King of Thorns

"God damn it, Roy! Again?"

Anita Myers paced the kitchen, her blond hair an absolute mess.

"I'm getting really sick and tired of having to pick you up from school every day because you don't know how to behave," she snapped, her annoyance almost tangible. "Don't you get tired of fighting! Why can't you just be like everyone else!?" She gave a frustrated scream and slid the entire rack of dishes onto the floor, shattering plates and glass.

Roy nearly jumped, but he steeled himself, his black eyes watching his mother carefully. He could understand why she was upset, this was the third fight he'd been in this week alone. He knew it was hard for her to leave work to pick him up, but what else was he to do when the other kids were picking on Ricky and Robby and Rita? He couldn't just stand by and do nothing. He frowned as he recalled the things those kids had said about his siblings.

"Eww Rita, why do you always smell like pee?"

"Ricky, do you ever wash your clothes?"

"Robby, it must really suck knowing you're in charge of all of these dirty little brats, but I guess it's to be expected since you're not much better off. Did you bathe today?"

Roy had had enough. He was sick of his siblings being picked on. Robby wasn't a fighter and took everything with a grain of salt because he was autistic, but Roy knew how much he cried when he thought no one was paying any attention. 

"Are you even listening to me?"

Roy snapped out of his daydreaming, rearing backward as his mother came at him like a terrifying force. She hit him clean across the face. The momentum of him trying to back away and the force of the slap caused him to fall out of the chair.

"Didn't I tell you that Wyatt gets tired of seeing you here when he gets off work! Damn it, Roy, he's gonna leave if you keep this shit up."

Wyatt.

That was his mother's boyfriend. He refused to call that man his step-dad. Wyatt was a grade A asshole. He beat on them worse than their mother, and he always had it out for Roy. That had been on purpose though. Roy was used to fighting, so he purposely provoked the guy to keep him away from the others.

He picked himself up off the floor. "I won't be here then," Roy spoke, his voice low. He didn't want to be here when Wyatt got home. Wyatt wouldn't slap him around, it was all closed fist with that guy. Roy did his best not to be caught alone in the house with that man. The last time he'd gotten a broken arm, and the time before that the guy had blacked his eye.

"You know I'm getting really sick of that smart ass mouth of yours. Get out! Get the fuck out!" Anita was coming at him again, but Roy was already rushing out the back door. He leaned against the wall as his mother screamed at him from behind the screen door. The tears streamed down his cheeks, and he wiped at them quickly, ignoring the protest in his ribs from where Wyatt had kicked him repeatedly for flunking his math exam. It was hard to study when everyone was always screaming and arguing, or when he was having to help Rita wash and brush out her hair, or help Ricky with his homework, or showing Robby the proper way to fold his clothes, or fixing dinner, or taking a beating, or telling Rita a goodnight story to distract her from Wyatt beating on their mom, or making sure Ricky wasn't trying to cut his wrists again, or making sure Robby was all set for the night or doing the dishes, or any of the other hundred and something tasks he had to complete. All he wanted was to be a normal kid, and yet here he was, fifteen years old, living the life of an adult.

Roy took in a shaky breath and let it out. He had to ditch this place before his mother decided to come out the door. He pushed away from the wall, he climbed over the fence into his neighbor's backyard and started for the alleyway.

He didn't know where he was going, but anywhere seemed better than here. Roy was tired of being responsible for every single person but himself. He loved his siblings, he really did, but he wanted to be a kid. He wanted to play baseball. Go to school and learn. He wanted to be somebody, but the way it was looking, he'd never be anybody.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Anita Myers shrill voice filled the small space of the living room. Her hazel eyes were wild. "ROY! WHAT DID YOU DO!?" She reached out to grab a hold of him, but Roy raised the gun and pointed it at her chest.

Anita froze.

His ears were still ringing, leaving him disoriented, but he didn't care. He felt weightless as if gravity no longer existed. Black eyes with dark rings underneath them were steady, his arms unwavering.

"Don't you dare touch me," he spoke, his voice unusually calm. "Don't you dare touch me, or Robby or Rita or Ricky. I swear to God I'll shoot you too." He would do it too. She'd caused them all enough pain. He wouldn't stand for it anymore. "I'm tired of living like this. I won't do it anymore. I'm not going to let anyone else hurt them. Not you. Not Wyatt. Not anyone." Even holding the gun two-handed his arms were beginning to tire, but he held it in place. "You were supposed to protect us. We're your family. We're your kids. How could you stand by and let him hurt us like that!?" He was losing his calm demeanor. "HOW COULD YOU STAND BY AND LET HIM TOUCH MY SISTER!?"

Anita put her hands up, slowly inching forward. "Look baby. You're still just a child. You don't really understand everything that's going. Mama lov-"

"Don't talk to me about love! You don't know anything about love! You don't care! All you care about is making him happy! Well, he's gone now! He's dead! So who are you going to make happy now Mom!? Are you going to take care of us, or are you going to let Ricky keep cutting up his wrists until he hits the right spot!? Or are you going to keep letting people pick on Robby? Or you going to let people look at Rita like she's an adult and not seven? And what about me Mom? You going to keep letting people beat on me?" Roy had tears streaming down his face by this point.

"Now you know I'd never let anyone hurt you all. You're my precious angels. Robby is a big boy and can handle himself. Everyone gets picked on Roy. You know that." She pushed a strand of blond hair from her face. "And Ricky is just going through some things. I'll take him to a doctor and get 'em all straightened out. And Rita is my little bundle of joy. Wyatt wasn't gonna hurt her Roy. He was just talking to her like any daddy should talk to his little girl."

"BULLSHIT!" Roy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't believe that his mother was defending the monster. Part of him didn't understand, a bigger part wanted her to hurt like he was hurting, and a very small part of him wanted to rationalize that his mother was unwell.

"Language baby boy," Anita soothed. "I promise ain't nothing going to happen to you all. Just because you get a whooping every now and again doesn't mean that it's a beating. You don't tell your teachers that I beat you, do you, baby?" She kept moving towards him, trying to talk him down so she could get the gun away from him. "Look baby boy, I can hear the cops coming. You don't want them to think you did this, do you? Mama doesn't want you to get in trouble."

"I don't care." His tone made her stop in her tracks. "I don't give a damn about anything but my siblings. I saved them because you wouldn't, so I'll suck it up and deal with the consequences, just like I've been dealing with Wyatt and your shit for forever." He was regaining his composure, and with it his steady aim. "I swear to God if you come any closer, I will shoot you. I promise to God I will shoot you."

"Baby boy, you can’t keep saying such cruel things to your Mama. Come on now Roy, don't be silly." Anita motioned for him to give her the gun, but when he didn't budge her own calm demeanor started to slip. "GOD DAMNIT ROY STOP BEING SUCH A FUCKING IDIOT AND GIVE ME THE GODDAMN GUN!" She wasn't going to lose all her kids because he wanted to be stubborn. She'd say she shot Roy in self defense. No one was going to take her babies from her. No one! She had birthed them, raised them, taken care of them! Yes, she had gotten a bit caught up in Wyatt, but damn it, everyone deserved some love. Robby and Roy's dad had ditched the first chance he got, and she didn't even know who Ricky's father was. Rita's dad had been an on and off thing, but he'd decided he wasn't playing father for four kids. Wyatt had been there for all of them! "You're an ungrateful bastard. Had you not been born your daddy would have stuck around to take care of Robby. You're just a mistake!" She lunged for Roy.

He had zero remorse as he pulled the trigger. The impact spun his mother around, unlike when he'd shot Wyatt. Wyatt had looked stunned before he dropped dead, a nice hole in his chest. The shot with his mother had been sloppier, partly because his arms had started to ache, and partly because she'd charged him. The round caught her in the upper chest and had exited out of her neck. Roy watched as she choked on her own blood. He lowered the gun so that it was pointed at the floor.

"I hope you and Wyatt rot in Hell." He looked to his siblings that were huddled on the floor against the couch. Ricky was covering Rita's ears as she clung to his neck as if he might disappear. Robby was holding them both looking haunted. "I'm sorry," Roy murmured. "I'm so very sorry." He'd already decided he'd take the blame for it all. He had already made the decision that he'd be the bad guy. He just hoped that they would all go to a family together that cared for them. This was the best he could do to protect them. He hadn't wanted to take his mother out too, but he couldn't forgive her.

He flinched as the door swung open. He raised his hands, momentarily forgetting that he had a weapon in hand. The world was suddenly spinning in a circle as he collapsed onto his side. The last thing he recalled was Rita screaming, "No! No! No!" and Ricky's face staring into his telling him to hold on, and Robby's voice in the distance telling someone to call for help because he wasn't the bad guy.