11/12/2022

Kia walked into Kian’s room and saw him asleep on the bed. He saw something on the desk in the corner of the room thanks to the desk light being left on.

Walking over to the desk, he sat down and looked at the odd chain that his son put together. There were gloves to the side, so he put them on. Picking up the necklace, he examined it, then looked over at his son. He sniffed the ornament of the glass as well and picked up that it had a faint metallic smell to it.

Kian was sitting up on the bed, staring at him expressionlessly, but the look in his eyes was hostile.

“Can’t sleep?” Kia asked.

Kian was staring at the necklace in his father’s hand as he asked, “Why are you touching my things?”

Placing the necklace down, he took off the gloves and stood up. “You should get a display box for it.” It was the first time he’d seen his son bring back a trophy.

Kian just stared at his father, who walked over to the bed with calculative steps as he had his eyes on him, and sat down beside him.

Brushing the hairs out of Kian’s face, he asked, “So, how was the party?”

Swatting his father’s hand away, he answered, “Fine. Why are you here?”

Kian and his father were one and the same. He took after his father the most and as much as Kia adored his firstborn—his son, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about the old man who raised him with love and care.

At first Kia couldn’t understand why Kian didn’t show affection towards him, but understood late that he had no reason to. But he still had hope that somewhere in his son’s heart, that he’d have a place for him.

“And the necklace? Where is it from?” He questioned, watching Kian’s expression with keen and unwavering observation.

Kian couldn’t be bothered with the old man. Speaking to his father was the same as drowning in concrete—something he’d avoid doing at all costs. He checked the time on the wall clock and saw that it was 04:15 am.

‘Forty-five minutes until it’s time for me to get up?’ He thought as he assessed his level of tiredness.

Turning to his father with an unfocussed gaze, he said, “Leave. I need to sleep.”

Kia nodded his head, although he knew his son just wanted him gone. He wouldn’t want them getting into an unnecessary argument or worse—and left, heading to Kiano’s room. Walking into the room, he placed a finger under Kiano’s nose to see if he was still breathing and he was fast asleep—Kiano was a special baby. One day, he jumped into the pool and stopped breathing.

Heading to Kiara’s room. The television was on.

Sitting on the bed, he watched a bit of the show that was playing and saw that it was a show with a homosexual couple. Switching it off, he looked at his daughter, wondering, ‘How can you watch such filth? I’ll have to speak to her about this in the morning.’

Kia wanted perfect, and homosexuality was far from perfect in his eyes.

Back in Kian’s room…

He couldn’t fall asleep since returning home. He had wanted to torment Gael more, but the poor thing made him have a sense of consciousness or was it because there was no need for more games after getting his fill in on the others?

It would’ve been a real treat, though…

Closing his eyes, he could see Troy and Gael being intimate with each other, something he had no desire for—sex, that is.

He thought back to when he and Gael first met, and his thoughts trailed to the sight of his lips.

Rubbing his own, he wondered, ‘How will it look covered in blood?’

*

“Gael, we told you, didn’t we?” His mother started as she tried her best to sheath her anger.

Ashamed staring at his mother, he could feel his heart ache. He was the one who longed after Troy and when his parents spoke ill of him, he couldn’t understand and refused to believe that he wasn’t good enough for him—rebellion helped him get what he wanted and that was Troy.

Troy came from a good background, but it looked like his parents were right about him, something he should’ve realised long ago, but he was blinded.

Feeling his stomach turn as he thought of how Troy was all up in his space, sharing his body, then ran off in his time of need and desperation.

He shuddered, soon followed by tears, saying, “Mom, just leave it okay. What’s done is done.”

“You have no right telling me that!” She said as she looked at the bruise covering his neck. It may not have been Troy who harmed him, but it was because he was involved with Troy that he was in this position. But she could only blame her son!

“If you weren’t involved with him, you wouldn’t have been at that party!” She hissed, trying her utmost to not lash out at him.

Swallowing his emotions, he faced her with guilt, “The only reason he held that party was so we could meet up secretly! If you and dad hadn’t been so close-minded, we wouldn’t have to hide like this!”

“Don’t give me that bullshit! Close-minded? We’ve already accepted that you’re gay, which is already an embarrassment to our family! You don’t know half of what your father has to deal with because you want to express your feelings and disappointment with society. The least you could have done was consider us when you chose the person you lay with. Now we’ll be known as the family whose son was almost kidnapped!” She stated.

Gael could see that his mother was furious, but what could he do about it?

She was right.

He had endangered himself many times before this by going out with friends and going to protests—not to mention everything else that she is unaware of.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” he said in a whisper and broke down crying. He was so scared, and he didn’t know what to do—he couldn’t even pinpoint which emotion was taking over him.

Mrs Becker, although furious, she found her son pitiful. Walking up to him, she hugged Gael saying, “There, there. As long as you are safe, we’ll work through this. Now, until your father comes home from Germany, you’re moving back home, where you’ll be safe.”

Nodding his head, he agreed.

*

12/12/2022

A day later, Gael was discharged.

Gael and Mrs Becker went to Troy’s room.

Because of what happened, he was frightened and angry. He wanted to give Troy a piece of his mind, but what he walked into, he didn’t expect.

Mrs Levi was talking to the doctor outside the room. When she saw Gael and his mother, she wasn’t sure if she was happy or upset—deep within her; she wished that it was Gael who was harmed and not her son.

As Gael stopped in front of her, she looked at his mother and saw hostility in her gaze. Mrs Becker couldn’t give a damn who these people were. All she knew was that their son wasn’t her cup of tea.

She forced a smile and hugged Gael. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Only after this incident did she find out their relationship through the investigating officers.

Gael turned to the hospital room and looked at Troy, who was wrapped up in bandages through the window.

“How, how is he?” He asked, feeling guilty that he might actually be the cause of all this—he knew the culprit but couldn’t point them in the right direction, he was hindering justice—equally guilty but he couldn’t tell them, he just couldn’t.

She pulled away as she began to tear up again. Folding her arms as she stared at her son through the window, explaining, “Not good. He’s been in and out of a coma. The doctor operated on him, too. His nose was broken and his left ear, as well as a skull fracture.”

Gael shuddered when he heard her description—he couldn’t help but recall the gushing sounds of blood and flesh connecting.

“I thought he was dead,” Gael whispered.

Mrs Levi looked at him for a moment, then said, “Did you tell the police everything?”

He nodded his head as he continued watching Troy.

Placing a hand on her chest as she looked at the bruise around his neck. It looked terrible but it was nothing compared to what her son was going through.

“It’s just so terrible. What menace would do such a thing to you, Troy and the others? If you remember anything else please let the police know. Right now they have no leads and are questioning everyone that attended.”

window,Gael looked at her through the reflection in the window, thinking, ‘Everyone?’

“I hope they find him and make him rot in prison,” Mrs Becker said to the side.

“I just hope that this isn’t someone’s attempt at murdering gays,” Mrs Levi said.

Gael glanced at her then looked at his mother who touched his shoulder, “Gael, we need to go.”

She looked at Mrs Levi, saying, “Please let us know when Troy wakes up.” She couldn’t care less about the bastard, but appearances were everything.

She nodded with a forced smile, “Certainly.” 

After they left, Mrs Levi went inside the room and saw her mother-in-law glaring at her. “Who were they?”

She went up to Troy’s bed and glanced down at his appearance. Wiping the tears away, she said, “The boy Troy was with at the party.”

Staring at her grandson she said, “The police find it suspicious that the boy wasn’t beaten up. I’ve called a private investigator to look into it. It could be that he has an ex-boyfriend that wasn’t too happy about his relationship with Troy.”

“Aren’t you overthinking this, mother?” She asked, fighting her tears again. She couldn’t understand why this woman was bringing oppression into this situation too—wasn’t it enough that they had to deal with her outside of the hospital?

“Nonsense! No one gets away with harming my grandchild. I’ll definitely see to it,” she said, squeezing her hand around the handle of her walking stick.