Oh Boy! (BL)

7 - A Piece Of Me (3/3)

!! Trigger Warning: Domestic Abuse, Violence, Homophobia, Suicide !!

My parents met during job training. Mom had just begun her third year as a nurse-in-training and my father was a surgical intern. Every day, they saw each other at the clinic, exchanged shy glances, and secret smiles; and one day, my father asked her out.

Their unholy Cinderella story began.

My mom came from a simple family. Her parents were Japanese immigrants working hard to build up their small business and she'd lived a humble life. I'd never met grandpa and grandma Ishikawa, but whenever mom talked about them there was unconditional love in her voice. And sadness.

Dad was her polar opposite. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he seemed to be an ambitious young man aiming at a promising career as a cardiac surgeon without having to worry about student loans and unpaid bills. At least, that's what he told her...and she believed him.

Mom's parents didn't like him, so when my father asked for her hand in marriage, mom chose him and never talked to them again. Young and in love, she was spellbound by his charms, his black hair...and the mismatched eyes.

Not long after their engagement, the two of them got married. Mom gave up her maiden name for him, became Kaori Fox, and followed him to Chicago when he received a promising job offer at a private clinic — blinded by love.

Everything was fine until something happened that my father hadn't predicted.

I happened.

When I was born, I became the center of mom's universe. She decided to quit her nursing job to stay home with me, which made my father the sole breadwinner of the family. He spent more time at the hospital than with his young family, and I admired him for working so hard. I was grateful for it since his hard work allowed mom to stay with me. It was much later when we found out that work was not the only thing he did at the hospital...

But more than the bad times, I remember the happy times.

"A single smile from mom could make all kids at the playground happy," I told Clay, who sat next to me on the sofa, quietly listening to my every word. "And I was the happiest kid of them all because I got to go home with her."

I closed my eyes.

The good times found a sudden end.

"Everything changed when I turned fourteen."

It was the time I noticed that I didn't fit into the so-called norm. Whereas many other boys started getting interested in girls, I felt...nothing. On the contrary, better than the boys, I could understand the girls when they were openly admiring a boy. But I was too shy to tell anybody about it.

Instead, I turned to Google for help.

I typed in stupid things like: Am I gay? How gay am I? "Why do you become gay, was something I googled, I think."

Clay's mouth twitched.

But it wasn't funny. In retrospect, one could say that Google almost killed me.

"It was my father's computer and I forgot to delete the search history." I put my arms around my bent knees and hid my face in them. "Mom was still at the supermarket when father came home early — he usually returned so late that I hardly ever saw him. Not on that day, though. He stormed into my room yelling at me why I googled crap like that." My eyes began to sting. "I was so stupid. Should've just lied to him. But he was...my dad."

He threw the first punch after I told him that I thought I was gay. The second one, when I confessed that I liked Asher from class B. I started crying after that — nobody had ever hit me before, so I was completely unprepared for his violence. With a pounding heart I fled into the dining room...hiding below the table but, back then, I was even slimmer than I was now, and pulling me out from under the furniture was nothing to him. His face when he yelled that his son could not be a faggot was what I remembered most vividly, and his words were the last thing I remembered before he took one of the chairs and smashed it over my head.

Clay hesitated when I didn't go on. "How did you..."

"Survive?"

"Mhm."

"Mom. She was just getting home when she saw him breaking my bones. I don't know how she made him stop." I tried not to think about mom. Without her, I'd be dead. And now she... "I think she called for help, but I can't tell you for sure...I was unconscious by that time."

"And...then?"

I struggled to find the right words.

Clay took my silence for something else. "You don't have to tell me."

"No, no. It's fine." This part was easy compared to what had happened before. Just...it wasn't a very nice thing to say out loud. "The police took my father in while I was still in the OR. When I woke up from the anesthesia, he was dead. He lasted three hours before...he hung himself."

"What a coward!" Clay hissed.

"I'm glad he's dead," I murmured and got up to pour myself a glass of tap water in the kitchen. He couldn't harm us anymore...until I fell asleep, that is. After today, I had a feeling that his phantom hands would be around my throat the moment I closed my eyes. "Mom and I moved here to get a fresh start." I managed a crooked smile which he couldn't see. "Didn't work out, did it?"

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" I looked to where he was still sitting on the couch.

Clay ran his hands over his face.

"I didn't know you had such a cruel past...and how hard school life's really gotta be for you..." He leaned back, putting his head onto the soft back of the sofa. "At least you won't have to worry about Drake and his boys from Friday on..."

I choked on my water. "F*ck!"

I'd almost forgotten about the ban.

"Ken!" Clay jumped up and rushed to my side to rub my back. "That's good news!"

I took turns laughing and coughing. "Really?" Cough. "First, they get thrown out of the team, now they get banned from school"" Cough. "Because of me!"

"And they'll end up behind bars when the police finally catch them!"

I blinked. "Um, what?"

Clay placed a tender hand on my shoulder. "Jack made a deal with the police."

"Why would he do that?"

"I guess his parents ordered him to save the last bit of reputation their son had left." Clay shrugged. "I don't really care, though. His parents sent abroad to who-knows-where. The only thing I need to know is that he testified against Drake and Hayden and that we'll never have to see him ever again." I froze when, suddenly, Clay hugged me tightly. Feeling the soft fabric of his light t-shirt below my ear, I could hear his steady heartbeat. "See? Everything's gonna be fine?"

"Thank you, Clay," I whispered with thick emotions in my voice, and again I wondered why he was so nice to me.

Especially when my phone beeped in my pocket and I knew it was Holland, who demanded more info. More of Clay.