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.
“Everyone out” Dilani requested, not meeting Kenny in the eye until his entire army had left him to face them alone, “Denny, close the door behind you”
“Say it.” Kenny muttered, now that his parents were satisfied with the surroundings “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…her” 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. His breath froze, his body shivered as the hatred travelled through the veins of his face.
“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. Another one. Right on his back – hard enough it felt his spine cracked in half. They flashed before him. The memories of how much he devoted his life to please them, whether it was grades, his behaviour, his friendships…everything he had done by blindly obeying them just to make them happy. His knees buckled under the pain. Kenny looked to his mother, his eyes tearing up as he pleaded.
“Beau” she said softly. For a moment, he let his guard down, thinking she was saving him. Except her strike was the hardest of them all. The sting of the belt buckle throbbed on his back as he let out a blood curling scream.
“Amma, please!” Kenny begged, tears roaring down his eyes as he covered his head to receive another beating: his father kicking and slamming him into a corner while his mother thrashed him harder. Something in him stopped him from trying to defend himself or counter the strikes like it too knew he deserved this. By now, his skin was so bruised it was numb, his sides aching and throbbing. “But I – “ he cared for them so much, he couldn’t complete it. His father grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
“How about you say it now?” he hissed.
“I’m…” Kenny coughed, his voice weaker than a whisper, “I’m gay…” He heard the THUD and his vison black as his father slammed his head against the wall mercilessly.
“AMMA, WHAT THE HELL “ Denny stormed in. It looked like there were too of him.
“Oh, my god” he heard Riona’s voice as his consciousness flickered. He felt her soft, calloused fingers around his arm as she slowly came in and dragged him away. “It’s alright, we’ve got you, Kenny” she lulled as she supported his weight. Even as he was being carried away, his eyes searched for Lane and as he searched, he saw how much bloodshed had occurred in the room. The wall his father had bashed him against the wall had a splotch of fresh rust red dripping down. It hadn’t hurt before, but now that he saw how much had been done to him – the brutality – he couldn’t believe it. He broke into heartbroken tears, clutching Riona in need of a supportive embrace. He could still hear Denny yelling at their parents at the top if his lungs, except the words were mixing into each other. There he was, stuck to the back wall with fear, his green eyes jerking every which way as he took the battlefield in, his innocent delicately thin body shivering at the sight. “Come, Lane” Riona took his hand as she led both towards the door.
“You be glad I didn’t call the police!” Denny growled, jutting his finger at his parents threateningly.
“Dennis Avonlea Moore! You – “
“Kenny’s my brother. If he isn’t a Moore any more, neither am I.” He turned around and gave Kenny a soft smile and a pat on the back.
“DENNIS!”
“SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!! Denny snapped, his voice coarse from being strained so loud. He had never seen his brother so mad, neither had he ever seen his parents look so pale. Everything around him seemed to be contradicting everything he had known since he was little: what of respect? What of love? “Come on, you two, let’s go” He slammed the door heavily behind him.
“Poor stupid Kenny” a voice cackled.
“You can always stay at my place” Lane offered, interlacing his dainty dingers with Kenny’s as he sat and watched the nurse patch and bandage up all the wounds. His hand was cold – shivering. Kenny wished he could squeeze it for support. He was stunned.
“No way” Kenny shook his head vigorously, “that would be like using my punishment as an advantage - she might never talk to me again after that.”
“Kenny do you really think – “
“They’re my parents” Kenny insisted, a surge of anger passing through him, “they love me. They just…didn’t understand everything so suddenly”
“Kenny – “
“Tell me again how this happened” the nurse interrogated, clearly not believing his excuse especially after hearing bits of conversation that had passed between them while she fixed Kenny up.
“I rode my skateboard into a metal fence” Kenny shrugged, unable to look her in the eye. From the corner Denny grunted, doing his best not to spill everything. He had wanted to, the second they had gotten into the car he had rushed to call child services. But Kenny had stopped him, he had begged him not to. He didn’t want to see them be punished because of him. Some part of him believed they’d have a change of heart, and he clung to it obsessively. They waited for the nurse to leave.
“Well, you can always stay with us Kenny” Riona opted, still shaken up by the event.
“No…no..you need some time for each other” Kenny refused.
“Ken, that really isn’t the most important thing right now” Denny said letting out a half-hearted chuckle.
“No.” Kenny shook his head. They all fell into a gloomy silence, everyone still fighting with themselves to believe that what had just happened was true.
“Kenster.” Timothy entered slowly with a quiet knock, followed by his father and Lois. Kenny gave him a small wave. Even Timothy, the one who managed to make a light-hearted joke out of every situation, had his welcoming smile drooped downward. They continued mourning in silence, everyone trying to forget by fidgeting with anything close to them. He wished they would talk – say anything – to distract him from the flashes of blood red that smeared across his vision in sudden spasms and stop the echoes of his own screams from ringing in his ears. He dug his nails into the vinyl material of the hospital bed and took a breath.
“So, what are you gonna do, Kenny?” Lois asked, her arms folded close to her chest in pity. What was he going to do? The more he thought about it the more the outside world seemed to close off. His friends were there, he can see them watching him, and yet…he didn’t feel them there, as if he were watching them on a television. “Kenny?”
“Hmh?” Kenny gasped. He looked every which way. “Tim?” he mumbled, looking hopefully up at his best friend.
“Of course you can” Mr. Navarra answered for him.
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