Chapter 14 #5
“He made some stupid business moves. He leaned into the opportunity to double dip, not just with weapons but with alloy-based medical testing. The company began to hemorrhage money. When the facility got caught leaching toxins into the town’s water, he lost almost everything.
The entire company nearly went under, and so did half the people employed by Darius Blackwood, which at the time was a pretty good chunk of this town.
” He clenched his jaw. “He couldn’t pick up the pieces quick enough, so he and my mother ran.
” He shifted in his seat with a small, vulnerable huff of a laugh, and he continued.
“My entire world broke into a thousand pieces in one day. We had gotten into it earlier that day. I’d gotten in trouble again.
I stole the principal’s car and drove it home from my new private school.
I got caught on the way home, no license.
I was always acting out, trying to get my dad’s attention.
Never worked—he was still always too busy with the company to pay any attention to me.
” His throat bobbed as he struggled to swallow.
“Anyway, that day I’d really set them off.
Mom was furious. Worse than anything I’d ever seen, but this time it felt different.
I was an angsty little shit and she was an emotional mess.
I don’t know what she was so emotional for, she had no problem leaving. ”
Jasper’s jaw tensed so hard, I thought I might hear a cracking sound.
“She said she had to go, that she couldn’t stay here any longer.
She told me how much she loved me, made me hug her goodbye.
When she was hugging me, she cried so hard she got a nosebleed, a bad one, all over my new shirt, which just made me even madder.
I stormed out and slept by the wall of the cliff’s edge, debating jumping the whole night, thinking that if I never said goodbye to my dad, they’d have to stay.
I never thought they’d actually leave. But by the next morning, they were gone.
They wouldn’t have even known if I’d have jumped to my death that night.
“The next morning, the maids noticed some valuables missing, the house in disarray, and apparently me sitting outside with blood on my shirt. That was the last time I ever saw her.” He let out a dark laugh that made my insides curl up.
“I didn’t even see my father leave. He didn’t bother to say anything to me before he left; he just left.
They left me alone and abandoned in the manor.
I was fifteen. I don’t think they cared what happened to me. ”
“Oh my god,” I whispered, incapable of comprehending what he was telling me. In all the scenarios my mind had imagined, that hadn’t been one of them. “They…just left you? They never even tried to come back? How could they do that to you?”
His eyes stayed pinned to a spot on the floor, like he would find the answers to my questions hidden within the fibers of the rug.
“I wasn’t a good kid, but I thought they cared about me.
Both my mother and father were always decent enough, especially my mother, at least until they left—I always thought my mother was a patient saint.
All she cared about was me and those goddamn flowers.
From the day I was born, they gave me anything I wanted; the maids all complained about me when my parents’ backs were turned, and rightfully so.
But everything changed when the plant went under and the town went crazy.
My parents fought, mostly over me or whatever it was I’d gotten into.
When they found out the plant had been poisoning everyone, they fought a lot.
They grew more distant, staying away from me for longer periods of time; not just my father anymore, but my mom too.
” He stood from his seat and turned away from me, putting his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t really think it was all that hard for them to leave me.
I think they were done. They had changed; both of them had grown visibly tired. ”
“Who did they leave you with? Who took care of you?”
He looked at me sharply, his brows angry. “No one. I told you; they didn’t care.”
I leaped up and moved to his side. “You were a fifteen-year-old child; something must have happened—they must have thought someone was bringing you…” Tears prickled at my eyes at the thought of a young kid left parentless and alone in this giant manor.
I racked my brain, trying to come up with any other explanation but couldn’t imagine anything that justified abandoning a child like that.
I couldn’t believe it.
I had seen the photo of Hester and Jasper in the locket; you could see the love she had for him. I found it impossible to believe that she would just abandon him like that. None of it made any sense.
“They knew what they were doing,” he said gruffly.
“Sowerby found me at the house just before the cops took me, and he stayed with me. He called the family lawyer and refused to leave me behind…still refuses to leave me.” I could hear the sentimentality in his words.
“For a long time, I thought they were messing with me, trying to teach me a lesson so I’d behave.
Stupid of me to give them that much credit.
“They never came back. Not even when the police investigation started. By that time, everyone was so mad at my father for the chemical leak and causing everyone to lose their jobs, they didn’t care what really happened; they just wanted to punish the Blackwoods in any way possible.
A few years later, I started getting letters from them.
” He turned to face me with a solemn expression.
“The police thought they were fakes. They’re not.
I know it’s them. In every letter, one of them gives some type of parenting advice as though in substitution for them not being here. ” He shook his head.
“Jasper, I’m so sorry.” I wished I had something better to say, but my mind still couldn’t comprehend all that he had gone through. It was no wonder he didn’t trust anyone.
He brushed off my sympathies. His jaw was clenched tight, and his eyes had gone back to their usual harsh, lethal stare. “I hate them. I hate them so much, it wouldn’t matter to me if they were actually dead.”
The power flickered once before complete darkness took over the room.
I yelped, fear gripping my heart like a claw.
Five loud cracks sounded, one right after the other.
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!
Each of the five paintings hanging on his office walls fell to the floor, their frames shattering loudly.
“What’s happening?” I shouted.
There was a low rumble like distant thunder, and the lights flickered again, coming back on. It felt like the house was exploding in anger.
“Jasper!” I held on to him, afraid of what would happen next.
“It’s okay; you’re okay,” he said, holding on to me tightly. “It must be an earthquake or something.”
“I don’t think that was an earthquake,” I mumbled into his warm chest, my eyes tightened shut as the house seemed to settle.
I knew exactly what it had been, and it most definitely had not been an earthquake.
It was a very upset Hester.