Skeletons In My Closet

by Dynah Zale

  In a fit of rage Garrett took his cell phone and threw it against the far wall. It crumbled to pieces. Mecca came running in, “What is going on?”

  Garrett rubbed his head, “Everything is falling apart.” He ran out of his office and up to Blair’s bedroom.

  Blair sat at his computer desk balancing Jericho in his lap, but when he saw the look of fury in Garrett’s eyes, he felt like running away.

  With one hand, Garrett lifted Blair up from off the bed and hemmed him against the wall. Blair dropped Jericho to the floor and struggled to release himself from his father’s wrath.

  “You’re going to make me lose everything because of your selfish mistakes.”

  “I’m sorry dad.” Blair cried.

  Garrett’s anger exploded. “Tell me the truth. Where did you get that gun from?”

  “Dad, it wasn’t my gun?” Blair hollered.

  Mecca was hollering at Garrett to put Blair down, and all the commotion had awakened Imani out of her sleep. She came into the room wondering why everyone was yelling at one another.

  “I know you had a rough year, but do you realize how your actions have hurt this family?” Garrett punched Blair hard in the chest.

  “I’m sorry dad. I didn’t mean to do it. I really didn’t.” Blair cried.

  Tired of hearing empty apologies Garrett pulled his fist back and landed a punch in the center of Blair’s nose. Blair’s face and shirt were covered with blood.

  Mecca pulled on Garrett to stop. Like an automatic bull dozer Garrett kept plunging his fist into Blair’s face. Finally, Mecca edged her way between the two of them.

  “Get out.” Mecca screamed at her husband. She held Blair’s bloody face in her hands. “Get out of this house.”

  For the first time Garrett noticed what he had done. He left.

  It was so much blood Mecca was sure the kid needed to go the hospital, but if she took him to the emergency room the authorities would get involved and they could take him from her. After all she wasn’t his biological mother and she had no legal claim to Blair.

  He looked so bad. His eye was closed shut.

  “Imani run downstairs and bring me some ice and a dish towel.” Imani raced from the room.

  “Blair, stay right here while I get some bandages to clean you up.” She rushed into the bathroom and that is when she heard Garrett in their bedroom.

  “What are you doing?” Garrett sat on the edge of their bed with blood dripping off his knuckles. “Leave, before I call the cops.” Garrett gave her a strange look. She had never threatened him before. “I don’t know what your problem is, but tonight you crossed the line.”

  “Why are you mad at me when it’s his fault?” He pointed towards Blair’s room. “He’s the one who pulled the gun on that kid and shot his leg off.”

  “Garrett, isn’t this what you wanted? You complained so much about your son not acting like a boy. ‘He’s a sissy’ you said. Well he showed you. He ain’t no sissy because sissies don’t shoot people. If you want to blame anyone for what Blair did today blame yourself.”

  Mecca’s interpretation of the truth was an eye opener for Garrett. She never said anything she didn’t believe in so now it was time for him to step back and take a look at what part he played in Blair’s shooting. He slowly got up and left the house.

  Chapter 58

  Garrett parked his car at a public park that was closed for the night. This was the only place he could think of where his bloody clothes wouldn’t cause a commotion. So he sat in his car for hours replaying the day’s events over in his mind, deciphering every aspect of his life from the moment Blair arrived until the present.

  “God, what are you doing to me? This is not how the plan was supposed to go. I finally get Blair straightened out and now you throw this at me.” He fell asleep with those thoughts on his mind.

  ***

  “Garrett, you were talking to me like I was your errand boy.” God chuckled so Garrett also chuckled. “I’m laughing to keep from severely punishing you.” Garrett stopped laughing. “Your problem was you were telling Me what your plan was for your life and perhaps you forgot, but I AM GOD.”

  Thunder clapped loudly throughout the heavens as if God needed support to proclaim his title as ruler of the universe. “Do humans really think I am here to carry out their plans? YOU ARE My creation. YOU WERE created in My image and YOU ARE supposed to adhere to My will.”

  “Well, how am I supposed to know what your will is for my life?” Garrett boldly responded.

  “If you ever wanted to know my will for your life all you had to do was ask me. I’ve never been far from you. The only time I’ve ever heard you call out for me was before an election and when I called your dad home to rest in peace. Otherwise you chose to live this life all on your own.”

  ***

  Garrett awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. Cramped in the passenger side of his Lincoln MKZ Garrett stretched out as far as he could before deciding to go home and make things right with his family.

  When he walked in, he was surprised to see Mecca sitting alone at the kitchen table sipping out of her coffee mug. He assumed she would be getting the children ready for school.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Mecca glared at him before she got up to leave. She refused to listen to anything he had to say. Her extent of feeling any sympathy for Garrett vanished last night.

  He grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving the room. “I lost control and I know that’s not an excuse, but I…” Garrett cast his eyes down. “I took out my anger on Blair and I know that was wrong.”

  “Garrett, what I saw last night was about more than anger. There is something seriously wrong with you and I think you need to call Dr. French and have your head examined because I felt like a demon had taken control of my husband’s mind, body and soul and I feared the worst. I was so scared you were going to kill that boy.

  “I do need to talk with a professional. I’ll give Dr. French’s office a call later today and see if she’ll agree to be my therapist.” He took Mecca’s hand in his. “Can I go up and see him?”

  “No!” Mecca didn’t even want Garrett around any of the children. Then she told him something she had been thinking about all night long. “I think we should separate for a while.”

  Garrett looked at her with a pleading in his eyes. “Mecca, please don’t leave me now.”

  Mecca had struggled with her predicament all night long. She argued the pros and cons in her mind and what impact of leaving Garrett would have on the children and his career. This was a really hard decision for anyone who was raised to believe that divorce was a sin. Mecca’s mother believed that all divorcees were bound for hell for disobedience to God. She passed that belief on to her daughter, but Mecca never thought she would be confronted with the possibility of divorce in her own marriage. She really didn’t want to separate, but felt it was the right thing to do.

  “Please.” Garrett asked again. “I promise you I will make it up to you and the kids.”

  Reluctant and against her better judgment, Mecca gave in like she always did when Garrett asked anything of her. A lot of times, the love she carried for Garrett mustered poor judgment on her part.

  “I’m going up to apologize to Blair.” Garrett said before disappearing up the back stairs.

  He entered Blair’s room and did a double take when he saw how badly he had battered Blair’s face. There wasn’t a spot on Blair’s face that wasn’t swollen. His lips, cheeks and jaws were twice the normal size. Black and blue rings circled both his open eyes.

  Blair wasn’t sleep.

  He saw his dad enter his room, but he didn’t run from him and he didn’t shudder from his touch when Garret bent down to hug him. That’s when Blair heard his dad sobbing and heard him whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry son, I never meant to do this to you and I’ll never put my hands on you again.”

  Blair also cried because he didn’t know what else to do.

  Chapter 59
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br />   Four weeks passed before Blair returned to school. Garrett signed him out of school temporarily and had him home schooled. It took that long for Blair’s injuries to subside.

  Blair’s return to school proved not much had changed during his absence. The mundane familiarity of being the butt ofDontayé’s jokes continued. Students still habitually ignored and treated him like an outcast. Not that Blair expected things to change while he was gone, but he did think thatDontayé would leave him alone. After Blair pleaded guilty to the charges, Garrett cut a deal with the district attorney’s office in exchange for paying all medical expenses for the victim.

  Dontayécornered Blair in the hall, “I guess they didn’t make you do any time for the shooting.” This wasDontayé’s first time acknowledging the incident since Blair’s return back to school.

  “Nope.” Blair slammed his locker shut.

  “I knew they wouldn’t. That’s why I acted like I didn’t know anything. You’re the son of a man who is about to become the city’s next mayor; there is no way they were going to send you to jail. You’re lucky to have a dad who would go to so much trouble for you. I don’t know my dad and probably never will.”

  Dontayéwalked away. For the first time Blair felt likeDontayé was envious of him.

  Later that evening at dinner, Blair pushed peas around his plate. He couldn’t getDontayé off his mind. No one at the table noticed that Blair wasn’t really engaged in the dinner table conversation. As usual, Imani was telling everyone about what she did at school today.

  “Daddy, then the teacher asked me to collect all the test papers in the class because I was the first one done and I got a one hundred.” Imani beamed proudly.

  “That’s great honey.’ Garrett replied.

  There was a knock at the front door and Garrett got up to answer it. When he returned, Blair was surprised to seeDontayé standing beside his dad.

  Dontayérespectfully waved and spoke to everyone at the table before turning to Garrett. “Mr. Dunn, I came by to see if it would okay for me to hang out with Blair for a while?”Dontayé sounded like a boy scout. He portrayed the role of being innocent so well that even Blair played into his act.

  “Sure.” Garrett welcomedDontayé into their home. None of the kids from Blair’s school ever came to the house. So when Garrett saw Dontayé he thought that Blair really was cured because he was now making friends.“Do you attend school with Blair?”

  “Yes sir. We have a couple classes together.”Dontayé replied.

  “Blair, why don’t you take your friend up to your room and show him Jericho?”

  When the boys disappeared upstairs Mecca turned to Garrett. “Did that boy say what his name is?”

  “No.” Garrett thought back. “I don’t believe he did.” Garrett noticed the concerned look on her face. “Why? Is something wrong?”

  “I don’t know. I just got a weird feeling about that kid.” Mecca felt trouble stir in her soul whenDontayé entered their home.

  “I’m sure you’re worried about nothing, but I’ll ask Blair later tonight who he is?”

  UpstairsDontayé looked around in awe at all the cool stuff in Blair’s bedroom. He had never seen a bedroom quite like this before. There were plenty of video games, a huge flat screen television and lots of DVD’s at Blair’s disposal. He even had a brand new Apple computer.

  “I can’t believe you don’t share your room with anybody?”Dontayénever knew any kid that lived like this. Most of his friends had to share their room with either a brother, sister or sometimes even with a parent.Dontayé saw a basketball in the corner of the room and picked it up. He tossed it in the air then caught it. “If you have a basketball why don’t I ever see you down at the courts?”

  Blair shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. I really don’t have anybody to play with.” He wondered what the real reason was behind behind Dontayé’s unexpected visit. “Why are you here?”

  Dontayé grinned to himself, “What do you mean? Because I tease you all day in school and throw spit balls at you.” Then his demeanor softened and he was no longer that hard acting boy from school. “I didn’t mean nothing by those jokes and I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.” Dontayé held out his hand, “Friends.” He wanted to end the war and make a peace treaty.

  Skeptical, Blair looked at Dontayé’s outstretched hand. He wasn’t sure if this was some kind of trick, but the trusting part of him said to give Dontayé a chance. The two shook hands.

  From that day forward Dontayé and Blair were inseparable. They did everything together. They walked to school together in the morning and home in the afternoon. They ate lunch together and Dontayé got Blair into playing basketball. Dontayé had even spent the night at Blair’s house three weekends in a row. Tonight he was staying over again.

  “Are you boys all right?” Mecca turned off all the lights on the first floor of the house leaving only the television on for light.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Blair and Dontayé planned to camp out in the living room and watch the entire Matrix movie series.

  “Blair your father and I are going to bed. Don’t you two stay up all night? Remember: We have church in the morning.”

  “Okay Ms. Mecca.” Dontayé replied.

  “I know that all Blair needed was one really good friend and he would be all right.” Garrett said when he climbed into bed with Mecca. “See how much more outgoing he is.”

  Mecca agreed.

  Blair pulled Jericho out from underneath the covers.

  “Tell me again why we had to hide the snake?” Dontayé asked.

  “Because Mecca’s scared of him and I am not supposed to take him out around the house.” Blair turned Jericho’s face towards him. “I don’t know why she’s so scared. He don’t bite.”

  Blair started the first movie and hopped down in his spot underneath the covers.

  “Your step mom is sexy?”Dontayé said. “Have you ever noticed how big her butt is?”

  Blair felt uncomfortable talking about Mecca like that. She was like a mother to him. “No, I’ve never looked.”

  “Have you seen her naked?” Blair gaveDontayé a look of annoyance. “I mean you could have accidentally walked in on her coming out the shower or getting dressed.”

  Blair wanted to tellDontayéto stop talking about Mecca like that, but he was scared that if he offendedDontayé that could end their friendship. So he ignored him.

  “Have you ever had sex before?” Blair wondered where all this was coming from. They were supposed to be watching the Matrix and allDontayé wanted to do was talk.

  “No.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing out on.”Dontayé bragged.

  “You had sex before.” Blair was shocked.

  “Yup, and guess who I did it with?”Dontayé didn’t wait for him to guess. “Laylah Ogletree.”

  Blair sat next to her in his third period class. That girl was so quiet, he would have never believed she would do anything like that. She seemed like the kind of girl who would wait until marriage to have sex.

  “Would you like to have sex?”Dontayé asked.

  “Probably later. When I get a girlfriend.” Blair didn’t sound very interested.

  “Since you never did it before with a girl, I’ll let you practice on me.” Dontayé jumped to his feet.

  “What?”

  “Come on. I promise you’ll like it, and it won’t hurt.” Dontayé tried to coerce Blair into doing what he wanted, but Blair was adamant that he didn’t want to do it. “If you don’t do it, I’ll stop being your friend and I’ll tease you worse than I did before.”

  Blair liked the way things were. He refused to go back to being the sixth grade piñata that everyone picked on. “What do I have to do?”

  Dontayé hopped up from his seat and dropped his basketball shorts to his ankles. He held his penis out in front of Blair. “This is the only way you’ll learn how to do it right.”

  Blair was scared and didn’t know what to do. “All
you have to do is put it in your mouth.” Dontayé edged him on.

  Blair sat up on his knees and opened his mouth wide. When Dontayé stuck it in his mouth Dontayé released a low sigh.

  Then Dontayé gave Blair directions on what to do. “Come on man. Suck on it just like a straw.”

  Blair did as told. Jericho watched them from across the room.

  Once Blair did it the way Dontayé wanted Dontayé ejaculated all over Blair’s mouth. Dontayé laughed afterwards. “Sorry about that.” Blair gagged a bit and Dontayé quickly pulled his shorts back up. The first time is always the worst. “You’ll get used to it.”

  Blair couldn’t believe he had done that. He felt like he wanted to brush his teeth. Dontayé bounced back on the couch and finished watching the movie as if nothing had happened.

  ***

  “I can’t believe he did that.” Garrett’s worst fears were confirmed his son was gay.

  “Don’t be too upset, Blair was led astray.” Kiel replied.

  “I cannot condone man being with man nor woman being with woman.” The Lord declared. “Homosexuality is Satan’s way of trying to bring ruin to the plans I made for humanity, but no matter how hard he tries My plans cannot be stopped.

  “Lucifer knew that man and woman were my greatest creation. Humans I called them and the first order of natural law was for man and woman to multiply and populate the earth. From the beginning Satan wanted to disrupt the balance of nature and he figured he could do it with homosexuality.

  “Since the beginning of time, homosexuality has been suppressed in the dark. Century’s passed and sexual acts engaged by the same gender were usually well kept secrets. Modern times have changed that practice. Man marries man and they live life together as husband and wife. Satan believes he has finally foiled My plans. As sin triumphs on earth I am drawing closer to the last days.