Page 5 of White Hole

Mason strolled out of the upstairs bathroom down the hall. “Dude! G. Uh, they’re all busy in that room. I walked inpurelyby accident, but they wouldn’t let me watch. Told them I’d be quiet and everything—”

Brushing past him before he could stop talking, I rushed towards the door. Levi Joseph was a whore. Couldn’t keep it in his pants. I’d seen him eye my stepsister when she moved in. If Alenna was in there with Levi, my father would blow up if he found out.

The door wasn’t locked when I swung it open. I knew I wouldn’t gag, but could have. In the center of the bed lay my friend, Levi. Buck naked. Fortunately, I couldn’t see much of him because his face was covered by my stepsister’s pussy, his dick obscured by my stepmother’s. Alenna’s nude body writhed on him, facing the head of the bed where Xavier was standing, shoving his cock in her mouth while holding her head and thrusting in harshly. Gianna, my stepmother, rode Levi reverse-cowgirl style, facing the foot of the bed. I’d seen her do the move before. The fact that she was doing this to my friends made me rage.

“Get the fuck out, Levi,” my voice boomed as I went to pull my buddy off the bed. I wouldn’t kill him, but I needed to scare the shit out of him so he would be safe. He had no idea what he was getting himself involved in. Xavier, I’d excuse; the man was grieving. Levi was thinking with his dick, and it had a bigger brain than his head. “Levi!” I knew my voice was scary.

Gianna slid off Levi’s cock slowly. At the same time, Alenna screamed, then grabbed her clothes from the floor and ran out of the room. Xavier jumped off the bed and quickly pulled his pants back on. Levi lay there like a possum exposed to headlights in the dead of night. Grabbing him by the neck, I yanked on him as he shuffled off the bed by his knees.

“Oh, shit, G. I’m so sorry. So sorry.”

“You dumb motherfucker. You fucking asshole. Can’t you keep it in your pants for just one night? One night, man!” I was shoving him out the door while Xavier gathered his clothes. Gianna pulled up her negligee I’d guessed she’d worn for the show. “I’ll fucking kill you. Get the fuck out of here.” Levi paled to the color of paper and ran down the stairs. Xavier slid by me, slinking along the wall, and sneaked away out the door.

“Georgie. Junior…” Gianna’s sugary sweet voice made me look down and clench my jaw.Fuck. Levi hadnoclue what he was getting into. “Georgie. Look at me, sweetie.” As I turned around, Gianna reached up and tucked a piece of my long blond hair behind my ear. Like she was a mother. “You’re not going to say a word, are you, Georgie?” My eyes kept staring at the hardwood floor.

Gianna’s voice made my stomach knot. Sidling up to me, I had to meet her face. She said, “Because you know what happens if you do. You’ve been down this road before.” She crawled her red fingernails up my chest. Jutting her painted bottom lip out, she gazed at me with her almond-shaped hazel eyes. “Besides… your friend didn’t get me off. You know whose job that is.”

This bitch.

Licking my bottom lip, I contemplated my next move. She was right. I wouldn’t say a damn word. I hadn’t in years. I lived in Hell every fucking day, but I would never tell.

Images of the eight-year-old version of myself flashed in my mind. Little George wandered into his father’s office downstairs to see him banging his future ex-wife number two. Dan was six, and Aaron was just a toddler at the time. I stood there for a while, watching my father pump into Mindy on his desk. She had babysat us all a few times when my parents were out. My father was panting, and she was screaming. I thought she was hurt, so I went to help her, but my dad yelled at me to leave the room.

My mom came home from the grocery store soon after with Aaron, and I ran to tell her a hurt woman was in dad’s office. I’ll never forget the ire that set in on my mother’s face as she marched toward the door and threw it open. Mindy shrieked and gathered up her clothes before sprinting out. My father pulled up his pants and yelled at my mother. I’d never seen them fight like that, only heard it behind their thin bedroom walls.

My mother slapped my father, and then he punched her. Her body was flung by the impact into the bookcases before sliding down to the floor. Little Aaron waddled to me, his eyes filled with tears. Grabbing him, I ran upstairs to make sure Dan was safe. Shoving the three of us into the closet in my room, we huddled together, listening to the terrifying screams and pounding sounds resounding from downstairs. I put my body in front of my brothers’, guarding them. It’s why I made such a great linebacker. No one was getting through Big George Turner.

I couldn’t call the police. My fatherwasthe police. So, we hid behind the clothes until the noises died down. Mom eventually found us hunched together there. Aaron had fallen asleep in my arms without dinner. Mom didn’t look right, her face reddened with tears and marks. She grabbed Aaron and then Daniel. I wandered out of the closet behind her. She hugged the two of them, but wouldn’t look at me.

“Mom.” She didn’t respond, just kissed the tops of my brothers’ heads and hurried to her bedroom. I followed as she pulled out the suitcase she used when we visited Grandma. “Ma,” I said again. “Mommy!”

Finally, she snapped her head at me and shook her finger. “I wished you never told me. I wished you’d just kept your mouth shut! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ve just killed your mother. You’ve given me a death sentence, George.”

Tears burst from my eyes. My young brain couldn’t comprehend what was happening. I didn’t want to kill my mother. “No! I don’t want to kill you! Please don’t die! Where are you going?”

Tossing things from around the room into her suitcase, she turned to depart, but spoke to me one last time before heading out of the door. “Keep your mouth shut and stay out of trouble. You’re staying here and I’m leaving.”

Sprinting over to her, I tried to grab onto her shirt and pull, but she clutched my wrist, so my fingers had to release her. “I’ll get my suitcase, too! Wait, Mommy! Wait!” I darted to my room as fast as my little legs could go, pulled out my backpack we used for family trips, and threw random things into it, including my Millennium Falcon Lego set that my dad helped me put together. It wouldn’t fit. As I debated which of my robots to bring, I heard the garage door close, the humming of the mechanics causing my heart to race.

I ran downstairs as my mother’s car pulled away from the house. Standing at the dining room window, Dan stood beside me, and we both cried for her. Aaron couldn’t make it in time to watch her leave.

My father came in behind us. “Stop that crying. Boys don’t cry. Stop it. I don’t want to hear any of that nonsense. She’s gone, and good riddance.”

He married Mindy a week after his and my mother’s divorce was final. She was a good babysitter for a while. At least she fed Aaron when he was hungry. She left when Dad had sex with Candace, his friend’s wife. They were married for a few months before she left, too.

My mother moved to a tiny studio apartment with roaches under the sink. Dad said she was “mentally ill,” and we couldn’t see her often. He’d had her committed to a hospital shortly after their fight, saying she was suicidal. His lawyers argued she couldn’t get custody rights because she was “a danger” to us.

When we were allowed to visit, Mom sat in a recliner and watched TV all day without moving. The place chronically smelled like rotten food. The sink was always filled with dirty dishes, and she had no snacks for us. Over the years, I learned to pack some for my brothers in my backpack. I’d clean the apartment so Aaron wouldn’t get sick. There wasn’t really a place for us to sleep. We would pile on the floor in sleeping bags, but the carpet smelled like cat pee.

Mom would hug Aaron and Dan, but ignore me. She would wait until I had tidied up her kitchen and my brothers were asleep. Then, I’d hear her mumble, “I wish you’d kept your mouth shut.”

So I did.

From the day my father beat my mother, I stopped talking. Mindy and my dad went to see my school counselor because I stopped giving answers in class. Mindy talked about me like she was a pretend mother. Teachers noticed I wouldn’t respond to the other children. My friends eventually gave up on asking me questions. By the time I was in high school, I was just known as the big, silent guy.

What did it matter if I did speak? I had Levi and Mason; both said enough for ten people. Xavier and I could sit in silence for hours, unspoken understanding traveling along wavelengths between each other. I communicated when it was necessary. But most words weren’t. People were always waiting for the other person to finish so they could talk. I learned to listen. And in doing so, I learned a lot about human nature.

I preferred silence.

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