The Only Escape
His family never understood him. Constantly bullied by his older brothers and even his sister, Jacob learned to keep his mouth shut when it came to expressing himself.

His mother was his everything. She was the only one who understood his shyness and didn’t take to sports as quickly and as well as his siblings did. Jacobs father, of course disappointed by this, having always imagined his children as Olympians, NFL players or MLB professionals; when he realized that Jacob couldn’t throw a ball let alone catch one, he began to give up and neglect him as easily as the rest of his family did. Except for his mother.

“What’s wrong baby are you upset about something? How’s school going what’s the matter,” his mother begged.

He looked up at his mother and squirmed at the reaction she gave when she saw his swollen black eye, and swollen jaw.

“For heaven’s sake Jacob who did this to you?” she cried.

He began to cry and looked over his mother’s shoulder at his oldest brother beaming his dark hazel eyes into Jacobs and slowly guiding his index finger across his throat threatening him if he told her. He looked down to his feet and slapped his mother’s hand away, ran to his room, locked the door and buried himself in his blankets. Sobbing and telling his mother to go away repeatedly Jacob threw the sheets off in a rage. He ran to the window and forced it open. Sticking his legs out and barely touching the soft grass with his toes, he dropped out of the window and ran down the street.

He stumbled as he ran with his only good eye becoming blurry with tears until he finally reached Abby’s house. He ran around to the side of the yellow painted hut and pounded on the window. A tall brown headed girl came to the window and quickly opened it but before she could get a good look at his wound, he had already pulled his way into the room and curled into the corner. Still in shock, Abby slowly crouched down beside him and put her head on his shoulder.

“Which brother did it this time,” she asked.

He stopped weeping and slowly looked over to her. Her reaction resembled nothing of his mothers. She carefully put her fingers against his jaw and her lurched backward hitting his head against the wall. Trying to hold it in, Abby began laughing until she had to walk away and try to contain her laughter.

“Stop laughing at me!” he yelled, tightly squeezing the back of his head.

“I can’t help it Jacob! You can be such a cluts sometimes it blows my mind.”

She slowly paced the room then crouched down and took another good look at his wounds.

“Your board is out back, come on, the cool saltwater will help the swelling and catching a wave doesn’t take more than one good eye.”

He leaned back against the wall and relaxed for the first time in days. He stood up and she led him out back. They grabbed their boards and went through to their secret spot. They followed the halved coconut shells they planted so they wouldn’t forget the way, and pushed away a large banana leaf. There sat the most beautiful blue ocean waiting for someone to play on it’s never ending waves.

For months Jacob kept to himself aside from his mother who always knew how to comfort him. After four more wounds and a chipped tooth, his mother pulled him out of school and kept him home. Little did she know the true bullies were sleeping under the same roof. Abby constantly kept watch over Jacob as well; she had a few words with his siblings and although nothing had come from them it made Jacob feel good that he had at least two people in his life that he can trust.

His mother and father went out to see a new movie one night, leaving Jacob alone in the “care” of his older siblings, but his mother assumed the attacks were coming from a source outside of the house and demanded that he stayed at home while they were out. Reluctantly, Jacob sat alone in his room staring out of his open window with feeling the warmth of the summer breeze tickle his skin. He gazed at the waves as they crashed on the Hawaiian shore and watched as a few of the neighborhood boys played soccer along the beach. Jacob heard his two brothers, Tommy and Sam bumping into the walls fighting like they usually did when their parents went out on their weekly date night, and overheard his sister Jenny cheering the two on as they stumbled their way through Jacobs door.
“Look at the idiot drooling over the boys playing outside,” Tommy said. “What are you gay?”
Jacob turned away from Tommy and gently rested his chin on his crossed arms and continued staring out of the window.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you f****t,” Tommy slapped the back of Jacobs head forcing Jacob to bite down on his tongue.
Slowly Jacob could taste the warm blood seeping from his tongue and he began to cry.
“What a little cry baby!” Jenny exclaimed.
Jacob ran out of his room and as he rounded the corner to the bathroom he noticed a brilliant show of blue and red lights flashing from the outside. He peered out of the front door and jumped back in fright at the man standing on the opposite side dressed in uniform. The other three dashed to the front of the house when they took notice of the lights. Together they walked outside in an obvious state of confusion.
“Hello officer, can we help you?” Jenny asked.
“I think that its best we go inside for a minute if you don’t mind. I would like to speak to you kids about something,” the officer stated.
They all walked toward the couch and tightly crammed in together. The officer cautiously sat down on the side of the coffee table as revealed his preceding.
“Sam, have your parents ever talked to you about living with some of your relatives one day?” the officer asked.
“Where are our parents,” he snapped back.
Jacob stared anxiously at the officer waiting for him to answer Sam’s question before Jenny abruptly shouted in a cry,
“WHERE ARE OUR PARENTS?”
Sam quickly stood up and paced around the couch while the officer spoke.
“Your parents were leaving the theater when a criminal we have been looking for attempted to steal your parent’s car… I’m sorry but they were both murdered…” he mumbled.
Each child broke out into an enormous cry and asked to see them. Jenny hugged Sam as tight as she could before dropping backwards. Tommy began beating furiously on the officer’s chest screaming,
“It isn’t true, it just isn’t true! Tell me where they are why would you lie to us!”
Jacob sat quiet on the side of the couch staring blankly out the window.
“What the hell is wrong with you didn’t you hear the officer?!” Sam cried.
Jacob stood up and walked silently out of the door. He grabbed his surf board and ran down the street toward the ocean while his siblings and the officer stood confused on the porch watching as he dove into the ocean and paddled out.
“You don’t even care that our parents are dead you freak!” Jenny called out.
Jacob paddled out furiously until he got passed the break of the waves. He sat up on his board and watched as the sun began to set on the oceans horizon. He looked behind him and saw as the red and blue lights continued to flash, and then saw a figure splashing in the water coming toward him.
“I need time alone! I can’t deal with this right now!” he yelled.
The figure continued toward him. Abby popped her head up grabbed onto his board and pulled herself on. She wrapped her arms around his wet cold shivering body and held him tight against her. She could feel his breathing becoming more hurried.
“Everything will be okay Jacob I promise it will be alright,” she said.
“How can you say that? My parents are dead and we have nowhere to go.” He cried.
Jenny froze in freight not knowing exactly what had happened when he saw the police car. She assumed another altercation had occurred with one of his brothers, but not this.
“I have no one. My mom was the only one who understood me the rest of my family hates me and wants nothing to do with me,” he cried, “I’m sure they’re wishing I was the one who had been murdered not our parents so then they won’t have to put up with me anymore.”
“Come live with me.”
Jacobs’s cries hushed and he brought his head up to meet hers. He splashed water on his face and looked back at his house. He glanced back up at Abby then slid off the board and dove in the water.
“Where are you going?” she yelled.
He continued to swim away yet once he reached the shores his brothers and sister came running toward him. He quickly crouched into a ball.
“I’m sorry!” he pleaded.
Sam ran up and tackled him into the sand, yet this time he just held on. He held onto Jacob and cried. Jenny came second and then finally tommy and they all sat together on the beach and cried.
Jenny, Jacob, Tommy and Sam continued living in their home with their aunt Sara and Michael uncle who quickly moved to be with the children from California. They had always wanted kids but Sara had many failed pregnancies. The two tried so hard to get the children to be lively like they used to. Multiple nights out to dinner every week, brand new movies, new clothes, bikes, nothing could convince the children that life would be okay and move on without their parents. They were exhausted, until one night when Jacob boldly took his aunt aside.
“I know how hard you’ve been trying and I’m not saying I’m ready to be a happy child like you try to get my brothers and sister and me to be,” he said.
“That’s fine Jacob is there anything I can get you? Do you want to go-“
“Stop showering us with gifts and expensive dinners, we just want our lives to be how they used to be. I know it won’t be easy and it will still take a while but I wanted to thank you.”
She stood staring at Jacob with a single tear running down her cheek. He walked forward and hugged her tightly. She blinked hard at the surprising gesture and two dainty tears flowed down. He let go and walked back to his room. He slowly closed the door and the faint click of the lock echoed through the heavy house.