Page 26 of Protector

“I’ve known this family for a very long time, since Bonnie was just a little baby. Carlo has always been this way toward her. It just got worse when Emily passed.”

I never hear King or Bonnie talk about their mother, but they were only four and three when she died, so I guess they don’t really remember her either.

“But why?” I question, still not getting my head around it.

“I wish I knew, son. But that man does a lot of things for very little reason. Carlo has always made a point to dislike how Bonnie is a daughter and not a son, and I guess he let the anger over that consume him.”

“But why, Mum? Why does it matter that she’s a girl?”

She shakes her head, and her hands lift from her lap in an I don’t know gesture.

“I don’t have the answers for you. The best we can do for her is to show up, be there for her, protect her as much as we can.”

“I’ll protect her forever,” I whisper, not meaning to say it out loud.

Mum puts her arm back around me and squeezes my shoulder tightly, pulling my side into hers.

“And that is why I’ll always be proud of the man you’re growing up to be.” She kisses my head, and I sit and stare at the carpet for a while.

“I want to run away. I want to run away with Bonnie," I say, looking up at her with determination in my mind, but the only thing reflecting back at me is worry.

“I know you like her, Puck, but you can’t do that. You’ve seen how that man treats his own children. God forbid what he'd do to someone who isn’t.”

“But we can’t let him get away with it, Mum,” I say a little louder. “If I don’t protect her from him, who will?”

She twists herself to face me better, grabbing both of my hands tightly.

“Now, you listen to me, boy, and you listen good. I will not let you do anything irresponsible. You’re such a good boy, and I know you want to help her, but we are going to have to do the best we can right here. I lost your father. I can’t lose you too.”

“It sounds silly, but I think I might love her,” I confess, and my cheeks blush.

“Oh, my sweet boy,” Mum says, tucking me back under her arm. “That girl has been in love with you since the very first day she set eyes on you. You may be young, but sometimes you just know when it’s right. It’s okay that you love her, son, and just that alone will be enough to protect her for now. Just don’t let your feelings get the better of you. Carlo is a dangerous man, and I won’t lose the both of you, okay?”

I nod and let her kiss my cheek before saying goodnight once more.

“I love you, son,” she says softly, pulling the door closed behind her.

“I love you too, Mum.”

Igot ready that morning with a newfound sense of living. Puck’s right. Who is to say this is all I have? That these four walls are the only part of the world I’ll get to see? That I can’t have a happy ending like everyone else does? That I don’t get to experience love?

Nobody should get to dictate that part of me. Especially my dad.

He might hate me, he might hide me and treat me like I’m nothing and no one, but I know who I am.

Puck knows who I am.

I dress in record time and run through the house, expecting to see Puck, King, or Dax, but they’re nowhere to be found, and it isn’t until Maria catches me flying past her that she laughs at my confusion.

“It’s Monday, dear. They’re at school.”

I scrunch my eyes tight, trying to recall where the weekend went, but then the pounding in my head comes back, and I guess all the crying and the general overwhelming emotions from yesterday fogged my brain.

“Come on, missy,” Maria says, tutting as she walks past me, and I follow her into one of the studies that we use as a classroom.

It’s a very bland room, with beige walls and hardwood floors and one window on the far side. There is a bookcase with some textbooks, paper and pens, but that’s about it. As if classes weren’t boring enough sometimes, I have to sit in this dull room and try to feel motivated, whilst thinking of the boys getting to go to a real school.

“Bonnie.” I hear Maria’s exasperated sigh, and I look up from the biology book in my hands.

---