Andy had flipped over on the couch onto his stomach. He pulled at the couch pillow beneath his head, and held onto it tightly as he shoved it between the side of his upper body and the back of the couch.

Groggily, he sighed into the soft, maroon fabric of the couch, and he was just about to drift back into a recurring dream he would have about Michael, his big brother, and himself, small and curious, on a dock, fishing with only a couple of long sticks they had found on a walk with their dad, some string from the kitchen's junk drawer, a safety pin from their mother's sewing kit...

and a piece of ham from a sandwich they shared on their way to the small dock that resided by the lake they would both venture out to after breakfast most summer days...

He could almost see his brother's youthful and sun-kissed face and smell the honeysuckle in the air...

Then he heard the faint giggle of a young woman. It did not belong to any young woman he knew, though.

This giggle was husky, beguiling, and laced with alcohol.

"Ssshhhhh," he could hear Jude's voice now, on the other side of the door, as he heard a key slide in and turn. "He may still be asleep on the couch. Stay quiet."

"Okay. Only if I don't have to stay so quiet later," the husky female voice replied.

Andy tossed the couch pillow onto the floor and rubbed his prickly face with his fingers. He needed to shave. He needed some water.

The young woman's voice was grating his weary nerves.

Jude and the young woman entered the house. They looked at each other first, before letting out giggles, their arms supporting each other up, lustily and shakily all at once.

"Do you know what time it is?" Andy asked Jude, with gravely sleep still in his voice. "Since when do I allow overnight guests in this house?"

"Whoa," Jude playfully replied, moving behind the girl and wrapping his arms around her small waist. "She's a friend. It's not late."

The girl brought her hands up into Jude's hair and she then turned to face him and placed a kiss on his lips, both of them swayed in place, and would have looked like a beautiful young couple, sharing a beautiful kiss, but they were not that at all.

Andy let out a deep sigh. He got up from the couch and stretched and yawned.

"I can see where," the young woman said, her lips hovering before Jude's, her eyes on Andy, "you get your good looks from."

Andy walked up to the couple, looked at the blonde and said, flatly, "It's time for you to go now."

Jude wrapped his arms around her tighter than before and smugly said, "It's not time for her to do anything but stay with me."

"Not under this roof," Andy then looked down at the blonde. "You've both been drinking, obviously, so I will drive you home now. I just need to get my wallet and keys."

Jude held the blonde's hands and led her to the basement. "Don't listen to him. You're coming with me."

His long dark curls fell in front of his eyes as he said so and Andy took a step toward them.

"No. I am taking this young lady home. It's past midnight. No overnight guests. You know the rules, Jude."

"I'm nineteen, man. Give us a break."

Andy crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before continuing, "Look, I have no say for what she should be doing with her life, but I do have some say for yours. And what I say is, now, she is going home, and I am driving her there."

"Nah," Jude reached into his back pocket for his car keys, "I'll take her home, then, if you insist that she goes now." The last few words came out venomously.

Andy stood before his nephew and his face fell. He had lost all recognition of the young man before him. He could feel the blood in his veins pulsating in the deepest corners of his body, and though he had not felt this way in such a long time, he was no stranger to it.

He only had a second to break it off, but in this moment, he did not see any other way to proceed.

He sternly said, with a firm grip on Jude's hand that was holding his car keys, "You are not going anywhere, you hear me, son?"

Jude wrenched his hand out of his uncle's grip and his eyes darkened as he said, "You can't tell me what to do."

The blonde loosened herself from Jude's arms and stepped backward into the corner behind her.

Andy's eyes fell on the girl for a moment, before his stance stiffened and he pointed his finger in his nephew's face, "This may be our house, but I am the owner of it. I am the man of this house, and what I say goes. No detours, not even for a pretty girl. You hear me?"

"Get your finger out of my face! You've already killed my buzz anyway, Andy! I'm taking her home now."

"No," Andy said, grabbing his nephew's arm. "You're not going anywhere in this state. I will not allow it."

"C'mon! Lay off me, man! You're not my father!"

Andy's core stung when he heard those words and tears almost burned the edges of his eyes before he said, "No, you're right. And thank God I'm not!"

"Get off of me, man!" Jude jerked his arm out of his uncle's hold, but it was useless. Andy held Jude's arm in his hand tightly and he was not going to let go of him now.

"Let go! You can't do this to me!"

"You can't," Andy clenched his jaw as he kept his tight grip on his nephew's arm, "do this to me either."

Jude's eyes blazed passionately and he let out a scream and twisted and shook his body out of Andy's grasp.

Jude laughed into the air, maniacally, and threw his keys and jacket onto the floor.

"You are such a joke!" Jude bellowed as he inched his way closer and closer to stand, eye to eye, with his uncle. "You are such a joke," he repeated, "Do you ever, for one minute of your sad, pathetic little life, ever think you could take the place of my father?"

Andy made no noise. He was frozen in front of Jude, only his chest heaved up and down as Jude fell apart, piece by piece, in front of him.

He was not prepared for this moment, in this house, though he always knew it would happen, one day.

Lenny came out of her bedroom quietly and slowly, followed by both Juliette and Krista, who were holding onto each other's hands, afraid of the sight before them.

"Ah, great!" Jude laughed again, but not a laugh of joy. "More of an audience now. Perfect." He swept his arrant strands away from his face and his wet eyes scanned the faces of his siblings and Krista. His own face fell for only a moment, before his eyes woke up to their nightmarish glaze once again.

"You love having an audience, don't you, Andy?" Jude poked a stiff finger into his uncle's chest. "You like to act all modest, as if it doesn't do anything for you. But, man, you live for it. You're still desperate for it."

All eyes were on Jude now, though, no one looked at Andy.

"I hear you," Jude shoved his hands onto Andy's chest and walked forward just as Andy took a step back, "in your room, on the weekends, writing your pathetic, sad little songs. What? Do you think doing that will really amount to anything?

My father wrote novels! He inspired those around him with his words! They worshipped the ground he walked on.

You? You're just a sad sad man who didn't make it in this world, and your time is up, because you never will," he shoved his hands into Andy's chest again, "You are not my father. Thank God for that! You are a disgrace compared to my father. It's hard to look at you, it's hard to even love you sometimes. You are so," he grabbed at the collar of Andy's shirt and gave it a sharp tug, "pitiful!"

Lenny's eyes filled with tears. Juliette and Krista embraced each other's shaking arms. The blonde was sitting in the corner, her head bowed and in her hands. Her fingers in her hair.

Jude tugged at Andy's collar again and jerked him around. "Oh, c'mon! You know you want to. Just hit me! Hit me!"

A tear escaped Andy's eye then and he shook his head from side to side. His heart was breaking all over again---he did not feel he was in the living room at all.

He felt as if he was still in a dream. He was trapped, though, and he had to get out of it.

"That's enough!" Andy growled and he pushed Jude off of him, with force and fury.

Jude's hands were still gripped onto his uncle's shirt, so when Andy pushed him away, Jude lurched to his side and fell over, bringing his uncle down with him, ripping the shirt in the process. Andy growled again and pinned Jude down beneath him.

"Just shut up, boy! No one wants to hear that venom coming out of your lips! You're the disgrace!"

Jude kicked his feet violently and got out from beneath Andy's hold.

His feet scurried on the ground beneath him, as if he were a rat running in a dark tunnel, bumping into everything that he could not see, and he then wailed in his uncle's ear and grabbed him by his shoulder and what was left of his shirt, yanking him over onto the ground with a loud thud.

The back of Andy's head hit the floor hard and he winced in pain. Jude was on top of him then, his hand balling itself into a fist, he eyes dark as night, his breathing haggard and deep.

"No!" Lenny shouted, allowing for the only word to escape her mouth at that moment, but it was enough.

Suddenly, all the lights in the house shut off.

When they flickered back on, Jude's eyes still held the same angry fever and he balled up his fist again, while Andy tried to get out from underneath him, but his nephew's grip on his body was strong and committed.

Jude was not letting go of his uncle now.

"No!" Lenny shouted again. She cried and advanced toward the men, no longer afraid. "Jude! Get off of Uncle Andy!"

"No!" Jude yelled and slapped Lenny's hands away from his fist. Andy almost got out of his hold, but Jude swiftly held him back down with a hard shove.

The lights flickered off and on again.

One of the couches, inch by inch, began to move across the hardwood floor and then slammed into the wall with a bellowing thud.

The coffee table spun in the air and broke in half as it fell back onto the ground. Both Andy and Jude grimaced at the sight next to them.

Everyone in the house did not make a single move or sound.

Jude spoke first, "What the hell?" His eyes shifted from rage to fright.

"Get off of me," Andy breathed, shoving his nephew off of his tired body.

Jude blinked and crawled off of his uncle. He began to weep, and Juliette ran over to him and held him in her arms as he slumped down to the floor.

Lenny leaned over next to Andy and helped him up, wiping at the tears on her cheeks in the process.

Krista looked up and around her, making sure all activities were ceased for the moment, and then she made her way over to the very frightened blonde in the corner of the living room.

"Hey," she said, crouched over, whispering into the girl's ear, "My name is Krista. I can take you home, alright?"

"Okay," the young woman looked up into Krista's eyes, "Okay."

Krista helped her up and looked over at Juliette, "Where's your car keys, Juls?"

"In the kitchen," Juliette answered, her mouth on her brother's curls. Jude's tears would not stop and he shook and swayed in his twin's embrace. "It's okay," she spoke softly into his hair, "It's okay. Everything's going to be alright." She smoothed his curls with her open hand and rubbed his back, slowly, up and down, with the other.

Andy stood close next to Lenny, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Krista left the house with the blonde, and the Wakelin family were now alone in their home again, though, not a single one of them felt that way anymore.

<< >>
A/N: (long one, sorry!!)

If we only we ALL had a ghost in the house to keep moments that are truly frightening at bay----the Wakelin family is very very lucky.

Tell me your thoughts on this chapter. It was hard to write, but it was necessary for the story to progress in the direction I need it to go.

If any of you, dear readers, have witnessed any form of abuse, whether verbal or physical, there is help out there for you and whomever is involved. There is help.

If you or someone you know is in this sort of trouble, please call 1-800-799-7233 or visit thehotline.org (USA) for help/assistance. If nothing like this exists in your country, please turn to someone you trust and love for help.

I love you all sooo much!!!!!!
Thank you for reading!

Next chapter will be a Lenny one---I wonder what will happen?!
;)

<3
Leanne

P.S. I have attached a live performance of "Emotion Sickness" by Silverchair. This song is beyond amazing and worthy of such a chapter as this. I think all of the men in the Wakelin home, including Daniel, can relate to this song in different ways.
(Also, I am currently fangirling all over my fave band from my teens and young adulthood all over again, lol. There may be more Silverchair songs in upcoming chapters, hehe. Erik does like 'em, though! Plus, I gotta plug my fave band of all time---and yes, every single one of their shows was just as amazing as the video above. They are true performers and excellent musicians!)

Today's the last day to nominate books and writers for the Fiction Awards. Just PM me if you need further instruction!!
<3
Oh yessss, the new season of 13 Reasons Why is on Netflix!!! :)
Editing this chapter is gonna be hard, lol.