The second day, I pulled the hood up and smashed the guts with a crowbar. When Russell got home, he flew into another frenzy. He searched behind the hedge this time, but it didn't matter; I like the view better from his neighbour's tree.
The third day, I tore out the steering wheel and the pedals while the sun began its' ascent. By the time Russell saw the damage and finished his fit, he was late for first period.
And that dumb piece of shit still didn't get it. Every day, Russell lashed out more. His bullying became worse. He nearly beat the crap out of some kid. Even his pack of dipshits was afraid of him, now. It's like he couldn't see the blatantly obvious trail of cause and effect. He did nothing to improve the situation; the police were never called. I was really tired by this point. Typhonia still didn't feel my work was good enough, I wasn't allowed to sleep. The pain subsided when I vandalized the car, but still ached dully once I'd stopped. Russell just wasn't going to learn anything.
The fourth day, I rolled up some newspaper, dipped it in some gasoline, and stuck it into the gas tank. It only took a few seconds for the torch to light up. I was halfway down the street when the inferno roared, consuming Russell's pride and joy.
That night, Typhonia was smiling. It wasn't a big smile, she doesn't really do grins. It was a small smile, but it lit up her dark features nonetheless. She was satisfied...but somehow, I could sense more, I could feel her elation at what I'd done.
"You did very well, Silas." She ran a rough, scaled hand gently over my face. I nodded, now somewhat nervous. The consequences of my actions crept into my mind.
"But, what if the police find out who did it?"
"They won't, Silas, don't worry. You were careful. You were smart." She assured me. But it was too late; I was able to feel, suddenly, dread as my mind conjured all sorts of retributions that Russell might enact if he ever found out what I'd done. I was all alone. Joe and Martha were on a business trip, not that they'd have cared enough to stop Russell from hurting me. My real parents were dead. I didn't have any real friends, nobody who'd defend me. I shrank away from Typhonia, lost in thought, moving away from her touch as I retreated to the far edge of the bed. It felt like I was going to have another episode, another long evening where everything turned grey, all energy and effort drained from my body. School sometimes made me to feel that way. Russell always made me feel that way.
Typhonia must have felt it too. She pulled herself towards me, scales whispering as they slid across the sheets. Her eyes were still reptilian, still cold. But...but there was something in them. Concern, almost. I wasn't paralyzed when I met them this time. I stayed still instinctively. She coiled her tail around me; I panicked, struggled. But it wasn't a punishment, I wasn't being crushed. Typhonia drew me into a close embrace. I could feel the ridges of her scales pushing into my skin-
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Not Russell, not the police, not your foster parents. Nobody." There was a fierce protectiveness in her voice. I also heard something possessive in it, but...I believed her when she said it. Typhonia wasn't going to let anything bad happen to me.
Typhonia answers to something too. Something else. Something greater. I saw It once, when I woke up in the night. She was still close by, peering into my mother's mirror. I didn't see much, just the light coming from the mirror. But I heard It. It had a voice that sounded like nails on glass, like shattering mirrors and the screech of metal. I clamped my hands over my ears, feeling blood on my hands as they revolted against the mirror thing's speech. Typhonia was tense, small tremors running up and down her spine and through her tail. When the voice grew louder, loud enough for me to hear despite my hands, she screeched in pain. It was a few hours before the voice finally stopped.
She only hurts me when she has to. She's all I have, the only one who cares about me anymore. So I lay on my bed, crying softly as Typhonia held me. I received my reward, falling asleep in her embrace.
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