Checkmate

Long is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the walk back home. My house is located in some woods on the edge of the school district. The land has been past down through the generations along with our neighbors that are on the edge of our neighboring school district. I’ve tried to get my parents to get me a car or at least a ride to school and back, but they just tell me that I need the exercise. Whatever.
The walk home is boring as it has always been. Sweet tunes in my ears are the only thing that are keeping me from going insane. Although I hate my life at home, I always feel joyful when I make it back. If you got stuck walking all that way when you’re not the most athletic person, you’d be happy too.
I don’t say anything when I enter. I could care less if they know that I’m home. Besides, the one thing that I care about in this hell always knows when I get back. My eyes look down at the small dog that’s wagging it’s tail a mile a minute, and I smile at the sight of it. I pick up the puppy and carry her into my room upstairs. She licks my face a little on the trip because she knows that it cheers me up when she does. She always knows when to cheer me up.
Compared to the average teenager, my room is a lot neater. I’d give anything to throw clothes around and make my room look like a tornado hit it, but I don’t want my parents to get upset with me. They already give me enough shit as it is. Them getting on my case because of my room would just make things worse. Although they let me out posters up, my room still looks like it belongs to someone else.
I make sure to shut the door behind me before sitting down on my bed and putting my puppy down next to me. There is a smile in her large eyes when they look up at me. I swear that she is the cutest thing ever. Plus, she’s the best companion I could ever ask for. For once, my parents got it right. I’ve known that they were going to be getting me a dog since it’s just a thing that happens. Everyone gets a dog when they turn seventeen. Although it took them longer to get me one because they were pissed at me when I told them that I was gay last year on my sixteenth. Then they started getting even more mad when I told them that I don’t want anything to do with the “family business” even though I was chosen to run the whole thing. A couple of months ago, the elders finally made them get me a dog. I even got to pick it out, so for once, the elders weren’t all that bad.
“Raven,” I say to the little dog, “you would not believe my day. You know that my parents want me to get good grades, right? Well, I’ve got this really hot teacher this year for English. He is the best looking guy that I’ve ever seen. It’s almost like I’m under his spell... Nah, I’m just overthinking shit again. How was your day?” She barks a couple of times. “Well, that’s good. Hopefully, my parents are going to leave me alone today.”
“Jack!” my mom’s voice calls from probably the bottom of the stairs. “We’ve invited Lyall over! Make sure that you’re decent! She’s coming up right now!”
“Damn it. I swear. They always have to annoy me when I want to be alone.”
There is a knock on my door, and before I can even answer, the annoying brunette invites herself in. Her brown eyes find mine, and a smirk appears on her tan face. She’s wearing her normal outfit, a T-shirt and ripped shorts. She makes her way over to my bed and sits down at the end. I frown as she does so.
“Hey, sweetie,” she says with her too high voice.
“Did I tell you that you can come into my room?”
“No, but you’re mom said I could.”
“I don’t give a shit what my mom says. I didn’t say that you could.”
“Oh, calm down, cupcake. I’ll be in your room a lot more next year when you finally turn eighteen.”
“Um, no, you’re not. How many times do I have to tell you that I’m gay. I’m not dating you or getting married to you.”
“But you’d be breaking tradition. Your parents won’t allow that.”
“Hey, did you know that I’ll be eighteen? I’ll be ever to do whatever the fuck I want, and that includes staying away from you, so get out of my room.”
“No.”
“Get out!”
“Whatever! You’ll see everything the right way eventually!”
“Now!”
Lyall storms out of my room. Shit. Now I’m going to have to deal with my parents even more. God, I hate my life. Why does it have to be me? If I was my sister or brother, I could leave this place and never come back. Of course, that’s not how it is for me. I’m stuck here. I can’t leave or do what I want to do. Although, I do know that I’m not marrying Lyall. I don’t care what anyone says to me, and I could care less if that will break the line. I wouldn’t even be able to get it up for her even if I was drugged or something. She’s so annoying, and she doesn’t have a dick. No, thank you.
I hear loud stomping making it’s way to my room. Fuck. Now I’m going to get an earful. My door bursts open to reveal my extremely pissed off dad. He walks right over to me and picks me up before throwing me across the room. My eyes stare at him in surprise. They’ve have yelled at me before, but they have never laid a hand on me. Never.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, boy?!” he growls at me with his teeth showing. “You don’t have a say in this house! How many times to we have to yell at you to get that across! Do we have to take away your music? Is that it?”
No words are able to come out as I watch him pick up my most prized possession, my guitar. I want to yell at him, to tell him to get away from the only thing that really gives me joy anymore, but deep down, I know that that will only make things worse. Maybe that’s why I say nothing as I watch him take the beautiful instrument into his hands and smash it against the wall and floor.
“Maybe that will teach you that you have no say whatsoever! Maybe you’ll finally learn your place in this family!”
Before he leaves, he comes back over to me and punches me in the face. I whimper out from the pain, but I don’t let him see any tears. I’ve never seen him like this. Who knows what he could do? He walks out of the room and out of sight when he slams my bedroom door shut. Locking it probably won’t do anything if he gets this mad again, but it makes me feel better, so I quickly go over to the door and do that before going over to my bed. As I do so, I don’t even look at my guitar. I know that the sight will only make me feel worse. How could he do this to me? I mean, he gets more angry around this time, but he’s never been like this. I pick Raven up and hold her close to me as the tears start to flow. She tries to lap them up, but it’s no use. Finally realizing this, she gives up and nudges me with her head in a comforting way.
“Why does it have to be me?” I ask the little puppy. “Why does it always have to be me? I’m a terrible son. I can’t do anything right, but I was picked to run everything.” She whimpers. “But I can’t tell anyone about this. There is no one to even talk... Well, there is Mr. Gaskarth, but he might tell the police or something. The police can’t know about this... I don’t even know if I can trust him... OK, if he says something to me, I’ll tell him. Deal?” She barks. “If this doesn’t work out right, I’m blaming you. You know that?”
“Jack?” my mother’s voice says from outside the room. “I’m sorry about your father. He’s never been like this as you know, but you really do need to learn your place in this family. I know that he shouldn’t have done that but still. Remember to not tell anyone about this. We can’t have anyone here especially right now.”
“I know, Mom.” Yeah, like I’m going to do what my mom says.

Notes

I originally wasn't going to have his parents hurt him at all, but I wanted a reason for Jack and Mr. Gaskarth to start talking sooner. If I didn't, it would have taken longer, and I just didn't want that to happen. They aren't going to actually become Jalex for awhile though. I plan on them being friends first. I'm not proud of this chapter, and it's not what I was going to write, but that's what happens sometimes when I write. I add a bunch of shit. Oh, and you can really see in this chapter that I cuss a lot in real life. I feel like Jack would be upset enough to cuss that much. I mean, I know what all the secrets are. Muhahaha.
Anyway, sorry this was so late. I don't want this one to be late again. I've just been addicted to writing this side fan fiction of mine. It won't be put up right now unless my step-sister convinces me.
Hope you like it so far! Oh, and trust me, it gets a lot better later when you finally figure out what the secrets are. That's when the real story begins.