by Tshombe
“E-Nut!”
The others turned around and moved towards him, “E-Nut! E-Nut!” Others joined, as the group circled their prized leader’s return. Students looked on as they passed by. A couple of sophomore girls turned their noses up at the spectacle. One of the boys, Rod, noticed the girls’ display and jumped out of the circle, landing right in front of the girls, “Do you know who that is?”
The girls, startled by the large boy brazenly blocking their path, didn’t say a word. “Well, since you don’t know who that is, I’m going to tell you. He’s the reason why your school is the most feared in the state! He’s the reason why we always have a reason to party! He’s the reason why we’re state champions! Go Spartans! Go Spartans! Go Spartans! Go Spartans! Go…”
Satisfied with frightening the girls he allowed them to move on but not before his cheer caught on like a plague, echoing in the mouths of others walking the halls. Ethan smiled knowing he was the cause of activity around him. Without a word, he began to walk, parting the group to make a lane. Once in front, the crowd followed behind their beloved hero, growing with people at every step. The herd was a rumble of laughing, talking, screaming and chanting; various voices meshed into a stadium-like roar similar to what he heard during one of his games.
Ethan was a proud leader taking his troops on parade to the site of his target. Three young women stood before him; watching him approach with the large crowd behind him. Two of the girls gasped while the third smiled knowingly. Ethan looked Denise directly in the eyes and frowned, shaking his head. All she could do was turn away. “Rio,” he called out. “Rio!”
The crowd fell silent at the sound of his voice and turned their focus to the girl blessed by his attention. He extended his hand and she moved towards him. As Rio approached and took Ethan’s hand the whispers began. The couple raised their hands together as Ethan’s voice boomed out, resurrecting the battle cry, “Go Spartans! Go Spartans! Go Spartans!”
The crowd erupted in cheers allowing their king and his queen to walk off, alone.
“You want me to drive you home?” He asked, opening the door to his trusty white horse. “No, thank you, love. I – I have somewhere else I have to be. Could you drop me off at the rose garden?”
“Yeah, anything you want babe. It’s no problem.”
In the driver’s seat Ethan fired up the engine. His thoughts were on his victory, but he needed to find out what Denise had said. He considered his strategy. Asking about Denise first would make him look weak, but if he asked another question first, it would make his question about Denise seem careless.
“Why are you so quiet?” Rio asked, jolting him back.
“No reason,” he lied.
She looked at him knowingly. “You know what Ethan?”
“What?”
“You’re amazing! You have so many people who love you blindly. They listen to what you say without a second thought. You know how many people would give anything to have that type of power? That girl Denise is absolutely in love with you and she’s so hurt, not because you’re with me but because you have neglected her. She’s got a plan to explain everything to everybody at school so that she can clear your name. If she does what she’s planning on doing, I think you should kiss her.”
Ethan took his eyes off the road as shock registered from what he just heard. “Excuse me?”
“You should kiss her,” Rio repeated. “A kiss is the most wonderful thing two people can share. The great Shadow says, ‘What does a kiss mean? Hello? Goodbye? Like a wedding or a wake? Or is it an expression of how you feel or how you want to feel? The acceptance of your kiss is just as good as you giving one.’”
Ethan shook his head. “What’s wrong with you, Rio? You become my girlfriend, then you want me to kiss another girl? Quoting some homeless guy to validate it? Are you playing me? Why haven’t I met your family?”
The shock written across her face was painfully apparent. He didn’t let up.
“Well, are you going to explain? Are you going to tell me why you’re so ashamed of me?” Tears poured from her eyes. His words had an effect he hadn’t intended. He had never seen her cry before.
“Stop the car,” she screamed. “Stop the car!”
“Rio, wait honey. I’m sorry. I – I – I didn’t mean…”
“No, you said what you thought. You don’t speak your mind unless you believe it. I’m not ashamed of you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. What I’m ashamed of is that I was wrong; I’m not good enough for you.”
“But Rio, wait! I – I…”
The car came to a stop because of a traffic light. Before the light could change colors, she was gone.
Tell Me What You See
The next morning came to Ethan after a night of torment. Images of his mistakes danced through his mind until he woke to the weight of all he had lost. ‘The reason you won’t play football again is because you made the mistake. It’s your fault. You screwed this up. No one else is to blame.’ Ethan’s waking thought was that he might as well have plunged the blade into himself.
His father was home, and Ethan wished he wasn’t. The once proud man tiptoed around like an indentured servant instead of the role model he’d once been. No more traveling for business trips, only nine to five in the city; a penance to Ethan’s mother, not something he truly wanted to do. Mom appeared to be happy, but her happiness did not always seem genuine. How could she be truly happy? Her husband may be home, but he was not living as he wanted and was only home out of his obligation to them. Ethan felt trapped in this imaginary game of house where he played the role of the child. They were all characters playing the part of a family for an audience that wasn’t there.
The reality of the moment hit him again, he’d pushed away the one person in this world who understood him. Foolishly he assumed he’d never met her family because she was too ashamed but in reality, he didn’t know the reason.
“Honey?” His mom entered the room, “are you going to be back by dinner time?”
More make-believe family time, he thought. “Yeah Mom, I’ll be here.”
She came over and put her arms around him.
“If you want you can invite Rio.”
The sound of pain into Ethan’s ears. Rio!
“No Mom, Rio won’t be able to come.” Pain enveloped him, choking his ability to say anything more.
“Ethan, there will always be times in people’s lives when they have to understand themselves so that they can understand other people. When two people love each other, they find a way to work through the rough parts in their differences. I guarantee whatever is troubling you kids will pass and you’ll both learn something valuable.”
“Thanks, Mom,” he said kissing her on the cheek, glad the talk was over. All he wanted now was to hurry out of the make-believe happy-home, so he could see Rio.
When the lunch bell rang the entire school was talking about one topic. It was not unusual for everyone to be talking about him, but the reason today was different. Denise had written a front-page article on Ethan’s contribution to their class in the school newspaper. She expressed how their class would be remembered throughout the school’s history as one of the greatest because of his accomplishments. It was a touching and profound article, whose author made it all the more noteworthy. The only problem was that Rio wasn’t there to share in this victory. She had not come to school. Her absence left him dizzy and looking for answers. People spoke to him and he had to search for the words to speak back. He walked on autopilot, not remembering how he’d gotten where he was. Everything seemed a blur. All he could think about was her.
“Hi, Ethan,” said a familiar sweet voice. Denise. “Did you see the article I wrote in the paper?”
He stared at her, remembering each occasion he’d touched her body and how she always cried out in ecstasy. He did make her feel good. He leaned in and kissed her passionately, but he was thinking only of his love. It wasn’t her mouth. I
t wasn’t the taste he wanted. He pulled away feeling tainted and disgusted. What had he done? Rio told him to. His love told him to do this? Why did she tell him it would feel good? He couldn’t take it. He rushed past the confused girl toward his trusty white horse, determined to confess to his thoughts to his love.
Ethan drove recklessly through the streets, still on autopilot, debating whether to go to Rio’s house or not. He wondered why she’d been wrong about kissing Denise. His mind raced with unanswered possibilities. His demons returned. Everything you do gets messed up! Look at your family! Wanna play football, stupid? For hours he drove in circles contemplating his destination, stopping several times in different places attempting to rationalize the situation. Finally, he made the decision.
It was night when Ethan reached Rio’s house. Darkness covered it so well that the home looked as if the lit windows floated in mid-air. The air was cold on his skin as he walked up the driveway, his breath hung heavy in the frigid air. He felt a kind of nervousness he’d never felt before, anxious and excited. He only wanted to show her that she had nothing to be ashamed of.
Ethan saw through the window before he could knock on the door, tears streaming down Rio’s cheeks. His stomach dropped, and his heart began to pound in his chest as if trying to escape. Unable to catch his breath, Ethan closed his eyes to take away the scene, but it was now etched in his mind. The reason she hadn’t taken him to her home was why she was so ashamed. Her stepfather was on top of her, pounding away at her innocence. In a split-second Ethan knew what he had to do. He beat at the door. He kicked the door. The door came down.
The flashing lights blanketed the sky stealing the darkness that had so recently covered the house. Ethan looked out through the window of a police patrol car. His clothes were soaked in blood. A teary-eyed Rio stood talking to officers. When they were done she mouth the words ‘thank you‘ and smiled meekly as the patrol car pulled off.
“What made you do that to your friend’s stepfather, son?” The man in the suit asked from the front passenger seat. “Why would you attack a good man, a Reverend who’s done nothing but good for our community?”
Ethan just stared at the detective for a moment. The suited man must be stupid, he thought. Why else would he ask such a question?
“Do you hear me, kid?” The detective asked.
“Yeah, I hear you.”
“Well, why did you do that to the Reverend?”
Ethan remained silent, wondering again if the man could really be so stupid. Or did he have another agenda?
“Didn’t she tell you what happened?” Ethan said with an attitude.
The detective laughed. “What she told us kid, will put you away for the rest of your life. You may want to come up with your own side of the story.”
Confused, Ethan blurted out, “do you know what he was doing to her?”
“Yeah,” the detective says with his own attitude, “he was teaching his step-daughter the Bible as he always does after dinner. He’s probably gonna die, kid. You messed him up pretty bad.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about?”
“We know she didn’t do it. That’s her story, what’s yours? I’m giving you the chance to come up with an explanation that might help you get some treatment or help, because you’re in a lot of trouble kid.”
Ethan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Rio didn’t say that. She couldn’t have said that. It had to be a trick. “I want a lawyer,”
“You’re gonna get one kid. Lawyers seem to flock to cases like this, but it really doesn’t matter here because you were caught red-handed with an eye witness. The best thing you could look forward to is maybe getting out before you’re an old man.”
Ethan sat in a little room with a table and two-way mirror trying to figure out what happened. That is why she told him to kiss Denise. She wanted him to understand how it felt to have unwanted physical contact. Every night her stepfather must have raped her; torturing her with her own body. Even though she lied, he felt good that he had rescued her. At least she would not have to be ashamed anymore.
The cops processed him for hours before walking him down a long hallway. This day was almost over. Ethan was physically and emotionally exhausted when he reached the door to the cell. He walked in, feeling a sense of relief as the hard steel door closed behind him. The man on the bed turned over and smiled. It was Jake.
The next morning Denise typed in a daze. She was the first to find out. She’d been at Ethan’s house when his family got the news. She had been waiting there to confess her love to him. That kiss… That passionate kiss. Blinded by tears, she typed the front page for the next school paper. The headline read: Remember His Glory: Goodbye to the King.
Part Three
Curse of The Fantasy Reflection
The Broken Mirror
She sat in her favorite seat, an old rocking chair she had picked up many years before, listening to its motion break the silence in her home. She found its song soothing, in a place filled with long periods of quiet. No television, no radio, no computer. Forbidden things. Many things had been forbidden.
The telephone echoed over the chair’s song.
“Hello,” she answered calmly.
“Mom,” the caller replied.
“Rio, is that you?”
“Yeah, Mom, it’s me.”
“Good. Good,” she said, “this means you’ve seen your sister and your father?”
“Yes, Mom, I’ve seen them both.”
“Then I should be seeing you soon?”
“Yes, Mom, I’ll be home soon.”
“We have a lot to do. Please hurry. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too. See you soon.”
Night descended as she happily rocked in her favorite chair. She’d spent many dark nights in this place, but this night was different. This night offered her light. The burdens placed on her life faded into this night. She found herself no longer trapped by the fear of what if, a terror that had plagued her for so long she almost knew nothing else. She was only a child when happiness went away. Drained of love and joy, she lived with misery and misery’s favorite companions; stress and sadness. Her dreams had been taken, exchanged for a hopelessness that lived in lonely isolation, for a reason she did not understand.
Waiting for Rio to return, she said a prayer for Eva, thankful that Eva was now in a better place, no longer in pain; her oldest daughter can rest now. Her relief pooled in her eyes, washing over her vision, her mind drifted to back to when all these dark nights began.
Since Shannon could remember, home had always been a place she hated. Her parents were alcoholics who spent most of their time lost in their own world, making brief appearances to sling nasty words at their only child. The little girl was forced into adulthood prematurely, her survival depended on her own ability to feed and clothe herself; rarely did she have parental supervision, rarely did they ask how she was or where she was going. Soon, she too was drinking, slowly turning into the very thing she despised. Little did she know, something was coming to alter everything in her life.
One day, while cutting school, Shannon walked alone in a park near her home. She came across a horribly disfigured man. His appearance was hard on her eyes and brought up thoughts she didn’t want to acknowledge. The desolate park held no one else for her distraction. Shannon moved past the man, feeling sorry for him thankful she wasn’t disfigured that way.
“You want to hear a joke?” The man’s deep, scratchy voice pulsed through her chest. Shannon kept moving, pretending not to hear him. “It’s a pretty funny joke. It would be a shame for you not to hear it.”
Against her better judgment she stopped and turned to him, avoiding his face. “Excuse me?” She said as if she had not heard him clearly.
“Do you want to hear a joke or not?” The man snapped back.
Her gaze ventured from his chest to his face a
nd found herself wondering what happened to deform him in such a way. It looked as if he’d been burnt, but not by a fire, maybe by some type of chemical. Whatever it was, the thought of it made Shannon cringe.
“It’s not polite to stare, young lady! Didn’t your parents teach you any manners? What’s your name?”
“My – my name is Shannon.”
“Well, Shannon, my name is Chris and I’m going to tell you a joke: What always gets lost, never gets found, is always searched for, but has been right there the whole time?”
She looked at the man curiously wanting to know the answer, “I don’t know.”
“The truth! The truth is always lost, never found, always searched for and been right there the whole time. Why is a young girl like you walking through a park in the middle of a school day all by herself, drinking? Don’t you have any friends?”
“Your joke was cool, but we’re not. I don’t have to explain anything to you. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll be going on about my day.”
Turning to walk off she expected him to say something, but his silence was more awkward than anything he could have said. After she’d taken a few steps she again felt his voice resonate in her chest. “The pain you feel only becomes worse when you refuse to accept it. Listen to yourself. I did not cause your anger, I simply reminded you it was here.”
She continued walking but the man’s words echoed in her mind. Much of her night was spent thinking about their encounter. The man’s horrible face danced around her recollections. She felt her body convulse as she tried to ignore what was calling her attention. After some time, she relinquished her resistance and began to find beauty in his flaws. He was right; he had not caused her anger. He had only brought it to her attention.
Outside into the night she walked cold and alone with no specific destination to go, wondering how to escape. Tears poured from this old wound as she searched the dark for the truth to heal this place of suffering.
