Chapter 36

They watched the video from the performance after David and Brie were finished with what they were doing.  Brie explained that she needed a quickie before she could start taking her clients for the day.  She had five lined up and they were pretty much back to back and they were all deep tissue clients.  She never shared names and the kids could never remember them to begin with.

Logan and Caleb joined them for the viewing.  “Dude, Malachai, you rocked that solo during ‘Deliverance’”, Caleb said.

“It was ok, but I can hear the mistakes I made”, he responded.

“I think we all missed a note or beat of two here and there during the show”, Jordan said.  “I know I did.”

“But, notice, none of you missed a note in any of the covers you did.  Not the Disturbed stuff, not the Linkin Park stuff, not the Evanescence stuff.  Just your original material.   So, my advice, though I’m sure you probably don’t want it, is to stop focusing so much on the covers.  We know you can play other people’s stuff.  Most of us want to hear you play your OWN stuff and play it perfectly.  Yes, I will be pissed if you fuck up my music, but record companies don’t want you to do covers.  They want you do sing your own stuff.  Do you guys understand what I’m saying?” David said.

“I get it, Dad”, Jordan said.  “I think from now on we need to really put more thought into our music.  Sure, it can sound a little like other well known songs, but, we need to put more Reckless disregard into it and not so much influence from disturbed and other bands like them.”

“That’s a very good idea, Jordan”, David said.  “So, do one of you boys want to explain the moral of this story or do I need to spell it out for you?”

“Spend more time with your original material and find a sound that’s more us and less you.  Am I right, Uncle David?” Logan said.

“Precisely.  More time on your stuff and sound less like you’re another Disturbed.  Now, get the hell out of my sight for a while and do as I’m suggesting.”  He shooed them away right as Maddie made her way down the stairs.  “And what can I do for you, Miss Maddie?”

“I was wondering if there was any way for me to talk to you and Mom about going into advanced choir.  The choir teacher thinks it would be a wise move for me to do that.”

David patted the seat next to him on the couch and talked to Maddie about her request.  “Do you want to move up to Advanced Choir?”

“Well, yeah, it opens the door for a lot of scholarships to a lot of really good colleges.  It opens the door for a lot of solos.  As it is, I get all the solos in the level I’m in now that aren’t for boys.  And, Dad, that’s a fair bit.”

“Something tells me there’s a catch to this moving up to the Advanced level.  Spill it all, Madison Jade.”

“Well, it would require me to skip a grade next year.  The school’s supposed to be sending you and Mom information about that in the next week or so.”

“So, Advance choir will mean that you move up from sixth grade straight into eighth?”

“Yes.”

David rubbed his hand across his bald scalp.  “I’ll keep an eye out of the information in the mail.  When it gets here, I’ll talk to your Mom about it.  Until then, we’ll just call this topic on hold.  Ok?”

Maddie threw her arms around her father’s neck and gave him a big hug.  “THANKS, DADDY!” she squealed and kissed his cheek.  “You know something?  You the best Dad in the world!”

“So when am I going to get a ‘#1 Dad’ coffee mug?” he laughed.

She snickered.  “Yeah, not happening, Dad.  You’d never let Mom wash it because you’d drink out of it all day.”

“Go play, Maddie.”

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She sat in her room and tried to focus on her part of the paper she and Malachai were supposed to work on.  Her face hurt from where her uncle slapped when she got home.  Stop thinking about it, Mandy.  Focus on what you’re doing.  This paper on Freud is due next week.

There was a loud banging on her door.  “Amanda Diane David, unlock this door now”, her Aunt shouted.

Amanda stood and went to the door.  “Yes, Aunt Mindy?” she asked as she opened the door.

Her aunt slapped her across the face.  This time, she didn’t hit the floor.  Her Aunt didn’t hit as hard as her Uncle did.  “Don’t you take that tone with me, Amanda.  Your Uncle told me that you lied to him when you came home from your trip last night.  Tell me the truth, where were you last night?”

“I told Uncle Chris what I’m telling you, I was with my study partner all night working on our Psychology paper.”

“And this study partner of yours is the oldest child of David Draiman?” the woman responded skeptically.

“Yes.”

Her aunt pushed her way into the room and slammed the door.  “You’re just as much a whore as your mother.  If you want to act like a whore, I’m going to treat you like one”, she said as she grabbed Amanda’s hands and fought with her to push her down onto the bed.  Finally, she won,  and put herself on the girl’s legs to keep her from fighting free.  Taking both wrists in hand, she lifted the girl’s skirt and shoved her hand inside her.  “Scream and I’ll hurt you worse, Amanda.  This is punishment for acting like your mother; whoring yourself out to whomever will have you.  Take it like an adult and keep the pain to yourself.  It’s not supposed to feel good.  It’s supposed to hurt.”  She shoved her fingers in and out of the girl beneath her hard and fast as tears streamed down her face.

Amanda didn’t scream.  The pain is what made the tears she cried fall, but she never screamed.  She watched the clock and thought of the sweet young man she’d spent the night with the night before.  Malachai would never hurt her.  She knew it instinctively.  He couldn’t hurt a woman.  She knew his father taught him better than that.

Finally, her aunt was done.  She’d gotten her sick pleasure from hurting her.  Amanda knew that she couldn’t stay in that house another night.  She threw some clothes into an overnight bag, packed up her books into her school bag, and picked up her cell phone.  She knew who she had to call.  She just hoped that he meant what he’d said about calling him anytime, day or night.  She was sure that he was eating dinner with his family, but, she couldn’t wait.  She dialed the number and waited for him to answer.

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Malachai sat at the dinner table enjoying the spaghetti his mother had made for dinner when his phone went off in his pocket.  He pulled it out and checked the number.  It was Mandy.   “Mom, Dad, I need to take this.”

“Who is it?” David asked.

“Mandy.”

“Then by all means.”

Malachai excused himself from the table as he hit the “accept” button on his phone.  “Hello?” he said.

“Malachai?” he heard on the other end.  The voice was a whisper and tear choked.  “It’s Mandy.”

“What’s the matter, Mandy?  Why are you whispering and crying?”

“I’ll explain everything when you get me to your house.  I can’t stay here any longer.  Please come get me.  Bring a quiet vehicle and turn your lights off before you pull into the driveway.”

Malachai took a deep breath and nodded.  “Alright.  I’m on my way.  Let me tell my parents where I’m going so that they don’t freak out on me, especially my mom.”

“Ok, Malachai.  I’ll be waiting.”  She paused.  “Do you think that you can come through the woods between our houses?”

“Yeah, we have a fucking fleet of ATV’s.  It wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good, I’ll meet you in the woods, then.  I can’t wait very much longer.  You have to get me out of here now; tonight.”

“You’ve got it.  Let me get off the phone and I’m on my way.”

“Thank you, Malachai.  I’ll see you soon.”  And the line went dead.

Malachai walked back into the kitchen where his family sat and ate their dinner.  “Dad, where are the keys to the ATV’s?”

“In the garage with said ATV’s.  Why?”

“Mandy needs me to go get her.  She didn’t tell me why, just that she needed to get her out of there tonight and asked me to come through the woods.”

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“I recognize the house from when we’d ride through the woods when I was younger.  I know how to get there.”

“I’m going with you, then, because it’s dark and you don’t know these woods as well as I do.”  The tone in his father’s voice left no room for debate.

“That’s fine, then, Dad, but we need to head out soon.”

“Then let’s get the hell out of here.”  David pushed away from the table and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek.  “I’ll be right back”, he whispered to her.

“Go rescue Amanda.  I’ll see you guys when you get back”, she said calmly.  She had an idea of what she thought was going on, but she kept it to herself.

David and Malachai both ran upstairs to grab a jacket, then headed out to the garage.  Once they had mounted the ATV’s and turned them over, they roared out of the garage and into the woods toward Amanda’s house, riding as fast as the vehicles under them would run.  Not even thirty minutes later, they spotted a hooded figure not thirty yards ahead.  Malachai signaled to his father to stop and did the same.  “AMANDA!  IS THAT YOU?”

“MALACHAI!  HURRY!” she shouted back.

“Dad, you stay here and I’ll be right back.”  David nodded and Malachai roared off toward Amanda.  Once her reached her, he hit the brakes and spun the ass end of the ATV around so that she could get on.  “Come on! Let’s get you out of here!” he shouted over the engine.  She mounted the bike with her bags wrapped around her securely, and Malachai took off as soon as her felt her arms slide around his waist.  They met David where Malachai had left him  “I’ve got her, lead us home.”

“You got it.”  Then, David did something with his ATV that Malachai had only seen done on TV.  He tipped it up on its front wheels and spun the back around using his body weight.  Once the bike was completely back in the ground, he took off with Malachai hot on his trail.