Read Online RAGE by Kimberly A. Bettes - Free Book Online Page A

flickered for about an hour before going off completely. Electric company’s coming to look at it. Jack closed down until tomorrow.”
    I looked around. “Where’s Travis?”
    “He went to the bar with Dale and Mike. You hungry?” she asked, offering me some crackers.
    I walked over to the table and sat across from her. She slid the package of crackers toward me. I took one and nibbled on it, more for the time with her than for the food. I didn’t have much of an appetite at the moment.
    “I can make you something else if you want,” she said.
    “No. That’s okay.” I really wasn’t hungry, but I also didn’t want to make her do anything. She worked so hard, she deserved to just sit there. Besides that, we didn’t have much else.
    “Suit yourself,” she said. “Where’d you get those clothes?”
    “Somebody’s locker at school.”
    She drew her eyebrows together and squinted her eyes a bit like she always did when she was confused or suspicious.
    “Whose locker? And where are your clothes?”
    “Some kids took them.”
    “Who took them, and how’d they get them?”
    I told her about the dead cat, the diarrhea incident, the poop in my backpack, and the taking of my clothes. I didn’t even leave out the part about Dominic peeing on me. I hadn’t wanted to tell her. I didn’t want her to worry. But once I started, I told her all of it. Well, all the stuff that happened at school. I still couldn’t bring myself to tell her about Travis.
    After hearing the story, she shook her head. “That’s all part of growing up, Brian. Things like that make us the people we grow up to be. It makes us strong. You’ll see. Going through these things may seem horrible now, but it’ll benefit you in the end. You’ll grow up to be a strong, independent man.” She nodded, winked, and took a drink of water.
    I wondered if she was right. I surely wasn’t the only person who’d been picked on and teased and bullied at school. And I probably wasn’t the only kid who’d been raped by his step-father. But it sure felt that way to me.
    “Mom, there’s other bad stuff happening to me.” I wasn’t sure how to tell her, or if I even should. But I thought I’d give it a shot. After all, it wasn’t often I got an opportunity like this, where it was just her and me. Travis wasn’t here to lie to her and cover up what he was doing.
    “Oh? Like what?” she asked, starting on another cracker.
    “Well, stuff with Travis.” I wasn’t sure how to say it.
    “What kind of stuff, Brian? I have a headache and don’t feel like playing these guessing games with you.” She finished her cracker and stood. I watched her take her glass to the sink. She walked back over to the table and stood, with her hands on her hips, looking at me expectantly.
    “Well?” she asked again. This time, I thought I detected some annoyance in her voice. But I could’ve imagined it.
    I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. “He’s mean to me.”
    “He may be strict, Brian, but like I said, it’ll make you a better person. You may not see it now, but believe me. It’s for your own good. Besides, you’ll be grown in a few years and move out. It’ll all be forgotten then.”
    I thought of telling her the rest, making her see that it wasn’t just that he was strict. It was that he beat me and raped me. And even if it was over in a few years, it would never be forgotten.
    But before I could say anything else, she rubbed her temples and walked away, heading to the bedroom to undoubtedly collapse onto the bed and sleep the rest of the night. I decided to let it go. I didn’t want to bother her with my problems anyway.
    I showered and dressed in my own clothes. I thought of a way to return the ones I’d borrowed. I didn’t have a backpack so I’d have to carry them to school under my arm. If I left home early and put them back before everyone else got to school, no one would ever notice that I’d borrowed them, and no one would