Post by Jasper Cameron Daley on Aug 26, 2012 14:21:46 GMT 1
People stared closely at Jasper. Looking for the faint scars on his face. It was always like this in his home town. He pulled poor Jeremy close to him, and held his hand tightly. Some of the villagers had tried to take Jeremy away from him before. His brother and now adopted son was all he had. They tried to tell Jeremy that Jasper wasn't safe. They were right. He wasn't safe to be around. But he'd never ever hurt his brother. He loved his brother to dearly. “Are we going home now?” his brother asked, giving him the infamous puppy dog look. Jasper felt his heart melt, but shook his head. “No, we have to go to the market first” he sighed.
He didn't want to go. He'd be avoided again, like always, the only good thing about having people scared of you was that they didn't want to bet against Jasper. So when he wanted a horse. He usually got it. He wished he could have brought Albie in with them, but the two had walked. Jeremy stopped and folded his arms. Jasper held back a frustrated sigh. “Jeremy!” He scolded, and kneeled down in front of the small child. “What are you doing?” He asked, his tone a little fed up.
“I want to go home” Jeremy huffed, and this time Jasper couldn't hold back the sigh. Instead of arguing, he plucked the small child up from the floor and carried him to the market. As they walked he murmured into his brothers ear “We just need another horse, then we'll be back home before you know it” He hated disappointing Jeremy. He often found himself staring longingly at the cupboard wishing that a bottle of rum would magically appear in the shelves. It never did.
Jasper didn't allow himself near alcohol any more. Not for his sake, but for Jeremy's sake. As they arrived the whispers began growing, and he hated it, it wasn't nice for Jeremy. Growing up with a 'father' everyone feared. Luckily the boy looked like a mini version of Jasper so no one could question that they weren't related. It was probably the same as when Jasper had been 5, he remembered his mum chuckling to him and telling him he was the splitting image of his father.
He missed his parent's terribly. He wanted to hate his father. He'd been so weak. His mother had died in childbirth he could get his head around that, but his father's death annoyed him, he could never come to terms with it. Lucian Daley had died of a broken heart and hadn't had the will to live on and take care of his two sons, one who was a newborn baby, leaving a seventeen year old to care for him.
Now Jasper only had Jeremy and his horses. He leant against the fence of the auction paddock, and set Jeremy down beside him. “Stay here son” he said, calling Jeremy 'son' like Lucian had called Jasper 'son'. He hated pretending to be something he wasn't, especially to the only family he had left, but it was better than admitting he was a lonely – recovering – drunk, with nothing but horses to his name.
