Sorrow Swallows My Screams

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen:

Zacky’s POV:

I shook. Every part of me was shaking with fear. I couldn’t believe it. How did he find me? How did my father find me?

“Been crashing with these hillbillies, eh, Sonny-Jim?”

I couldn’t speak; my teeth were chattering too much. How did he find me? This was bad. This was really bad.

“You wanna tell us why you ran away from your old man, kid?” the Texan officer asked. I saw my dad flinch when the officer used the words ‘old man’; he hated being called old, even in the most casual form.

“N-no…” I stuttered, shaking even more.

“Maybe I should make myself a little clearer, young laddie,” the Texan officer said slowly, clearly pronouncing every syllable. “You’re gonna wanna talk to me.” He flashed me an evil grin which revealed his half mouth of teeth.

“No, I’m not,” I replied, slightly aggravated in my fear. How in fucking hell did he find me? Am I supposed to believe that he’d bother to go to the cops to try to find me? He fucking hates me!

“What did you say to me, boy?” the Texan officer said, menace clearly evident in his voice.

“I said-”

What did you say to me, boy?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m gonna talk to you,” I replied half-heartedly.

“That’s better.” He flashed me another half-toothed grin, the light from the ceiling of the room reflecting off the golden tooth that replaced one of his front teeth. It looked creepy; the teeth on either side of it were missing.

I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, just stood there trembling. The Texan officer broke the eerie silence.

“Now, now, son. You don’t want me to de-wang you, do ya?” he said, that evil grin spreading over his features once more. He was clearly enjoying this.

He threateningly moved a step forward, and another. He was advancing on me. I took a few steps backwards and found my back pressing against the wall. I cast a frightened look at Brian who looked hopelessly back at me.

I moved my eyes back to the officer who was now almost face to face with me. He clenched his fist and began to raise it. There wasn’t anything I could do but brace myself for the blow…

“Nooo!” Brian screamed. He was suddenly in front of me, pulling the officer backwards away from me. It was Brian’s turn to clench his fist now; he punched the officer square in the face.

“Hey, hey!” the young officer yelled, finally stepping in. He yanked Brian and the Texan officer off each other. Brian reluctantly sat back down in his seat after a slight push in that direction from the young officer. Brian’s dad sat down too; he had obviously risen when Brian had got up.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Rapinett?” the young officer screamed furiously at the Texan officer, obviously named Rapinett.

“I’m here just tryin’ a teach this young boy a lesson,” Rapinett said, his thick Texan accent bouncing fluently off the dull walls of the small, cramped room.

“Rapinett! You can’t just round on a kid like that!” the younger one yelled. I thought it was a bit much calling me a kid - he didn’t look that much older than me even though he would have to be at least ten years older.

“You know what I’ll have to do, Rapinett. You know I’ll have to report you to the captain.”

Rapinett scowled. “You wouldn’t dare, sonny. I could beat your skinny ass all the way back to Seattle before you could say ‘rum’.” He turned to my father. “What are you laughin’ at? We found your boy - get out of here!”

“Rapinett! Shut the fuck up!” The younger officer had fully lost his temper with his partner now. He looked slightly embarrassed and unconfident, suggestively because he didn’t seem like the type to lose control and swear like that very often.

“Think you’re a fancy officer boy, don’t ya, Pritchard?”

The young officer, Pritchard’s face was red with fury now. “RAPINETT! OUT!” Rapinett flashed me another evil, half-toothed grin before willingly obeying Pritchard.

“Now… kid - Zacky, is it? - Do you want to tell me why you ran away?”

I inhaled a long, deep breath, preparing myself for the hell that was sure to follow my next sentence.