Chapter 5

Linda turned a blind eye to all the bad things her son had done and instead yelled, "That guy must be the one who hurt Tommy! Where is he?"

That was when I spotted a young couple sitting on a bench nearby. The girl was sobbing, and the guy looked anxious as he gently cleaned the blood off her leg.

Linda stormed over and started grabbing and hitting the guy. "This is all your fault. You hurt Tommy. I'm gonna kill you!"

The locals hurried over to pull her away.

"He didn't do anything! It was Tommy who started all the trouble. He climbed the tree on his own and fell because he couldn't hold on. How can you blame someone else for that?"

"Tommy was tossing firecrackers everywhere and nearly injured my daughter. Linda, can't you keep your kid in check?"

"Yeah, it's clearly Tommy's fault, but you keep blaming everyone else."

Linda started cursing. "Bullshit! If he hadn't scared Tommy, why would Tommy have climbed the tree out of fear? I bet he did it on purpose, so Tommy would end up falling and getting hurt!

"Why are you all picking on a kid? It's just some firecrackers. Didn't you guys play with them when you were kids? Why are you being so harsh on a child? Don't you have kids of your own? Can't you cut him some slack?

"Seriously, is there any justice? Oh, my poor Tommy. My poor boy!"

As Linda spoke, she flopped down on the ground, throwing a full-blown tantrum.

Suddenly, a gasp came from behind. "Oh no. The kid might've passed out from the pain!"

Linda let out a shriek and rushed back, hugging Tommy tightly and crying her heart out. "Tommy, Tommy, wake up! Tommy!"

The locals said, "He must've broken his bones. We need to rush him to the hospital.

"But we're so broke here, and there's no hospital in the town. What about that clinic a couple of miles away?"

"Should be okay. I got an IV there last month when I had diarrhea, and I was back on my feet in two days."

Linda shoved the speaker hard. "Shut up, you old fool! How could you suggest Tommy go to that filthy clinic?"

Everyone started cursing her out.

"He was just trying to help. How could you lash out at him like that?"

"Seriously, like mother, like son. Tommy broke his leg? He totally had it coming."

"Get lost, all of you! I don't need your help!" Linda shouted at the locals, and then stormed off to Grandma's place, clutching Tommy in her arms.

Once they stepped into the courtyard, the other relatives immediately gathered around, eager to know what had happened.

Linda sobbed and wailed, "A damned bastard bullied Tommy and threw him out of the tree! Just look at my poor Tommy. He's hurt so badly. What am I supposed to do now? Why am I so unlucky?"

The relatives were all outraged.

"Let's track him down and make him take responsibility!"

"That's right. He needs to pay for this!"

A girl raised an eyebrow and called Linda out, "What are you talking about, Aunt Linda? Tommy fell off the tree on his own."

That girl was called Elaine. She had finished middle school and returned to the town to help with the farm. She was just sixteen, and since she'd been at the square earlier, she saw everything that had happened.

"Don't give me that crap!" Linda gave Elaine a hard slap, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Do you even have a conscience? Are you actually happy that Tommy got hurt?"

Elaine clutched her face aggrievedly. "But it's true that Tommy fell off the tree himself..."

Linda wasn't having any of it. She landed two more slaps, leaving Elaine's face red and swollen in seconds.

I grabbed Elaine and pulled her behind me, shielding her with my body. "Tommy was the one who tossed firecrackers and hurt someone. Then he climbed up the tree to throw rocks at people, and that's when he fell.

"If you don't believe me, just ask anyone who was there, or go to the square and see for yourself."

After I said that, I looked at the relatives who'd come with us. A few of them looked unsure, but still nodded.

With so many witnesses around, they couldn't pretend they didn't see anything.

Linda glared at me, and then charged over, clawing and slapping. "I knew it! You bitch has always been scheming against Tommy. You're just jealous you can't have a child, so you want to get Tommy killed..."

"Alright, that's enough!" Gavin's father, Frank, shouted. "Stop arguing and let's get Tommy to the hospital first."

Linda was in a panic. "Right, the hospital. What do we do? What should we do? The buses have stopped running this late. How are we supposed to get to the hospital?

"The nearest one is in the county, and that's dozens of miles away."

Someone said, "Didn't Grace drive here?"

Everyone turned to stare at my broken car.