by T. Styles
I start coughing and he pulls the ball from my mouth to allow the blood to pour out. I bend down and cough harder to clear my throat. When he the thinks I’m fine, he slams the ball back into my mouth shattering more of my teeth.
“Now I can’t have you dying on me now can I? I need you to stay around, Wayne. Don’t you want to stay with me?”
Tears run down my face but I know they are useless. The only thing I can do is make peace with my fate. And for some reason, when I close my eyes, I see Miss Daffany and Miss Sky smiling at me. They are waiting on me and I feel a sense of peace knowing that I have angels waiting in heaven. I guess I’m not alone even in my darkest hour after all.
“It’s okay, Miss Wayne. Everything is okay.” Says Miss Daffany.
“We love you and want you to know that everything will work out at the right time.” Says Sky. “Trust in God and remember your faith.”
The moment she says that, I’m struck over the head with an iron baseball bat.
Two Hours Later
When I come back to consciousness, I see that he placed the dead boy’s head on my bedroom dresser, his body on the floor directly below it. I close my eyes and cry silently.
Lying flat on my stomach and I can feel Ryan behind me pounding in and out of my body. And the panties I slipped into after my bath, which are covered in feces, sit next to my face. The leather strap, which is connected to the ball in my mouth is so tightly bound, it burns my skin.
“You feel so good,” Ryan says. “Just like I like it.
In that moment mentally, I go somewhere else. I remember the time my mama bought my first pair of heels and I think about not being able to see her before she dies. After that I think about being with my friends on the steps when we were kids and how close we were. What I wouldn’t give to go back to those days.
“Uhhhhh,” Ryan moans loudly into my ear as he raises himself up off my body, and releases warm sperm onto my back. Then he turns me over, looks at my battered face and jerks himself into another thickness. I know now that he gets off on the pain and conquest more than anything else. “You look beautiful. Just like I like ‘em. You wanna taste it don’t you, Wayne? You wanna suck my dick?”
I turn my head to the side and he turns it back.
“Look at you…even now you still want me. After all this shit I did to you, you still want to be with me don’t you? You like to be beat. Yeah I know it…that’s how all you faggies are and if I’m ever caught I’m gonna tell them the same thing.”
When he’s hard again, he removes the ball from my mouth and rams his dick in and out my throat. I want to bite him but all of my teeth in my mouth are gone. When he cums again, he turns me over and starts all over fucking me again...this continues for more than two hours. And when he’s had his fill, he gets up and says, “I’m gonna make us somethin’ to eat, baby. You hungry?”
The tone he uses sounds like it did when I first met him. It was as if nothing terrorizing just happened.
I nod yes.
When he disappears into the kitchen I try to move. And then I realize my right arm is broken or dislocated because I can’t move my fingers. I try again to move…and nothing.
That’s when I give up.
I let go.
I accept my fate and pray it will all be over soon.
The moment I surrender all, I hear my mother.
“You’re strong, Wayne. You can do anything in Christ who strengthens you.”
Then I think about Shantay, Miss Parade and not being able to say goodbye to any of them. So I force myself to move until I’m out of the bed and on my feet. Since my ankles are tied, I hop toward the bedroom door and I can hear him moving pots and pans in the kitchen.
I knew then that one of two things were going to happen …either he was going to kill me or I was going to leave with my life. Nothing in between. One thing was certain, I wasn’t going to allow him to rape me any longer.
Moving slowly into the hallway…I hop as lightly as I can toward the front door so I don’t make a sound. My heart races when I see I’m only ten feet away from escaping. So I hop faster, making more noise than I wanted to now.
When I reach the front door, I turn around so that my left hand, which is still tied behind my back, is on the doorknob. I turn the knob slightly but realize the lock, which is further up on the door, prevents me from opening it up. So I turn around, put my mouth on the lock and twist it. It’s open. When I turn back around to turn the knob Ryan is standing there, looking at me. He hits me in the face so hard I fall to the ground like I had so many times that day. This is it babies. It’s over for me. I’m dead I just know it
“I see you gonna make me kill you earlier than I wanted to.” He says staring down at me. “I shoulda killed your ass after you acted up at the airport. I wanted to! But I’m not gonna make the same mistake and let you live again.”
When I hit the floor, I keep my gaze on the sunlight that is shining through the window next to the front door. And then I see two figures coming through the door. Am I seeing things? Am I losing my mind?
As he drags me by my hair toward the bedroom, I believe I see Adrian and Dayshawn walk in the house. On a mission, Ryan pays no attention to the door opening. But I see their faces as they gasp quietly and cover their mouths in horror.
For some reason I think back to the question Ryan asked me earlier in the week. He wanted to know if I lived by myself.
That little lie may very well be the same lie to save my life.
Maybe.
The Eyes of a Madman
Queen Dayshawn and Adrian
After a long night of partying, Adrian and Dayshawn finally made it home to find Wayne being drug by his hair at the hands of Ryan. At first they thought it was some kind of freaky sex game until they saw Wayne’s blood splattered alongside the door. Quickly, Dayshawn walks back out the front door, pushing Adrian back outside with him. The nickname he earned as sneaky Dayshawn came in handy once again.
“Oh my God,” Adrian whispers. “Did you see that shit? What’s goin’ on?”
“I don’t know, Aid,” Dayshawn whispers. “But you go call the cops. I’m going to go help him.”
“No! He’ll kill you!” He says loudly.
“Look, stop bein’ so fuckin’ loud!” Dayshawn mutters heavily. “Now, I’m not leaving Wayne in there by himself. Now go call the fuckin’ cops, Aid and stop bein’ cunt! I’ll be fine!”
Dayshawn carefully reopens the front door and enters the house slowly. Grabbing the bat they call the ‘The Long Arm Of the Law’, which sits in the corner, he creeps toward Wayne’s room.
Ryan, believing Wayne when he told him he lived alone, was not counting on anyone catching him for the first time ever in the act of a crime. For real he believed he was going to get away with all of the crimes after Queen Paul was arrested. After all, who knew Paul would kill Big Boody in the same fashion Ryan would commit a murder?
Sure Ryan didn’t want the shoddy work Paul did on Ryan to be classified as his own. In the end Paul leaving his fingerprints at the scene made everyone believe he was the Drag Queen Slayer. No one knew that if he got away with murder, that he had plans to kill Tyrone, Dayshawn and Wayne in same fashion. Given the sick gift Paul had given him, Ryan made a promise to never kill again, but in the end he couldn’t fight his own sick desire to conquer and murder.
In the bedroom, Ryan releases Wayne’s hair and allows him to fall back to the floor. Then he hits him so hard in the face with a porcelain blue flowerpot, that he passes out cold again. Blue pieces shatter everywhere throughout the room.
Ryan steps back and takes a look at what he’d done, knowing all the while that he wasn’t hardly finished. But the moment he turns around, Dayshawn hits him so hard with the bat that the flesh on his forehead splits wide open. So much blood leaves his body that when it spills out, it’s hard to tell if it’s Ryan’s or Wayne’s.
Ryan falls back on the floor and jumps up to lunge at Dayshawn. But Day knew what he
was fighting for…life or death. There was no way he was going to give up that easy, knowing he could be laying on the floor next to Wayne if he gave up.
Seeing the condition Wayne was in, Dayshawn held on to the bat tighter than Sammy Sosa and hit him in the head again. There was no getting up from that. Even after Ryan's body dropped and remained motionless on the floor, Dayshawn gave him ten more blows to the face for safety’s sake.
For whatever reason, he gets confused and spins around the room. The grim condition shocks him. And when he sees the boy’s head and body he screams, “Oh, my God! What the fuck is goin’ on around here!” Mommy! I want my mommy!”
It took everything in him to calm down and tend to Wayne.
When Dayshawn was sure Ryan was either knocked out or dead, he walks over to his friend who was near death.
Dropping the bat to the floor he says, “Wayne…can you hear me?”
Police sirens blare in the background.
“Please, Wayne! Talk to me.”
Lifting his head slightly, Wayne tried to pull his bloody pasted eyes open. When he realized he couldn’t, he drops his head back on the floor as the smell of feces and urine wafted heavily within his breathing space.
“Wayne! Wayne!” Dayshawn calls above him. “Are you still alive?”
Finding not the energy to answer, Wayne felt as if the room was spinning. And as he had several times that day, he drifted out of consciousness.
Epilogue
It was a beautiful sunny day when Wayne, with the help of Parade and a cane, walked into the hospice center to see his mother for the first time in years. He would have come earlier, but it took two weeks in a hospital bed just to recuperate from Ryan’s violence. He suffered five fractures in his face, a broken arm, a torn rectum and two broken ankles. And with Jay’s blessing, Parade spent each day by his side.
“Wayne,” a kind white nurse says approaching him, “what happened to you, honey? I haven’t seen you in such a long time. Are you okay?”
“It’s a long story,” he smiles. “Let’s just say I’m older, wiser and stronger despite this cane right here.”
“Well I’m glad you’re here now and your mother will be too. She’s over there by the window.” She points.
Before they reach her the nurse says, “I want to let you know that her condition has worsened, Wayne. Be prepared, son. She’s in the latest stage of Alzheimer’s.”
Wayne nods his head although nothing could prepare him for dealing with the fact that his mother was dying.
As Wayne and Parade approach Marbel, she has her back toward them and is looking out of a large window. The view shows a beautiful garden filled with colorful flowers and large oak trees. It looks like a scene from a beautiful Picasso painting.
The nurse says, “Marbel, your son Wayne is here.” Then she takes the wheel chair she’s sitting in, and turns her around to face him. Her head remains down. “Look, Marbel. It’s your only son.”
Silence.
“Well, I’ll leave you all alone. But will be right over there if you need me,” says the nurse before walking away.
Wayne’s heart races because he can’t believe how much older she looks. More silver hairs fill her mane and a few more wrinkles found their way upon her beautiful face. Sure it had been a few years, but he never would’ve thought that time could move so fast. Still, when he laid eyes on her, he realized that he loved her even more.
“Wayne, sit right here,” Parade says helping him into a chair near Marbel who still hadn’t acknowledged him. When he sits Parade says, “I’ll be back when you’re ready. I want to give you some time alone.”
When Parade leaves, he feels alone. When Marble finally lifts her head, and looks into Wayne’s eyes, she sobs heavily. Wayne touches her gently on the hand concerned she was in some sort of pain.
“Are you okay, mama? Are you in pain?”
Her sobs are heavier and she doesn’t stop.
Seeing this Wayne breaks down also. “Mama, why are you crying?”
Being in the last stages of her illness, she can’t speak. But she does place her soft hand on his face and continues to wail. And Wayne knows then, that despite her condition, something in her spirit recognizes her only son. And more than anything, she had been waiting on him.
“Mama, you see me don’t you? You see me,” he cries wrapping his arms around her body. Pulling himself together he continues. “I don’t know if you know who I am, but my heart tells me you do. And mama, I just want you to know how much you mean to me. You are the best mother a son could ever have. And had it not been for my memories of you, I don’t think I would have made it through the most difficult time in my life.”
She looks at him as if she understands and tears continue to stream down her face.
“I just want you to know…” he sobs heavier, “I just want you to know…that it’s okay to go home, mama. It’s okay to let go and be with grandma. I’m strong enough to take care of myself, mama. I have loving friends and a little girl who needs me just as much as I need her. And I’m going to lavish all of the love I have for you on to her. You did a good job of raising me and you…you…need to let go. I don’t want you in pain anymore.” He says his body jerking forcefully from crying. “It’s okay to rest now, mama. I’m strong now. It’s okay to let go.”
He hugged her as tightly as he could without hurting her frail body. And later that night, she died peacefully in her sleep.
After The Death of the Original Queen, Marbel Peterson
Wayne moved back to LA after all, but in a twist of events, Dayshawn, Adrian and Chris went with him. Together they ran a little restaurant that catered to the gay community and Adrian and Dayshawn also became honorary members of the House of Dreams in the LA chapter. The DC chapter was no more.
Wayne purchased a big home and the three of them, with Parade’s help raised Shantay to be a beautiful little girl. Although some looked at their lifestyle as being rad and over the top, nobody in Shantay’s school had more love than she did. She had three men who loved her to death and who kept her fresh and dressed in the latest gear. But being the gay men that they were, they always made sure she had a little twist to her fashion statements. Whether it was a feather boa or a pair of sneakers with rhinestones embedded in them, Miss Shantay was always fab!
Miss Wayne was so happy that he didn’t think his life could get any better. And then a year later, Officer D. Hurts retired and moved to LA to be with him too. Before that they maintained a long distance relationship flying to see each other four times a month. After some time had passed, they decided to make it official. And with his love, Wayne couldn’t feel more complete.
Once a year, Wayne visited his mother’s grave back home. But instead of crying over her death, he celebrated her life. He felt proud to have a mother who stood by him no matter what, and he was happy to share the memories and her legacy with Shantay. He figured if she could be half as strong as his mother, she would be better for it. He could feel her guidance when it came to raising Shantay and that put him at peace.
Parade, along with her husband Jay by her side, finally confronted her father about his sexual abuse. Instead of denying what he’d done, he begged for her forgiveness. Parade forgave him, but chose not to forget or maintain a relationship with him any longer.
Mrs. Knight refused to acknowledge that she knew about the sexual abuse and after some time grew sickly. She eventually took ill and died six months later. At the funeral Parade said her goodbyes to her family and never saw her father again. She moved on with her life and didn’t look back. Jay and Parade raised their three children in peace and a year later renewed their vows. They couldn’t be more in love.
Ryan Carter, the Drag Queen Slayer, didn’t die. Instead he was convicted and sentenced to death. The media went crazy over the case and every lawyer who wanted to be in the spotlight, tried to defend him. Movie deals were in the works along with books. This bothered Wayne because he wanted the entire thing to go away…i
t didn’t.
Tyrone was imprisoned for both the murders of Juan and the man he burned alive in the alley, and was given life in prison. After a year in jail, he had someone write apology letters to Adrian and Wayne. When they didn’t respond, he tried to get his sentence appealed by saying he was wrongfully convicted and that it was Dayshawn who committed the murders and not him. Hearing this, Wayne eventually wrote him and when Tyrone opened it, he asked his cellmate to read what it said.
“It’s just one word.”
“Well what does it say?” Tyrone asked.
“Football. There’s only one word on this paper and it says football.”
Tyrone knowing what the word meant snatched the letter and threw it in trash. He also dropped his foolishness and did his time without another mumbling word. He felt bitter, especially since his best friend Garisha didn’t even answer the phone for him when he called from jail.
Paul tried to get his sentence overturned after learning the real Drag Queen Slayer was caught. And although most of the charges went back to Ryan, his attorneys were able to prove that he was nowhere near Brandon Bar the night he was murdered, and that charge remained on Paul’s record as a copycat crime. He is currently doing his time in a federal prison. Although Kevin snitched on Paul about the murder, he was also charged with being an accessory, but his sentence was reduced due to his cooperation.
Wayne continues to live to be what he was born to be. A great son, friend, lover, mother and fabulous queen of LA. As far as he was concerned, nothing could stop him now.
Note To My Readers
Most of the time I know if a sequel is in order after I write a book. But, this time I’m going to leave it to my fans. If you want a sequel to this book titled, Miss Wayne and the Queens of LA, let me know. What I do, I do for you.
