For Everything You Were - 16. A Family Beyond Comprehension

"Muuuum, Visitor!"

Mum came out into the hallway, and I noted her sudden step back, seeing Colin at the door. As for me, I just stood there looking directly at him, probably looking like some kind of Royal guard. However, Colin's eyes looked warm, and I could almost be forgiven for forgetting the cruelty he'd recently shown.

"Colin, what a surprise."

"Jen," he said, nodding once. "Is uh, is Alan around?"

"No, he's not, he's at the… I mean, he's out. How can I help? I mean, if you're looking for Ethen, he's not here."

"May I come in?" Colin asked, starting to put one foot past the threshold. I slowly moved my foot over to block him.

"Why are you here? Don't you think you've tormented us enough?"

"Jake, you have no idea who Ethen is. You need to know that."

"Jake, let Colin in. Let's hear what he has to say."

I sighed and stepped backwards, and Colin immediately entered, walking straight past us both and into the kitchen. Mum and I looked at each other before I closed the door. We both walked into the kitchen, seeing Colin was leaning against one of the worktops, his arms folded.

"Cup of tea?" Mum asked timidly. "I'll call Alan and tell him…."

"Leave that phone alone," Colin barked as mum went to reach for her mobile phone sitting on the microwave.

"Why can't she call my dad, Colin?" I asked; my adrenaline valve jarred open a little.

Colin walked past us quickly and went into the hallway. I heard a familiar click on the door. He'd locked it from the inside. Moments later, he came back and sat on one of the breakfast bars.

"I know he's in Egypt, so where?" Colin asked calmly.

"I don't know, and neither does my mum," I replied for us both.

"Look, both of you. I don't have time for this. You either tell me where in Egypt he is, or there is going to be consequences."

"Is that a threat? Since when have you ever behaved like this, Colin?"

"Jen, Jake. All I want to know is where he is, and all this goes away!"

"And what is…' all this'?"

Colin began to get impatient, and I could have sworn a growl came out of his mouth.

"I know where he is," I blurted out. "But I have questions."

"I'm listening," Colin said, folding his arms again.

"The deer in the road. Were you trying to kill us that day?"

Colin screwed his face up. "What deer?" I looked at mum, who looked uncomfortable.

"Mum? You said Colin put out a deer onto the road on purpose."

Colin turned to look at mum, who was shifting about and scratching her ear.

"I'm sorry, Jake, it was…."

"Another lie?"

She slowly nodded, biting her bottom lip. "We decided to add that into the story about Ethen. I'm so sorry; this is all such a mess."

I shook my head. It was in the past, and I wasn't about to get annoyed again. It was a waste of energy.

"Come on, hurry up. I don't have time for your family squabbles. Just get on with the questions and tell me where my son… where Ethen is."

"Okay, I have a good one. Why is Ethen so important to you. Do you really believe he will just go back to America and be your slave again?"

"Son, you don't know enough about the situation. Ethen holds secrets which he should not know about. He also stole money from me, which I want back. And Nelson White, his father, has promised me the sale of his house if I keep Ethen in Nevada and safe."

"What? Old man White hates Ethen. He kicked him out when he was little."

"Yes, because of his beliefs, but I agreed to bring Ethen up for Callum's sake. And although Nelson might hate his son's ways, he agreed to pay back the cost of bringing him up. While Ethen is out of my sight, that transaction is currently on hold. So you can see my predicament."

"Oooooh, I see. So it's about money?" I said, clicking my fingers. "It's all about money with you. I can see the pattern. You don't care about Ethen; you just want every penny you can get. And I bet you were going to force Ethen to hand over his inheritance, wasn't you. Then as soon as you had that money, you were going to disappear to Arizona and leave Ethen in Nevada."

"Shut up, Jake, you know nothing, and as a child, this is none of your business."

"Colin, why do you need to see Alan?" Mum butted in.

Colin laughed sarcastically. "You know Jen, you've always been quite naive, but it's kind of sweet in a way. But when you came to America, I thought how good it was to see you again. I thought how well things had gone for you, seeing you, your husband, nice Kid."

"Well, that's because we are," mum replied, in a slightly offended tone.

"Well, anyway, the main thing is. Has Alan left me a package here? I've come to collect it from him."

Mum looked confused as I shot my look between the both of them. "A package?" Mum shook her head. "Erm, no… no package."

"Hmm, you know that's a real shame. You know he actually said he would not be leaving me a package or giving me one."

"So why are you here then?"

Colin smiled. "Well, I'd thought I'd come visit Alan just to see if he thought I was bluffing."

"Huh? Colin, what are you talking about?"

"What? Are we done with the questions then? You wanna know why I need to see Alan. Well, I wanted to give him these first," Colin announced, pulling out an envelope from his back pocket. He placed it down on the counter, leaving his fingers on it.

"What's in it?" I asked.

"Whether you find out is up to your dad Jake. If he has my package on him, then this envelope will never see the light of day. But judging by what he's said, hmm, well, I'm not sure. So anyway, Jake, let's get back on track. Unless there are any more questions - WHERE IS MY SON?"

I flinched, taking a step back. I didn't know about mum, but I wondered if Colin was on the spectrum to go psycho and kill us in the back of my mind. I really wanted my dad to come home right about now… like really now, but so far, nothing.

"Colin, why did you spy on us?" I asked, pathetically trying to keep him occupied while hoping dad came home.

"I wanted to see how your mother was doing. She told you we were together, right?"

"If you're trying to shock me, don't bother. I know probably more than you think, and yes, I know about that. And I know other things as well."

"Well, I know something both of you don't know, so unless you want me to reveal it to the internet, I suggest you tell me where Ethen is staying, and You Jenny, better get on the phone to your husband and tell him I want my package."

"But you told me to leave the phone alone," Mum said, confused.

"Well, I'm bored of waiting now. Call him."

Mum grabbed her mobile from the microwave and quickly unlocked her phone. I could see her shaking, trying to get into recent calls by the speed her hands were tapping. She placed the phone to her ear and waited. Meanwhile, Colin started to pick up the envelope from the counter the more prolonged the phone rang, until finally, mum announced…

"It's gone through to voicemail."

"Jake! Ethen, now!"

"I'm not scared of you, Colin. You can't do anything to us anymore. Your game of lies and corruption is over. I'm going to make sure your government organisation finds out about what you have been doing. Pretty much keeping a teenager prisoner. Making threats to my family and me. I don't think they would be thrilled."

Colin was just smiling as he placed his hand inside the envelope and pulled out its contents. In his hand appeared to be around ten or so photos. He began to lay them out one by one on the counter. Unfortunately, both mum and me were too far away from where he was placing them to see what was in the photos. But in any case, we were about to find out.

"These," he said, tweaking their position, so they were tidy in two rows. "These are quite revealing. But, Jake, I guess being gay, you might recognise these positions," Colin smirked evilly. "Here, come and see," he finished.

I slowly wandered over, expecting to see Ethen tied up somewhere or something gruesome Colin had done. But no. Nothing like that, as my hand seemed to drift up to my mouth without me being conscious of it.

I suddenly felt the urge to vomit. But, instead, I slowly lifted my head and looked over at mum, who was gazing at my utterly defeated expression. She looked like she was about to storm us both, but she didn't. Instead, she stayed where she was, perhaps thinking it was better if Colin or I explained what the pictures contained. I tried to speak, but nothing was coming out.

Colin moved to a position right beside me and grabbed the back of my head, pushing it down towards the photos. "Like father like son, eh? Take a good look."

Tears fell from my cheeks and splashed onto the pictures as my emotions welled up to an overflowing mess.

"Why… where did these come from?"

"Jake, poor Jake. Always thought he had the perfect family. A nice house, dad had a good job. And, So did your mum till she left it to travel to America. But she braved it, pretending everything was normal. She was hiding an affair that went on for five years. Fucked by your dad's boss because of your dad's limp dick. Then the lies. The hundreds of lies that came one after the other. The perfect family Jake, what you are, Jake, in truth, is NOT the perfect family. Sadly you are the son of a couple of loose, lying, deceptive and ruthless people who will do anything to hide their own failures. Both consciously and morally. The ironic thing is, you think I'm the bad guy." Colin belly laughed but then became serious and looked at the photos. "But the best of this is right here. These ten little beauties right here. That's the best part, Jake. Anything to say?"

"You are evil, Colin. You… you have no limits do you? If you think after this I will ever tell you where Ethen is, you can forget it." Mum, for whatever reason, chose now to wander over to the photos. "MUM! No, go back, don't look at these. Please."

"Ahh, C'mon Jen, come see. Let's all look at them together."

Mum stayed where she was, choosing to listen to me. I was surprised, but there were probably a thousand possibilities running through her mind, and I suspect she perhaps thought it contained gore or something disgusting, which she never handled well. Hell, she even hated watching nature programs because she hated it when a Lion ate a Gazelle.

I imagined Colin was just about to spill more crap from his mouth, but the door started to click, meaning either dad was home, or… shit Cody. Where was Cody?"

"Well, who could that be, I wonder?" Colin asked. "I wonder if Alan would like to see these. Do you think it's him?"

"I don't know. Cody is out as well," I said, backing away from the photos. The door clicking was now getting more urgent; I assumed because whoever it was could not get in. Mum just stood there. I looked at her, and she was subtly moving her eyes, confusing me slightly. She looked petrified as we all stood there in silence. Colin seemed to be admiring the photos, not seeming to be bothered about the door rattling. Again mum moved her eyes, then put her view back to me. I screwed up my face wonder what she was doing. Then she looked again. It was at Colin's midsection. I slowly put my gaze to that area, and that's when I noticed his hand.

There was a gun!

"Jeez, someone really wants to come in, don't they?" Colin remarked, not taking his eyes off the pictures.

"HELLO?" I heard my dad's call as we stood frozen in the kitchen. "IS ANYONE HOME?"

Colin looked up at my mum. "Call back to him."

"But… but what do I say?"

"Actually, no. Why don't we let him in? I needed to see him anyway. Jake, go. Jenny, you stay where you are."

I did as I was asked and moved away slowly, heading out towards the door. Colin didn't follow. Shit, what did I do? Just open the door and let my dad in. Or did I grab hold of him and run up the street to call the Police. But no, if I did that, he might shoot mum and kill her. Fuck, what to do, what to do.

I clicked the door nipple to open, and immediately dad turned his key and flung the door open, almost taking me out with it.

"Jake, what the hell. Did you lock this?" he scolded me. I stayed silent, nudging my head towards the kitchen, clenching my teeth. Dad, being dad, automatically understood there was a problem. He silently pulled out his phone and dialled 999, and placed the phone on the radiator cover just beside the door.

"Alan, is that you?" Colin called. "Please, come on through. With my package, of course," he added.

Dad brushed himself down and tried to look composed as he went through to the kitchen. I was hot behind him.

"Colin? What are you doing here?" dad asked, as normal as he could. Colin smiled and placed his gun on the counter before folding his arms.

"Well, here we all are, isn't this nice, eh? So, Alan, I have a problem. Well, two, Actually. The first one is that you don't seem to have come offering cash gifts to me. Hmm, not good, Alan, not good. I'll get around to the second in a moment. But first, Jenny, why don't you come over here. Come see some modelling your handsome husband has posed for.

Mum eyed dad, who was just setting his own eyes on the photos which lay bare the final nail in this family's coffin. I looked up at dad, seeing his eyes rapidly filling with tears. Mum drew closer slowly, only signifying the fact she was in complete focus of what was in front of her by the high pitched yowel that escaped her mouth. Finally, she collapsed to the floor, sinking against one of the lower cupboards. I moved to comfort her but was struck on the head, propelling me backwards. I set my gaze on dad again, who looked totally broken, in shock and beaten. It was the kind of look one would have if they were all in on a card game and had just lost holding despite holding a full house.

"You know, Alan, I need to tell you, I often wondered why your wife fucked me all them years ago...oh whoops, sorry you didn't know, did you? Well, never mind, I guess you do now."

"Get… out...of...my… house," dad spat, through gritted teeth, his hands clenched.

"It's true, though, and she was a good fuck. In fact, your darling wife was a good fuck for almost five long, happy years. So anyway, As I said, I often wondered about why. And then something else came to me recently which I didn't know about. You see, Jakey here? Good old atta boy Jakey? Well, while you were having sperm issues, Lillie Jakey was being created. But not by you, of course." Colin laughed. "Who managed to get the job done, Jenny?" Colin asked, picking up his gun. "Jenny, I don't think you said it quite loud enough. Why don't you tell dear Alan here who helped make your sprog here?"

"Trevor," mum whispered.

"Hota damn! Well, what do you know, Alan? Trevor banged your wife too and made this little delight." Colin ruffled my hair aggressively, leaving me no option but to just take it. Mum was now sobbing while dad was in an equally delicate state, his life unravelling in front of him. Me? I was just numb, so so numb. I had no idea… about anything at all at this point. Nothing was in my mind.

"So anyway, I almost forgot, I second problem." Colin faced me and got me into a headlock before pressing his gun against my temple. "My other problem is, this little fuck, won't tell me where Ethen is staying in Eygpt. So that leaves me with a slight dilemma. But let me say this. I'd rather not mess up your kitchen floor with Jake's grey matter, but then I really can't leave here without the answers and money I need."

"Wha… what are you going to do," my dad asked, now trembling. Trembling from either fear of this situation or utter devastation. Perhaps both.

"Well, Alan, Fifty big ones will make the photos go away, and finding out where Ethen is will avoid Trevor's boy here getting his brains blown everywhere. So I'll give you a few minutes to think about how this is going to resolve itself."

"I… I have the money. Jake, tell Colin where Ethen is."

"Luxor," I said, strained by his grip.

Colin yanked me. "Where?!"

"The Castle Inn. He's staying above a pub called the Castle Inn."

"There, see, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now Alan, How are you going to get that money for me?"

"I transfer it into an account of your choice."

"Cash… I want cash!"

"But Colin, I don't keep that kind of cash at home. So I'd have to go to the bank."

"I already asked you to have it ready for me, but you didn't take me seriously, did you. You thought I was bluffing with these pictures. Well, that's a shame. It looks like Jake here is going to pay for your foolishness."

Colin increased the pressure of the gun on the side of my head, making it seriously painful now. I wanted to cry out but didn't want to make a sound just in case it made him pull the trigger prematurely. Mum was still on the floor in floods of tears while dad just stood there waiting for the next word to come from Colin's mouth. What WAS he going to do? Dad couldn't just wander out and get the money. Was my life over? Would he kill me? You never know how you feel when you see guns pointed at people on TV. You wonder what must go through their minds. Whether or not the way I felt was because of what I had seen today or what my parents had seen, but I felt surprisingly calm. But perhaps I was mistaking calm for numb.

My emotions were suddenly fired in a different direction when I could see a figure edging closer to the back door out of the very corner of my eye. Due to the positions we were all in, I don't think anyone else had seen it. No sooner had I guessed who it was when…

“ROOOOAAAARRRRRR”

SMASH!

Cody, blood-red in the face, his eyes bulging, swung a house brick at full power, planting it right in the back of Colin's head. It came flying out of his hand, almost taking my dad out on its path to impact the fridge. As it crashed and dented the appliance, I felt Colin's grip on me melt away, and he slumped to the floor, the gun still in his hand.

Colin was still murmuring as he lay in a heap until my dad kicked him violently in the head, making him fall silent.

"Alan, have you killed him?" Mum asked, so calmly it could have come from her in the style of asking if he wanted a cup of tea.

"Oh My God!! Alan man, what the fuck?" Cody screamed, laying his gaze on the photos. Dad scrambled to gather them up in such a state they just ended up flying everywhere. Cody gently picked a couple up before he looked at my mum.

"Cody, pal? Just put them down, yeah?" I said gently. Dad said nothing; just cried, looking at mum.

'Knock' 'knock'

"Hello, this is the Police, is anyone in there? Hello? Open up, please?"