Three Days Before The Meltdown...
"How dare you!?", Darren was pretty much beyond angry at this point. First it was the annoying reports of his son having problems with his classmates, the blatant disrespect towards his teachers and other staff, his unusual attitude problems that seemingly only manifested in school and never at home.
He didn't know when he raised his hand, nor did he realize that he'd let his hand fly and connect itself with the boy's face.
He barely hid the flinch when the boy's eyes went wide and teary as he looked up at the older man. Richard's mouth kept opening and closing, like he wanted to say something and nothing all at once.
"I-i-I didn't... I didn't. I didn't do anything", he was crying now, voice hitching as he back sobs.
It was just one of those unlucky days when his father came home earlier than his mother and his father, being a no-nonsense man, was often quick to discipline, even giving a punishment or two when he saw fit.
Darren, Rix's father, turned his back to Rix, trying to keep his guilt out so he could discipline the boy.
It was bad enough that the boy was gay but to have a report sent to him via email and fax that his son, his gay son, had assaulted a male student was the last straw. A simple grounding wouldn't suffice.
"I never thought you'd do something so disgusting, Rix", he turned to face the boy again, features hardened and guilt pushed far behind his heart, to the very back of his mind.
"No, dad, I'd never do something like that. Please believe me", Rix is dropping to his knees, grabbing at his father's legs as he cried and sniffled.
"Not only are you a disgusting fag, you're now a damned rapist too! Why in the world would you assault a classmate?!", the man yelled, wrenching his leg forcefully from the boys grip causing Rix to fall flat on his face. He was bleeding through his nose.
"So all the statistics are right. No wonder you barely talk at home, you were probably scared to come out to us and rather than summon courage to talk to your family, you go ahead and do the unthinkable", Darren wasn't even sure if his analysis but the desperation for something, anything, to believe overwrote his judgement, as well as his conscience.
He'd simply send the boy to rehab.
"But I'm not even gay", Rix sobbed, wiping the blood that dripped down to his mouth and wiping his hand on his shirt. The blood was strange on a healthy boy though, but thar wasn't what was important this time.
"They're lying. I can never do that. I wouldn't. EVER!", he screamed, no, begged and Darren nearly faltered as he watched the boy cry. He wanted to play the hard man, let the boy cry a bit, then comfort him little, maybe ground him for a week. He had still been thinking when the Rix stopped sobbing and his expression became dark, his eyes distant, like his mind had gone down a turn. He looked lost in thought.
"You can't even stand by your own child", now Darren physically flinches at the amount of coldness in his son's voice as the words were uttered.
"You're just as bad as all of them. Taking the words of outsiders over that of your own flesh and blood. I can't even begin to explain how much pain I'm going through right now because of all this", his monotone voice was exactly what Darren was used to. That voice that was near uncaring whenever he came down for dinner and was asked a question. That shallow voice that gave one word answers where necessary to speak and was rarely present when he was speaking with or about Danielle.
"What do you-", Rix cut his father short.
"Joining in on hopeless hypocrites to make me nothing but a monster to vent out all your frustrations and bask in the satisfaction of having a silent human punching bag, a mere sack of flesh that will silently swallow up your rants and do nothing about it. Good night, Mr Darren", Rix is getting back on his feet and walking towards the stairs before his father fully grasps the boy's sentence and the boy is already halfway up the stairs before Darren is moving to react. He gives it up, deciding to act later, possibly after his wife is back.
-
"I will not have a disgusting faggot in my house!", Rix's father bellowed right at the dinner table when the silence got too much for him and Rix's mother's eye twitched at the words. There's no way her husband could be so narrow minded and archaic as to bluntly ignore the changing times and still be so unwelcoming towards their son's supposed sexual orientation and what's more, he was doing so without even asking the boy if that was really his preference.
It was like shooting one's self in the foot, claiming to be accepting of any and every sexual orientation but still calling your son out and getting angry over discovering, or in this case, hearing, that your own son was homosexual, or, to put simply, liked boys.
"Take it easy, darling", she tried, even when she was on the verge of exploding, herself, getting up and going over to her husband's side of the table to place a hand on his shoulder in a bid to reach him, to try to calm the angry man down.
"Don't tell me to calm down, MaryAnne!", that was the last straw. A name he hadn't called her in years and it hurt a lot more than she had ever thought it would.
The man huffed out a sigh, a hand coming up to pull at short dark strands, trying to calm himself down even as his rage rolled off him in waves.
"That's enough, Darren!", her breath came out in short pants, she was just as worked up as her husband, but her anger was at the man himself, not their son.
"At least let the boy speak up for himself, we have to hear him out. He's never shown any signs of liking boys and even if he did, he'd definitely tell us", she lowered her voice as she spoke this time, still trying to keep up her role as the quiet whisper calming the raging storm, complimenting the raging storm that was my father's anger with her own soothing calm.
But my nosy neighbors had probably heard her yell and would proceed to subtly open their windows now, rather than just pulling the blinds and curtains. It had to be something juicy, juicy enough for the next round of town gossip, and juicy enough that it would last them for a little while.
"Then what? You think he's some sweet angel just because you're vouching for him, huh?", Darren narrowed his brown eyes at her, almost like he was daring her to take the boy's side but she stared him down, mirroring the look of annoyance he had on his face.
" Yes. He is my angel until proven otherwise, Darren", the woman is still trying to stay calm but she nearly falters when she turns to face Rix and his expression is blank but there's tears running down his face.
"I'll go to rehab and you can disown me if I don't meet your standards after high school. My mother shouldn't have to worry too much and the old man can rest easy because I won't dirty his name any more than I already have", it was like it wasn't Rix talking, like someone else was using their son's voice and image to talk to them and MaryAnne is bringing a hand to her mouth so muffle a sob, Danielle was confused but she was gripping her mother's free hand and squeezing the larger fingers to calm the sobbing woman.
"How dare you?!", Darren is raising a hand and Rix his turning his cheek in preparation, to recieve the blow and MaryAnne is crying now, falling to her knees.
Darren is stunned, he had expected the boy to flinch and shrink away, not be fully ready to take a hit.
"During the summer break. We'll take you to a doctor after your exams so you can go back to school, alright?", Darren dismisses Rix in favor of kneeling beside the crying woman.
"Good night, Dani. Goodnight, Mr and Mrs Godson", Rix is up the stairs, slower than he usually moved and Danielle joins her mother in tears when Rix's door is shut and the lock clicks.
Darren is even more confused.