First of all, I'd like to thank all of my readers out there! I love you. I really do because without your comments and suggestions, I wouldn't be able to write what I'm writing.
Secondly, I'd like to take some time to recognize a few stories out there. "Lucky Me" by my darling friend Lauren. "Brian and Me" by the strangely humorous DLS, and "Lance In Shining Armour" by Scotty;)
Also, I've love to thank Yuli for being the friend that she is. ;) DLS and Lauren also.
I'd like to apologize for taking so long on getting this one out. A few real life problems occurred and it took me a little bit longer to get back into the 'swing of things.'
DLS! My imagination's running slow, what CAN you do with a silk scarf and a feather? ::looks utterly innocent::
Thanks guys! For everything ;) Here's Part 4...
Bradly's New Beginning
By
Frederick Anthony;)
Rusty! What the hell was he doing here? "Hi..." He said as he stepped out of the car. "You changed." I changed? He sure didn't. He still had long brown hair mixed with a lot of white. The fact that I was seeing him again, after seven years of no contact, after what he did to me, was unnerving to say the least.
"After everything you did to me, seven years ago..." I said as softly as I could, and as bitterly as I could. "All you say is 'Hi. You change.' Well I've got something to tell you..." I was beyond pissed! He had the balls to walk up to me and talk to me? After everything he did to me when I was younger? He molested me. He also disgusted me. I glared at him and spit in his eye. "Goodbye." I then turned and walked away. Not caring that people were staring. Not caring about his calling my name over and over again. Calling for me to come back to him. No, never again will I go running back to someone who has hurt me. Never again.
I kept walking even though I had no idea as to where I was going. My mind kept wandering as I walked. I kept thinking about what Rusty did to me. Everything. It was cold out and my eyes were stinging with tears. The pain didn't help my anger much; it just made me even angrier.
I wasn't focusing on where I was going, just that I needed to go someplace. I kept walking and crying. People stared at me from their cars and the sidewalk, but I didn't care. I was past caring.
As I walked around the city my eyes would occasionally drift to my bandaged wrists and then back to the ground. I still didn't know where I was going, even though I had been walking for about three hours. My eyes were stinging and my legs were hurting. My face was cold and my arms were shaking. As a familiar house came into view the tears were even fiercer than before.
As I walked up the gravel walk path, I sniffled a little bit. My Nose was running and frozen. My ears were burning, and my eyes were stinging and not to mention I couldn't feel my hands.
I walked up the all too familiar wooden steps and hesitated when I reached the door. Would she remember me? Would she care? But as I mentioned before, I was beyond caring.
I knocked softly. Loud enough for her to hear, but not too loud, but just loud enough. A few minutes after I knocked the door open and I was staring at a very short woman.
"H...h...hi..." I managed to get out. She looked me over, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the warmth of her house.
"You ass!" She to me bitterly, "It must be zero degrees out. And here you are, walking around in a fucking hospital garment?"
"S...sorry." I whispered. "Just...need...warmth." I mumbled softly.
Her features softened enough for me to see what she was really feeling. She was worried. I would've smiled if I weren't so cold. She ran into the kitchen long enough for her to grab a warm washcloth.
It was then, as she was walking back from the kitchen that I got a good look at her.
Her hair was long and black. And by long, I mean seriously long. It came well past her butt. Her eyes were a dark green and her face was blemish free except for a scar above her lip. Her lips were luscious and red and her teeth were white. She kissed my cheek as she put the warm washcloth to my face. While the warmth was welcome, the water wasn't. I guess I must've shivered slightly because she took the washcloth away and ushered me into a bedroom.
Once we were there, she rummaged through a closet full of clothes and handed me a pair of khakis and a white sweatshirt. She offered me a smile as she pushed me into the bathroom.
"Take a shower." I nodded a small nod and she shut the door.
As soon as I got into the bathroom I looked down at my wrists. They were still bandaged but the bandages were dirty.
Before I knew what I was doing, my own hands started to undo the bandages. As the gauze pad was lifted I could see a long scar. It was about a quarter inch thick and was straight. The scabs on top of it made it look long and jagged, not to mention rough and disgusting. With a sigh, I started the water and got undressed.
While I was in the shower, my thoughts drifted back to when I was younger. How I came to meet this wonderful woman I'm proud to call my cousin...and how I lost her.
I was twelve when my mother and I moved to New York. We had moved to this little backwater town called Highland. But I wasn't complaining because I rather liked Highland. You see it was small and homey. It wasn't big at all, not even 16 miles long or across. I kept asking myself, "what was going to happen here?"
I started school a few weeks before my birthday. Immediately I was shunned because of my slight southern accent and was pushed in with a group of three kids. Justin, John, and Chris were those three kids. We were thrown together and we kind of stuck with each other. After a year of this, I met Lydia. She was young, gothic, and petite. Now that I think about it, she was beautiful.
Her and I started hanging around with each other a lot. After about two months of the two of us hanging out, I met Raymond Pauli. I introduced them, the night I introduced them I mentioned to Ray that I had a small crush on her.
The next morning he asked her out.
I was furious! But I held it all within. I figured that I'd just let them be happy and let myself be miserable. After about three months, Lydia and I stopped talking because Raymond had told her I screwed Chrystal.
Chrystal was after all, Lydia's best friend.
Chrystal and I were going out, yes. But I didn't screw her. I never screwed anyone! And Ray said I screwed Chrystal. Well, Lydia was too upset to even talk to Chrystal and she only believed Ray because she had feelings for him. After about three more months, she found out the truth and dumped Ray for trying to break up Lydia and mine friendship.
Lydia turned fifteen about three weeks after they broke up and was devastated. Her grandmother and I tried throwing a party when her grandmother mentioned that her father's name was Corrado Davino. Needless to say, that was how we found out that Lydia and I were cousins.
After another month Lydia and I were even closer than before Ray and we were nicknamed Mutt and Jeff. But Ray came back into the picture...and he killed Chrystal.
After that I just went into a major state of withdraw and broke off all contact with my friends and everyone. Including Lydia.
"Move your ass!" I heard her scream through the thick oak door. I let out a loud groan and turned off the water. "Hurry up and get out here. We got some talking to do!" with that said, she left me alone to get dress.
I stepped out of the shower and started to dry myself off. While I was getting into the clothes that she had given me, I would occasionally glance at the mirror and at my wrists.
My wrists didn't look all that bad now, still a little unnerving. But not as bad as they did when I first made the cut. Soon the memories of what I did came flowing back and I collapsed on the bathroom floor in a heap of sobs and tears.
Hearing this, Lydia started to bang on the bathroom door, screaming and asking if I was all right. I didn't answer her and she must've thought I tried to kill myself because she found a way in the bathroom and started to hold me. I just sobbed against her chest in weak convulsions as she held me. My tears started to stain her white blouse but we didn't care. I just kept crying. The memories of what happened...Rusty and Ray, Chrystal...they kept coming back and I kept reliving them.
I was walking through the woods with Chrystal and we found our usual spot. With a serene smile I bent down and kissed her. She started to kiss me even more forcefully and I knew that this was going to be the time that we actually...
Lydia was shaking me and I kept sobbing against her chest. Her fragile four feet eleven inches tried to pull me to the door. But she soon gave up trying to move my two hundred pounds of muscle. I started to sob harder as the memories resurfaced. I couldn't control them they just kept coming.
She was straddling me now and our eyes locked. She leaned down and kissed my neck, my cheek, and soon my lips. We kissed passionately for several minutes until she started to unbuckle my jeans...
Lydia was there now, hugging me and holding me in my time of need. As she was before the murder...before everything.
Chrystal rocked her hips against mine and I let out a low groan. As she bent down to kiss me I heard a gunshot and a small cry. Chrystal fell down on top of me and I rolled over to where I was above her. I saw the gunshot hole in her chest. I started to sob against her. Mumbling incoherent things against her chest as she bled all over me. I didn't bother putting my pants back on when I heard the cop's sirens getting louder and closer. My eyes started stinging as I kissed her cheek and held her as she died in my arms. The last thing I remember about that day was Ray's smiling face as he ran into the woods.
"Shh." Lydia whispered in my ear, "It's all right. I've got you." Her voice started to calm me down a bit. I was still sobbing but not as violent as before. I looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. She smiled down at me and kissed my nose. "I love you, my little cousin." She whispered. There were tears in her eyes too. She kissed my forehead and tried to pull me up. She may have been strong, but she wasn't that strong!
After a few tries, she stood up and put her hands on her hips. With a smirk, she started to tell me exactly what she thought of me. Not lovingly mind you, and her variety of curses and swears shocked me. Soon I had calmed down enough to stand up and give her a hug. Witch a smile, she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the living room. I sat down on the love seat and watched her as she sat across from me. The only thing that was separating us was the table. She reached over the table and grabbed my hand. With a small, sad smile, she asked what was wrong. I didn't know what to do, if I should tell her or if I should just hold it in and let it fester like an open wound. My mind was reeling. I didn't know if I should tell her everything that had actually happened to me or what. I didn't know...I honestly didn't know.
She squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. I still wasn't sure of what I was going to do. If I was going to tell her that I tried to kill myself, that I tried to give up...that I couldn't handle the stress and pain that was thrown at me. I was very unsure of what to do.
So I told her.
"Lydia," I started, "Before I tell you exactly what happened. Can you do me a big favor?"
"Sure, anything." She said softly.
"Well, it's kind of hard for me to go through this because I'm not very proud of what happened in my life. If I tell you what happened, what brought me to your door...will you promise to save any remarks until the end? You can ask questions...just leave the statements in your head until I'm done?" With her nod I began. "Well, it all started about two months after you started going out with Ray..."
Everytime my tone shifted so did her eyes. When I started to talk about how I killed myself, her eyes started to tear up. After the first ten minutes of watching her eyes switch between a mix of sorrow and pain, and between a mix of sorrow and helplessness, I decided that if I wanted to hold my composition together, I'd look at something else.
So I locked eyes with a very pretty picture on the wall.
As I told her the story of my so-called life, she would ask questions every now and than. Like, 'Did you really?' and 'Oh my god, did that really happen?' But one look in my eyes told her that what I was telling her was one hundred percent the truth.
When I finished, we were both reduced to tears. Her sobs were coming in regular and timed intervals. You could almost set your watch to them! I wasn't sobbing as much as I was in the bathroom, but I still had my fair share.
Soon she stood up and gave me a hug. While we were basking in each other's warmth I stole a glance that the clock.
It was seven thirty in the morning.
I glanced out the window and sure enough, the sun was starting to appear over the mountains to the east.
"My mothers always said, life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." For some reason, that kept playing over in my mind. Maybe I've seen Forest Gump too many times in my life, but it was still running through my mind.
She had been quiet for some time, her eyes were open and she was looking at me as if I had an aura around myself. Looking at me as if she was looking into my soul. As if she could sense that there was truth to this.
"So..." I said softly, afraid to break the welcoming silence, "What do you have to say?"
She blinked twice before replying, "Brad, you told me you were gay. Which I had assumed since I met you because you just never looked at me in the way like most men have. I don't blame you for trying to kill yourself, with everything that was going on I would've done it to. You're mom's a bitch, plain and simple. Everything that's happened to you...all I can say is 'wow.' I'm sorry there's nothing better to say. Yes, Brad, I accept you for whom you are. But there is no way in hell, I'll ever forgive Aunt Joyce for what she's done to you." I smiled softly at her comment, "And lastly, I love you. You're my cousin, my brother, and my best friend. You know I'll always be there for you?"
I nodded softly and replied, "I love you too, Cous." She gave me a small smile and jumped up.
"Well! I think it's time for some sleep. It's seven thirty in the morning and I'm exhausted! How about we go and get some sleep? You can have Julie's old room before she moved out." I raised an eyebrow.
"Where did Julie move to?" I wondered aloud.
"Hmm? Oh, she moved down to Georgia."
"Georgia? What the hell is she doing in Georgia?"
"She wanted to go to school there, she heard that there are a few great high schools down there." I nodded my agreement and let out a yawn. "I think you should get some sleep. I should too..."
"Alright," I said as I lay down on the couch, "I'll get some sleep."
"You do that." She whispered as she got up and kissed me on my forehead, "You do that." With that said, I disappeared into a dark and dreamless sleep.
When I awoke, my eyes darted around the room out of habit to try and picture where I was. When I finally remembered where I was I calmed down a bit. I sat up slowly and looked around again, I noticed a few things that I didn't notice last night during the 'story telling.'
"Lydia!" I called out for her but no answer, I figured she had probably left to pick up some groceries or something. I decided to do a little bit of writing while she was gone.
I stood up and walked into the kitchen, looking for a pen and some paper. Her Majesty decided to leave me a healthy little note telling me that she'd be back by six for dinner. I glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall just above the stove. It was only four thirty, still early.
Once I found a pad of paper and a suitable pencil, I started to sketch out an outline for a poem. Normally I'd dive right into it, but I wanted to kill some time so I was going to take it slow.
I was halfway into the poem when Lydia came through the door carrying bags filled with groceries. I rushed over to help her by grabbing a few bags and placing them on the kitchen table. She smiled over at me with tussled hair as she plopped down in a chair. I started to unpack
"Kill me if I ever decide to go shopping by myself again?" I laughed as I saw her exhausted five-foot frame. I giggled softly as I put the rest of the groceries away.
"Will do, now will you tell me why you didn't wake me to come with you?" I probed.
"You were asleep," she said while stifling a yawn, "and I didn't want to wake you up." She finally gave up and yawned rather loudly. I laughed softly as I put the last box away.
"All right," I said with a grin, "I've got a plan." She blinked at me and raised an eyebrow. "You go take a nap." I said and pointed at the bedroom, "And I'll cook dinner. After that we'll talk about some important things." She smiled and yawned again as I picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. "All right?" She yawned.
"All right." She whispered as I placed her on the bed and left to make dinner.
I hummed some little ditty as I cooked my famous chicken parmagiana. I was still humming even after everything was done and set up in their respective rolls. I even grabbed those cute frilly toothpicks and placed on in each roll.
I walked into Lydia's room and knocked on the door and called her name softly. No one answered behind that door so I reached for the knob. Just as I was about to grab the knob she yanked the door open and growled at me.
"Don't snarl. And what's wrong?" I said with a cheery smile on my face.
"You kept me up all night, I was having a wonderful dream about some really cute guy." I let out a laugh. I laughed even harder when she gasped and said, "Is that...?" I nodded. "Oh my god, I haven't hard your chicken parmagiana in a long time!" I giggled softly as she sat down and dug right into the food.
"Gee, don't wait for me."
I sighed softly and leaned back in my chair. As I was digesting my dinner. My eyes sought out what I was looking for, the pitcher of iced-tea. I grabbed it and started to pour myself a cup. Lydia was just finishing up. I yawned softly and glanced at the clock...it was only seven thirty. I let out a small laugh and set my glass down after I took a sip. Lydia patted my hand.
"Tasted great." She said as she grabbed her stomach and laughed. I chuckled softly and started to stand.
"I think we should get talking." I said as I stretched and cracked my knuckled. She nodded softly and led met toward the couch. We sat down on opposite end of the couch.
"Lydia..."
"Bradly..." We both said at the same time. With a slight nervous laugh she gave me a look.
"You first." I said softly.
"Where are you going to stay? After everything that's happened, your mother would probably try and get custody. But since you're almost 18 the court could grant in your favor...but wouldn't you need a place to stay?" I let out a nod and sighed softly. "Well, mother and Arthur aren't here. They're in Europe for the next six months. So I've got the house until then. If you would like, you could stay here..." I raised an eyebrow.
"Lydia," I said softly, "I couldn't impose on you. But I don't have a place to stay. If I could stay here for a few months, long enough to get an apartment and a good job..." She nodded.
"You can, dear. You can." With that cleared, I felt a lot of stress leave my body. I jumped up and hugged her.
"Thank you, my little cousin." I said softly, "Thank you."