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| FATHER JACOB {Chapter TWO} |
Sorry another long chapter. Here we meet a couple more of the central charaters, and a few others. Hope you enjoy.
CHAPTER TWO
Cody stood on the old train bridge gazing down into the ravine. He kicked a couple of rocks from the edge and watched as they fell to the river below. He could see them hit the water; the depth of the ravine didn’t allow him to hear the splash as they entered though.
“Splush, splush.” Cody said as the rocks hit the surface.
“What the hell is happening to me?” He asked himself. It was like his whole life had been turned inside out and upside down the past few months. When things first started to change, he thought it was a good thing. He had gone from struggling in school to get C’s and D’s to now almost getting straight A’s. He had never liked school or studying, but now all he could think about was reading, math and history. He spent every waking moment studying. Hell he even dreamed of doing school work in his sleep. How fucked up was that? At first he thought it was cool, but now it had become a nightmare. Every night he dreamt of solving complex mathematical problems he didn’t even understand.
“Why can’t I just go back to being how I was?” Cody screamed to the sky. Briefly, just for a second, Cody thought about following the rocks down to the river below. That would stop the nightmares, he thought.
As Cody walked the rest of the way across the bridge he kicked at the pebbles on the pathway. How had this happened? Why had this happened? What’s next in store for me? All questions he had been asking himself over and over again these past few weeks.
“I need to talk to someone,” Cody said to himself. “But who can I trust to talk to?”
As Cody walked, he tried to think of who he could trust to talk to. His parents? Hell no! In the past few months they had become like strangers to him. Ever since he started doing well in school they had began to treat him differently; ignoring him most of the time. His dad never wanted to play ball or watch sports with him anymore. Hell most of the time he acted like he wasn’t even his dad, like Cody wasn’t even his son. And mom? Oh mom had become a raging drunken whore. Cody hated thinking that of his mother, but she had changed so much. From the loving mother who used to sit and talk with him, play games with him, let him sit in her lap and tell him stories, to what she was now. She drank all day long. Cody couldn’t remember the last time he saw his mother without a drink in her hand, day or night. She even drank at the breakfast table. And the shit she was doing, my God, how could she? She brought different men home almost everyday. And she didn’t seem to care who knew about it either. She would have sex with them all over the house. If Cody was in the living room, she would come in naked and start having sex with the guy right in front of him. And when Cody would get up to leave she would laugh at him.
“What’s the matter Cody baby?” She would say. “Don’t you want to watch mommy get fucked by a real man? Yeah leave Cody, just like your daddy, he won’t watch either. Maybe your daddies gay? Hey, maybe you’re gay? Are you gay Cody? Did mommy raise a little puffer?”
“How can you mother!” Cody would scream as he left the house.
No Cody thought, I can’t talk to them. So who? Who could he turn to too help him?
As Cody approached the front of the school, he noticed a beautiful deep blue Jaguar parked a half block down the street.
“Someday, someday I’ll have me one of those.” Cody said smiling as he crossed the street. Glancing back he saw the driver taking pictures of the kids getting off the buses. He stopped on the sidewalk and looked closer at the car, it now looked like the camera was pointed directly at him. As he turned and stepped toward the car the window went up and the car took off down the street. Cody watched as it passed by trying to see who was inside, but as it passed he noticed the windows were heavily tinted, no chance to see inside.
“What the hell?” Cody whispered to himself. Just another odd occurrence in his ever changing odd life he thought. He wondered who it could have been and what they were doing. Mostly Cody couldn’t help but wonder why someone would want to take his picture.
After the last bell Cody lingered in the halls. He was still trying to figure out who he could talk to. Maybe the school counselor he thought, or would he just call his parents? No Cody thought, he couldn’t trust the counselor. As he was standing there thinking, Mr. Crawford came walking around the corner.
“Cody,” Mr. Crawford asked. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Not really Mr. Crawford.” Cody replied.
“Well you do realize the last bell means you can go home, right?” Mr. Crawford asked with a laugh.
“Yes Mr. Crawford,” Cody answered. “I was just trying to, oh never mind.” Cody turned to leave.
“Cody, I sense you want to talk about something.” Mr. Crawford queried. “I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.”
“I don’t know Mr. Crawford; it’s kind of a messy problem.”
“Well maybe I can help out.”
Cody had always liked Mr. Crawford as a teacher, but he wasn’t really sure if he could trust him not to tell his parents what he said.
“If I tell you something will you promise not to tell my parents?”
“Well Cody,” Mr. Crawford replied. “That would depend on what it is you tell me. You know I would have to tell them if you have committed a crime or anything like that, right?”
“Yeah, I know that,” Cody said as he kicked the tiled floor with his shoe. “It’s not anything like that, it’s personal.”
“Well then, if you want to talk, I can listen.”
“Yeah, I think I would.” Cody said as a tear rolled down his cheek.
“Let’s go down to my office.” Mr. Crawford said as he put his arm around Cody’s shoulder.
Tobias sat watching the clock, the second hand ticking away the last few minutes of class. When the bell rang, he got up and rushed out the door. He wanted to get to Father Jacob’s office as soon as he could. He missed talking to Father last night, and he hadn’t seen him around school all day.
As Tobias walked down the hall, he saw his friend Cody leaning against the wall. He was about to shout out to Cody when Mr. Crawford came around the corner. Tobias never really liked Mr. Crawford, he didn’t really have a reason not to like him, there was just something about him that bothered Tobias. Maybe it was because he was ex-military, or maybe because he always called on Tobias to answer questions in class. Anyway, Tobias didn’t want to yell out with Mr. Crawford there.
As he continued down the hall he slowed his pace. Mr. Crawford had stopped, and was talking with Cody. The next thing he knew, Mr. Crawford was walking Cody down the hall towards the offices, his arm around Cody’s shoulder. Cody’s head was slumped over. Tobias thought he could see Cody crying.
As Tobias entered the back of the church, he sensed something was wrong, it just didn’t feel the same. The sense of calm hadn’t engulfed him when he entered like it usually did. He looked around for Father Jacob. Not seeing him, he went out the side doors and crossed the gardens to Father Jacobs’s quarters.
“Hello Father?” Tobias called out as he entered the small house that Father Jacob lived in. There was no reply.
“Father Jacob?” Tobias called out again. Wondering where the Father could be besides home at this time of day?
“Father!” Tobias said with an enthusiastic tone, as he walked back out the door. The Father was walking up the sidewalk. Father looked strange to Tobias. He was wearing regular people’s clothes. Tobias had never seen the Father out of his church clothes.
“I was just looking for you Father,” Tobias said. “I hope it was okay I let myself in?’
“Why sure it is Tobias,” Father Jacob replied. “You can let yourself in anytime. Even if I’m not home, you’re welcome to be here.”
“What’s with your clothes?” Tobias asked.
“What? You thought all I ever wear are my Vestments?”
“I guess I just never really saw you without them.”
“Well sometimes, I just don’t want people seeing me as a Priest.” Father answered.
“That’s cool,” Tobias said. “You look pretty nifty.”
“Well bless you my son.” Father said. “Now what can I do for you Tobias?”
“What?” Tobias asked.
“You said you were looking for me.”
“Oh yeah, I just meant I hadn’t seen you since church yesterday. I didn’t really need to see you for anything particular.”
“Well then, maybe you should run along home. I’m sure your mother will be expecting you for supper soon.”
“Yeah, okay,” Tobias said. “I’ll see you tomorrow though right?”
“Yes you will Tobias. You know I couldn’t get ready for mass without you.”
Brandon got home a little earlier then usual today, there had been no soccer practice. The coach was out sick or something. As he walked thru the garage, to the side door, he grabbed the Tupperware container filled with small nuts and bolts. He had no interest or use for the nuts and bolts; it was what they hid that he wanted.
“Brandon? Brandon?” A voice yelled from the back deck.
“Brandon, you out here?” The voice called again.
“Christ!” Brandon whispered to himself as he snuffed out the pinchie between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah mom.” He yelled back from the woods behind their house.
“You have a phone call.” His mom yelled.
“Who is it?” Brandon yelled back.
“I don’t know. One of your friends I guess, he didn’t say,” she replied. “Just come in an answer it.”
“Okay, I’m coming.”
As Brandon lazily walked across the back yard, he looked up to the deck where his mother stood with the phone. He froze in mid-step. His mother’s chest exploded outward in a spray of crimson.
“MOM!” He screamed out in horror. “MOM!”
Brandon took off running to the house. As he reached the first step of the deck, he felt a sharp sting in his left thigh.
“OW! What the h…” Was all he got out before collapsing unto the stairs.
“Damn he sure can scream. I hope no one heard that.” The man said as he glanced around the yard and jumped down from the deck. He quickly threw a blanket over the boy, picked him up and headed towards the woods.
The man had gotten only about twenty feet into the woods when he stumbled and dropped the boy. Falling down, he heard the sound of metal clinking.
“What the bloody hell?’ The man asked himself as he got up to his knees, brushing the dirt and leaves from his coat. As he went to stand, he noticed a bunch of nuts and bolts scattered on the ground. He also saw two little baggies, and a purple and brass pipe.
“Why you lil bugger,” The man said looking over at Brandon lying under the blanket. “So you’re a pothead are you now?”
The man picked up the baggies and the pipe and put them in his coat pocket.
“We’ll just consider this a nice little bonus, won’t we now lad?” The man laughed.
Bending down to pick up Brandon, the man placed one hand under his legs and the other under his neck. As he started to pick him up, he felt something wet, and warm. Pulling his right hand back, he saw blood.
“Oh bloody fucking hell!” he sighed. “This isn’t good!” Folding back the blanket he checked to see if the boy was breathing, and for a pulse. Yes on both. But there was a lot of blood on the blanket.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” The man cursed under his breath. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his cell. Hitting quick dial 1, he whispered. “Answer damn it!”
“Come on, come on, answer!” The man said worriedly.
“Hello?”
“Hey we’ve got a problem.”
“What?”
“The boy on Adams Avenue, I tripped and dropped him. There’s blood all over the back of his head.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yeah, he’s breathing. What should I do?”
“Take him to the restaurant. Use the alley entrance.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll have someone waiting for you.”
Cody sat there crying. He wasn’t sure if he could tell the rest of his problems to Mr. Crawford or not. Mr. Crawford came back into the room with a can of soda.
“Sorry about that Cody,” Mr. Crawford said. “I had to make a call before four o’clock.” Sitting down beside Cody, he put his arm around Cody’s shoulder.
“It’ll be okay son,” Mr. Crawford assured Cody. “This really isn’t a bad thing. Doing well in school is actually a good thing isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Cody said wiping away his tears. “But there’s more, so much more.”
“Well do you want to tell me about it?” Mr. Crawford asked as he slipped the cap off the syringe.
“I don’t know if I can…” The needle went into Cody’s upper arm. With a quick push the drug was in.
“Ow! What did you …?” Cody slumped over into Mr. Crawford’s lap.
“Sorry young man,” He said sitting him back up. “But it’s for your own good.
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