Page 14 of Silent Damage

I take a few steps outside before Mom yells, “Gabe, wait.”

Without looking at her, I put up my hand to stop her from following me.

He doesn’t get grand explanations of how fucked up I was after it all happened.

And he doesn’t get to know what really happened, either.

Chapter 5

Jason

Not a call.

Not a single text after it happened.

You get nothing from me.

That’s what he wrote.

I look at the paper, my hands trembling as I try to wrap my brain around the information that Doug shared.

My mind is split in two. One half wants to rage at the top of my lungs, and the other wants to run after him.

Linda walks back into the trailer alone, and my gut coils.

I glare at Doug. “He doesn’t speak anymore? You didn’t think that was news to share before I got here?”

My dickhead of a dad looks at the ground. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

I can feel my face heat up, rage coursing through my veins. “I learned about what Linda did through the goddamned news before Mom confirmed it. You said nothing to me. Nothing. You don’t think I should have learned that Gabe was so fucked up he stopped talking?”

“Didn’t you have a phone? He was your friend,” Doug spits back at me.

I’ve kept it cool this entire time, but this is beyond the pale. I rise from the bed, bracing myself for a fight. “You fuck the neighbor and ruin my life, and it’s my responsibility to check in? What about you? How come you couldn’t call me? Whether you like it or not, I’m your fucking son, you piece of shit!”

Doug darts forward, veins bulging from his temples, but Linda steps in the way. “No!” she yells. “Not this. This isn’t happening.” She holds up her arms, separating us from each other.

Doug’s kept himself under control since I got off the bus, but I see the old him now.

The red face.

The anger.

His jaw clenches as he looks at the fuck-up of a son he has.

This is the Doug I remember.

“Doug, go back and make a salad for dinner, please,” Linda says.

For a moment, Doug looks like he’s about to tell her off like he used to with Mom—he never did a damn thing to help Mom. But then his eyes soften, and he nods before leaving the trailer.

I sit back down and scrub my hands over my face. It hurts. Why her? Why does he have a heart for Linda but can’t love Mom and me?

“I’m sorry no one told you,” she says.

I’m angry. Always will be, but hearing that Gabe stopped talking after the murder does something to me.

Maybe I should have called.