Quartermaine Mansion: Dining Room

“Good morning,” Emily Quartermaine chirped as she slid into her seat at breakfast. She grabbed her elaborately folded napkin and shook it out to spread it over her lap.

“Morning, sweetheart,” her mother Monica replied. “Reginald can’t drive you to school today because Lila has an early doctor’s appointment so you might want to ask your brother.”

“Sure,” Emily replied. She searched the table and frowned when she didn’t see Jason already seated. Her grandparents, Edward and Lila, were seated at the other end of the table, her father was at the other with Emily and Monica seated on either side of them. Her cousin Ned Ashton and his wife Lois were in the middle of the table. Her brother AJ was missing but with no early classes in college, he rarely ever woke before ten in the morning.

But Jason was never late for breakfast.

“Today is Beth’s birthday,” Emily told her mother. “So I was wondering if we could do something for her.”

“Aren’t Jeff and Katherine doing anything?” her father Alan asked.

Emily shook her head. “Nope. Her dad’s going out of town this afternoon and you know her mom. If she can’t make it into a social situation, it’s not worth it. And since it’s only Beth’s fifteenth birthday…” she shrugged.

“We’ll have her over for dinner. Cook can make her favorite meal,” Monica suggested. “Just tell Reginald what it is and he’ll take care of it.”

“Sorry, I’m late,” Jason remarked entering the room. He tucked his t-shirt into his khakis and took his normal seat. He started piling eggs and bacon onto his plate. “My alarm didn’t go off.” It wasn’t true—he’d been concerned that Elizabeth would have trouble climbing back down the ladder and he’d snuck her down the service stairs and watched until she rounded the lake.

“It’s fine. You have to drive me to school today,” Emily told him, aiming a fork speared with a piece of sausage at him. “So don’t forget. Oh, and we’re picking up Beth. It’s her birthday, so I hope you got her something.”

Jason frowned. “That’s today?”

Emily sighed in exasperation. “Jason, why don’t you like her? I mean, I don’t understand what the problem is.”

“Well, she’s rude, she’s obstinate,” Jason began, ticking it off on his fingers.

“Will two stop fighting at the table?” Edward barked from his end. “Emily, Jason and Lizzie have never gotten along and they never will. So give it up.”

Emily sighed. “Well, I still can’t believe you forgot her birthday. She got you something for yours in August.”

“Just finish your breakfast. I don’t want to be late for school.”

Webber Estate: Driveway

Jason parked his car a little ways down from the Webber house so that he could have a moment with Elizabeth away from Emily’s eyes. Part of their arrangement was that everything went on as normal between them in public. So they fought back and forth, made fun of each other—they did what was expected. Elizabeth had insisted on that—she said that if they suddenly became friends now, people would think something was wrong.

“I’ll go get her,” Jason told his sister. “Wait.”

“Don’t start a fight with her,” Emily yelled after him.

He shook his head and closed the car door. He walked the very steps to the end of the hedge that separated the Webber house from the driveway and turned onto the doorstep.

Elizabeth was already waiting and frowned when she saw Jason. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m driving you two to school,” he answered. “How do you feel?” he asked, taking in the bulky turtleneck she wore to hide the bruises and cuts.

“Stiff,” Elizabeth admitted. She came down the steps, but he stopped her from walking past the hedge. “What?”

“I just wanted to say happy birthday,” he told her. “Emily thinks I forgot, but I wanted you to know that I didn’t.”

“I know you didn’t,” Elizabeth replied. She stood up on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry I make your life so complicated.”

“You don’t,” Jason assured her. He tipped his head towards the driveway. “Come on. Before we’re late.”

When Elizabeth rounded the hedge, Emily was waiting outside the car and threw her arms around her best friend. Jason winced, knowing that it was all Elizabeth could do to hide the tears of pain the embrace caused.

“Happy birthday!” Emily announced gleefully.

“Thanks, Em,” Elizabeth said, pulling away hurriedly. She headed towards the backseat of Jason’s car and pulled the door open. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late for homeroom.”

PC High: Emily’s Locker

“Hey, ladies,” Lucky Spencer said. He was leaning against the locker next to Emily’s with a silly little smirk on his face. “Great party last night, Webber.”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said dully as she unlocked the combination lock and pulled open her locker.

Lucky frowned. “Hey, birthday girl, what’s eating at you?”

“Yeah, you’ve been in a bad mood all morning,” Emily observed. “What’s wrong? Did Jason start with you or something?”

“No. I just…I had fight with my dad last night,” Elizabeth replied. She shoved her history and math textbooks into her backpack. “No big deal.”

“Well, you’re invited to our house tonight for dinner. Cook’s making your favorite,” Emily told her cheerfully.

“Thanks, Em.” Elizabeth shut the locker. “I have to get to geometry. I’ll see you history. Bye.”

She walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner. Emily shook her head. “That girl is such a drama queen,” she remarked with no real malice. “You’d think she was the first one to ever get into a fight with her father.”

“Whatever. So, Homecoming, you thought about it any?” Lucky asked.

“I thought you were going to ask Beth’s cousin,” Emily teased. “What, did Ali turn you down?”

Lucky grimaced. “Alison Barrington is the bane of my existence.”

Emily giggled and wound her arm through Lucky’s. “Come on, we’ve got history.”

“Put me out my misery, Em,” Lucky begged. “Homecoming? Am I going stag or what?”

Emily sighed dramatically. “Well, I’d hate to deprive you of my company, so sure why not?”

“Great. Who’s Webber going with?” Lucky asked pulling open the classroom door.

“No idea. She refuses to let me set her up with anyone. At the rate she’s going, she’ll be stuck going with my brother.”

Lucky took his seat in the back and Emily sat in front of him. “What’s wrong with your brother? He doesn’t have a date yet?”

“Nope. He’s got some crazy idea that Karen Wexler is going to break up with Jagger Cates so that she can go with him.”

Lucky chuckled. “He certainly has a rich fantasy life, doesn’t he?”

Quartermaine Mansion: Sitting Room

AJ stumbled into the room long after breakfast had been eaten and everyone had left the house for the day. He glanced at the clock and just shrugged when he realized it was almost noon and he’d missed his morning class at PCU.

He downed a glass of water and was in the middle of pouring another glass from the mini bar when Lois Cerullo-Ashton entered the room, immersed in some files from L&B, her record company.

She halted in her steps when she saw the eldest Quartermaine heir drinking water on the other side of the room. “I thought you had class this morning,” Lois said, tilting her head to the side.

AJ glanced at her. “I slept in,” he mumbled. He swayed a little and moved to the table near the windows where he just about collapsed into a seat. “What’re you doing home?”

“I forgot Miguel’s file here,” Lois said almost absently. “Are you hung-over?”

“I might have had a little too much last night,” AJ allowed. “Reginald?” he called. He winced when his voice caused a strange echo inside his head and stung. “Where is he?”

“He took Lila to a doctor’s appointment,” Lois told him. “AJ, it’s a Wednesday morning. Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to be hung over in the middle of the week?”

AJ shrugged. “Guess I never thought about it.” He yawned. “What does it matter?”

“It matters because I think you’ve been drinking a little more than you should,” Lois said carefully. She sat down in an adjacent chair. “AJ, I’m worried about you.”

AJ snorted. “Why? Do you think anyone else gives a damn?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. They think you’re just sowing your wild oats and I don’t think that’s it all.”

“I’m just having a little fun with some old friends,” AJ protested.

“Friends like Jack Daniels?” Lois retorted. “You’re starting to drink alone in your room and that’s a bad sign. Damn it, AJ, you’re my cousin and I know it’s only by marriage but I was brought up to take care of my family.”

“That’s very nice of you to say,” he remarked seriously. “But your concern is unneeded here.”

She sighed and stood. “I have to get back to the office. Promise me you’ll think about what I said.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

PC High: Library

Jason entered the library for his fourth period study hall and headed towards the back where he knew Elizabeth would be hiding. When she’d signed up for the tutoring program this year, they’d given her Jason again since he’d brought her back from failing the previous year.

He wasn’t surprised to see her head cradled in her arms, her hair spilling out over the table. She always tried to get some more sleep during study hall. He sat down and pulled out his history book to study quietly.

After about twenty minutes, he saw that she’d turned her face towards him and that her face was scrunching up. By now, he knew she was in the beginning of a nightmare so he reached out and gently shook her shoulder.

She opened her eyes and sat up slowly, rubbing her face sleepily. “Hey. When’d you get here?”

“A little ago. You were sleeping,” he replied. He reached into the front pocket of his book bag and pulled out a silver-wrapped package thin box. “Here.”

Elizabeth gave him a tiny smile as she took it from him. “You didn’t have to do anything.”

“Just open it,” he told her, used to her protests. She slid the silver ribbon off and carefully removed the wrapping paper, setting it aside. Elizabeth opened the top of the black velvet jewelry box to reveal a delicate silver chain inside.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, pulling it from the box, letting the cluster of shooting stars charm dangle from her fingers. “It’s the one from the mall that I saw last week.”

Jason tugged his earlobe and looked away. “Yeah, I overheard Emily telling Grandmother about it. She didn’t have enough money…so I bought it instead.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Jason…how am I supposed to explain where it came from?”

He frowned and looked away. “I guess I didn’t really think about it,” he said quietly. “I just…Emily said you really loved it so I just…I went out and got it. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry.” Elizabeth set the box on the table and turned in her seat a little. “Would you do the clasp?”

He took the chain from her and draped it around her neck before fastening it. “What are you going to say when people ask?”

“I’ll tell them I blackmailed you into it,” Elizabeth replied. She twisted back around and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry. I love it.”

He kissed her cheek as she pulled back and she flushed a little, looking directly at the surface of the table. “Did you get your geometry test back?” Jason asked, changing the subject.

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. I got a 65. Just passed it.”

He reached for her yellow folder in the middle of the stack and flipped it open. “You knew that material yesterday. What happened?”

“Do we have to do this?” Elizabeth asked, sighing. “It’s not like I really need to pass this class—”

“In order for me to keep tutoring you, you have to show improvement in your classes,” Jason reminded her. “Otherwise, they’ll put someone else on it.”

“Fine.” She took her geometry text book from her bag and flipped it open.

Outside the Library 

“Hey, isn’t that your brother?”

Emily halted on her way to the office and joined Lucky at the glass door of the library. He was pointing towards a table in the back where she could make out the sight of her best friend and brother studying. “Yeah, he’s been tutoring Beth for over a year now.”

“I thought they hated each other.”

She shrugged. “Last time I checked, they did.”

“Then why would he get her a birthday gift?” Lucky asked.

“What? How would you know?” Emily demanded. She stood on her tip toes trying to get a better view of them.

“There’s wrapping paper next to her.”

She looked at her friend oddly. “The things you notice scare me sometimes,” she remarked, shaking her head.

0

She thought she might have screamed, but she wasn’t sure. Sometimes the sound was only inside her mind and sometimes it was out loud. She’d stopped distinguishing the two long ago. But it was better not to scream.

When she thought the belt was flying towards her face, she did shriek out loud. Her arm flew up to protect her face and the wide leather slapped against her forearm with a loudCRACK. She didn’t care about the stinging sensation in her arm—all that mattered was that she wasn’t hit in the face. As long as that was prevented, she was safe. The rest she could cover with sweaters and long pants. But a mark on her face took more effort.

She finally managed to crawl away and get to a corner where she curled up into a tiny ball, shielding her face from the blows. She didn’t fight back anymore—fighting back only angered him more. The angrier he was, the longer it lasted and she didn’t think she could take much more.

He rained the blows over her vulnerable body, sometimes the buckle of the belt hit her skin and sometimes he used his hands to beat her. She could hear the delicate fabric of her Halloween costume tearing and she wondered how much of it would be left one he was finally done with her. Would she need to change before she snuck out?

Finally, she sensed it coming towards an end. His breathing was heavier, his movements weren’t as quick and the time in between the blows lengthened.
After a few more moments, he backed away from her—she could hear it in his footsteps. She heard her bedroom door open and when it slammed shut a second later, then and onlythen did she peek out from the cocoon her arms had formed over her head.

He was gone.

She stood shakily. She slid a few times—had to grip the edge of her bureau, but finally, she was on her feet. She limped towards the vanity table and nearly whimpered when she took in her appearance.

The long shift dress she’d worn as part of her angel costume earlier that night was torn in many places and there were parts where a cut from the belt was bleeding through. The peasant sleeves were torn.

But her face—her tiny elfin face—it was unmarried and she was relieved. He hadn’t been angry with her. When he was angry with her, he aimed for the face. But tonight, he’d been venting his frustration out on her. Those were the safe times. It was when something she’d done to infuriate him…those were the times she was genuinely frightened for her life.

She found a pair of tennis shoes and slipped her feet into them. She wouldn’t bother changing—she’d only need to take remove the clothing when she had to take care of the various scratches and cuts on her body.

She shuffled towards the window and took a deep breath, bracing herself for the trip down the trellis. It was a hard climb under the best of circumstances, but tonight when she could barely move anyway, it would be even more nightmarish.

She swung one leg over the window sill and took one last look into her bedroom. Elizabeth Webber’s eyes searched every corner, as if every shadow were her father…just waiting to jump out and finish the job.

Because if she was sure of anything in her life, it was that Jeff Webber would be the death of her. Whether from one of his beatings, whether she fell and broke her neck while climbing in and out of her window…or another reason, a reason she’d broached only once to one person and the expression he’d had on his face had silenced that voice in her head for good.

—

Across the lake, a boy only two years older than Elizabeth paced his room nervously. Every once in a while, his eyes darted to the digital clock on his nightstand. It was late. Too late, in his opinion. She wasn’t here yet.

Jason Quartermaine wasn’t a paranoid boy—not in the slightest. In fact, he was generally an optimist. Believed the best in everyone—including his alcoholic older brother, his chronically unfaithful parents and his overbearing grandfather. It was just the way he thought.

But on nights when he expected her, he became paranoid and irrational. If it was midnight and she still wasn’t there, he was convinced that she was dead. That her father had finally gone over the edge and killed her. He’d start imagining the grisly way her body would be discovered, bloody and bruised the next morning. He’d blame himself when that day became. Because if it was too late and he didn’t go looking for her, it was his fault. Because he hadn’t protected her like he’d always promised.

He looked at the clock again and swore when the numbers clicked from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.

Just as he was pulling on a pair of sneakers to go looking, he heard the scrape of the ladder and let out a deep breath of relief. She was okay. She was still alive.

He’d known all night that she’d come. The Webbers had thrown their usual grandiose Halloween costume party and as good friends of the family, the Quartermaines had attended. Jason had managed to get Elizabeth away from her family almost immediately and they spent the entire night in the company of his siblings, AJ and Emily.

But he always kept an eye on Jeff and took in the tense set of the older man’s shoulders, the anger simmering beneath the surface in his eyes. Jeff Webber exuded violence and Jason often wondered how he was the only person who understood the man’s true nature.

It’d gotten to the point of the past year that Jason recognized the patterns in Jeff’s behavior. When he looked like that—when he got a certain expression on his face—Jason knew he’d be seeing her.

He saw her crown of her head appear in his window. He stepped forward and he blanched when he saw the way she struggled to get over the windowsill. The blood was seeping through the delicate fabric and with all the tears, Jason was surprised to see that the dress was still holding together more or less.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly. When she was safely over the sill and seated on the window seat, he kneeled in front of her. Like Elizabeth, he was relieved to see her face was clear. As crazy as it might seem to someone normal, he knew there was trouble when Jeff left a mark on her skin where anyone could see it.

She nodded. “I need…” she hesitated, her voice shaky and hoarse. “I need to change.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jason replied. He touched her face lightly, drew the back of his fingers over her smooth porcelain skin. “How bad do you feel?”

She tried to shrug, but found she couldn’t lift her shoulders that high. Still on his knees, Jason leaned back and tugged the first aid kit out from underneath his bed. There was a duffle bad there too, complete with a few sets of clothing and a nightgown. They always prepared for the worst.

He flipped it open and took out the bottle of peroxide and some gauze. He started on the cuts on her arms and legs. She didn’t even flinch from the sting of the liquid and it didn’t surprise him. At this point, Elizabeth was more accustomed to feel of peroxide against her skin than his brother AJ was to the taste of vodka slipping down his throat.

Jason probably could have cleaned it with some soap and water but as an aspiring doctor who’d grown up as the son of two doctors, he went for the better method. The deeper cuts, he wrapped some gauze around them and the lighter ones, he just cleaned and blotted.

When he’d reached all the cuts he could handle without removing the dress, he cleared his throat. “Can you do…the ones in the front?”

She nodded dully. “But not the ones on my back,” she said softly. “It hurts to reach out.”

Jason stood and pulled her to her feet. “Turn around,” he told her. When he was faced with her back, he swallowed hard. Her back was covered in lashes, there was almost no fabric left. He slowly pulled it away until her back was bare and she had one arm slung across her chest to keep the dress up.

When he was finished, he moved back and got the duffle bag from underneath the bed. He grabbed the first aid kit as well and Elizabeth followed him to his bathroom. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

Later, after she was tucked away in bed, Jason was sprawled out on the cot he had stashed in his closet. He listened to the sound of her breathing and was relieved to find it deep and even—he hoped the dreams wouldn’t plague her tonight.

Elizabeth had been coming to him for almost a year now, but Jason had been aware of the abuse for two years. She was thirteen at the time and they were sitting in the school library. He was a honors student in his sophomore year and had been assigned to tutor Elizabeth in all her subjects—he was surprised to find her failing most of them.

She’d been wearing a dark blue sweater and while they were working on math equation, she’d absently pushed the sleeve up and he’d seen the bruises.

“What’s that?” he asked, frowning. She looked up at him oddly.

“What’s what?” Elizabeth asked. She moved her hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and her eyes widened when she realized her shirt sleeve was up. She hastily pulled it down. “Nothing. I fell.”

Jason shook his head and reached for her wrist. He was stronger than her and despite her protests, managed to keep her still long enough to push it back up and examine the bruises.

“These look like finger marks,” Jason decided. He met her eyes. “They are, aren’t they?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Elizabeth replied uncomfortably. “Can we just finish this?”

“Lizzie…who did this to you?” Without waiting for an answer, his other hand shot out and gripped the forearm of her other, shoving the sleeve up. On this arm there were a multitude of cuts mixed with the bruises.

Her eyes filled with tears. “Let me go,” she pleaded softly.

“Lizzie—“

“Stop calling me that,” Elizabeth said suddenly. A tear slipped past her lashes and streaked down her cheek. “I hate it.”

“Elizabeth, who did this to you?” Jason asked again, disturbed at the other distress of the younger teen. “Was it someone we know?”

“Please…don’t,” she said brokenly.

He narrowed his eyes. “Was it someone in your family? Steven?”

She shook her head rapidly and tried to tug her hands from his grasp but he kept his fingers wrapped around her wrists. “Jason, it doesn’t matter—“

“Is it the reason you’re failing?” he asked pointedly. “Why you have circles under your eyes?”

“Stop it.”

“You can trust me,” he told her intently. “You know you can. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”

She hesitated, chewed on her lower lip. “Not even AJ? Or Emily?”

“No one, I promise,” Jason replied. His grip loosened, she could have easily pulled her hands free but didn’t. “Tell me.”

“My father,” Elizabeth said after a moment. “It was my father.”

He shifted on the cot, trying to fit his long frame more comfortably. It’d taken a lot of coaxing and some time before Elizabeth finally confided the whole story. She’d been wary of telling him in the first place. Their friendship had been civil during the best of times—she was more Emily’s friend than his. But because their families were friends, they’d all grown up together.

But now…they were easily closer to each other then either of them was to Emily or AJ. A year passed as he watched her sink further and further into depression. Her grades continued to fall because she was too scared to sleep at tonight and often fell asleep in class. She barely passed eighth grade and her freshman year didn’t look any more promising.

It was after the first marking period last year that Jason had finally told her that he was going to set a ladder outside his window that night and if she got too scared to sleep, she could climb down her trellis and come to him. She shook her head vehemently and insisted she’d be fine.

But around one in the morning, he’d been jerked awake by the sound of the ladder scraping against the side of the house. A moment later, she appeared in the window, biting her lip nervously.

“You said if it got too much…”

From that night on, she’d barely spent a night in her own room. Her grades went back up and they fell into a routine. He couldn’t remember what it felt like to fall asleep without first making sure she was sleeping soundly.

One day, Jason decided, one day he was going to come face to face with Jeff Webber and he’d show the man exactly what he thought of him. With that thought in mind, he drifted off into a light sleep, his ears still tuned to the sound of her breathing, waiting for any sign that she was having a nightmare so that he could wake her up before the rest of his family heard.

0