Jordan stormed out of the house through the sliding glass doors in the back of the kitchen, slamming them hard enough to make the house shudder as she headed out into the back yard to go to her special spot. It had been the place where she cried all her problems out since they moved into that house six years before. It was her ‘asylum’ for lack of a better work. She was safe in her special spot. After she reached the tree, she kicked off her heels and climbed up the tree barefoot, not caring if the world saw what was under her skirt. About ten feet off the ground, she reached a platform that her Dad, her Uncle Matt, and their old bodyguard Morbus, had built in the tree for her. She sat with on leg dangling off the edge of the platform and one leg drawn up to where he knee was pressed into her chest. She hugged her knee to her and wrapped her arms around it, hiding her face in the crook of her elbow as she sobbed. She didn’t want anyone to see her cry. That’s why she had her special spot.
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When they heard the house shudder, David and Brie were alarmed. “I’m going to go see who that was”, Brie said. “You stay here and educate Maddie on the Utopian occupation’s beginnings.”
“You got it, but I bet I know who it was and where they went. You’ll never find her.”
“Who was it? Jordan?”
“Yeah, and if she slammed the doors hard enough to shake the house, she’s hurting. I know where she goes when she’s hurting. I built it.”
“Her special spot that no one ever told me the location of?” David nodded. “Yeah, I thought so. Ok, you go handle our first born daughter and I’ll deal with our second born”, Brie said with a sigh.
David stood and headed out the back door to see what was wrong with the oldest of her baby girls.
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“What the fuck was that, Caleb?” Malachai yelled.
“What did I say?”
“You guy must have seen some shit? Really? Are you that God damn dense? You should have known that, seeing as our FATHER was the VOICE OF THE RESISTANCE, that we didn’t see too much of ANYTHING. When my Dad got shot at the end of Uproar Festival in 2010 that was the end of our freedom. Jordan, Jake, Maddie, Meagan, Makayla, James, and Jeremiah were all born DURING the War. Until we moved in here, they’d never had their own bed room, they’d never gotten to spend more than a few hours outside and not have to have an armed bodyguard with them at all times because there were people that would have used US as leverage to get to our parents. There were people that wanted to execute my father publically and force us and our mother to watch as he literally burned alive. The most we saw was what we saw on the news. Everything else was what we didn’t get to see, what we lived.”
“Dude, you need to learn your facts before you speak out of school”, Logan said with a shake of his head.
“I think we’re done for the day. Jordan won’t be able to work after this. She’ll need to calm down a lot before she’ll want to look at Caleb again. I’ll get with you guys about possibly rehearsing tomorrow afternoon. I need to go check on my sister.” Malachai took his guitar off and set it on its stand before heading upstairs.
“Hey, Malachai, do you think your parents will let me crash here for a few days? My apartment is awfully lonely and I’m still waiting on Dani to get moved up here from Austin”, Logan called after him.
“I’m sure they won’t mind if we have to room.”
“I’ll crash with you, it’s cool with me.”
“All you can do is ask, Logan. I’m pretty sure Dad will tell you what he told Justin the last time he was out here.”
“What was that?”
“Mi casa es su casa”, Malachai turned back toward the top of the stairs and headed up.
Once Malachai was gone, Logan decided he needed to have a little chat with Caleb. “Dude, I’m going to do you a big favor by educating you on how close Malachai, Jordan, and I are. Over the eight years we were all in hiding, the four families became rather close. Of my siblings, Mike's kids, and Dan's kids, there isn't a child of Disturbed that wouldn't beat the hell out of you should I hear of you even thinking about speaking ill of my Aunt Brie and Uncle David. The older four Draiman children wouldn't have the chance to lay a hand on you. Just keep that in mind the next time you have an epiphany about the Draiman's. Are we straight? And I've seen the way you look at Jordan. Just a friendly piece of advice: don't bother. One, it's not cool to date your band mate and two, I don’t think she likes you very much. Were I you, I'd just play my drums and keep my nose clean."
Caleb looked at Logan like he was joking, then saw just how deadly serious Logan was. Caleb didn’t know it, but there was a killer deep in Logan’s soul. He’d taken a human life before and it didn’t faze him. Malachai was the same way. He’d killed and it didn’t faze him. In fact, a small part of both boys enjoyed the killing they had done. Caleb saw this in Logan’s eyes, and decided not to argue.
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David walked out the door to the back yard and pause long enough to listen for something. Then he heard it; the soft sobbing of his fourteen year old daughter. He walked over to the tree that he was sure she was in and spotted her shoes at the base of the trunk. He looked up and spotted her sitting with her back against the trunk of the tree and her knees drawn up to her face. “Jordan, it’s Dad. Can I come up?”
“Go away!” she called back.
“Fat chance, baby. I’m going to ask one more time. Can I come up?”
She sniffled and peeked up from the crook of her arm. “Can you even climb up here still?”
“I might be old, Jordan, but I’m not that damn old.”
“I’m not sure the platform will hold you.”
“Keep trying, Jordan, because Morbus, your Uncle Matt and I all stood and bounced on that damn thing and between the three of us there’s about 750 lbs of pure muscle there. I’m coming up.” David found a foot hold and a hand hold and climbed up the tree. When he got to the plat form where she was sitting, he pulled himself up and sat down. “Alright, Jordan, what are you upset about, baby?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“Stupid Caleb talking about shit he knows nothing about”, she sniffled again.
“You’re going to have to give me more details than that, sweet heart.”
“He was talking about you and Mom’s relationship at first and that didn’t bother me. You’d have to be blind and deaf not to know how in love you and Mom are. What got me was that he said, ‘You guys must have seen some shit during the War’, when he knows what really happened. He know who you were to the Resistance. And it pisses me off. I hate him, Dad.”
David had started rubbing her back half way through her rant. “No, sweetie, you shouldn’t hate him. He’s ignorant of the facts. Instead of hating him, educate him. Teach him about what you went through, you and Malachai both. The same should go for Logan too. The three of you share that bond with only a few other children and they’re your cousins and all but two of your siblings. He doesn’t know what you went through. You have to teach him.”
She sighed. “I still don’t like him, though, Dad. He looks at me funny. It creeps me out.”
“Does he know about your preference?”
“No, no one but you, Mom, and Malachai knows.”
David nodded. “Ok. Well, maybe you should tell him. And be nice about it.”
She laughed a little bit. “Ok, Dad. Thanks for coming out here and checking on me.”
“Like I wouldn’t have. You might be fourteen, but you’re still my baby girl. I’m going to have the protective DAD instincts every time I see you upset.”
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