Sex Empire II

7. Favorite Son

"My mom is my rock. Without her, I'm not me." Zander Stone

"Noooo!"

His screams echoed through the walls of the house he grew up in. Stopping by to check on his mother, he used his key and yelled out for her. After yelling out for her several times, he walked into her room and nearly threw up at what he saw.

His mother, his favorite person in the world, lay under covers in bed, but not asleep. There was a large red gash along her neck and the floral, pink bread sheets were soaked in dark red blood. She was lifeless as he grabbed her wrist to check for a pulse.

"Ma! Ma!"

He could not believe what he was seeing. She must have been asleep when someone did this, as her eyes were closed, and she looked peaceful. He could see she was in her pajamas.

"Ma, I love you, who did this?" he fought back tears as he grabbed his phone from his pocket.

He called the police, pulled the blanket over his mother, kneeling by her bed, and cried over his mother. His mother was his world. He knew his mother favored him and his brother over his sisters.

The favorite son.

It was because of who his father was...or his uncle. He was twenty-six years old and still confused about who his father was. One was named on his birth certificate but his uncle was really his father.

His mother was a lot of things, but she really tried. Now she was...gone.

Soon as he heard police sirens he got on the phone with his big sister. She would know what to do.

"Nas, Nas, it's ma."

A loud sigh from his sister. "Not now. I can't with her."

"But Nas...something happened. She's gone. She's dead."

A long pause of silence. His sister must be in shock like he was.

"Good riddance." Then his sister ended the call.

He did not understand why his sister would react that way and say something like that about their mother. She was the oldest, she always took care of their mother. She always took care of all of them.

He stared down at the phone in his hands. What was he supposed to do?

He punched in his brother's number. His rock, his best friend, Cordell was the only one he confessed all his wildest thoughts to. They were close in age and close in everything. When he almost gave up on high school, wanting to drop out, his brother was there to help him focus and pass all his classes. Those eighteen months apart, staying an extra year in high school meant they graduated together.

After graduation, he didn't want to do anything. Stay at home with his mom, let her take care of him. Cordell decided to go to the University of Missouri-St. Louis, because he had the smart for it, and a few scholarships. Although that did not pay for much, and after one year he did not go back.

He took odd-end jobs here and there, never lasting long because work was too much damn work. His brother always felt different about that. He was a better son than he was.

"Bro, get to ma's house, now!" He would rather not tell him over the phone, and he shouldn't have with Nas. Either way, they all needed to get to the bottom of this.

Soon as the police arrived, they asked him a dozen questions he did not know how to answer. Did anyone live with his mother? Did she have any enemies? Was she seeing someone that could have done this? Who all had access to the house because it did not appear to be a break-in. He had no clue.