Chapter 2

Everything had started a few months ago, during the monthly family party. The female cousins were talking during one of the breaks, and Emily had mentioned Paul’s upcoming initiation into the circle.

“So, the Tubby’s turn is coming,” Lisa said, a smirk in her face. At 21, she was the oldest of the new generation of cousins.

“Yuck!” quipped Karen, another cousin. “I wonder who’ll draw the short straw.” All the girls giggled.

“What do you say, Em? Ready to take one for the team?” sneered Lisa.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked, confused.

“Come on, Em!” Lisa laughed. “I, for starters, have no intention of allowing the Tubby to touch this,” she pointed at her own body. The other girls made sounds of disgust. “Oh, please! he’s my brother and all, but ... ewww!” She made a gagging gesture, which was mirrored by all the other girls in the room. “I don’t know why he’s so different!” she complained. “Mike is a hunk, you would think something of that would rub off on him, but ... that belly! yuck!” she threw her hands in the air.

“Just thinking about his hands touching me ... blegh!” Lisa added.

“Count me out, too.” Karen stated. “Let somebody else do it.”

“I’m out, too!” Tina, the newest initiate, announced.

From there, it was like a cascade effect: Seven girls agreed on something: When Paul’s turn to join came, none of them - including his sister - would have sex with him.

When the older ladies of the circle heard about this, they convened an urgent meeting to discuss the problem.

“Well ... they have the right to say no,” started Karen’s mom, Kate.

“Yes, but he’s family and he has the right to be a part of the circle!” Martha answered defensively.

“Nobody denies that, but just imagine ... he comes to the next meeting and nobody wants to have sex with him!” chimed Bridget, Martha’s younger sister and Lisa’s mother. “Can you imagine the humiliation?” she asked, a gesture of concern on her face. None of them dared to answer.

“So, what can we do?” Martha asked, at last.

After a heated discussion, they decided to spare Paul the humiliation by excluding him from the circle. Using “the chance for a normal life” as a pretext, they expected him to be hurt, but that was better than knowing nobody wanted him sexually. It was not a perfect solution, but it would have to do.

But it hadn’t.

A couple of days after Paul’s disappearance, another meeting took place between Martha’s older brother, John, his wife, Bridget, Martha’s younger sister, Kate, and Martha herself.

“So, you tried to spare him the pain ... and messed up,” sighed John. The other three nodded in shame.

“It’s not fair,” Martha complained. “I ... we had no idea of how shitty his school life was. The same for his life at home. I thought it was just normal family rivalry, not that he was being ignored by his siblings.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” John asked.

“What?” Martha’s voice conveyed confusion.

“You said ‘we’. Who are you talking about?”

“Well, I meant Mike, Emily and myself.”

“I can certainly affirm that those two did know about it,” John stated. The question would be, “why didn’t you?” his voice now did have an accusatory tone.

“I...” Martha tried to articulate an answer. “I mean, Paul never said anything about school, he should have said something if there was a problem.”

John shook his head. “Wrong. The very fact of never talking about school should have been a huge red flag. I’m sorry to say that he was not only ignored by his siblings ... but also by you.”

“Are you saying it’s my fault that Paul left?” Martha countered, indignantly.

“I’m not saying nothing of that sort,” John placated her. “I’m saying that you, and I mean all of you -he looked around, the other women flinching upon his gaze- didn’t think of getting all the information you needed before making such a life-changing decision for him.”

“Any idea of where he is now?” Bridget asked, changing the subject. She was worried about her nephew, but at the same time she didn’t want John to continue that line of thought. Something told her that they had royally fucked up.

“None. When he left, he took all his money. His phone number is disconnected, I assume he has a new number now. He’s not answering my emails either. My poor son, he could be anywhere...”