|
Part Six
About an hour later, home from the airport.
The drive home was long and silent. Taking over an hour to reach the quiet and dark house that was situated on the equally quiet and dark back roads of this small Pennsylvania town. Along the winding roads, over the expansive hills and finally down a very dark road, lined with forest on both sides, the house sits. It is not small or too large. A modest size home that is neat in it s appearance.
From what Ezra could see, in the dimly moon lit night from the back seat of the car window, the yard seemed well attended to, the house did not seem to need repair. It looked like a home one might see on tv. One that housed a typical American family of a husband, a wife and some kids. Maybe even a family pet or two.
‘Well there was one difference here than that of what you would see on tv.’ Ezra morosely thought. ‘There is no sign of anyone waiting for our return. No light in the window to greet us home. Only what appeared to be a very cold and dark place. Much like the feeling I have now.’
His thoughts were interrupted when the car came to a stop in front of a two car garage and the engine shut off. The interior of the car seemed to instantly cool down even though the doors have yet to open. Slowly turning his head from the inspection of his new home, Ezra looks to the front to be met by and equally cool gaze.
“Take off your seat belt, son, and grab your case.” Guy all but demands to Ezra. His voice is cold and devoid of emotion. When Ezra hesitates for the briefest of seconds, the car shakes with the force of Guy’s voice as he finally demands action to his earlier request.
“NOW BOY! Or do I have to drag you out of the car like some fucking animal!”
Fear wells up in Ezra’s fast beating heart. His hands shake so bad that he fumbles with the seat belt as his father angrily gets out of the car and stalks around the front, heading to Ezra’s side. Finally releasing the belt, he quickly grabs his small case from the seat beside him. He turns to the door, latches onto the handle and is just about to open the door when it is violently opened for him. The force of the sudden opening causes him to be pulled from the car, to land hard on his backside on the cold pavement of the driveway.
Guy leans over Ezra, hate and disgust clearly expressed on his face. He reaches down and grabs Ezra by the collar of his shirt and pulls him to his feet.
“When I tell you to do something you better damn well do and fast,” he snarled in his face.
With a quick little shake and a push towards the door of the house, they both head inside.
*
Once inside the modest home, Ezra tries in vain to blink back the tears that sting even more in the harsh light of the now illuminated interior. He stands there, shaking, as his father moves about the small foyer, that falsely greets its visitors with warmth. Guy ‘s movements are not fluid. They are a result of the rage he feels growing in him. He turns and looks down at the boy that he so despises.
Circling him like a vulture would its meal, he begins to rant and rave at Ezra.
“Why for the love of God that woman ever thought I would want you! Even if I thought I was your father, why would I care to see you after nine years?
That BITCH is no good! And I am sure that you are just the same!
Look at you. Crying like some little baby.”
And it was true. Ezra knew it was. He just couldn’t control his fear and it was manifesting itself in the form of his uncontrollable shaking and in the tears that continued to well up in his jewel green eyes and spill over and down his soft flushed cheeks. He knew he had to gain control, but right now his mind couldn’t respond to its own wishes. He was scared to his very soul and he found himself physically cowering from his father.
“STAND UP STRAIGHT!” Guys shout breaks him from his thoughts.
“Quit your crying!” When he sees that Ezra is not going to stop he leans over and grabs him by his shirt front. Violently shaking the small and already shaking boy, he continues to scream, directly in his face.
“You must be very worthless! No wonder your mother didn’t want you! You are a worthless piece of shit!”
The shaking and the grip suddenly leave Ezra and he falters back a step or two at the moment of his release. It is a short lived reprieve though. His father straightens up and with barely controlled fury, grabs Ezra by the wrist and savagely drags him up the stairs of the home. Ezra can barely keep his feet as he stumbles after the man, often falling and finding himself dragged along.
They reach the top of the steps and he continues to pull Ezra down the short hallway to a door at the back and to the left. Again pulling Ezra so that his feet are on the floor, Guy loses his temper at seeing the tears still fall down his cheeks. Using his opened hand he harshly slaps Ezra upside the head three times as he again yells at him to be quiet and to stop crying.
Ezra tries his best to stop the tears from falling and to put a halt to the now vocal sobs that came forth as he was dragged up the stairs and then slapped. But his efforts are in vain as he is thrown into the room to lay crumpled on the floor. For a few minutes he stays there, huddled around himself, unmoving. His body still shaking from his now suppressed cries, too afraid to move.
After some more time has passed, he realizes that it is quiet, with the exception of his own harsh breathing. He slowly looks up and for the first time he is able to take in his surroundings. He see he is in a small room. The light is not on but the the illumination from the light that spills in from the hall is enough to let him see. All that decorates the room is a single bed and dresser.
He slowly rises off the floor and makes his way to the bed. Hiding in the shadows that the doorway provides, he allows himself to sit quietly on the bed. Drawing his knees to his chest, he wraps his arms around them and hides his face in his knees. He works on slowing down his breathing.
‘What am I going to do?” he wonders to himself.
A creak by the door causes his head to snap up. There in the doorway is Guy, his father. His face is hard to see as it is shadowed but there does not seem to be a trace of the hostility that once was present.
Guy looks into the room and sees Ezra sitting on the bed. The apprehension is clear to see as he notices the small quiver of his lip and the still tear bright eyes. ‘Good,’ thinks Royal. ‘The brat is already understanding where his place is.’
His voice almost sounds friendly as he speaks to Ezra.
“Here is your bag.” He calmly states as he sits it down on the floor. “I expect you to have all of your things put away neatly and down stairs for breakfast by seven tomorrow morning. I have your transcripts from the other schools and will enroll you into school tomorrow.
I expect you to be well behaved while I am gone tomorrow. Do not cross me son or you WILL regret it.”
With that said he turned and walked away from the room, silently closing the door behind him.
*
Ezra doesn’t know how long he laid in the bed that night before he fell into restless sleep. After his father closed the door and left him in the dark, he quickly and quietly made quick work of putting his clothes away in the dresser and closet. After storing his suit case under the bed and changing into his pajamas, he turned down the covers and slowly slipped between them.
Laying there in relative peace, all of the aches and pains caused by his father’s actions became apparent to the small nine year old. His head and wrist throbbed with the beating of his heart and his legs were stiff and sore. He briefly wondered what the next day would bring and what the light would reveal.
*
The two days that followed, before he started school, went by uneventfully. He was smart enough to do everything that his father demanded and proud of himself for doing it without hesitation. Most of the time he would sit in his room and look out the window at the beautiful fall landscape. He could see trees completely turned to golden yellows, fiery reds and brilliant oranges. He noticed for the first time that the plain white house was actually on a hill. The road they came in on was cut through the dense forest that only laid before the house. Behind it was all open farm land. Not too many flat areas, but lots of rolling hills that in the spring and summer would be filled with various vibrant green rows of plants.
Off in the far distance he could just make out a couple of more houses. Other than that site, he knew that they were alone here. That he was all alone.
His brief moment of wonder at the land was gone. His thoughts turned to depressing matters. He was uncertain of his future, what it might entail. The only thing that was certain was that he was here and that Maude was never going to come for him.
*
Part 7
Back at Art Class (picking up from chapter 4)
Ezra stood there looking at his shoes, splattered in red paint. He could not look into Mr. Sanchez’s eyes and see the rage he was sure that was there. He knew that this was all his fault. If he just wasn’t so stupid, so worthless. No matter what, he would take the blame. He wouldn’t allow Buck and Vin to suffer as he does.
Since coming to this school, Buck and Vin have been nothing but kind. Even when he doesn’t respond or he tries to push them away, they continue to come back. To tell the truth he really likes them. He just can’t see what they see in him.
“Ezra, do you have something to add?” Josiah asked the fragile looking child when he did not say anything after stepping forward.
“This is all my fault Mr. Sanchez.” Ezra admitted. He just hoped that his voice did not quiver as much as his insides were right now.
“That’s not true!”
“No way!”
Buck and Vin exclaimed in defense of their friend.
“Now hold on, hold on,” Josiah again regained control of the situation. Studying the three children in front of him, he could plainly see what they felt. Two of them would stick up for a friend by verbally defending him. The other would defend his friends by taking all the blame. Where two stood proud with shoulders straight and posture sure. One almost seemed to shrink back into himself. Even though he was the one child that stood in front of the others, he was also the furthest back.
Josiah knew that Ezra was a small child. he just never thought someone so small could seem to grow even smaller, right before his eyes. That fear that had gripped Josiah about a week ago, when he first met young Ezra Standish, suddenly flared. It burned through him like an ulcer and he almost doubled over with the imaginary pain.
Swallowing the lump he found in his throat, Josiah reached around behind himself and pulled forth a chair. Then he placed it right in front of the three boys, so that he could look them all in the eyes and took a seat.
JD almost burst out laughing, seeing Josiah settle himself into a chair made for a nine year olds body. But the sudden sadness and fear he saw expressed in his administrator’s and friend’s eyes, stopped him cold. JD himself quickly looked at all the three boys, afraid that he had missed some sort of injury.
That is when he too saw what Josiah saw. He too grabbed a chair and lowered himself to the boy’s level. Something here wasn’t right, but what?
*
Lowering his voice, Josiah began to talk to the boys.
“Boys,” he paused as he waited for all three boys to look at him. “I know you all want to tell myself and Mr. Dunne what went on here, but I need to hear one story at a time... with no interruptions. Now if you have something you want to say when one of the other two is talking, I ask that you please wait until it is your turn.”
Looking at each one again he asked “Do you understand?” To that he received three small nods.
“Ok, now, Ezra. Since you have stepped forward, would you please tell me your view of what happened today?”
Ezra tried to relax and tell Mr. Sanchez how he had messed up, big time. To his horror he could hear the slight tremor in his voice as he spoke.
“Well Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Dunne, sirs. Myself, Vin, Buck and Lucas were seated at the table over by the window, the one that is messy with paint at the moment. We were working quietly on our paintings when a spider dropped down from the ceiling. I am afraid I overreacted and I jumped out of my seat. When that happened I spilled my blue paint all over Lucas’s paper. What Lucas did was just a reaction to my stupidity. I am sorry about the mess. Please don’t punish Buck and Vin. They only tried to help me!”
Ezra’s voice grew a little more frantic by the end of his telling. To the point that the usually calm and smooth drawl was filled with sobs as he pleaded with Josiah and JD not to blame Buck or Vin.
Josiah suddenly had alarm bells going off in his head. This child was extremely scared. More scared than any child should have been over some paint. Reaching his hand out to the young child, he almost pulled back when he saw the small flinch. Instead he slowed his movements down and gently laid his hand on the slender and quaking shoulder.
No one in the room missed the small flinch and not one of them could brush it aside as nothing.
Josiah could sense that Ezra was very upset. Even more than what his voice and small actions betrayed. He would almost say the child seemed as upset at his own reactions than anything else. So in an attempt to hopefully calm the child , Josiah kept his gentle grip on the shoulder and looked only at Ezra as he spoke.
“Ezra, please calm down. First of all, there was no stupidity on your part. Anyone at anytime can overreact. In fact I believe that in that situation, that if a spider landed near me, I would probably jump up too.” This was said with a delicate smile. One that was slightly mirrored on the small face across from his. “Secondly,” he continued, “I know it has been a tough week, coming to a new school and then to have something like this happen. Well, I can see how anyone would get a little upset. It is perfectly normal.
How about a little break? Maybe get out of the room for a bit?”
At the small nod he addressed JD, while never letting his hopefully peaceful gaze on Ezra falter.
“Mr. Dunne, could you please take Ezra to see Mr. Jackson? I think he will feel much better if he could wash off some of the paint and maybe change into some new clothes.”
Seeing a protest about to come forth from the young man in front of him, Josiah was quick to reassure.
“Don’t worry Ezra, Mr. Jackson has a budget to buy some simple clothes to lend to students in case of such ACCIDENTS. So do not worry about not having extra’s with you. We can send your clothes to the cafeteria to be washed before the end of the school day.”
Josiah was sure to emphasize the word accident, because even from Ezra explanation, no matter how much the child wanted to blame himself, Josiah knew that it truly was an accident.
“While you are gone, I will have a talk with Vin and Buck.” And trying to forestall any more pleading from Ezra, Josiah continued.
“I am only going to let them tell me their views of what happened in class and then I will send them down to Mr. Jackson’s to get cleaned up. Once the three of you have had a chance to get away from the situation here for awhile, we will talk again, with Mr. Dunne, in my office.
So please go with Mr. Dunne and I will see you later.”
“Come on Ezra,” JD quietly requested. “Lets get you cleaned up.” Still sensing the possible fear in the boy, JD was quick to add, “Buck and VIn will be fine. This isn’t the first time they have had to talk to Mr. Sanchez and that is all he will do is talk to them.”
Ezra hesitated for just a second before he willing left the room with Mr. Dunne. He wasn’t sure if he was crazy, but he felt he could actually believe what these two say. Looking back one last time before turning down the hall towards Mr. Jackson’s office, Ezra caught Vin’s and Buck’s eyes, giving a small smile of gratitude to them both before he disappeared from their sight.
|
|||