Page 36 of Hades

The kid turned. Hope in his gaze.Yeah, not gonna happen, dickhead. As Hades kicked off the stand with the heel of his boot he flashed a grin that made the guy’s face lose all color. Yeah, he was right to feel the punch of fear. “I’m gonna rememberyou.” His gloved finger pointed, and he gave one nod before he roared off out of his compound.

He’d remember this Jonahone dayand just exactly what he’d said about hisRebelsMC.

Arriving at his old home, the bile inside Hades gut sloshed from side to side. He hated this whole fucking place, he wanted to have it torn down, burned to ash, eradicated from memory until only the stench of his past could dig talons into his head.

The house was an utter eyesore in the neighborhood. Once he’d stop plowing money into the whorehouse his aunts had given up on its upkeep. Now the grass was overgrown, local people used it as a dumping ground for their unwanted trash.

As he made his way up the stoop he saw rats scurrying around the side of the house.

Vermin inside and out.

He knew where to find his mom. Where she always was these days. In her room, in front of the TV, chain smoking Virginia Slims. She weighed ninety pounds if that. A good gust of wind would blow her over. The effects of her excessive drug use had finally caught up with her and she was no longer a good-looking woman. She’d stopped taking pride in her appearance long ago, if she showered it was probably a miracle.

It was a sense of obligation that he continued to provide for her and the couple of stray aunts who had stayed in the house. Ghosts spoke to him as he made his way down the long hallway, like they were hovering on his fucking shoulder whispering to the boy he’d once been.

There was nothing wholesome in this house. Eyes cast further down the hallway to the kitchen, he looked at the floor where once lay a pool of his father’s blood.

“You’re late.” Broadcast a weak voice before a round of wet coughing took her over.

“I’m here now.” He told his mother dumping the paper sack from inside his jacket on the small table by her armchair. The TV was turned to a gameshow. The ashtray overflowing, and the room was rancid with the stench of stale air and ash. Scowling, he wrenched open the curtains and popped the window. It wouldn’t clean out the room, but maybe it’d stop him from gagging.

His mother was already rummaging around in the sack like the addict she was, shaking with elation in her lack lustre eyes. Her bony fingers came out with the bottle of pills. At age forty-two his mother had been addicted to uppers for more than half of her life now. She dry-swallowed two and sighed like she’d just been injected with heroin.

Hades watched, sickened.

Walls long since stained in nicotine beige began to close in around him. He just wanted to get the fuck out of there until it was time to come back next month. Maybe he’d send someone else. She didn’t care who came if they brought her candy. It could be Jesus himself and she’d still grab the bag out of his hands and forget to ask for a miracle.

Addicts were predictable and pathetic.

All my fault.He’d encouraged her drug use to control her over the years and now he was the one left shovelling up her shit, dealing with her erratic phone calls in the middle of the night when she was convinced devils were at the house to collect her soul. So, he fed her more drugs to shut her up. And the cycle continued.

Sitting in silence he rested one leg on top of the other. The TV too loud yet it filled the space while his mother picked at a sandwich he included in the bag. She wouldn’t eat much, he knew. Enough to keep on living, not enough to be nourished. She was skin and bone and reeked of death.

Did he care?

There was a time he had protected her from a premature death. Fought like an animal to ensure her safety, putting himself on a path no one could turn back from. Maybe he cared but all he felt was irritation staining his every breath.

Chew. Chew. Crumble. More bread dropped onto her lap than went into her mouth. “Eat.” He issued on a maddened growl, her head reared slowly, and she followed his order by placing a piece into her mouth. The drugs would hit her system any moment and he wouldn’t get an eligible word out of her after that.

“I’ve decided to move you.” He informed matter of fact. “Somewhere warm. Maybe Florida. They have facilities there and condo complexes. You’ll like it.”

Things would be simpler with her out of his goddamn hair.

Each out of town trip he took he had to be mindful he was required to be back for this asinine visit, foranysudden visit when she was screaming the house down and the cops were called for the lunatic housebound woman inside. His aunts had long since given up taking care of her, those cunts were next to useless and living off his room and board, but he let it carry on solely because though they didn’t take care of his mother daily, they still were in the house with her. Soon as his mother was squared away in another state, then those leeching whores were kicked out of there.

“What?” she screeched. “Don’t be silly. I can’t. I need to be here for when your father gets home. He’ll be angry if I’m late to sermon, Kyle.”Hello, drugs. Inhaling around the blast of frustrated anger, Hades tapped fingers on his leg and refrained from reminding his mother just where his father was. She’d been there that night, she knew exactly what happened. There was more chance of little green men moonwalking through that door than his fucking predator, abusive father Xavier Abaddon coming home.

Or maybe the drugs had addled her brain so badly the information was eroded away.

“No one is coming home. You’ll like it in Florida. It gets the sun. You’ll feel better.”

“No. I can’t. I can’t. I won’t! He’ll be angry, Kyle. I have to wait right here for Xavier. He said so.” Agitation tarnished his mother’s stuttered tone, she began wringing her hands together until the brittle skin became red and furious in color.

“You’re going.” He informed her forcefully.

And then her devil babbling began. “He’s coming. We did a bad thing. We did bad. He’ll know. We have to wait. We must repent, it’s the only way. The devil always knows, he knows we didn’t tell anyone. I can’t go, what will happen? What will I do? I can’t. I have to tell someone. He knows where I am, he said he’d come and find me. You don’t know. You don’t know. He punishes evil.”

“No one is coming, Renee. Drink your water.” Fucks sake, the apple didn’t fall from the tree they said. Was this his future? Some senseless talking locked in a house too terrified to go outside for fear of the devil punishing crimes? Rolling his eyes to the ceiling he pushed the glass of water towards her and stood to his height, brushing couch debris off his jeans with an irritated palm. At last she finally saw him and blinked.

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