Page 20 - Tank

Not this time. This time the owner grabbed one of the younger boys by the arm.
Drug him on his tiptoes to the basement door. Glared at Tank to try and stop him
as he shoved the boy down the stairs.
“You remember me telling you about the basement?” Matt asked.
Annabelle nodded. The depth of sadness in her eyes matched the one in Matt’s
soul. No one had been down to the basement in years. No one would even go to
check the hot water heater or get stuff from cold storage. The basement was the
owner’s domain. A wicked, evil place.
“None of us moved to help,” Matt said. His words low. It wasn’t because he was a
coward. At least, Matt didn’t think of himself as a coward. He thought of himself as
a survivor. The boy was on his own like Matt had been. Only he hadn’t been. None
of them had. Tank had been there. He’d been their protector. Still, none of the boys
moved. Until Tank did.
“Yes Momma,” Matt heard Tank say to empty air. A hard look on his face. A
look which terrified Matt.
“I tried to stop him,” Matt told Annabelle. “God forgive me, but I tried to stop
him. Even as the kid screamed, I tried. I will be haunted forever by those screams.”
Tank rushed to the basement door. Ripped the door off its hinges as easily as
someone would open a book. He charged down the basement. Matt and the others
looked on baffled. No one went into the basement. Not willingly anyways. Then a
strange sound reached Matt. Propelled him down the basement stairs. The sound
was an ugly, horrible, wonderful sound. A loud snap.
“When I got halfway down the stairs, I saw it,” Matt began again. The sight was
forever burned into his brain. Tank held the owner by his neck. His big hand was
wrapped around the man’s neck, but his head was all wrong. It lolled. Swayed.
Hung lazily like a bunch of dead flowers.
Tank shook the man. Shook him again and again. Then he tossed the man into the
corner like a piece of trash. Helped the boy pull his pants back on. Sent him
upstairs. Matt looked at Tank. Tank looked back.
Panic set in. Matt knew the cops would come soon. Knew they would throw Tank
into prison and leave him to rot. All because Tank couldn’t let the owner rape the
young boy.
Matt understood the owner meant to kill the boy afterwards. It was in his eyes.
But what do they do now?
Tank settled into the old beat up sofa. Looked mystified at Matt. He’d done what
Momma told him. Why was Matt so worried?
“I got an idea then,” Matt told Annabelle. Looked at her momma. The woman’s
face was covered in tears.
Matt sent the older boys to get the younger ones out of the house. To put as much
as they could in their backpacks and stand out in the street. When he told Tank he
meant to burn the place down, Tank reached over to the gas water heater and
ripped the gas pipe in half. He and Tank ran up the stairs into the kitchen. Matt
turned on the burners on the gas stove.
“Then we fucking ran as fast as we could,” Matt said.