Chapter 9 Danny

When Danny arrived to the trailer house he called "home" he zoomed away from his father as fast as he could. Only to realize that his dad had passed out in the truck, and this wasn't the first time it had happened either. Danny knew he couldn't just leave his old drunk sailor father in the truck, so he opened the driver door and somewhat made an effort to carry him into the house. Where Danny then let his dad fall on the couch. He then went into the fridge and grabbed a glass of ice cold water and placed it on the cabinet right next to his father. After that he went into his father's room and grabbed his blanket and tossed it over the sleeping man and went into his own bedroom.

The bedroom itself was pretty small compared to Zach's room. It had a bed on the left side and a tiny dresser in the middle which was below the window that he looked out of every night, there was also a built in closet on the left side as well, but that was usually used as storage. Danny tossed himself on his rickety old bed and laid down without even moving. He stared up at the ceiling wondering when the candle of pain will burn its last wick. He then shifted as the bed creaked, he was cautious we he did it so that he didn't wake up his father and end up trying to hide once more from him. Now his view was the dresser and a picture of him and his mother standing right next to the bed. He smiled up at it "he's been hurting again mom..." He said as if she was standing right there next to him. "He passed in the old truck. I feel bad for him. I hope he can finally make peace that you're gone... but I don't think he will, he isn't that easy to persuade." he said finally sitting up normally. He then kicked off his shoes and tried to sleep. Only to be awakened by his father in a not good way. A bucket of water was tossed on him along with the bucket. When Danny got up suddenly fear wallowed in his eyes ever so, that he tried to run to the living room but was immediately caught by his drunk father "Listen here you little shit!" He said pinning his son against the couch. "I make the rules here! And you aren't to grab me a fucking blanket." He yelled grabbing the glass of water and breaking it by slamming it into the back of Danny's neck. "I'm sorry!" He cried. His father then began to raise fists at his sons. "I'm Sorry!" He said mimicking his own son. "Be a fucking man Daniel!" He said as he then took of his son's shirt and raised the boy to where his stomach was in his face. He then unloosened the belt from his jeans and made Danny bend over. "Just for that you get twenty six whips!" He said as his son bent over and whimpered for dear life, as he began to beat his son furiously with the belt. As Danny laid there twitching in pain as every hit came he had surely wished he had died along side Wyeth his mother. After the tenth one Danny became numb after every single hit his father became slower and slower until he collapsed in the floor after the twentieth and fell asleep on the ground. Danny, who now felt pain as he began to move to try to stand, was stumbling trying to get to his room. Where the first aid was, as he walked a blood trail was following like a shadow to Danny. He then gripped on the wall as if the whole house was shifting he groaned in pain and continued to get to the bedroom. When made it he opened the closet to find everything nicely folded. When he lifted up one of the piles of clothing he found the box of he first aid material.

He then walked into the filthy bathroom and sat on the toilet seat as he opened the box and began rummaging through it when he found gauze pads and bandages. He then closed the box and with a quick painful motion he opened the mirror cabinet to get the rubbing alcohol out of it and swiftly closed it again. As he poured all over his back, the stinging that was usually was there when applied wasn't, as pain the pain from the lashes made everything numb to him. He then reached into the basket that was sitting on the back of toilet and grabbed his mom's old mirror. He then aligned it with the other mirror so he could see his back when he was applying the gauze. After he applied it he then proceeded to bandage his entire back as if the lashes had touched everywhere on him.

After he finished it he then looked into the mirror to see is he had missed any spots then he realized the back of his neck was bruising from where the bottle had hit. He decided he did all he could and stumbled into his room locking the door so that he couldn't be disturbed again. Danny then looked down upon the soaking wet bed and began to pull everything off of it. He then tossed into the laundry basket and went into the closet once more to grab new sheets and a comforter. When he finished putting his bed back into working he tried lay down on it as the pain increased as he put pressure on his back as he laid down. Tears streamed down his face as the pain was trying to take over. He looked back at the photo again to see the same old picture. "He did it again." He said through the tears "when will it end!" He asked as he swallowed the tears. If he was able to see her. She would be sitting on his bed and stroking his hair and her answer would be "soon my son, soon" but it never would be able to be heard by his ears.

As the next day approached Danny got up about four in the morning when he heard the front door of the house open and shut. His eyes fluttered open when someone unlocked his door to see if he was awake. It was Emily, she ran to his side once she saw his back. "Not again..." she whispered. Now Emily was a more nicer then his father. She had long black hair, hazel eyes, and usually wore a plaid shirt with ripped up jeans and a beanie. Danny opened his eyes once more. When he spoke the pain came back to him once more. "H-hi Emily..." he said slowly. Emily helped him up and got him ready for marching band. "You think you'll be able to march?" Emily asked as she rummage through his short drawers trying to find something that will fit him. "Y-yeah" he said with uncertainty. She looked back at him and tossed a pair of shorts that he could wear. "So are you liking band so far?" She asked as she got up and looked for a tee shirt. Danny smiled "yes, very much so, everyone is so nice there." Emily smiled as she then tossed a tee shirt that would fit him and match the shorts. "I'll take you out for breakfast..." she said as she exited the room. Danny slowly got dress, trying not to disturb the bandages or make sudden movement to cause more pain. Although it was impossible, seeing almost everything was hurting when he got dressed fully he tried to stand up, he gripped the bed frame as he tried to stand. Every bone in his body was telling him 'NO! you need to rest!' but he wouldn't have it. As he got to where he was standing he started to walk that was the easy thing to do. When he got into the living room Emily was standing right over his father, looking at him and lifting her gaze back to Danny. "So he smashed a bottle on you, and then beat the shit out of you with a belt." She groaned with a sigh. Danny raised his hand "And he also threw a bucket at me." Her gazed went back down to his father.

She then walked back over to Danny and ushered him out the door. "Alright let's go get breakfast" She said as they got into her car. When she pulled it out of the driveway she then paused and turned her head to see if there was traffic anywhere. "So where do you want to go?" Danny shrugged "I don't know you pick" He said as tried to be as comfortable as he could. The two didn't talk for a while until Emily had suggested going to the cafe. " I think that's a good idea," Danny said. Emily smiled and then turned onto the highway to get to the cafe.

It was still early enough in the morning to do that sort of thing. meaning that band camp didn't start until 6:30. He may have not grabbed his instrument but had time to go back to the house to go get it.The only sad thing that kept going through Danny's mine was that instrument was his mother's. Even the demon could see that he missed his mother so much. Yet, he never blamed his dad for it. It was honestly sad that Danny viewed his dad's aggression of beating him as a sign of relief to his dad. As they got to the cafe, Emily remembered that she had to pick up her paycheck anyways from here. as they walked in and no one was there, only the cook and one waitress. The cook noticed that it was Emily and smiled " do you work this shift?" Emily smiled and shook her head. " No, I'm just taking Danny out for breakfast before he goes to marching band." The cook laughed " I remember those old days" She said. " breakfast is on me and do you want your paycheck?" Emily nodded " yes ma'am!" As the two choose a place to sit. Emily even begin to ask what had actually happened yesterday night. " I don't really remember all the details…" Danny said, holding his hands in his lap. " Well, you did say he beat you with the belt, do you remember anything before or after that?"

Danny looked back on that " actually yes he got mad because I got him a blanket from the room, and that was his whole reason for getting angry." Emily rolled her eyes and sighed and looked back up at Danny " that is really messed up... Was he drunk before that?" Danny looked back up at Emily " I'm not sure anymore when he is or is not it's very hard to tell now it used to be easy now it's like trying to pick a needle in a haystack, I can never tell when he's drunk because he does it all the time." Emily sigh once more. " Danny, listen to me, the next time this happens call me using the house phone." Danny shook his head vigorously. " I can't! It's in his room. I'm terrified to go back to that room." Emily was confused why he was scared of that room. until she realized why. He was truly scared of that room, it wasn't because of the room itself, it was what happened in that locked room where screams could be heard. " I'm so sorry you have to live through this…" She said before Danny could say anything else the food had come and Emily's check as well. "thank you Amanda!" Emily said as the cook walked away. the cook looked back and smiled " anytime!" in front of the two was, two eggs, hash browns, and a side of sausage. It took awhile for Danny to start eating. He wasn't always used to being the first one to eat, when Emily noticed she looked back up at Danny " you kind of need to start eating quickly marching band starts at 6:30." Danny then quickly grabbed the fork and started shoveling everything in his mouth. Emily laughed " I didn't mean that quickly." Danny stopped and tilted his head. He swallowed the food real quickly and said " But you said to eat real quickly." The two laughed at each other for a while. Until Emily looked at the time and realized that the two of them had finished breakfast. "Well got to drop you off at band practice, how's your back right now." Danny moved quite a bit to see if the pain was still there he shrugged " I mean it's still there but not as bad as it was." Emily's smile dropped, As the two got to the entrance the cook waved them goodbye.

As they walk out to the parking lot, Emily noticed something else about Danny, it was the way that he was walking. "Does your leg hurt at all?" Danny shook his head and smiled " oh that's not from him that's from band camp, I didn't listen to Zach when he told me to stretch my calves before I went to bed" It was now Emily's turn to tilt her head " Who's Zach? isn't that the one that's been helping you correct" Danny nodded " he's really kind, almost everybody there is kind." Emily smiled " well I am glad that you found something that you love" Danny looked up at her " I love all sorts of things oh, and I love you too Emily." Emily smiled and blushed as she got into the car. " I love you too Danny." Danny smiled and laughed " in a non weird way?" Emily chuckled " in a non weird way" she repeated.

As they arrived back into the trailer house. Danny's dad was already up, he saw Danny and Emily come in. When he saw the two coming in he had a stern expression on his face as if he didn't want them there " what the fuck are you two doing here?" Emily then whispered something into Danny's ear. It was probably her asking him to go get the instrument and everything he needed. " I'm taking him to marching band" she answered without giving any emotion towards his father. his father laughed " you're still doing that piece of shit good-for-nothing thing?!" He said gesturing towards Danny, Danny looked over his shoulder. "It's the one thing I enjoy father." his dad made his way over to Danny to slap him across the face for saying 'the one thing I enjoyed.' but Emily had gotten in the way, and she did it on purpose so that he did not get hit again. His father didn't realize what he had done " move out of the way bitch!" he said angrily. Emily did not move, she stood there as if she was ready to be on guard on protecting somebody and that somebody was Danny. Danny quickly grabbed all the things he needed and made his way out the door, Emily was still standing where she was. and this time she looked more mad than ever. She Then followed Danny halfway out the door. She then turned her head so that his father could see half of her face, the half that he hit. "If you are a good enough father you'd be the one going to support your only son, shame on you Andy." She then walked out the door and slammed it behind her and got into the car, her mood had totally changed when she realized Danny had sensed it. When she started the car she looked backed over at Danny. " If you're a little late will your band director mind?" Danny shook his head " I don't believe so, she's way nice I think she'll understand." Emily then looked back so she could back up out of the driveway when she straightened out and was able to continue on the road she looked at Danny " so she knows?" Danny nodded.

She then got to the entrance of the neighborhood and stopped and looked down at the controls on a car. "I shouldn't have called out your dad like that; it was rude of me I am sorry." Danny grabbed her hand " it's okay Emily" she didn't look back up at the road " it's not okay to me I just yelled at what I feel like is my son's dad." Danny looked at her wide-eyed " you consider me as your son?" She smiled " I always had Danny the first time I met you when I realize that you were in this situation." she then got back on the highway and made her way towards the school. She hadn't said anything else until she had gotten to the school. "One way or another I will get you out of there no matter what." Danny looked back at her and smiled, as he grabbed everything he needed he then answered. "I hope you do."