Page 20 of Silent Damage

I squeeze him back, gritting my teeth and clasping my arms around him with a force that could make him pop.

We stay there, locked in this aggressive hold, panting and grunting into each other’s ears.

“STOP IT!” I hear my mom scream.

“ENOUGH,” Doug bellows before grabbing Jason, trying to pull him off, but I won’t let go. Jason won’t let go of me either. Our arms squeeze each other, refusing to loosen, until Jason releases a wail and pushes me off.

“No,” he yells, his finger pointing at me. “No.” The second one is a warning.

I hock a loogie, and it lands right on his sneaker.

“FUCKER,” he screams.

Jason tries to dive back on top of me, but Doug catches him first. “Take a walk, Jason!”

“He hawked a—”

“Take a walk!”

Silence. Jason stands there, glaring at me with his chest heaving. I glare right back at him.

“Fuck this,” Jason yells and walks off.

I watch him stomp off as I clutch my chest, feeling my heart pounding.

Mom rushes to me. “Are you okay?”

What do you think? Is what I want to say, but I don’t.

I just clench my teeth and hold back the tears that want to fall as I watch Jason storm off.

“Jesus Christ,” Doug whispers.

How are we going to live together?

Jason

I don’t know where to go. There’s no home anymore—no bedroom where I can slam the door and get some privacy. My whole life revolves around him. We share a trailer, a bedroom, and a really fucked up past.

My feet take me into the woods that surround the trailer park. I don’t know why—I could walk down the main stretch of the Patch, but that’s not where my feet take me. The sun has nearly set, and the sky is a mix of orange, pink, and deep purple. I know exactly where I’m going, and I hate it. My feet move on instinct, my chest tightening with each step I take.

The spot where our fort used to sit comes into view. Nothing remains. I destroyed it all the night it happened. A night that feels like the before-and-after moment of my miserable life.

My chest burns as I run through the forest. Gabe isn’t at his trailer, and I refuse to talk to his mom. I was right. I hate like hell that I was right, but I was. I knew something was going on between Doug and Linda.

My mom’s exploding, and Doug wants us out. I have to find Gabe. We need to be together—to leave here and just get away.

We’d talked about maybe getting a place together, and this is our chance. Maybe his friend, Torren, can let us squat in his shop for a second, just until we get money.

I see him sitting under the fort, poking the ground with a stick. “GABE!”

He looks up at me, and his face is off. He doesn’t look like himself. He’s usually all smiles when he sees me, but right now he looks…

I stop in front of him, my lungs burning from running so fast. “I was right. Doug and your mom—” I can barely catch my breath.

Gabe stares at the ground, poking leaves with a stick.

“Dude, did you hear me?”