so, Jordan went to jail.
but,, what no one knows is, Maiko started dating Ernie, who was perhaps worse than Jordan, just.. behind Maiko's back.
He told Sayako and Hitaru that they would regret it if they told anyone.
Daichi lived out of the house by now, he had no idea what was going on.
Sayako was silent about it.
Hitaru was also silent.
their friends would sometimes come over, and that was when Ernie was out of the house.
Sayako earned her first nickname from a lie.
"where did that bruise on your arm come from?" Eito asked.
She responded, "I... Fell out of a tree."
Her nickname was acorn.
Hitaru earned his first nickname from a lie too.
"How'd you get that bruise on your leg?" Kari questioned.
He replied, "I... Fell, i fell when I was going down the stairs."
Stairs. That was his nickname.
Both from friends, who didn't know any better, because they thought it was silly.
People would always say that rhyme, about sticks and stones.
As IF broken bones hurt more than the names they got called.
By their own "father figure".
They tried to empty their brokenheartedness by smiling, by saying they were fine, by keeping their hurt inside, away from the real life. don't SAY that hurts LESS than a broken bone!
A broken bone can be fixed, it can be snapped back into place, healed with a cast, but a broken heart turns to trauma, therapists, counseling, addictions.
A broken HEART cannot be fixed like a broken BONE can.
Sayako turned to razors once more, Hitaru turned to repressing his emotions, to doing whatever anyone wanted just to feel like someone liked him.
Ernie had a son.
His name was Landon.
Landon was the same as his father, with hints of his mother, but the hints of his mother almost never shone through.
He was an awful person.
He taped a sign to the front of Sayako's desk that read 'Beware of DOG'.
No one knew it was him.
Except Sayako.
It was during this time that Sayako and Fumihito were forced to apologize to each other. It was during this time that Fumihito opened up; he had an abusive mother who 'only wanted the best' for him. She hit him and snapped him into place and that was why he spoke the first thing he thought, because she said he didn't need help, that he was just a dumb teen boy. So thus, he had no help, he was impulsive and rude because that was all he'd been taught. He lived with his abusive mom and his dad who just wanted a happy family, his dad who was afraid to leave because 'men can't be abused'.
They both knew what this life was like, Sayako and Jordan for years, then she was free, then she had Ernie. While this is all going on, her Dad is gone.
Surprisingly, they became friends.
Surprisingly, they had a bond, and surprisingly they stopped yelling at each other.
Hitaru didn't have that.
He had silence and silent tears at night.
He had to live with being tortured mentally.
He was bullied in and outside of school because of a birthmark that took up a little less than half his face, kids used to say, "He looks like a wrong answer someone tried to erase but couldn't quite get the job done."
And no one understands he's trying his best, all while doing this alone because no one ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDS HIM.
Sometimes being free was all he needed.
Was it all he had? Not even an OUNCE of freedom.
Sure, it's easy to SAY, "speak up, fight back", but how easy is it to DO?
It isn't.
So while these two are fighting this, torture, abuse, bullying...
Maiko doesn't know what's going on.
If she did, she would help. She would kick Ernie out.
Of course she had suspicions, but no evidence to support it.
She just hoped that her kids would speak up, so that she knew that she was right.
But they were afraid of the pain they would have to endure if Ernie knew that they told someone.
Sayako was pushing it already by opening up to Hito, saying she 'had problems at home',
What if she flat out said she had an abusive 'parent'?
She'd be dead for sure.
Hitaru was already pushing it by not hiding every single scratch, cut and bruise Ernie gave to him.
Everyone stayed quiet, because they knew there would be consequences.
So what now? What if they said something?
Neither of them were brave enough to find out, were they?
