Page 9 of Deserter

Over the next week, Wolverine would come in from being out on club business, giving Lucy updates that were too quiet for me to understand. As the days dragged on, I’d convinced myself that my mother had died, and that I was going to be forced to live with Donald alone.

One evening, Wolverine came in with a big smile on his face. “You’re going home today, son.”

When I began to cry, his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “Well, aren’t you happy?”

When I explained why I was upset, his eyes went dark. “She’s alive, Jamie. She’s home, resting, and waiting for you. You’ve got to take care of her for a little while. Do you think you can do that?”

I’d nodded happily and raced him out to his pickup truck. I would’ve agreed to wash the dishes for the next one hundred years if it meant I got to see her again.

When we arrived at my house, I raced in to find my mother curled up on the couch in the den. She was staring blankly through the picture window behind it and didn’t even turn when she heard my voice.

“Ma?”

She was pale, and I worried that she was still hurting when my old man walked out of the kitchen, whistling. “Hello, James. Did you have a good stay with your friends?”

Wolverine nodded to him and left while I continued to stare up at my father in shock. I heard his truck start up and almost ran back outside to stop him. I didn’t want him leaving us here alone with my old man.

His whistling grew louder, and I suddenly wished that I was Cyclops fromThe X-Men. I would’ve loved to have watched him turn to a pile of ash in front of me.

He walked over to my mother and the hands at my sides clenched into fists. “Don’t,” I warned, and he turned around.

“Don’t what, son? I’m trying to take care of your mother. She had a bad fall down the stairs at work. There’s no easy way to say this, but she lost our baby, James. You and me, we’re gonna take care of her until she’s back on her feet, aren’t we?”

He stroked her hair before pulling the afghan up around her shoulders while she continued to stare into nothingness. After ensuring that a glass of water was within her reach, he stood up and faced me.

“Did you hear me?”

I felt like my whole body was vibrating with anger. “You,” I forced out. “You did this to her!”

He yanked me out of the den. “What did you just say to me?”

I wrenched my arm free. “You hurt her! I saw the marks.”

I expected him to look ashamed, but he surprised me with a laugh. “Oh, yeah? What makes you think those came from me? Your mother is clumsy and, unfortunately, her clumsiness made this happen.”

I didn’t even stop to think as he turned away from me with a grin. I launched myself at him and began pummeling his large body with my fists. I felt invincible until he picked me up and threw me against the paneled wall in the entry way.

The impact knocked the air from my lungs, and I struggled to take a breath. My old man knelt over my body, inhaling and exhaling like that bull from aBugs Bunnycartoon I once saw.

“It’s time for you to grow the fuck up. You wanna act like a man, I’ll treat you like one.” His fists began to connect with my body, but unlike mine, his hits were effective.

Before I blacked out, I made a promise to myself that I would get us away from him. I would do whatever I needed to do to keep my mother safe.

Chapter Three

Jamie: 1980

“You plannin’ on staying holed up in here all night again?” John looked up from one of his old man’sPlayboymagazines with a smirk.

“You stay holed up in here all the time and no one gives you shit,” I replied, without looking up from the latest issue ofThe Mighty Thor.

I’d been aimlessly browsing at the comic book store next door when the headline jumped out at me.

Thor must die… at the hands of his own father!

I related to him there.

My old man had been trying to kill me for the last six years. The only reason I hadn’t taken off yet was because if he was hitting me, he wasn’t hitting my mother.

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