“WhatLiesBeneath”—BreakingBenjamin
Jude, twenty-one years old
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust….” The rest of what the preacher said was white noise to me. The sobs from my father set my teeth on edge. I wanted to strangle him. Grab him by the throat and squeeze until he stopped fighting me. Then throw him down into the hole that he should’ve been in, not my mother.
“Jude, will you be coming by the house?” My sister looked at me with tears running down her young face. The pleading I saw through the glisten of tears ripped at what heart I had left. My gaze flickered over to where my father sat in a chair surrounded by his and my mother’s friends. The people who never really knew them yet called her their friend.
How could I say that? Because if they’d truly been her friends, they wouldn’t be trying to console the fucking bastard in the chair.
“I don’t know,” I said, then realized I couldn’t lie to her. “Probably not, Jasmine.”
She pulled her lips between her teeth and held her despair in. It damn near killed me, and I gathered her into my arms. Her fingers clutched the back of my dress blues as she choked on her sobs that she could no longer contain.
Swallowing with difficulty, I fought the burning in my eyes. “You want me to give you a ride back to school when I head out?” I asked when I knew I had control again.
She nodded into my chest, and I took a shuddering breath.
The feeling of being watched hit me, and I glanced around. Through the dispersing crowd, I noticed a woman standing some distance away. She was all in black, and her shoulder-length dark hair curtained her face as the wind grabbed it.
My eyes narrowed as the sun peeked from between the rumbling clouds. The hair that appeared dark became the deepest red, and my heart jumped as if I’d been hit with a defibrillator.
“There’s no way…,” I whispered. Gently, I disentangled myself from my sister’s arms and set her aside with a promise to be right back, but the woman turned away. I rushed toward her retreating form, but I was stopped in my tracks as my father stepped in front of me.
“Son,” he said with the scent of alcohol masked in mint heavy on his breath. “Can we talk?”
“No. I have absolutely nothing to say to you,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “In fact, never speak to me again.” My lip twitched as I fought a snarl.
He gripped my arm tightly, and his pleading tone evaporated like a lying mist. “It was an accident. Please, I need your help. I’m in some trouble.”
“There’s no help for you. Get your hands off me or I don’t care who sees me, I will knock you on your fucking ass.” Angry, I shook him off and stepped around him to continue on my mission, but by then, she was nowhere to be seen. It had me wondering if I’d imagined her. Conjured her up from memories long buried.
Either way, I shook it off.
“Jasmine,” I barked, deciding she wasn’t riding home with our father after I’d smelled his breath. “Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride.”
She followed me as I stormed to my rental car.
“Jude!” my father shouted, but I ignored him and kept walking. The sheer gall of the man thinking I would do a motherfucking thing for him was sickening.
Without speaking, we got in the car and left the cemetery. Across town, and into my childhood neighborhood, I drove silently. Finally, I stopped in front of the house that looked like a million dollars. At least from the street.
No one knew the horrors that were caged within the walls. Secrets that would sicken the heartiest of souls and ravage the weak.
“Go in and get your shit. Everything you want to keep. I need to make a phone call and then I’ll be in to help you.” Jasmine chewed on her cheek for a moment, uncertainty spilling from her in waves. Then she nodded and left the car.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts. There weren’t many.
“Speak to me,” his deep voice said.
“I’m taking Jasmine out of the house completely. She’s eighteen, so he can’t say anything. I need a favor.”
“Which is?”
“I need you and your boys to watch out for her until I come home.” I gritted my teeth, knowing there would be a price. Especially considering I was already indebted to them. They’d been the reason my father never touched my sister. If only my mother had left before that fateful day. I’d never understood why she’d stayed.
“And when you finish this enlistment, you’re coming home?” he asked. I hadn’t planned on it, but then again, I knew he wasn’t really asking. My eyes closed.
“Yes.”