Chapter 3
There was a knock at Juliet's door at about 9:30 am. Juliet jumped, startled, from where she was on her couch. The knock came again, louder. "Juliet?" Nick called. Juliet knew it was just her brother, but she couldn't help being scared. She heard a key turning in the lock, and she cowered back behind the blanket. The door opened. "Juliet?"
Juliet got up off the couch and ran to his arms. He dropped his bags to hold her tightly. She started shaking in his arms and made a wet spot on his shoulder with her tears.
"Hey hey, don't cry, shhh." He whispered, gently stroking her hair. "Thank you so much for coming." Juliet mumbled into his shoulder. "Of course, of course. Juliet, tell me what happened. What did they do?" Juliet started sobbing harder.
"What did they do to you." Nick whispered more as a statement than a question. "They did-he tried-he said he was going to make me straight." Juliet almost collapsed, and Nick had to hold her up. "Oh my god, Juliet, they didn't!" Nick said, finally getting it. He pulled her closer as her crying became gasping sobs, shaking her entire body.
"Sh sh sh, I'm right here, they're not coming back, I promise, I won't let them, I've got you." He tried to calm her, rubbing her back up and down. Her sobs grew weaker and eventually just became shuddering sighs.
Nick walked her over to the couch and went to pick up his stuff and close the door. "Jeez, it's pitch black in here, let me turn on some lights." Nick flipped a few switches. He carried his duffel into the makeshift spare bedroom, and came back in with a plastic bag.
"I stopped at the store on the way over." He held up the bag and began removing its contents. "M&M's, Sweedish Fish, Panda Paws ice cream," He carried the ice cream to the freezer. He smiled before removing the last two objects. "Scooby Doo coloring book and crayons?" He offered. She sniffled and smiled back at him. "How do you know me so well?" she asked. "I grew up with you, duh. Oh! One more thing." He ran back to the spare bedroom and rummaged around in his suitcase before coming back out with a DVD behind his back.
"Guess." He said.
She pretended to think, but she already knew what it was. "Roadhouse?"
"No. That would have been good though."
"Midway?"
"Absolutely no. That was the worst movie ever. No."
Juliet tried to think of and even worse movie. "Albino Farm? No! Piñata: Survival Island."
"Okay, I changed my mind, those were the worst movies ever." He squinted at her. "You know what it is." He said.
"It's Lion King isn't it?"
"Yes, but first, tell me something." His voice lowered. "What else did they do to you? Are you injured?"
Juliet slumped down and looked down at her lap. She carefully lifted up the lower half of her shirt, revealing at least 20 circular burns scattered on top of deep purple bruising. "Oh my god." He whispered. His hands curled into fists and she put her shirt back down quickly.
"I'm going to kill these assholes!" Nick said harshly, scaring Juliet. "Nick, please, let's not talk about this right now. Can we just watch the movie?" Nick dropped the topic for now. He flipped on the TV, and the news was on.
"Anti-gay bullying leads to another youth suicide yesterday. 16-year-old Brandon Elizares-"
"Change it!" Juliet cried. Nick fumbled with the remote and quickly changed the source.
FLASHBACK
Juliet tried to run out of the Family Room, but her mother grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head to face where her father was removing Eric's shirt, getting ready to beat him. Her mother held Nick by his hair in her other hand, and her other brother, Justin, sat in the corner, not daring to move. The neighbor had caught Eric making out with another boy behind the playground, and he told Mr. O'Hara. Eric now lay across the arm of the chair, and her father was removing his belt. The sounds of leather smacking flesh almost echoed in the room, along with Eric's soft whimpers. Juliet would remember this specific beating because of what she did next.
She twisted free of her mother's grasp, and ran between Eric and her father. "Stop it!" She yelled. She barely saw the slap coming before it knocked her dizzy. "Juliet, NO!" Eric cried, not wanting her to get involved. "Do you know what I think, Juliet? I think you should hit the faggot." Her father said. Juliet tried to turn around, but her father grabbed her by the hair and the same with Eric, and he made them face each other. "Hit him!" Her father screamed in her ear. He removed his hand from her hair for a second to hit her in the back of the head with the side of his fist. "DO IT!" Eric had tears in his eyes, but all of the O'Hara children knew better than to cry. Her father grabbed her wrist and yanked it so hard that she fell, twisting her wrist. She howled in pain. He slapped her hand across Eric's face, leaving a red mark. He took his hand away from hers for a second, still holding her hair, and wrapped his free hand around Eric's neck. "Say you want to die, faggot. Say it!" Eric gurgled something. "Louder! Tell me!" "I-I want to die." Eric sobbed. "That's right! And where are you going to go when you die?" "hell." "What did you say!" "I SAID I'M GOING TO HELL!" Juliet spun to her father "FUCK YOU!" She screamed.
She hit the wall so fast that it took her a few seconds to process what happened. This was one of the times when she had to use that curled-up position to protect herself. By the end of her share of the beating, every movement and breath sent a shock of pain through her body. Justin and Nick were sent to their rooms, and Juliet and Eric slept in the family room, holding each other in fear. Not even two weeks later, he killed himself.
~/~
Zazu's obnoxious voice brought her back to reality. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?" he squawked at Scar. Nick laughed next to her, even though they both knew every single line.
"Hey, you okay? You look pale. Nick said, brushing his fingers over the bandage on her arm, and then the bruise on her face. "I'm fine-I-" She started crying again. "I miss Eric." She mumbled. Nick rubbed her back gently. "I know." He said. "Me too." "Why is he gone?" She cried, all her memories of him flooded her brain.
He would always find the weirdest songs and sing them all day. On her first day of middle school, she got lost and he took her by the hand and ran her to her class, which turned out to be the wrong class anyways. For his 15th birthday, she got him a Freddie Mercury shirt, he loved it so much he wore it almost every day. Remember that? She asked him in her mind You know, the shirt you were buried in?
"It was selfish of him to leave us here." Nick said. They had had this conversation many times. "No it wasn't." She replied. "It was selfish of us to expect him to keep living while he was suffering, just so we could see his face every day." Nick hated it when she said that. It wasn't true. "What he did was selfish, Juliet." "No it wasn't! He was suffering, he was desperate! He saw no other way out!" "But there was another way out! There were plenty of ways out! He just needed to see that." "We weren't enough for him. We didn't give him the support that he needed, Nick, we needed to be there for him and we weren't!"
"Yeah? What about the time you stood up to Dad and took a beating for him? What about all those nights he cried himself to sleep in your bedroom because he had nightmares in our room? Remember that? You gave everything for him, and if that wasn't enough, nothing would have been. There's nothing you could have done-"
"Shut up!" Juliet yelled. She collapsed back onto the couch. "You're right." She mumbled. He always won these arguments.
The TV interrupted them. "Don't you turn your back on me, Scar!" "Me? Turn my back on you? I wouldn't darreee." Scar dragged out the last word.
Juliet looked at Nick. "We used to talk about running away."
"I know. So did Justin and I."
"No, we were really serious. Sometimes he couldn't even sleep without that one song I would always sing to him about running away. The words made us think that maybe someday, we actually could run away, and things would be better."
We'll sneak out, while they sleep, and sail off in the night
"Where would you go?"
"Anywhere, really. Someplace with a beach and the sun shining all day."
We'll come clean, and start over, the rest of our lives
Juliet gave a small laugh at the impossibility of that. "We'd never look back on that shitty life."
When we're gone, we'll stay gone
"They wouldn't have a hard time forgetting about us."
Out of sight, out of mind
"Of course, we never went through with it. I guess we always thought we had more time."
It's not too late, we have the rest of our lives
Nick gave her a tight hug. "It's over, Jules."
No it's not Juliet thought, remembering how often she had flashbacks.
They finished watching the movie then ate ice cream. While Nick was rinsing the dishes, Juliet's phone rang.
INCOMING CALL: SHAWN SPENCER
ACCEPT REJECT
Juliet hovered her finger over REJECT, but pressed ACCEPT. "Hello?"
"Jules, hey!"
"Hi Shawn."
"Where have you been? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. You?" she lied
"Man, I'm doing great" Shawn lied too. "Listen, we have a new case that I thought you might want in on. It's a hate crime, with two assailants. A girl was beaten and-"
"I know." Juliet cut him off, not wanting to hear any more. Bad choice.
"…How do you know? You haven't been here…Jules…wait. Jules?"
She didn't answer
"Juiet! Oh god, it wasn't you, was it?" Shawn repeated his same sentence backwards. "It was you, wasn't it? Aw Jules, I'm coming over right now."
"Shawn, don't. I'll be back at the station tomorrow to help with the case." She said, not admitting to anything, feeling ashamed.
Shawn dropped the subject. Smart move. "O-okay Jules. I'll see you tomorrow. Take care."
Juliet hung up. Going back to the station tomorrow? Am I up for that? What did I get myself inot?