Dark Souls: Box Set: Books 1-5 by E.J. King

Author:E.J. King [King, E.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-13T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

We left early the next morning. Ethan had also decided that it was time to face his father, and he was eager to get on the road.

“Might as well get it over with,” he said, frowning.

Martha sent us off with bellies full of eggs and bacon and stood in the dirt road waving until we couldn’t see her anymore. I had to admit that I was going to miss her.

Ethan was able to make a couple of quick calls to family friends and found out that their parents only lived a few towns away these days. We could be there in less than three hours. It was good news, but I didn’t know if that was enough time for Rafe to brace himself.

“You haven’t talked to either of them since Ethan left?” I asked, trying to get a feel for exactly what I might be walking into at the Night house.

“Nope.” Rafe shrugged. “I didn’t talk to them much before that anyway, though.”

“What finally convinced you to leave? The first time, I mean.” I hesitated. “Was it the beatings?”

Rafe flinched and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “No. Those stopped when I was about fourteen.”

“Why?”

“Because I was finally big enough to fight back.” He shot me a quick look. “I cracked Ken one time, hard enough to break his nose, and he just stopped hitting me.”

“So it was something else?”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t take it anymore. He was always saying terrible things about me and about my real father. He wasn’t hitting me, but that doesn’t mean he stopped abusing me. And when I finally turned eighteen, I didn’t have to put up with it. So I left.”

“Did your mom ever reach out to you? Ever try to repair the relationship?” My own mother would’ve been a wreck if one of her kids had moved out and stopped speaking to the family.

“Mom is complicated,” Rafe said. I could tell that even now, even after everything that had happened, he didn’t want to speak poorly of her. He loved her. “She was a mess about my biological dad. Even years after he died, she couldn’t even look at a picture of him without crying. People used to tell me that I look like him and I think it was hard for her to be around me, especially as I got older.”

“But still…to let Ken do those things to you…” I shuddered. “I don’t know how you can forgive her so easily.”

“Because I want to, Kaylie. I want to forgive her. I don’t want to hate my mother.”

He sounded so sad, like a little boy. I wanted to hug him. Instead, I said, “Is it okay if I hate her for you?”

He laughed, reached over and took my hand. Pressing his lips to the back of it, he said, “Sure. Just remember, though, that if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here…”

“Ugh. True.” Now I was conflicted. “Family is confusing.”

“And also, no matter how bad my parents might be, neither of them has tried to kill me.

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