Kenny entered his house with his brother and Lane behind him the same way he would enter a prison cell - if he would ever have reason to enter one. He had told Lane to stay behind - that his being there would only be like adding more salt to the wound but he would hear none of it. His parents were waiting, sitting side by side on the largest couch and Riona occupied the single armchair next to it, blowing on a cup of tea worriedly as if she were trying to concentrate on something else besides the conflict. She had just gotten married and was thrown headfirst into some dysfunctional family situation. Kenny felt awful for it. He slowly entered the room and took a seat on the sofa vertically opposite to the one his parents were seated on and kept quiet. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lane and Denny take their place at the far wall, leaning to it and watching silently.

“Say it.” Kenny muttered, “Whatever it is, I’ll understand”. When his mother dried tears from her eyes, it made him break down too.

“Tell me it’s not true” she said in Sinhalese, “it can’t be”

“Amma, you know very well that I can lie and tell you it was all a hoax- blame it on Lane for some reason – “

“It IS her..his…” his father insisted, “fault. You weren’t like this before” Kenny jumped on his feet, his shoulders stretched back and his finger pointing menacingly at his father.

“You take that back, dad” he growled, “I’m gay. That’s it. Not because of some bad influence. Because I am. You apologize to Lane!” he gritted and bared his teeth at as father as he gave the innocent skinny boy at the corner a look of wrath. THWACK. Lane and Riona screamed, Denny yelled and the scorching tinge of hatred spread throughout Kenny’s left side like a virus.

“Dilani,” his father addressed his mother, still glaring eyes at him like a hawk, “what wrong did we do to have a mentally ill child? He got up, towering over his son with his hands curled into red pumping fists.

“Beau, wait.” Kenny’s mother requested, putting her hand on her husband’s knee. She looked shakily at Kenny. “Kenneth…I….” she hesitated, “….love you.” She said, “But I need some time to process all of this.”

“Process??“ Kenny stammered, “YOU HIT ME!”

“Shut up or you’ll start wishing your father slapped you instead” It was abrupt. She hadn’t spent time thinking or weighing what all this meant.

“Amma, what the hell – “

It was a direct, slap on his entire soul - nothing held back, “You’re leaving this house.”

All of the realms broke lose at that moment. Denny and yelled that his mother was being absurd, Lane and Riona backing them up. Kenny just sat there-still as a rock; his heart stopped in place. Of all the things Kenny could have imagined would happen in this moment, exile wasn’t one of them. He heard everyone yelling at the tops of their lungs:

“Amma, have you gone mad? It’s not like he killed anyone!” He felt like a lifeless robot as Denny tapped him on the shoulder and escorted him out of the conference to the back of the staircase where he cried and cried and cried. “Kenster, hey!” Denny cooed, wiping his brother’s tears with his large thumb, “I can take you into my dorm if you’d like. I-I’ll talk to the management and…” Denny’s voice cracked under the emotional baggage, “this is just so stupid!” They cried together in each other’s arms knowing that things will never be the same again. Denny kept ruffling Kenny’s already messy locks, his muscles rippling with sadness under Kenny’s chest. He felt another pair of bony arms wrap around him and soft moist lips kiss the top of his head.

“You can always stay at my place” Lane offered.