Chapter 10

Manning’s mind jolted awake, but he did not budge. He slowly opened his eyes, his heart pounding in his chest, and looked around him.

“Fell asleep, Manning?” Hudson said.

Manning turned to him. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Bobby, I was just wondering… You seem to be on very bad terms with your brother. And the two of you lead completely different lives. What’s with that?” Hudson asked.

And out comes the truth, Manning thought. He sighed. “Do you remember when I said I didn’t have a very good childhood?”

“Yeah.”

“For nearly twelve years of my life, I was raised in DC’s slums downtown,” Manning started. “My parents were abusive, my neighbourhood was nasty and my habits had death written all over them.”

“Your parents were abusive? What did they do to you?”

“Everything under the sun, mate. They whipped me, stripped me, humiliated me, burned me, cut me, beat me, suffocated me, drowned me – think of any form of abuse, they’ve done it.”

A look of disbelief appeared on Hudson’s face. “That’s terrible. You must’ve hated your life.”

“Actually I never despised my life back then because I never knew of any better life outside. I mixed with the wrong people, smoked marijuana and was a very heartless kid for a long time, even after I escaped the slums. That’s probably why I drifted from Cody.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”

“I never looked out for him. When my parents abused him, I didn’t care. When he was scared, I never comforted him. When bullies picked on him, I stood by and watched. I was just never there for him until it was too late. We were taken in by a lovely couple and as it turned out, I changed and Cody didn’t. He already hated me by then… maybe he was just being rebellious because I wasn’t.”

Manning fell into silence.

“Bobby?” Hudson called. “What’re you thinking?”

“I’m just wondering if it would’ve been better if I had rebelled against change instead,” Manning shrugged. “Cody might at least be off drugs by now.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Hudson said. “You made the right decision when you came clean. If you hadn’t changed, it’s more likely the both of you would be dying of a drug overdose or something now.”

Hudson pulled into Manning’s apartment and stopped the car. “Have a good night’s rest, Bobby,” he said. “And stop living the past, it won’t help. Focus on the
present instead.”

Manning took Hudson’s words into consideration and made his way up to his apartment. He picked his keys out of his pocket and then stopped short when he saw his apartment door ajar. He stood outside for a moment, debating on whether to enter or not. As he pondered, he heard someone scuffling around inside, obviously rummaging through his cupboards and drawers. He decided that he was not going to be the typical, cowardly civilian and stand around doing nothing, so he cautiously crept into the room and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Once they had, he could see the silhouettes of objects strewn all over the floor, overturned furniture and broken glass reflecting the street lamp’s rays. He peered in a little further and found himself staring into the eyes of the intruder.

The burglar grabbed Manning and heaved into the room. Landing on the floor, Manning took a good look at the burglar. He was masked, clad in black clothes and wielded a gun in his gloved hand. Manning backed away from the intruder while trying to get to his feet. His right hand, still slightly sore from the old wound, very unfortunately pressed against some shattered glass, ripping open the scab on his palm. His hand reflexively jerked away from the floor. His left hand was not strong enough to maintain his sitting position when the burglar leapt on him and pushed his head back with the gun.

“Keep still,” the burglar ordered. He reached into Manning’s back pocket and took out his wallet. Fishing every dollar bill out, he threw the wallet aside in frustration and shoved the barrel of his gun against Manning’s temple. “Where do you keep your money?”

Despite there being a loaded firearm pointed at him, Manning remained calm. “In a bank, where else?”

“Fuck you!’ the burglar cursed and kneed Manning in the guts. He tore Manning’s Rolex off his wrist and slipped it into his pocket.

Without warning, Manning grabbed the burglar and threw him off. “Who do you think you are?” he growled and sent a kick into the burglar’s face. “Do you even know who you’re dealing with?” He stepped down on the burglar’s wrist, disabling him from using the gun. He crouched down and ripped away the black mask to reveal the burglar’s identity. It did not surprise him when he found Cody’s face staring back at him. “You know, Cody, I may seem like I’ve gone soft but do you really think I’ve lost all the survival knowledge and skills I learnt as a kid?”
You do remember me, don’t you, Cody? Second toughest kid of the block? The only reason Vince always beat me was because he had loyal minions but my no-good friends would desert me whenever they had the chance to.”

“You son of a…”

Manning slapped Cody’s face with a fist. “Watch your mouth, or I’ll watch it for you.”

Cody struggled in Manning’s grip. “I’ll kill you, I swear I’ll kill you!”

“No, you won’t, because you didn’t when you had the chance to,” Manning sneered.

“Why the hell didn’t Daddy just finish you off after he murdered Ma?” Cody snarled.

Manning’s scowl faltered and his eyes filled with incredulity. “You saw us?”

“Of course I did, I wasn’t blind!” Cody snapped. “You pissed yourself so bad when Daddy came after you…”

Bobby ran, but there was nowhere to go. All exits were locked, there was no place to hide, and his father was charging at him like a stampeding rhinoceros. There was a collision between two bodies and Bobby felt himself hurdling into the air. He hit the wall violently, the impact nearly breaking his spine. His father took him by the collar, carrying him easily with a single hand, and shook him so hard, he felt sick to his stomach and lost his dinner all over the floor. Enraged, the drunk father undid his belt and whipped Bobby on the back. Then he shoved Bobby to a corner and ordered him to take off his clothes.

Bobby stood, traumatised and trembling, unable to do as his father told him to. So the alcoholic of a father literally ripped away Bobby’s clothes and proceeded to whip him. The sharp belt struck Bobby’s skin over and over until it penetrated the dermis, leaving bloody cuts and gashes. Bobby cried and begged his father for mercy, promising over and over again that he would never, ever tell a soul about what he saw. His father, unconvinced, aimed the belt at Bobby’s eyes, threatening to blind him.

“Daddy, please!! I won’t tell, I swear, I won’t tell!! I didn’t see nothin’, Daddy, you didn’t do nothin’!! Please stop it, stop hittin’ me!!”

Please…

Please, Daddy…

Robert’s grip loosened and his face turned a sickly pale. Cody laughed sinisterly and said, “There are so many memories I could throw at you, Bobby, if you’d like to remember. You may have been the second toughest kid on the block, but that’s because no one knew about how you’d constantly wet the bed at night. Do you still do that, Bobby? Do you still stand cross-legged at a corner until a puddle forms beneath your feet?” He laughed. “Daddy always punished you for…”

Robert, with a sudden burst of rage, clamped his strong fingers around Cody’s throat. “Shut up, you little prick!”

Gasping for air, Cody forced a smile and choked, “Hit a nerve, did I?”

Robert pounded Cody’s head against the floor. “Your life was fucking easy compared to what I had to go through, you ungrateful brat!”

Cody reached for a knife hanging at his belt and dug it into Robert’s thigh. The doctor gave a yell and gripped his leg, making it easy for Cody to shove him off. Cody picked up the nearest piece of furniture, threw it upon Robert and sat on top of it, crushing Robert’s ribs, making him groan breathlessly in pain.

“Okay, Bobby, let’s go through our lives slowly,” Cody said in a very casual manner. “You always lived through four more years more suffering than I did, that’s a point for you. I was always bullied by Vince and his gang, that’s a point for me. Then again, he was the toughest kid around and you were probably a potential competitor, so he must have picked on you loads too, so that cancels out my point.”

Robert was hardly listening. He coughed and fought to inhale enough oxygen.

“Daddy and Ma had the tendency to punish you more often because I was too young to have wrecked havoc in the house, so that’s another point for you. Then Ma died, so starting at six years old, I didn’t have to endure her forms of torture – damn, another point for you.” He paused. “You know what, I won’t go on anymore, because you’re right, you did have to go through more than me.”

“So why do you hate me so much?” Robert asked, wincing in pain.

“I hate you... because you were also loved a lot more than I was,” Cody said. “You were Mr and Mrs Harrison’s pet. They would give you anything your heart desired but they never gave me anything because they only took me in under your request.”

“Cody, you were never around to receive anything from them, you always ran off to… wherever the hell you ran off to!” Robert groaned as the pressure on his ribs increased. The beads of sweat on his face cooled his skin but his chest burned with pain.

Finally, he gave up pushing against the furniture and let his arms go limp. He decided there was no use in fighting by himself any longer, so he shut his eyes and began to pray. He did not pray for himself, but he prayed for Cody, and his prayer seemed eternal. He was eventually stopped in mid-sentence when Cody held a shoe against his jaw.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Cody asked.

Robert’s hands gripped Cody’s leg, but he did not attempt to push the foot away. He flashed a weak, crooked grin and said, “What I’ve been doing for eighteen years – praying for you.”

Cody stared at him with mixed emotions, unsure of whether to be angry, thankful or disgusted. He pushed a little harder against Robert’s skull.

Robert released a quiet murmur of desperation. His neck felt like it was about to snap into two, with his muscles and bones being stretched to the limit, and he grasped Cody’s pant leg tightly. “I prayed… because I cared for you, Cody. I wanted Mr and Mrs Harrison to bring both of us in because I hoped we both would get at least a better home…”

Cody pushed harder. “No you didn’t, you never cared!”

The pain brought involuntary tears to Robert’s eyes. His breathing became more difficult as his heart beat faster and demanded for more oxygen. “Oh… God…” he whispered. He became more desperate as his muscles screamed for relief. With much difficulty, he began talking again, “I didn’t know… how to express…”

The pressure on his jaw intensified. Robert cried out in pain as grief-stricken tears rolled down his ashen face. Finally, in between heartbroken sobs, he pleaded, “For God’s sake, Cody if you want to kill me, please, please just do it quickly!”

“My pleasure,” Cody growled, and lifted his gun.

Little Bobby clung on to his one-year-old baby brother and covered the infant’s ears to block out the screams coming from the next room. He held the baby close to keep him from being scared and gently kissed him on the forehead.

“When you grow up,” Little Bobby spoke, even though the infant could not understand. “You won’t have to hear no fighting or screaming, an' you’ll have a warm bed to sleep in. But you’ll have to wait until I’m all grown up so tha’ I can make some money to buy us a home.”

The shouts and ruckus behind the room door went on. Little Bobby rocked his baby brother from side to side and continued, “I’ve had no one to teach me nothin’, so you’ll have to learn how to take care of yourself. Tha’ means I’m not goin' to be by your side all the time, so you’d better learn quickly because we don’t have no nice people livin’ here.”

Baby Cody began to doze off. Before he could, something hard slammed against the closed door, creating a loud bang that frightened Cody, who woke up immediately and began to sniffle. Little Bobby, though his own heart was racing with fear, clung on to the trembling infant and said, “It’s okay, Cody, we don’t need no one else… just as long as we have each other. I love you... an’ don’t you forget that...”