24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

-Jared-

"I don't really get this game," Julia admitted, stopping the ball with her foot before making a poor shot toward me.

"Honestly, I don't either," I confessed, placing my foot on the ball to halt it.

"Then why do people find it fun?"

"I'm not sure. I never enjoyed it when we had to play it in school. I always tried to skip gym sessions."

"Then why are we playing it?" she pressed.

"I guess most kids seem to like it. I just never did. I always ended up with the ball shot at me, not to me."

"Your bullies did that?" she asked sympathetically.

I nodded. "It was still better than being on the football team. If I had been, they would have crushed me. At least in soccer, there are rules about physical contact," I remarked, kicking the ball back and forth in front of me.

"But why run after a ball? Seems rather childish."

I chuckled. "Don't let the millions of fans hear you say that."

"I just don't see the point," she shrugged.

"The point is to win," I clarified, kicking the ball to her, and she stopped it.

"And then what?"

"You get the glory of winning," I replied.

"Glory of winning?"

"Yes," I affirmed.

"And then what?" she persisted.

I laughed, shaking my head. "You know you have a lot of questions, right?"

She shrugged. "I never got to do these sorts of things or ask. Whenever I did ask something, I was told I wasn't allowed to."

"Maybe your questions revolved around something private, like your father's dealings?"

"I didn't know what else to ask about," she admitted, kicking the ball again. "And I don't like this game. How can you make the ball go straight?"

"It takes practice, but I can see you don't have a lot of patience."

"I can be patient. I just find this boring," she protested.

"It's good exercise. It's healthy," I pointed out.

"Then why didn't you play more?"

"I told you why. I was kicked at, not to," I reminded her.

"Then what exercise did you do?" she asked.

"Running."

"Running?" she echoed.

"From my bullies," I clarified.

She let out a little gasp of shock, but I just shrugged.

"I became quite fast," I admitted.

"You just ran?" she inquired.

"If they caught me, they hurt me."

"Are those scars…?"

"Some of them."

"Where do the rest come from?" she asked.

"From living this life and surviving my father. You see, while yours locked you up, mine would take his anger out on me, similar to what yours did with your mother and Alison," I explained.

"He hit you?" she gasped.

I nodded.

"But why? You're his son," she pointed out.

I shrugged. "Sometimes I doubted that I was, but unfortunately, I inherited some traits from him that I still see today. I believe we were kin, even though I never had it tested."

"Why didn't you test it?"

"It would have required his permission, and when I grew older and left his house, I came back too late. He died," I disclosed.

"How did he die?" she probed.

"Do you know what alcohol is?"

"Yes, my dad likes a lot of it. He stumbles sometimes."

"Yes, well, my dad liked it a lot too. So much so, it killed him."

"It killed him? It can do that?" she asked, surprised.

"If you drink a lot of it. Anything can harm you if you have too much of it," I explained.

"Wow," she murmured, her young brain trying to comprehend the image.

"I don't miss him," I confessed.

"Is it bad if I don't miss mine either?" she wondered.

"No, why would you?"

"Where do you think he is now? With Alison and my grandparents?" she pondered.

"Maybe."

"Or… dead?" she whispered.

"I can't say. Your grandparents didn't seem very fond of him," I replied.

"Is it because he is evil?" she inquired.

"Perhaps."

"But they aren't good either," she countered.

"No, but with individuals like them, their rules for others often don't apply to themselves. They say one thing but will do something else," I explained.

"Seems rather… weird."

"They are hypocrites. That's what you call them," I clarified.

"Hypocrites," she echoed, tasting the word.

"If you can't live by what you preach, don't preach it," I advised.

She nodded. "Be honest, like my mom always said."

"Yes, but also be careful who you are honest with. In this world, not everyone will be good to you. You need those you can trust around you."

"Do you trust Alison?" she inquired.

I smiled. "With my life," I vowed.

"Does she feel the same for you?" she wondered.

"Yes."

"I hope I can find that," she confessed. "Someone to trust."

"You can, and you will. We just need to get through this first, and once we are all free and safe, you can start a real life," I assured her.

She nodded, but then grew suddenly somber, and it confused me.

"What is it?" I asked.

She shrugged a little and glanced down at the ground. "Jared, once this is over, where will I go?"

"What?"

"If my dad is gone and my grandparents too, then where do I belong?" she clarified.