you retard!” Clayton yelled as he stood still wobbling with blood now covering the entire side of his face.
“Get off me! Get off now!” Thomas pleaded. His face burned and tears ran uncontrollably down his cheeks. “Please! Please! I ain’t done nothin to you. Get off!” He squirmed and bucked trying to break free but Bug sat firm and continued his beating.
Brandon still lay on the ground and Clayton barely stood while blood gushed form his wound. Bug’s friends gathered around and cheered him on. Thomas phased all of them out as if they didn’t exist. All that was left in his mind was Bug beating him in the face. All went silent as he watched the last fist coming straight at him and then darkness.
Thomas awoke to a similar sight. He sat huddled in a corner of his parents’ trailer with his knees pulled tight up to his chest and his arms blocking his face. His father stood over him with a well worn belt clutched in one hand.
“You think you can pick and choose what you want to eat? Does this look like a damn buffet I’m running?” his father screamed. Thomas was scared and shocked. These beatings usually only came when his father had been drinking, but tonight he was sober and obviously mad about something and taking it out on him. “I ain’t got the money for you to be throwin’ food away. You can’t finish your dinner and now you want a dessert? You need to learn to eat your food before you ask for a treat, dammit!”
Thomas coward in the corner with his arms raised but he knew he couldn’t protect himself and he would only make his father madder if he tried. His father stopped screaming and he peeked out from behind his arm but quickly pulled back but now fast enough. He heard the old worn belt whistle as if cut through the air as it struck him only in the upper arm. He knew his father would be furious with such a terrible hit and blame him for jumping back. Thomas screamed and cried but could do nothing but cover his face with his hands and slump forward so he could endure the full brunt of his father’s wrath. Lash after painful lash came undeterred by his sobbing and his cries for his father to please stop. Each one hit home square on his back sending waves of pain up and down his spine.
The pain consumed him and he cried uncontrollably. He jerked with every hit. He whimpered and let out a cry with each rush of the belt. Inside, deep inside, he was gone. Deep in the recesses of his mind he was in a different place altogether. He was someplace where his father swung the belt at but he stepped back and caught it. His father’s eyes blazed with anger but he didn’t care. He jerked the belt from his father and wielded it for himself. He confidently strode towards his father and unleashed. He unleashed all his anger, all his fear, all his hatred. He unleashed a beating his father would be proud of.
“Come on! Come on, Thomas!” Brandon yelled as he tried to pull his friend off Bug. “Clay! Get over here and help me get him off of him!”
“Let him beat him. I don’t care,” Clayton said as he wobbled over.
Thomas sat on top of the large bully still pounding him in the face. Bug’s friends had already ran off down the alley and he lay unmoving. Thomas kept beating him. He wasn’t even sure if he was hitting him in the face. Thomas could see a chest, neck, blood, and hair. He stopped hitting and turned to Brandon. Brandon fell back from pulling his friend’s arm. The hatred in his eyes scared Brandon. Thomas stared at his friend wondering if he should hit him too, but then he realized who everyone was and also, even more importantly, who he was. His gaze moved back and forth between his friends and Bug and then he started to cry.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” Brandon helped his friend to his feet. “Make sure he’s going to be ok,” he said to Clayton.
Clayton bent over the bully and checked to make sure he was still alive. “You ok?” he asked as he shook Bug.
The large bully groaned and spit out blood as he tried to talk. He moved his head back and forth and all he could do was moan.
“You sure?” Clayton asked. “Good,” he asked and he drew back and kicked Bug as hard as he could in the side causing him to moan, groan, whimper, and cry all in one blood curdled sound. Clayton turned and ran after his friends down the alley.
Chapter 4
Two days later, Thomas waited until everybody was asleep. He quietly got dressed and headed out the front door of the sleeping barracks. His soft leather shoes barely made a noise as he scuffled across the wooden floor and then onto the soft earth outside.
He silently made his way towards the armory where he planned to borrow some of the academy’s fishing equipment. The armory was straight across the courtyard from his sleeping quarters. After that, the only thing between him and the exit was the older boys’ sleeping quarters. But first, he must sneak into the armory without alerting Jonah who was on watch tonight.
The door to the armory creaked slightly as he eased it open. He had purposely placed two fishing poles and tackle near the door after weapons training earlier that day. The full moon had only begun to wane. The light shone through the only window in the armory making it very easy for Thomas to locate and bundle the fishing equipment.
There had been a few fishing trips during his time in this new land. Braddock and the older boys had taken them on educational fishing trips. Braddock lazily fished. The older boys swam and played downstream. Thomas and his friends had a quota to fill. They had to catch at least three edible fish before they could go home.
Clayton had caught the first one. He hauled it home and unhooked it from his line. “Look at this one! I got the first one, whoo!” he yelled towards Braddock as he smiled from ear to ear.
“Throw it back and catch something that’ll do more than whet my appetite,” he yelled down the stream to the excited young boy. He turned back towards his own pole and closed his eyes.
Clayton turned back towards the boys who were trying to hold back their laughter. “I don’t know what his problem is. I would eat it,” he slumped his shoulders and looked down at his fish.
“What wouldn’t you eat?” Brandon asked as Thomas broke out laughing unable to hold it back any longer.
“Ah, shut it you idiot,” he quipped as he threw the flapping fish straight at Brandon’s head.
“Hey, watch it!” Brandon yelled as he batted the fish away. It landed a few feet away and flopped back and forth until it managed to find its way back into the water.
The day dragged on until each boy had caught their fill. The older boys headed home after a few hours. Braddock awoke later and made his way back home after giving the boys firm instructions as to what he considered a sizable fish. The boys finally caught what they needed. They triumphantly returned to the academy only to find out that their work was far from over. They had to clean and prepare the fish for supper.
He gathered the fishing supplies and made for the front gate. He knew the watch schedule. There were always two boys on watch at a time. The boys on watch focused their attention on the front gate but also had to make periodic rounds around the barracks and outer walls. Thomas would wait for one of these rounds and then slip out the front.
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