Chapter 1: Betrayal

Eric was born to Sarah and Seth Coleman in a small town in East Texas. Both of his parents were beyond beautiful and exceptional physical specimens. Throughout all their school years, his mother was a two sport athlete in volleyball and basketball. His father was the star outside linebacker for the varsity team, even as a sophomore in high school. His father Seth even had several scholarship offers to play football at the D2 level. This would never come to pass as Eric came into the picture their senior year. This is also the reason why Eric’s father hated him so much and treated him and his mother the way that he did. To hear Seth speak about it, you would think that Eric was depriving him of his shot to play for the Dallas Cowboys instead of some D2 school most of the country hasn’t even heard of.

Sarah’s mother was a single parent as her father had died several years prior in a vehicle accident. Seth’s family by contrast was extremely large and rich by small town standards, and owned quite a few businesses in and around the area. When Sarah became pregnant, both families informed her and Seth that it would be their responsibility to take care of the child. Sarah’s mother would help when she could, but she had no extra income and worked 60 hours a week just to pay the bills. Seth’s family could have eased the burden of helping with the child but they did nothing. They made it clear that he was warned about the dangers of unprotected sex and didn’t take steps to help prevent the pregnancy, so it would be up to him to provide.

Sarah and Seth were all but forced to marry straight out of high school and start working immediately. Sarah got a job at a local daycare as this would help her make some money and still take care of Eric. Seth went to work in one of his family’s construction companies. Money was always extremely tight, and this only added to the anger that Seth felt in being forced into this marriage. For all the anger that Seth had towards Eric, his mother was the exact opposite. Sarah absolutely adored and loved her son with everything she had. Eric was her prince, and she treated him as such.

As the years went by and Eric grew up, it became clear to him that his family was actually two. It was always him and his mother versus his father and his extended family. Whenever his father wasn’t at work, he was out at the bar or spending time at his family’s large ranch.

Oddly enough, this was always the preferred state for Eric and Sarah. Anytime his father would graced him and his mother with his presence, It was always accompanied by shouting and beatings. Eric hated himself for it, but whenever his father became violent with his mother, he had to force himself to not interfere. The few times that he did try to protect his mother, his father would turn his anger towards him. This would cause his mother to try defending him, making her beating even worse.

This is not to say that Eric was spared from his wrath. His father would occasionally make time for him when his mother was not around. Most of the time it was a simple slap or two, sometimes they were strong enough to give him a blackeye. Eric would do his best to conceal those from his mother, as anytime his she found out it would always lead to another fight. Many times Eric wanted to go to the police, but he always knew that that would not do any good. Seth’s family was extremely large and influential. Seth’s uncle was even elected to be the local judge after spending many years as a defense attorney for the family. You would think that everybody would point out the conflict of interest, especially when it came to their family, but no one ever batted an eye at it. The local police were always kept in check. Anytime it got bad enough for the neighbors to call them, they would simply remove Seth and take him to his family ranch for the night.

Sarah threatened many times to take Eric and file for divorce, but Seth made it clear his family would have none of it. Seth’s family were good upstanding Christians, who did not recognize divorces. If Sarah filed for divorce, Seth would get sole custody of Eric. If Sarah tried to take Eric and run, the family would make sure she was charged with kidnapping. Sarah was stuck with Seth, just as Seth was stuck with Sarah.

When Eric was in the seventh grade, he wanted to try out for football, but his father unanimously squashed that idea. His father used the excuse that he was too scrawny and would get hurt, but it was clear that he was simply doing it to spite Eric. The message was clear. Eric had deprived Seth of his dream of playing football so now he would return the favor. Of course it also had the added effect of keeping Eric from getting stronger, thus maintaining Seth’s superiority over him.

Life went on like this for Eric for several more years. It wasn’t until his 16th birthday that everything fell apart and turned his life to shit. Eric’s mother always did her best for her son, but he never had the gifts and toys that his classmates got. This was simply because money was always too tight. Seth’s family never chipped in with any kind of help, leaving Sarah as the sole provider. With Eric’s 16th birthday approaching, Sarah decided to splurge a little bit. This was an important day for him and she wanted to get him something nice so she bought him a 3-D printer. This was not one of those expensive printers, but more along the lines of the $300 self assembly ones.

Eric got home early that day from school as it was the start of Christmas vacation. He found his mother with his present in the living room waiting for him. Eric’s birthday was actually in the middle of January but his mother decided to give him his gift early. This way he could enjoy it over the long school break. Eric was overjoyed and repeatedly thanked his mother. Eric took his gift and spent the next several hours in his room, assembling it and testing it out. It was around 7 o’clock that night that his father got home and Eric could tell by the way the front door slammed that tonight was going to be a bad one.

The shouting from the living room could easily be made out from his room. Eric tried to tune it out and not get involved as that would make everything worse. Tonight, unfortunately that would not be the case as his father became louder and angrier at Sarah for spending $300 of his money on a stupid toy for Eric. The $300 was just enough for Seth’s card to be declined at the bar, which was why he was home early and in such an enraged state.

The slap that Eric heard was so loud it jolted him out of his seat. That’s when he heard his mother first hit the wall, and then fall to the floor. Eric opened the door and went to the living room, only to see his mother on the ground cradling her face with blood coming from her nose. His father was standing above her with his fist clenched. As Eric stood frozen, he watched his father pull back and hit her again with a closed fist. This hit was hard enough that her head bounced off the floor. Enraged, Eric ran at his father and slammed into the back of him with everything he had. Being drunk and off-balance Seth went headfirst towards the wall and impacted a picture that was hanging there. The glass shattered, causing several cuts above Seth’s eye and blood to run down his face. Eric, while being as tall as his father at 6’4 was much skinnier and had overall a lot less mass. He bounced off his father after the hit leading him closer towards the fireplace. Recovering from the collision, Seth looked around to discover what happened. As he felt the blood running down his face, he completely lost all hold of reality. In two long steps, Seth made it to Eric, and with all the force he could bring to bear, punched his son directly in the face. The force of the blow caused Eric to shoot backwards and go face first into the lit fireplace. Eric was dazed but quickly recovered to the sensation of the skin on his left side of his face being burned. He tried to start pushing himself away, only to feel a hand grab the back of his head and hold him there.

The scream that her son let out was what broke Sarah from her unconscious state. She looked around to find her husband holding their son’s face in the fireplace while he screamed and thrashed. Sarah, in a state of shock and panic quickly glanced around the room looking for any sort of weapon. She noticed her husband’s keychain just a foot or so away from her on the living room floor. She reached over, grabbed the keychain and flipped open the small serrated knife that her husband used to open packages. With a lunge and a scream, Sarah embedded the knife into Seth’s thigh. It was only a half second later that Sarah found herself dazed again from the force of a backhand to her face. Seth let go of Eric, who was already passed out from the pain, and grabbed the knife that was still in his thigh. Once removed, he stumbled over to Sarah. Kneeling down on top of her prone body, Seth started stabbing her chest repeatedly.

When Eric woke up in the hospital, he was informed that it was three weeks since the incident. He was kept in a medically induced coma while the doctor’s skin grafted and treated the third-degree burns to the left side of his face and neck. He was also told that they would be keeping him in the hospital for at least another week or two to ensure no infections would occur. Once he was cleared, he would be released to his grandmother on his father’s side. Eric tried several times to plead with the doctors and nurses to find out where his mother was. They refused, saying that the police needed to talk to him first.

Once the police were informed of Eric being conscious again they rushed over to get his statement regarding the events that took place. Eric, while still being heavily drugged with pain killers, did his best to relay the events of that night. Only once he was done did the police inform him that both his mother and father were dead.

The screaming from the house caused his neighbors to call the police. When they arrived they found him unconscious next to the fireplace and his mother and father lying in a pool of blood. His mother had died from multiple stab wounds to the chest and neck. His father had one stab wound to the leg, but that one alone was enough to sever his femoral artery. With the adrenaline and alcohol, they said it did not take more than a few minutes for Seth to bleed out. It appeared that he never even noticed the amount of blood shooting out of his leg.

The next two weeks in the hospital were complete agony for Eric. He was always alone, as nobody from his father’s side of the family ever stopped by to check on him. All Eric had was the pain from the burns and the knowledge that the only person who ever loved him was dead. It was only upon his release from the hospital that he finally saw a member of his father’s side of the family as his grandmother came and picked him up.

He had met his grandmother several times throughout his life, but they were never close. Growing up he always got the sense from her that he was always a burden that she didn’t want to deal with. Now that she was going to be his sole guardian, that feeling was magnified tenfold. He was informed, he would need regular hospital visits over the course of the next few months for his burns. Then with the added effect of her son being killed by his mother he could feel the disdain coming from his grandmother. He knew this was not going to be a happy situation.

This was proven to be the case when Eric and his grandmother got to his new home. This was a mansion style home, with eight bedrooms and five bathrooms. It was surrounded by 2000 acres of forest and a few pastures with streams running through them. The land and the house has been in their family for a few generations. While the parts of the house itself were old, it was constantly updated and added onto.

Eric was given a closet for a bedroom, no bigger than a prison cell. His grandmother let him know that unless he needed or was needed for something he was to stay out of sight and out of everyone’s way. This was especially important on Saturday starting at 12pm to Sunday morning.

His grandmother, while only 53, was the matriarch of the family and she led their family church on Saturdays. Quite a few of the family members made use of the spacious home, and often stayed over until Sunday morning. This was their own non-denominational “cowboy” church that is popular in the south. They had started many years back for the express purposes of family only gatherings. You had to be a direct family member or invited to participate in their church. While Eric was blood, the family made it absolutely clear that he was not invited.

The family church sermons were always held in the old converted pool house. This was a rather large indoor pool that was attached to the home. A few years ago the pool had foundation problems leading to a large crack. The pool was almost entirely enclosed by walls and only had one section with a large glass side to see out of. Most of the light for the area actually came from the dozens of skylights in the ceiling. The cost to dig up and fix the foundation for the pool was going to be expensive. So expensive in fact, the family decided just to build a new outdoor pool and convert the old pool house to a chapel of sorts.

The pool was covered up by a metal frame, with plywood and fake grass over it. Surrounding the now covered up pool were all kinds of couches, loveseats, and Ottomans for the members to relax on during their church services. Because it was for religious purposes, a large part of the remodel was even tax-free as a house of worship.

Eric was all but isolated in his new home. He suffered greatly from depression over the loss of his mother. Even on non-church days, his father’s side of the family was always coming and going from the home. He actively avoided any interaction with the family, as they all made it clear that he and his mother were responsible for Seth’s death.

Eric once questioned his grandmother that if everyone hated him so much why didn’t they simply put him up for adoption? Even being a ward of the state would be preferable to his current situation. He was told that while he was certainly unwanted. The family were good Christian folks and pillars of the community. They would not tarnish that reputation by being seen throwing away a disfigured boy before he could take care of himself.