Chapter 13

Harvey Dunkin Speaks:

I think that was part of the problem Brian. Whenever I was at your place, the two of you treated me like family, but eventually I would always have to go back home. You and your Dad seemed to have the perfect relationship, God how I envied you. My parents were about as fucked up as you could get. Mom was an uptight prude who ruled the roost. She made the rules, and Dad would enforce them with his belt. I know you wondered why I rarely felt like going swimming, or taking a bike ride. The truth is I was usually nursing a very sore backside.

Things got worse for me when Reverend Jim came to town. Mom practically fell in love with the guy from the beginning, and thought he could do no wrong. I know you remember hearing me complain about all the damn sermons she would drag me to. The only thing that made them somewhat bearable was that Teresa was usually there.

Teresa Smithy was everything I ever thought I wanted in a girlfriend. In my eyes she was perfection from head to toe. The only problem was she was as hung up on Reverend Jim as Mom was, and wouldn't give me the right time of day. I kept my eye on her and noted that besides the "good reverend", she would also occasionally hang out with a small group of guys Jim called his "Righteous Warriors". I reasoned that the only way to get closer to Teresa was to get in good with these guys, so that is what I set out to do. Mom was very pleased when I began to show more of an interest in her church activities, and my beatings at home greatly diminished for a while.

It was about this time that you confided in me about what your Dad did for a living. I couldn't believe how lucky you were. At first I was completely intrigued by your story, but then after thinking about it I became really pissed at you. I remembered how we used to sit for hours dreaming about what it would actually feel like to sink our dicks in a real live pussy, and all that time you were fucking loads of women on a regular basis. It seemed like you had been laughing at me behind my back throughout our entire friendship.

After a while of playing the good little church boy, Reverend Jim finally approached me about joining his Righteous Warriors. He said that as an initiation I would have to uncover a major sin being committed, report back to him what I learned, and assist his warriors in showing the sinner the error of his evil ways. Being the sheltered son of an insanely over protective mother, I had no idea how I would ever be able to do what he asked. I briefly considered spilling my guts to him about my home life, as I personally believed the way I was being raised to be immensely evil, but I somehow didn't figure he would see things quite the same way. I decided instead to pay a bit more attention to some of the rumors flying around in school. I was hoping to get lucky by accidentally overhearing some dope-head arranging a drug deal, but the most I came up with were a few unsupervised drinking parties. Reverend Jim said I was on the right track, but I had to divulge deeper, if I wanted to prove myself worthy of becoming one of his warriors.

As time went on my status with the group began to diminish. Jim would question me daily about whether I'd learned of any new sins being committed, and my negative response would always elicit a disapproving sigh from him. I knew that if I didn't come up with something soon my chances with Teresa would be lost forever. Worse yet, I suspected Mom would soon grow tired of my stalling, and direct Dad to start beating me again. The next day out of sheer desperation, I decided to reveal what you had told me about your sex toy business. Since neither you nor your father were doing anything illegal, I personally didn't think this would be considered a major sin, but at least it would prove that I was still trying, and maybe buy me a little more time to come up with something more substantial.

Reverend Jim, who was probably getting desperate himself to find something that would stir up his shrinking congregation, acted like I had just revealed the identity of a serial killer. He sang his admiration of me to the masses praising my stance to denounce evil even when the culprit had been a former friend. Mom seemed as proud as ever, accepting congratulations from everyone on raising such a fine son. Best of all was the change in Teresa. Suddenly she seemed very interested in me. We started out doing small things like holding hands or giggling at each other's silly jokes, but there was every indication that we would eventually become boyfriend and girlfriend. That was about the time she mentioned being in some type of training, and that after it was finished she would be better prepared to help rid me of my masculine tendencies so that I could continue to do the Lords work. I had no idea what she meant by this, but not wanting to look stupid, I pretended to know what she was talking about.

Reverend Jim started publicly going after you and your Dad accusing the two of you of everything from being moral degenerates to the devil in carnet. He staged protest and marches, where he preached to anyone who would listen about how your father had corrupted you into living a life of sin. Since I now know he wanted to keep everything he did local, I'm sure that it was never his intention to call in child services and try to get you removed from your fathers' custody, but after one of his followers took it upon herself to do so, he really had no choice but to back the measure. I knew I made a huge mistake by ratting you out to Reverend Jim, but there was really nothing I could do to correct it. Being from such a conservative community, there only seemed to be a small handful of people who weren't bad mouthing the two of you.

It was about two weeks after I had made my confession to Jim that the guys from church cornered me and said it was time to complete my final task before becoming a warrior. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wouldn't like what I was about to do and it only became more prevalent when they led me to Billy's house and ordered me to change from my school clothes into a black sweat suit complete with a face covering ski mask. We then hurried off to our rendezvous spot. The minute I saw you walking home late from school that day, I knew what was going to happen. In retrospect I should have done a dozen things differently, but instead I allowed myself to be suckered into their fiendish plot. At first, we just started shoving you back and forth between us like a medicine ball, all the while chanting that you were a sinner and must repent your evil ways. It wasn't until you started fighting back that the other guys began to beat on you. I just stood there frozen for several seconds, not really knowing what to do, while they were all shouting at me to get in a few licks of my own. All of a sudden something just sort of snapped inside me, and instead of seeing you, I was picturing my father. It was like the violence had somehow triggered those horrible memories I'd been suppressing. All the anger and rage I'd buried from my own beatings came rushing to the surface, and in that moment I just lost it. Being completely void, at the time of any sane thoughts, I just began hitting and kicking you repeatedly, until finally the others had to physically pull me away so we could make our escape. When I turned back around to take one last look, the scene had changed again, and it wasn't my father that was lying in a bloody heap on the street but my best friend.

At this point Harvey was in tears, and asked for something to drink. I got up to get him a tissue and a glass of water, which he accepted gratefully. I didn't know what to make of his story so far, but everything he said seemed logical. I decided to keep quiet, and wait for him to calm down so he could finish.

Harvey continues:

Once we were far enough away we split up and I went with Billy back to his place to get cleaned up and retrieve my clothes. After that, he directed me to go home, and stay there until I heard from one of them. He said that if anyone should ask I was to say that I'd been at home doing schoolwork the entire time. Since I was wearing the same clothes I had on earlier that day, I'd seem believable.

After I left Billy's place I started to go home but changed my mind along the way. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't get the image of you out of my mind. For the first time in my life I was afraid of myself. I'd become an out of control monster. I decided right then and there that despite what my mother wanted I was not cut out to be one of Reverend Jim's Righteous Warriors. Before I lost my nerve I marched myself over to his church to tell him in person of my decision. When I arrived one of his parishioners was just leaving and held the door open for me so I could slip in without being noticed. I slowly made my way to the back room all the while going over in my head what I wanted to say. When I reached my destination I could hear voices coming from the other side of the wall, and it sure as hell didn't sound like anyone praying.

"Oh Marge, that feels so damn good." Jim said.

"It sure does, you're so much better at this than the boys are." Mom told him.

"I know baby, but they're learning, just like Teresa is." He replied.

"Speaking of which, when do you think she'll be ready?" Mom asked/

"I'd say she's just about there. Billy called a little while ago. It would appear that Harvey's final test went well. I was told that he was a little reluctant at first, but once he got into it, Billy claims he really went to town on that Crothers boy." Jim said.