WARNING: SENSITIVE TOPICS: READER DISCRETION ADVISED FROM THIS POINT ON IN THE ENTIRE STORY

(Mark's P.O.V.)

"Mark! Come in!" Mrs. McLoughlin, or Hannah, answers the door with a smile. I smile back, nodding and walking into the house. 

"Thanks Hannah. Listen, I really need to talk to you and Kate." I say. Hannah frowns but nods. 

"It has something to do with how Seán is acting, right?" She asks. I raise an eyebrow. 

"How is he acting?" I ask then. I know how he is at school... Is he the same way at home? Hannah sighs and waves her hand, telling me to follow her to the kitchen as she talks. 

"He doesn't speak to us, and when he gets home he just locks himself in his room. I never see him get food, but I see dirty dishes in the morning, so I'm assuming he gets food after we've all gone to bed. I'm worried about him." She says, sitting at the table. 

"Me too." Kate says, walking into the room and sitting next to Hannah. I sit across from them. "Something happened." She says then, looking at me with a cold hard gaze. "You guys didn't break up, did you?" She asks, already looking ready to murder me. My eyes widen and I shake my head quickly. 

"No! No! Never! I'm here cause I want to help Jack, but... I need to know some stuff first." I say, calming down. Kate raises a brow, Hannah just nods for me to continue. "I need to know his past." I say hesitantly. Kate's eyes widen. 

"What do you mean?" She asks. Hannah looks just as surprised. 

"We always assumed you knew everything." I shake my head, looking at the table. 

"No. He barely told me anything about his past." I say, shrugging. Kate sighs, putting a hand to her head. 

"God, he's such a god damn headache." She mutters. Hannah however just nods more. 

"Alright. Well, we'll tell you." She says and so, the stories begin.

***

"So he told me that he and his father were never on good terms. What was that about?" I ask, wanting to know that first and foremost. Hannah sighs, looking at the table. 

"I was mentally ill, and didn't really notice. But apparently John was drinking, and..." She puts her head in her hands, shaking her head and muttering. So Kate continues. 

"Dad got kind of abusive towards Seán, and it continued for four years. Second to sixth grade. I... I didn't want to step in, I was to afraid. And Ma didn't know. I was gonna tell her but she was already doing so badly." She says, putting a hand on Hannah's back. Hannah nods, and speaks softly. 

"And when I did find out I..." She sighs, shaking her head. 

"She OD'd." Kate finishes. My eyes widen, but I don't say anything. I can imagine the guilt would have just eaten her up. 

"And then we got Seán's report card... It said he failed elementary school. But we knew that wasn't possible. We found out someone changed all of his test answers, so he'd flunk and have to do sixth grade again." Hannah says, bringing her head back up. I shake my head softly. 

"The bullies..." I whisper and Kate nods. 

"Yes. Ma and Dad knew nothing of it, but I did. And I tried to help, but he just... We couldn't do anything. All from fourth to seventh grade it was just one day after another..." She looks down at the table, shaking her head slowly. "He'd cry. He'd yell. He'd be in pain, and yet he didn't ask for help. He knew it was useless. And Ma and Dad didn't know what was going on, so... They yelled at him for crying so much. For always coming home with bruises. And I just did nothing. I tried to comfort him, and that was it," At this point Kate is tearing up, biting her upper lip. 

"I didn't know what to do. If he couldn't do anything, then what could I do? And so I let it happen. And it kept breaking him, and breaking him. And eventually it got to be to much, and he started beating them." She sniffs, putting her hand over her eyes, her other hand behind grasped by her mother. "He locked up his emotions, and started doing what he needed to survive. And then after his eighth grade we moved. We had too. It would have destroyed him if we didn't." She cries, putting her head down on the table. Hannah comforts her, trying to make her feel better before turning to me. 

"The move was pretty hard on Seán. Yeah, he was happy to get away from it all, but he was leaving all he knew. He got really mad at us, and would scream and yell, saying we ruined it. Then he started high school, and all of a sudden it stopped. He was back to his emotionless self." She shrugs, and I know what happened. He started beating me. That was what changed. What made him "normal" again. I nod slowly, standing up. 

"Thank you. For telling me about all this. I think it helps a lot when it comes to what's going on..." I say, nodding. Hannah smiles a bit and nods, letting me leave the house in silence.