Chapter 2: Bribery Attempts

I’d honestly thought that would be the end of it. For the next two days it mostly was. I went to school, spent my mornings before class in the pool. After, I shoveled a few driveways and spent some time with Mandy ahead of her ski trip. On Tuesday, Sylvia tried to talk to me. She was the definition of Amazon in terms of build; Tall, muscular and matched with an ebon skin that was a shade darker than Helen’s. It didn’t take much to dodge her, but two or three times I heard out a few cries, ‘Hey, Bro’ or ‘Johnny.”

On Wednesday, Annie approached me at my lunchtime. She was my little sister. The Bitch had earned some well-deserved hate. Sylvie had thrown a few of her workout partners at me to make my life harder. The moms were useless, piles of chromosomes and hot air ... I didn’t really have anything against Annie. She was just oblivious to anything that didn’t require a controller or a mouse and keyboard. I’d even gotten myself a hospital stay defending her the prior year from Random.

I assume the idiot had earned that nickname from the Tourette’s as he would often have tics and repeat random crap. Nobody had wanted to hang around him, so he’d quickly decided to muscle in on anyone he thought was weak. He’d made a run at Annie and I’d stepped in the way for some reason even I couldn’t comprehend. The initial fight went my way, Duke had seen to that ... but when he brought a knife to my side while I was visiting a urinal a week later, I’d not ended up so well. I didn’t blame her for that. I did blame her for what I’d overheard after I’d returned to school. She’d referred to me as ‘the freak from the basement that leeches off my moms.’ That I had a bit of resentment for.

So, when she ran up to the corner of the bleachers I’d taken up and said, “Hey, John.” I was a little reticent.

“Yeah, Annie?”

“You want to play some games with me this evening?”

“I haven’t played any in a while, besides I’m sure you have better things to do than spend time with the freak who leeches off your moms.”

She’d retreated quickly, which was preferrable. When I got home I found someone had been in my room. They’d replaced my television with a larger Flat screen and there were a pair of consoles sitting in front of it. Neither was my xbox that had disappeared, but a newer model and a ps5. I packed them back in the boxes and took them upstairs. I found my Helen in the dining room waiting.

“These aren’t mine. Where is my tv?”

“I had the movers take it when they set up the new one. Don’t you want the games?”

“I’m not going to be bought. That TV mattered to me. It had been Duke’s and he said I could have it when he bought a new one.”

“It was a CRT!?!”

“It was a gift from a friend for someone who’d gone three years without one. That has value. That shows Duke gave a shit about me. I’m not putting out a retraction. You can’t fucking buy me.”

“What If I just wanted to show I care?”

“Then you would’ve fucking asked what I wanted.”

I headed back downstairs slamming the door to the basement and remembering to lock it this time. The only thing of note on Thursday was Mandy’s departure. I saw her and her mother off with their Christmas gifts in tow. Friday was quiet. I had a concert that night. It wasn’t my best performance, but my attempt at Chopin’s Scherzo Op .20 No .1 in B minor while the rest of the band rearranged for the second half of the concert earned me a round of applause with about half of them on their feet. Sarah was dead center among them. She was someone I could always count on. I’d considered spending the night at her home and my life might’ve been different if I had.

Instead, I caught a ride home. I still wasn’t ready to out my aging SUV’s make, color, and model when my ‘family’ was acting so weird. I entered through the front door to find three sisters and two moms on lingerie. It was quite the sight. If it had been anyone else, I likely would’ve swelled to full mast and even then Sylvie hard body next to Annie’s softness and the Mom’s well-aged beauty threatened it. The Bitch dressed in a red baby doll just made me want to slap her, “I take it I interrupted?”

Daisy seemed excited, “No, we were waiting for you. This will take the place of your induction since we missed it. We’re all yours anyway you want it.”

“Why would I want that?”

She seemed distraught, “But you were upset at being left out.”

Helen towed the party line, “We’re trying to make it up to you.”

“Okay ... So, let’s assume you actually want to try and fix our fucked-up relationship and of all the things we talked about you not doing: paying attention to my existence, going to my extracurriculars like the concert I just played in, inviting me to dinner, hell giving me a fucking hug, you thought ... we’ll just fuck him. You lot completely missed the fucking point. Is this why Sylvie and Annie tried to talk to me this week? You put them up to it? And now I’m just supposed to drop-trow and show you why they call me, Long John Silver? Doesn’t matter that out of the five of you the only one I feel anything for is the bitch and that’s mostly revulsion and anger.”

The bitch blurted out, “Shut the fuck up. I haven’t done anything to you. And you’re bound to have a big sister fantasy.”

“You murdered my best friend! You useless fucking cunt.”

“I never murdered anyone.”

“We’ll let’s see. You followed her. Filmed her having sex with her girlfriend. Decided to play that as part of the video presentation to the entire school and her fucking bigoted parents who threw her out on the street, then bullied and abused her and had all your friends do the same while she couch surfed till she finally fucking killed herself. Then you had the audacity to call her a piece of trash after I come back crying from her funeral, so yeah, I do have a big sister fantasy where I strangle you to death and dump you in the lake. We can do the strangling thing but be warned I probably won’t be able to stop.”

“I didn’t know she killed herself. I was all in good fun ... I swear I didn’t know I thought you just had a breakup or something.”

“Yeah, so you murdered a girl and then didn’t even realize you done it. What does that make you? You’re worse than the shit I wash off my boots every night. As for the rest of you ... I have a fucking girlfriend, a boytoy, and a milf on my booty call list. I don’t have any problem getting laid. Yeah, it pisses me off that this was another thing I was excluded from, but I don’t care enough about any of you for it to mean anything beyond getting my dick wet.”

Annie seemed confused, “But you stopped Random from roughing me up last year ... you can’t just not care about me anymore.”

“And what did you do after that? Told your little friend that I was the ‘Freak that mooched off my moms.’ Specifically, ‘my’ not ‘our.’ You lot decided I was to be ostracized and excluded for five years; you can’t expect me to care after that.”

I heard the five voices all go at once and didn’t feel like dealing with it, so I stepped through the mess of drama and headed downstairs. My TV hadn’t returned and I didn’t feel like figuring out the new one, so I grabbed a book and my earbuds and read till I was ready to crash.

Sometime after midnight:

I felt the weight on top of me and something warm surround my cock and I awoke and saw the bitch riding me. I grabbed her throat with both hands and squeezed. I could feel her pulse through my hands. I could kill her, she wanted to fucking rape me. I’d be justified. I flipped us over and started pounding into her as I squeezed. Her hands started smacking limply at my sides, “From murder to fucking rape. God, you can’t get any fucking lower.”

I watch her eyes cloud with fear and I let go, “Fucking bitch. I’m a better person than you.” Couldn’t fucking do it.

I keep pounding into her. It’s hard it’s violent, but she’s been convulsing on my cock twice and eventually she whispers hoarsely, “Don’t cum in me ... not on pill.” I do it anyway.

“There’s water in the fridge. Don’t come back.”

She got up and got some water. She sat down on the edge of my bed and rubbed at her throat and after a few minutes, “I’m sorry. I ... I really didn’t know it would go that far. I swear I didn’t know she would kill herself.”

“You open fire into a crowd you’re going to hit someone.”

“It was just supposed to be teasing, joking around ... cause I didn’t want her around you.”

“Jokes are funny for everyone involved. That was abuse. You killed her.” And nearly killed me.

I looked and saw my handprints wrapped around her neck. Impossible to miss them when contrasted with her pale skin.

“I ... you can use me any way you want. As much as you want. Strangle me some more. I ... I really didn’t know ... and I can’t take it back. I thought you broke up and then swung at me when I teased you and then after you got thrown down here. It seemed a fitting punishment. I never imagined you were dealing with the pain of having lost your friend. I never imagined you could hate me or that you’d be right too. I was so pissed that you hit me and I expected you to apologize.” She took a break for more water before continuing, “But you never did. I thought you were just being stubborn, but you ... you were in the right. You being cast out that was my fault. I remember telling our moms you didn’t deserve presents or to go with us on a trip till you apologized and you never did. And then when I gave up on you coming back to me; I started to resent you and we all just kept it up. It never occurred to me I was in the wrong.”

“You weren’t listening upstairs. Getting my dick wet isn’t what I wanted. And it certainly won’t make of for years of abuse or you having murdered my best friend ... or trying to rape me.”

“I ... I thought you’d enjoy it.”

“Things rapists say for 1000, Alex.”