The Shadow Anthology

Jason & Zachary

The little shack was smaller than Fiona had anticipated. It was a bungalow, like her own, but the ceiling somehow seemed shorter than normal. She then deduced it was the tall spectacle who she now followed that made the rest of the place seem small. Fiona sat down near the coffee table while her host made her a drink. Upon returning with a tea for Fiona and a coffee for herself, Kelly waited for her guest to finish piling an astonishing amount of sugar into her tea before beginning. Once ready, she cleared her throat.

“His name was Jason Ario. He had six siblings; three brothers and three sisters. For years they lived together under the same roof without a problem, following the same set of rules set by the same pair of dads.” Fiona’s eyes widened. “Is that going to be a problem?” The woman shook her head frantically in regret of any offence she had caused. “Good, I’ll carry on then.”

“The Ario family was a normal one. Well, as normal as they could be on a planet filled with stagnant homophobia.” She imbibed her coffee loudly as the moon refracted from her eyes to Fiona’s like crystal daggers. “But that’s something for another night. Jason and his siblings didn’t really have to deal with bullying in school, aside from the normal stuff which shouldn’t be allowed anyway, but again, I’m getting off track. Since they never really had to leave their house, none of them took abuse outside of school.”

“Most people figured they led perfect lives, but their cousins didn’t see it that way. These kids, who were older than my dad and his brothers and sisters, were nice enough in front of their parents, but when they were left alone a fight was inevitable. The Arios were threatened, or forced, into submission every time the Blakemonts; that’s the cousins, werearound. They even did it in front of their parents; the cousins had a menacing slyness about them, but also, they just didn’t really care. They were always careful enough to never leave an open wound or a visible bruise. I don’t know if they just hated them, or their parents, or maybe they were just jealous.” She lost herself in the moon.

“Anyway, the abuse they suffered bonded them together. When they all turned sixteen, Jason’s twin sister; Stephanie, realised the seven of them together could easily beat the five cousins if they tried. Over time, she convinced them to fight back with her, but when the time came none of them could take the first step to push back.”

“Jason watched their conformity and rebelled. He swung for the eldest and hit his nose, breaking both it and his own index finger instantly. Obviously, a titanic fight ensued. Ten minutes later, the Ario living room was saturated with blood and unconscious bodies. When their parents walked in the Ario kids were battered, bruised and bloodied all over, but they were seated comfortably on the pink sofa watching television. Meanwhile their cousins had been strewn mercilessly across the floor. They were either unconscious or begging for help in raspy voices. Needless to say, the cousins ended up in hospital and the Arios were severely punished by both the cousins' parents and their own.”

“So, in the end they weren’t just taught to submit to bullies and never fight back; the lesson they took from it was “winning a rebellion is wrong”. Nobody could’ve known at the time, but that butterfly set in motion an avalanche which ended up smearing the Ario name off the face of the Earth forever.” Kelly looked down. “Oh, you’ve finished your tea. You want a refill?”

Fiona nodded falsely. Kelly continued as she picked up the glass and walked into the kitchen.

“Jason’s sister, Clarice, was burned the worst by what happened. Her sisters; Tiffany and Stephanie managed to regain their assertive nature when years passed without anyone even hearing about a Blakemont, but Clarice was still weak and broken. For some reason, she kept her scars from that day; guarded them with steel cages and reinforced them every day by locking herself away from everyone. Nobody thought she’d ever change, then she got married and everything got worse. Her husband helped her keep the scars and even cut them deeper. He basically beat her to death.” She said nonchalantly as she set Fiona’s drink upon a mat and retook her seat. “Then it went to hell. He figured “why stop there”, so then he opted to go after the woman’s family.”