Sweetheart struggled to keep her wits about her as the rage threatened to overtake her. She didn't want her little sisters invloved in such an adult matter. She sent them outside to play before storming into her father's den.
"Daddy, how could you?!? How could you make up such terrible lies about someone? Do you have any idea what you've done??" Steel was momentarily stunned by his normally reserved daughter's hostile entrance and tone. The shock quickly turned to anger.
"Don't you take that tone of voice with ME, Sweetheart Spencer! I won't stand for any of my daughters to be disrespectful to me!"
"Daddy, you had NO right..." Steel rose quickly from his desk, frightening Sweetheart to silence with the harsh look on his face. Cherry had heard the commotion and had rushed to the den. She stood just outside the doorway, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. She didn't know what to do.
"Had no right to what? What are you so upset about? Sit down and be rational about this. I've brought you up better than that."
"Oh, SHUT UP Daddy!! You know exactly what I'm talking about! You had Teddy arrested for RAPE! Why the hell would you do something like that? How could you??" Sweetheart was in tears by this time. She'd never felt so angry in her life. This just didn't make sense.
"How the hell...now, you watch your mouth young lady! I'm doing the best thing a father could do for his daughter. That boy is bad news no matter how you look at it. Just look at the mess he's already made with your life! You don't need him around to ruin it any more than he already has. It's all for the best, sweetie. Trust me."
"Fuck you, daddy. I LOVE Teddy! And there's nothing in this world you could ever do or say to change that! I hate you. I hate you soo much." Sweetheart ran past her mother and back into her room, slamming the door behind her. Cherry stared back at her husband in disbelief.
"You're not the man I married."
************************************************
"There goes his damn phone again. Why the hell isn't he answering it?! Or at least turn off the goddamn ringer. It's been ringing off the hook for two freakin' days now!" It's true, Amaretto couldn't take this much longer either. But unlike his short-tempered roomie, Thunder, he was more worried than annoyed by the unanswered phone. Teddy hadn't come out of his room since he'd returned from his night in jail two days ago.
"Give the kid a break, man."
"Yeah? Well 'the kid' can kiss my fuckin' ass! He's not the only one livin' in this dump." Thunder grabbed his bag and swiftly headed off to class. He'd actually been attending willingly lately. Anything to get him out of this psycho apartment. He seriously needed to find a new place, and soon.
Locked inside his room and hidden beneath the covers, Teddy hadn't heard a word. In fact, he hadn't heard a thing outside of his own mind in what seemed like forever. The tinny rings from his phone had even faded away to nothing. He was trapped somewhere he didn't want to be, but didn't know how to escape. All he could see, hear, smell, taste was that cell. And those men. He couldn't feel anything but that one night. Happening over and over. It made him sick, but it just wouldn't stop. Nothing would make it stop.
He didn't know how much time had passed, and he didn't care. Nothing in the world mattered but the nightmare that he'd allowed to close in around him. He knew only one thing now. This HAD to stop. Now. He would go crazy if he didn't stop this. But he just didn't know how...
