50 Outtake: Howard Hunt 3 (2/2)

Howard felt his bladder protest. He wanted to go pee, but asking for his father's permission was not an option. It wasn't until his mother noticed his contorted expression that she asked him to go tend to himself but within a reasonable distance. He scampered away, clearly in discomfort but didn't get far enough before he heard his father mutter under his breath.

”Nuisance,” he heard. His heart broke a little, but he didn't want to show it on his face.

A strange fear gripped him while he was coming back. He feared that they would leave without him. He hurried back only to fall when they were in his view. His mother sat, her breasts exposed as she fed the baby, unable to get up. His grumbling father got up and tended to him. That evening she overheard the conversation from downstairs.

”You really do care for the boy,” his mother said. He heard his father burst out into a laugh.

”I would have helped anyone in that situation,” he replied.

Howard moved away from the site, knowing that he would get a beating if he was found. He cried himself to sleep that night.

Truly for a moment, he had felt that his father's harshness was just a façade, that the man loved him and just pretended to be angry all the time, but his imagination had been wrong. He would have helped 'anyone.'

Howard was just anyone.

Inconsequential.

Unimportant.

Alone.

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