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Thirty

last update Last Updated: 2021-09-09 17:26:37
THIRTY

You did the right thing, Jack-o, said a voice he had never heard before.

“Did I?” he asked.

“Did you bloody what?” roared his father, who still held him by the arm. His other hand latched around the back of his neck, squeezing tight. “I ask the questions around here, got it?”

Jack didn’t reply. He couldn’t take his eyes off the boy before the window, the boy whose hands were still wrapped in bloodied sheets. This boy was his cousin, Charles; he was six years old.

“You speak to me when I speak to you, you little shit.”

“Yes!” Jack yelled back.

“Yes, bloody what?”

“Yes, sir. Dad!”

“Now you own up to me, boy. You own up to me or so help me God you’ll get a bigger bloody thrashing than what you already got coming. And trust me, a thrashing’s the least I should be doin’ to you.” His father bent in low, close to his ear. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw yellow teeth. “Did you do this to young Charles over there?”

The cousin stopped his screaming, stood and pointed at J
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