Chapter 4
I think now would be a good time for me to wet my pants. "Uh…dad…"
"Mr. McCormick, it's not what you think." Stan steps in.
"Okay good because it looked like you had your tongue jammed down my son's throat." Dad slowly walks towards us. He glares at Stan. "I think it's time you went home."
"You know, I was thinking the same thing." Stan grabs his coat. "Call me if you need anything." He whispers in my ear. I nod as he walks out.
I look at dad who's now standing over me glaring. Then he slaps me across the face. I put my hand on my face where he hit me. "What the FUCK were you thinking? HUH?"
"Dad, Stan and I…we…like each other." He punches me in the face.
"What the fuck are you talking about? You're not gay!"
"Yes dad…I am." He hits me again.
"What the hell is the matter with you? I know I raised you better than that."
"Dad, I can't help who I like."
"You can and you will!" He stares at me for a second. "Open your mouth."
Oh no, not again. "Dad, please…" He grabs me and forces my mouth open. He examines for a minute then slaps me again. "OW!" I cry out in pain.
"You chipped your fucking tooth!" Oh yeah, with all that was going on it completely slipped my mind. "You know damn well we can't afford to get that fixed!"
"Dad, I'm sorry. It was an accident."
"Accident my ass! I should even up your other tooth!" He holds his fist up. I quickly duck. He puts his fist down and heads towards the door. "I can't deal with this right now. I need another drink." He walks out. I quickly call Stan.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me."
"What happened? Are you okay? Your dad looked pretty pissed off."
"He is. I told him I was gay."
"How did he take it?"
"He left to get a drink. I have no idea what he's going to say when he gets back."
"That's might be a good thing. He may need time to calm down."
Oh Stan if you only knew. "Yeah, that's it. He also wasn't happy when he saw my tooth."
"But that wasn't your fault."
"That doesn't matter to him, all that matters to him is that we can't afford to get it fixed."
"Aw man, tough break. I'm sorry you have to go through that."
"Thanks, but I'm used to that. Well I better go. I'm going to try to take a nap."
"Okay baby. Tell Katie I'm sorry I couldn't stay for dinner."
"Don't worry about that, she'll understand."
"Well you go on and take your nap. I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Thanks, see you then." We hang up. I wrapped my blanket around me and fall right to sleep.
Sometime later, I feel something freezing cold on me. I quickly sit up and see dad standing by my bed with a bucket. He just dumped ice water on me. "What is it?"
"I've been calling your ass for the past 5 minutes! Dinner is ready, get your ass to the table!" He grabs me by the ear and drags me out of bed. He shoves me out the door. I head to the kitchen and see that mom, Kevin, and Katie are already at the table. "Sit down boy. We're going to have a nice family dinner for once." I do what he says. It looks as if Katie has already fixed my plate. Everything looks and smells good. She made fried pork chops, rice, vegetables, and muffins. But I don't really have much of an appetite. I start to pick at my food.
"You better eat that shit boy!" Dad barks at me.
"I'm not really hungry…"
He stands up beside me. "Your sister went through a lot of trouble to prepare this meal so goddamnit you're going to eat it!"
I look at my sister. "Katie, I'm really sorry. I'm just not hungry."
"It's okay sweetie, I'll just pack it up for you to take for lunch tomorrow." She smiles.
"No it's NOT okay!" Dad shouts. "We're having a family dinner! You're part of this family, right?" he asks me.
"Y-yes sir."
"Then you're going to sit here and eat with us!"
"I'm really not hungry."
"I don't give a shit! You're going to fucking eat this food!" With that he grabs my head and shoves my face down into the plate. "Are you hungry now?"
I pick my head up. "N-no, I'm still not hungry. Please dad, may I be excused?" He punches me the back of my head.
"NO! What the fuck did I say?" He shoves my face down into the plate again. "HUH? What did I say?" He starts rubbing my face in the plate. "I told your ass you were going to eat!" He starts hitting me again. Kevin gets up from his seat and pulls dad away from me.
"Dad, that's enough. He doesn't have to eat if he's not hungry."
"The hell he doesn't." Dad advances towards me, but Kevin pins him up against the wall. Dad is pretty strong, but Kevin is definitely stronger. He can bench press 300 pounds! He's even got a few inches over dad, Kevin's about 6'3 while dad is only 5'11. "Get off me Kevin!" Dad yells as he struggles to break free.
"You need to calm down first." Kevin may be big and strong, but he wouldn't harm a fly…unless he had to. "You're being unreasonable right now."
"Your brother is the one being unreasonable! It's hard for us to get a good meal and now that we have one he refuses to eat, the ungrateful little bastard!"
"Dad, I'm just not hungry okay?" My voice starts to crack. Come on Kenny, now isn't the time to break down, I tell myself.
Dad manages to break free from Kevin. "SHUT UP!" He smacks me in the back of my head again. "You're always giving this family problems! Your constant dying! Do you know how much it costs for a fucking funeral? You went and chipped your fucking tooth! I hope you know you're never getting that fixed! Now you're a fucking faggot!" Mom's jaw drops. "That's right dear, I caught him making out with that Stan Marsh kid. He admitted it to me." He focuses his attention back to me. "Now you're bitching about not wanting to eat! Do you have any idea how hard your sister had to work to get this food?" I shake my head. Now I'm crying, physical abuse is one thing, but emotional abuse hurts a lot more. "Of course you don't and you don't give a shit either. Why couldn't you just stay dead? Hell, I wish you were never even born."
I can't take it anymore. I get up from the table and try to walk out. Dad grabs my arm and squeezes it as tight as he can. "D-dad, y-you're hurting me."
"Good, maybe now you'll know how we feel so just shut up and take it. What the hell did I tell you about that crying shit?" He punches me in the stomach.
"I don't mean to dad, but you're saying some hurtful things." I cry even harder.
"Dad, come on, you've done enough damage for one night." Katie steps in.
"You should be thanking me Katie, I'm doing this in your defense. Look how he disrespected you tonight."
"He didn't disrespect me. I told you he can take it for lunch tomorrow. It's not a big deal." She looks at mom. "Mom, why don't you say something? Your son is being tormented, don't you care?"
"I-I…I don't want to get involved." She looks down.
"God, you're pathetic." She rolls her eyes and turns back to dad. "You have to stop this dad. You're being a bully."
"I'm not being a bully."
"Yes you are. You're hitting me, throwing his face in his food, telling him you wish he would stay dead. You wish he was never born. What kind of monster are you?" She walks over to us and pulls me away from dad. She gives me a hug and kisses me on the forehead. "You can go on to your room. I'll put some food away for you." I nod.
"See that's the problem right there!" He grabs my plate and throws it at me, but luckily I duck before it can hit me. "You and Kevin are constantly babying him, that's why he's such a pansy ass now!"
"We're just trying to protect him, that's all." She looks at me. "Sweetie, go on to your room." I nod again and head to my room and close the door. I hug my pillow and continue crying. I can hear dad, Katie, and Kevin arguing. Maybe dad is right, maybe my family would be better off if I wasn't around…
To be continued…