@SpukiKitty02 #176878
The kid’s older brother seems just as evil as the guardians. Even if Damian (what a fitting name) complied with his “duties” out of self-preservation, he didn’t have to roll the log on Ethan’s chest and make him sit buried in a snowdrift.
The sad part, well demonstrated several times before, is that a lot of people fall into this trap of authority far too easily, and without seeing any way out, tend to push it themselves. Especially when the authoritarian above them is obviously violently insane, they push the boundaries themselves because they worry if they don’t, they’ll be seen as weak and traitorous. And that the punishment that authoritarian will give to the victim will be even worse than what they do.
More sadly, even if at first Damian is just doing it out of self-preservation and a misguided sense of somehow protecting Ethan from the direct wrath of Timothy, if it goes on long enough, it becomes an actual habit of behavior that seems genuinely natural. Damian may at this point not even be able to separate himself from Timothy’s abuse anymore. There’s a good chance he really will just be this violent. 15 is not always a good time to help heavily abused people adjust to the idea that their abuser was genuinely just wrong and fucked up. But at least there is a chance he can adapt and figure out how to act more like a decent human being.
Also, though, a chance he was always basically a psycho himself, and readily fell into the pattern of abuse because he enjoys it.