum by acting on her complaints about me. It was them coming together over a common enemy – me - and then putting me right collectively.

I looked at Hannah and shook my head.  "Not tonight Hannah."

She looked up at me; her eyes wide and sad.  "Please."

I heard my name come up in the muffled voices from downstairs. Nope, not tonight. I leant down and kissed her on the head. 

"Try to get some sleep Han."

I closed the door behind me and took a breath. There was no way that I wanted to lay awake all night or tomorrow, waiting for him to start on me. I had better just let it happen. I took another breath and walked downstairs and back into the firing line.

They stopped their squabbling and scowled at me. Tony stepped to me, his large figure looming.

"Is she finally in bed?" he barked.

"Yeah."

He smacked me over the back of the head.

"Don't be so fucking rude."

I hesitated, unsure about how I had been rude.

He grabbed my jaw in his hand.

"Yes..."

"Yes sir," I got out.

He thrust my face away and sneered at me in disgust. 

"Idiot. Make us some drinks."

I stumbled to the cabinet and got out the whiskey.

"What have I done to deserve a son like you?"  Mum started.  "I mean, you are continually rude. You never do what we tell you to. I think you are right Tony, he must be some sort of moron."

"Must have inherited it from his nothing of a father," carried on Tony.

"Yeah, you are a loser, just like him. Worse, not even he is stupid enough to want anything to do with you."

It was going the way I had imagined. Next I would 'do' something to displease them so there was a logical excuse, in their minds, for my punishment. I wasn't going to listen to another hour of this; it was time to take control. If it was going to happen, then it would be on my terms. I would decide when it happened.

I fixed the drinks and brought them over. I handed off Tony's and then as I went to give Mum's, I pretended to stumble and poured the drink over her top.

"Whoops," I said as convincingly as possible as she shrieked and jumped up.

"You useless piece of shit," shouted Tony. He jumped up and slapped me round the face.  He shoved me twice until my back hit the wall. I groaned as an upper cut thumped into my guts.  He smacked me to the floor. As he began to kick me, I saw Mum's furious face; her eyes wide in anger and her mouth jabbering obscenities. But her white top was drenched in brown liquid and a small smile escaped my lips.