protect you / jiara ff

-2-

JJ's POV

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I wake up to the sun shining on my face through the window. I sit up and look at my phone. 11am. I get up and put on shorts and a white sleeveless shirt before walking out of my room. I know that Kie and Pope are already gone but I still check the rooms and couches. After eating some leftovers from dinner last night, I sit at the kitchen table and look outside the window. It's only noon and Kie and Pope are not going to be home until the late afternoon. I don't want to go home but I realize that I don't have much of a choice. I haven't gone back since I went there to get the key for the Phantom, so I'm slowly running out of clothes and there's some other stuff at my house that I need. I have to go. 

I go to my room and stuff a water bottle in my backpack before grabbing it and walking out of my room. I grab they key off the kitchen counter. Pope, Kie and I all have a key for John B's house, we had it made a long time ago. They both have theirs with them so they can get in whenever they come back, which is why I decide to lock the house. Even though that doesn't give much protection since the house is literally made of wooden planks and has a ton of windows and obviously doesn't have an alarm or anything like that, so if anybody wants to get in and steal something, they will very easily find a way to do it.

I get in the van and go to my house. I park in front of it, a few feet away. I don't know if my dad found out about the boat yet, or if he's even home. The only thing I know is that I don't want to see him. I grab my backpack off the passengers seat and lock the van. I walk up to the door and grab the knob. I pause for a second and breathe in and out deeply before slowly opening the door. I take a few steps to the right until I'm able to look into the living room. My dad is passed out on the couch, pretty much the same way he was when I came to get the boat key. I immediately relax a bit and go to my room as quietly as possible. I pack a few fresh clothes and the other stuff I went home for. Just as I grab my last saved money out of my nightstand, I see one of my caps on my bed. It was a gift from John B. I stop for a moment before I grab it. I look at it and think about leaving it here for a second, but then I decide to take it with me. After I finish packing, I zip up my backpack and put on the cap I took from my bed. I walk out of my room and close the door as quietly as possible. Just as I'm about to open the front door, happy that my dad didn't wake up, I hear a voice coming from the living room. "JJ? Is that you?". I freeze, my one hand resting on the door knob, the other one grabbing onto my backpack strap. "What are you doing sneaking around out there? Get in here!", my dad says and laughs a little. I can hear in his voice that he drank way too much and is also really tired, but what's new. 

I slowly let go of the door knob and move towards the living room. I stay in the door frame and look at my dad sitting on the couch. "My boy! Get over here!", he says enthusiastically while winking me over. I slowly walk towards him, getting more anxious with every step. I stop a few steps away from the couch. He gets up and walks toward me, stopping only a few inches away from me. He gives me a short hug and pats me on the shoulder: "My boy..". After a few seconds of us just looking at each other, he starts talking again: "Hey, if you're already here, do you maybe know where the keys for the Phantom went? I know I had them a few days ago and I wasn't able to find them". My heart starts beating faster. If he finds out that I stole them from him, I'm fucked. I can only do one thing: Deny, deny, deny. "Sorry, haven't seen them, I was at John B's", I say, hoping that he believes that I wasn't home while they disappeared. "Huh, weird..", he says, taking his hand off my shoulder and turning around. He walks two steps away from me while mumbling "very weird".

"How long haven't you been home", he asks, looking at me. "A week", I answer. "Huh.. Cause, you see, the thing is, as far as I can remember.. The keys have been gone for around a week..", he says, looking out the window, still standing only two steps away from me. My heart starts beating even faster as I try to think of a lie, but I don't even get a chance to say something before he starts talking again: "And I went to the club 5 days ago, saw the news. Your little friend, John B, he was in the news. You know that he disappeared at sea?". "Yeah, I know..", I say and my heart gets heavy at him mentioning what happened and seeming so unbothered by it. "Yeah.. Not gonna lie, he escaped on a pretty little boat. I wonder where he got that from..", he says. I feel like I'm about to throw up. "Sarah got it for them", I say quickly. "Sarah?", he looks at me. "Yeah, his girlfriend. Kook", I try to explain quickly, so I can get out of there. "Ah..", he says, nodding his head and looks out the window again. "Well, looked an awful lot like mine.. Just wanted to check on the old lady", he adds. My heart is racing and I feel like I could break down right now. He starts walking towards me again, looking at the floor while walking. He stops a few inches in front of me and looks up at me: "She was gone". I stare at him, breathing heavily but trying to hide it as well as I can. "You know anything bout that?", he asks, his face way too close to mine. I lightly shake my head. Before I can react, I can feel his fist against my face and my body lands on the floor. I touch my cheek, feeling the blood. Just as I am about to get up, my dad pushes me down again, my backpack falling off. He kicks it away and sits on me, punching me over and over again. I can feel the blood running out of my nose and cheek and I can taste it in my mouth. I want to punch him back so badly. I want to beat him up. I want to defend myself just as I did when he tried to take the money I stole from me. But no matter how hard I try, I can't move. I can't get one single part of my body to move. So I just lay there, my dad on top of me, and let it happen. He keeps going to the point where I start seeing black dots everywhere. I'm about to pass out when he finally stops and gets off me. He stops next to me and says: "If you ever dare stealing from me again, you're dead. And now get out of my house". He walks back to the couch and sits down while taking another big gulp out of one of the alcohol bottles. I have to stay on the ground for another minute before I'm able to move. I slowly get up and look at my dad one more time before slowly walking out of the house that I actually considered my home once.

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WOW, this was hard to write. Now I know what Rudy was talking about when he said how hard it was to get in the right mindset to film the scenes with JJ's dad.. I tried to do the same and literally cried writing this. Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter (as much as possible).