The Past I Part 5

The Past I
Part 5

The first test came and went. Mrs. Ramirez dropped by two days after the incident in the garage. She chatted with Mrs. K and Archie, and then asked Dan how things were going. The damage to his lip was hardly noticeable, and his hair covered the cigarette burn. For a moment Dan considered telling the truth. He opened his mouth and closed it again as Archie casually moved to place a hand on Tessa’s shoulder. To Mrs. Ramirez, it was an innocent gesture. To Dan, it was a threat. He shrugged. “I don’t like him. He didn’t marry my mom. He smokes up the house. But everything else is okay.”

Archie’s eyes narrowed, but he kept the smile pasted on his face and left Tessa to stand next to his mother. Mrs. K smiled nervously. Mrs. Ramirez looked from one to another and hesitated. Then she nodded and said, “Very well.” She turned to Archie. “Mr. Kawolski,” she said. “Please remember that your guardianship is still under review. It might be best if you refrained from smoking in front of Dan. Smoking is quite unhealthy, and it obviously bothers him.” She picked up her purse and gestured to Dan. “Daniel, will you walk me out, please?”

Dan fell in step with the social worker. At the door, she turned to him and asked, “Is everything really all right? If there is a problem, you need to tell me.”

Dan looked back down the hall. Archie was standing next to Tessa again, his arm slung around her shoulders. Tessa looked very uncomfortable. Archie’s face was a blank. Dan took a deep breath and stared at his shoes. “No, ma’am,” he said. “There aren’t any problems.” He could tell that the social worker didn’t believe him, but she left anyway, assuring him she would be in contact, and reminding him to call if he needed her.

Dinner was unpleasant. Archie was angry. His fury simmered all through the meal, effectively halting all of Mrs. K’s attempts at conversation. Dan and Tessa ate quickly and cleared their places so they could get away from the table. As they did their homework, Dan waited for the explosion. It didn’t happen. At nine he said goodnight to Tessa and Mrs. K and headed into the apartment.

Archie was waiting for him. He sat in his recliner, staring at the door, a beer can in one hand, and the ever-present cigarette in the other. He had moved the chair so that Dan had to pass it in order to get to his room. As Dan passed, Archie blew a huge stream of smoke directly at his face. Then he laughed.

“You stupid, stupid little punk.” Archie didn’t move from his chair, but his voice stopped Dan cold. “Did you really think you could screw with me? Get your social worker to make me stop smoking? In my house? Fat chance, sucker. Tell her you don’t like me? Call me a liar? It won’t work, sonny. You’re the liar. You’re the thief. Your ass belongs to me. I own you.”

Dan tried to force himself forward, but he couldn’t move. His brain told him not to antagonize the madman before him, but his pride overtook his common sense and he shouted, “You do not own me, you creep!”

Archie was on him in a flash. Dan’s much smaller body slammed to the floor under Archie’s weight, the air knocked out of him as Archie pummeled him. Dan tried to get away, but he couldn’t breathe. Then Archie sunk his hands into Dan’s hair, and rose, dragging Dan to his feet and sending him stumbling into the recliner.

Holding the back of Dan’s head down with one hand, Archie pulled his belt from his waist and looped it around his other hand. “Now you little bastard, you listen to me. I already told you I don’t like your smart mouth.” He brought the belt down across Dan’s lower back. “I don’t like you messing with me.” This time the blow landed higher, on Dan’s shoulders, the tip wrapping around his arm. “I especially don’t like you pissing and moaning to the social worker.” A series of blows randomly lashed Dan’s back and legs. Yanking Dan’s hair, he forced the boy to look at him. “You do belong to me. That judge is gonna come back in my favor. I’m your daddy now, boy. Get used to it.” He struck again and again. “I’m following the stellar example of my own daddy, now. You can get used to that, too.”

The beating continued, interspersed with comments, slaps and kicks. Dan wasn’t sure how long it went on, because he couldn’t force enough air into his lungs to feed his brain. There was only pain, and with each shallow, gasping breath, the edges of his vision ebbed and flowed.

Finally, it stopped. Archie yanked Dan to his feet again and half carried him to his door before shoving him into his room. The door slammed at the same time Dan hit the floor. Still struggling for breath, he dragged himself to the bed. As he lay on the bed, he slowly brought his breathing back to normal.

With the return of oxygen came the full realization of pain. Pain that streaked through his body from his neck all the way to his knees. In all of his nearly fourteen years, no one had ever treated him like this. Dan drew his knees close to his chest, whimpering uncontrollably. He heard a quiet tap from the other side of the wall. He laid his hand flat against it, holding onto Tessa’s presence like an anchor until he eventually fell asleep.

On the other side of the wall Tessa heard the small sounds of pain, and realized what the yelling and thumping noises she had heard had been. Her heart hurt for Dan; she wanted to stop what was happening to him, but she didn’t know how. With tears in her eyes, she tapped lightly on the wall, and laid her hand flat against it in silent support. When the whimpering ceased, she too fell asleep.

“We can’t stay there,” Tessa spoke quietly as they walked toward the school. Dan was stiff and sore, and he hadn’t spoken more thana cursory greeting all morning. Tessa stopped, grabbing his arm. He flinched and she loosened her grip. “Do you want to talk about it?” No response. “Please? Danny, please don’t shut me out!”

Dan sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about it, Tess. I should have just walked away, but I didn’t. I made him mad.”

“I know.” Tessa shrugged at the expression of surprise in Dan’s eyes. “I told you the walls were thin. I heard what he did, and I heard you, after.” Dan flushed, unable to look her in the eyes. “Don’t be embarrassed. It wasn’t your fault. It’s him. There’s something really wrong with him. He likes hurting people. Last night, I was wishing so hard that I could just stop him. I wanted to help you, to touch you. I reached out, but then the wall was too thick.”

“I felt you there,” Dan admitted. “I reached out to you, too. It helped.”

“We can’t stay there,” Tessa repeated, her tone absolute.

“We don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“We’ll find some place. Some way.” Tessa reached for his hand. Dan hesitated, but allowed her to take it. “Together.” Dan nodded and gently squeezed her hand. They walked the rest of the way to school without talking.

School was difficult. Dan usually enjoyed school, but on this day his body ached, his mind raced, and he found it hard to concentrate. Mr. Foster, his science teacher asked him twice to describe photosynthesis. Both times, Dan was trying to figure out how he was going to change for gym without anyone seeing the marks Archie had left on him. Finally, Mr. Foster approached Dan and, putting a hand on his shoulder, asked once again, “Please describe the process of photosynthesis, Mr. Mangan.”

Startled, Dan nearly jumped out of his seat. He flinched away from the teacher’s hand and mumbled, “I can’t sir.”

Mr. Foster looked at Dan through narrowed eyes, and said, “Very well. See me after class, please.” Dan groaned quietly as the teacher moved on to another student.

After class, the students filed out; Dan stayed in his seat. Mr. Foster approached him, casually sitting on the desk next to Dan, being careful not to touch him. “What’s going on Dan?” he asked. Dan shrugged, “Come on buddy, something’s up. You turned in a four-page report on photosynthesis two weeks ago and you can’t describe it to the class today? Your mind isn’t here. It’s been like this the last few days, but today it’s really bad. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Dan struggled between honesty and hedging. He liked Mr. Foster. He was a good teacher who made science interesting and fun, but he was an adult. Dan was having a hard time believing he could trust anyone, especially another adult. Finally he said, “It’s been hard since my mom died. I haven’t been sleeping well, and now I really don’t feel good. I think I might be coming down with the flu or something.”

The teacher looked at him closely. Dan could almost hear what he was thinking. He knew he looked pale and tired--the mirror had told him that. But he was pretty sure Mr. Foster suspected something more. Flu symptoms didn’t usually include the wariness and jumpiness Dan knew he was displaying. Nor did they usually manifest in the faint shadow of bruising along a person’s jaw line, or the slight swelling of the lips. “Very well,” he said. “Why don’t you head down to the nurse and have her take a look at you.” He stood up and gestured to Dan. “Come on,” he said. “This is my prep period. I’ll walk you down.”

Reluctantly Dan rose and followed the teacher out the door. Part of him resented the fact that Mr. Foster felt it necessary to escort him to the health room; another part was relieved that he could miss his P.E. class playing sick for the nurse.

The nurse took his temperature: It was slightly elevated, but not enough to warrant getting sent home so late in the day. She handed him a blanket and saw him stretched out on a cot, before heading to lunch. Dan feigned sleep for the last two classes, and then rose, folded the blanket, and went to meet Tessa at her locker.

“What happened?” she asked anxiously.

“How do you know anything happened?” he asked.

“I have French with Tully,” she reminded him. “He told me Mr. Foster held you in after class, and that you didn’t show up for P.E." She bit her lip and whispered, “I was worried that he found out, and they took you away.”

“No. I told him I wasn’t sleeping and thought I was getting the flu. He took me to the nurse. That’s where I was. How was French?”

“Considering I speak it better than the teacher?” Tessa asked sarcastically. “It was tedious and très mauvais. And you are changing the subject.”

“Yes, I am,” Dan replied wearily. “Will you please let me?”

“For now,” Tessa told him. “But only because you look half dead. We will need to talk about it soon though. We need to have a plan.” At Dan’s blank look, she explained. “An escape plan.”

“Okay,” Dan agreed. “But not here. Not now.”

“Let’s go...home.” Tessa grimaced as she closed her locker and reached for Dan’s hand.

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