Page 104 of The Ghost of Ellwood

“You’re drunk,” Father spat at me. “I always knew that Jones boy was a bad influence.”

Harvey was nothing but good to me. He kept a glimmer of hope alive in my darkest days. Countless times I’d gone to him, needing comfort after one of Father’s beatings. To hear this vile man speak such ill words about him angered me tremendously.

“The only bad influence in my life, Father, is you.” I attempted to step away from the wall, but he shoved me back against it.

“Do not speak to me that way in my own damned house!”

My head snapped to the side as he backhanded me across the face, and then he did it again. Both cheeks felt as though they’d been stung by bees. It didn’t help that Father wore his ring, and so with the second backhand, it had sliced across my skin.

Wet trickled from below my eye where it’d cut into me.

Father grabbed his hand and winced, as if he’d been the one to be hurt. He then gripped my chin, holding me so tight his nails dug into my skin.

“I heard a disgusting rumor about you,” he said with a growl. His eyes were so dark they looked black. “The Thompson boy said something peculiar to me when I stopped by the grocery today. He asked if you were upset over Edward’s marriage to Lillian, because he’d seen you and Edward cozying up in the woods on several occasions.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. I tried to hide the fear.

“Billy Thompson? And you believe him? You do know he claims to have seen ghosts at the Redwood place, right? The boy isn’t exactly all there in the mind. He is known for telling stories for attention.”

“You deny it?”

“Of course I do! Don’t be absurd.”

Father released me, squaring his jaw. The hatred in his eyes never diminished, though. “You leave for war soon.”

“Does that please you? Me leaving?”

A devilish smile touched his lips. “Only because it’s such an honor for my son to serve our wonderful country. Although, it makes me wonder what will become of him once the fighting begins. You’ve lived a pampered life, Theodore.”

“Pampered?” I charged toward him, not thinking clearly from the alcohol buzzing in my veins. And the anger. “That is the furthest word to describe my upbringing. Unless you call being beaten to a bloody pulp ‘pampered.’”

“Watch your tone.”

“Or you’ll do what? Hit me? Just another bruise to add to the others. I would rather be knee-deep in the trenches with gunfire blazing over my head than spend one more day with you.”

“Oh, you’ll get your wish soon enough, boy,” Father said with the fires of hell burning in his eyes. “And once you do, you’ll be begging to come home like the little sniveling brat you are.”

In all my nineteen years, I had never once stood up to my father. I’d let him beat me, degrade me, and make me feel lower than dirt. No more, I decided right then. I had been trained to fight for my country, and I’d been beaten down and built back up during said training.

I was no longer the scared boy who hid in the greenhouse during his father’s drunken rages. I was no longer the boy who wished he could spread wings and fly away. I was stronger.

“Move aside,” I said, as he blocked my way to the stairs.

“Why should I?”

“Because I’m packing my things and leaving,” I said, meeting his hate-filled eyes.

“Where will you go? To Edward’s?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” I stood straighter and returned his glare.

Lillian might’ve been confused over mine and Harvey’s relationship, but she had accepted it, as long as he met her conditions. They would allow me to stay in the spare room until Harvey and I left for war.

I went to walk past Father, but he once again grabbed my arm and flung me backward. I wasn’t expecting the force of his throw. I stumbled and smacked my head on the small table in the foyer.

The world spun, and I gasped as everything went blurry.

“You think you’re a man now?” he growled, taking a handful of my shirt as he bent down and got in my face. “You think you can defy me?”