Page 54 of Phoenix
Chapter 20
Phoenix
It’s taken us a good few days to get to where Robert held Jake and Niamh captive for years, and it’s now nightfall. There’s no way we can fully explore the place without any light. It’s in the middle of a forest, a place to give anybody the creeps no matter who you are, so we head into the closest town and find a motel to stay in. Jake and I have remained distant, avoiding conversation at all costs. I’m sure my…our uncle is feeling really pleased to have come.
I’ve called Niamh and Lou, with my sister sharing her concerns over Niamh’s state of mind. My girl is depressed and beyond scared to be there without me. I feel alone without her too, but if we’re to have a future, I need to make sure Robert is gone once and for all. If that means I’m the one who needs to put a bullet through his skull, then so be it. He’s not the first piece of shit I’ve wiped away, but he sure as hell will be the one I get the most pleasure from.
“You want that?” Jake asks, pointing at the last nacho on the table. For a moment or two, I simply look at him without having anything to say. Eventually, when both he and my uncle quirk an eyebrow at me, I simply shake my head.
“Not that the whole sullen silence thing isn’t at all fun, but when are you two going to hash this out?” my uncle asks, blowing out a heavy sigh as he does so. “Phoenix, why don’t you go first?”
I simply look at him with an expression that says there’s no way in hell I’m going to begin. Call me immature, but I’m beyond caring.
“Ok, what about you, Jake?”
“I thought I was the younger brother here,” he says bitterly, to which I crack my knuckles in warning.
“Ok, I’ll go first,” Len says with frustration in his voice, “you two shits need to get over yourselves. You’ve both lost people who you love, both are parentless, but you’ve been given a second chance with each other. Not to mention Lou.”
“I don’t need second chances,” I grumble, “and if Dad were here, I’d ghost his ass too.”
“Do you think I asked to be related to you?” Jake spits with anger. “You’re a stubborn asshole who doesn’t realize what a much better life you had than me. I don’t know why you think you have reason to be the injured party here!”
“Better life?!” I scoff. “Having to watch my mother burn alive? Having to watch Dad wither away and die? Having to watch my sister go through what she did? All kick starting from the age of seven.”
“Oh yeah, try being brought up by a psychopath who kept me hostage in a Goddamn basement for his entire childhood. Who had to live with the fact that the only parent in his life had abducted a little girl. Who had to kill that parent in order to save the girl who you considered to be like your sister? To find out that the one guy who could have saved you, that could have offered some normalcy to your life, just abandoned you!”
“I’d hold up on the killing part,” I reply casually, purposely being a dick, “we don’t know if you managed to wipe out the bastard, do we?”
“Fuck you, Phoenix!” he shouts, getting to his feet with such a temper, other patrons begin looking our way. I merely stare back at him with a quirk of my brow just to really piss him off. There’s nothing more infuriating than trying to scare someone, only to find they couldn’t give a shit.
Before either my uncle or I can say a single word back to him, he storms away through the bar and out the other side. My uncle looks at me in such a way that I know he’s disappointed in me.
“Ah, shit,” I mutter before getting to my feet and going after the asshole.
Once outside, I catch him pacing before he goes up to one of the trash cans and begins beating it aggressively and noisily. I perch upon a beer keg and leave him to wear himself out. It’s the least I can do after I wound him up into this state. What I don’t expect him to do is break down sobbing on the filthy ground, punching at the dirt for good measure. As his shoulders shudder under the weight of his grief, I walk slowly and silently and offer my hand. Being smart, he looks at it with suspicion before finally giving in and taking it.
“I get it,” I concede, “I overstepped back there, I’m sorry.”
“The great badass, Phoenix, is apologizing?” he says while panting.
“It’s been known,” I huff, “ask our sister.”
“Our sister?” he asks with surprise.
“I can’t promise anything, Jake, I’m still mad as hell,” I level with him, “but I’ll admit, most of my anger isn’t your fault.”
“Phoenix, I always wanted an older sibling, a big brother,” he says, though he can’t look at me while he says it. “Someone badass like you who would come in and save me. Robert told me my father was dead so I never expected him to come and claim me or anything, but I might have had a big brother or a sister. When Niamh came along, I took on the role I so desperately wanted from somebody else. She made me stronger because I had to be. I loved every minute of it; being the strength for someone when I had always felt so weak and vulnerable. But it was also…”
“Hard,” I finish for him; I know exactly how he felt.
“Yeah,” he says sadly. “I’m not expecting you to save me anymore, but I still want you as my brother, my friend, my Yoda.”
“Jesus, Jake, I am pretty fucking far from being anyone’s Yoda,” I laugh, with which he joins in for a moment or two. “Though, I can be the other two, if you give me time to get there.”
“Really?” he asks, sounding as though he’s choking up.
“Don’t go getting mushy on me though,” I warn him before holding out my hand again.