Hey friends!
Thanks for all your support during my four years as a writer on Nifty. This is my family I never had, you guys, who write and support me on doing what I love, which is writing and creating pleasure for others.
Also, please be so kind as to make a donation to keep this wonderful archive going. Here is the link, if you wish to do so.
http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html
If you have TWITTER...please follow me on @LiciousRyan Of course you're also welcome to mail me on whiteryan65@gmail.com I always make sure I answer ALL my emails...no matter how weird some are!
Hugz, Ryan
THE SECRET OF MIKEY & JASON
"Where the hell have you been? I've like waited here since...Ioanna...no! What the fuck happened, who did this?"
"I'm not going back, Mikey. Never, ever again! I'm tired of these people's shit and everything Dad gets told from Principal Powell that there's nothing that he can do. I'm sorry, Mikey, but I'm being real here. I aint setting foot back in that hell hole!"
"Come on here." Mikey took out a piece of tissue that his Dad always placed so secretively inside his trousers each morning. He carefully placed the white tissue on the bleeding part of Ioanna's face and waited for her to calm down.
"Ioanna, you can't seriously be thinking of quitting school, I mean..."
"Mikey, everything and anything will be better than facing this day in, and day out. Dad's just have to find me some school in which I can graduate online or be homeschooled. I've had enough!"
Mikey watched his twin sister smack away his hand and the tissue fell downwards and right onto the sandy pavement. It would be useless now. Mikey shook his head and walked quickly to catch up with his sister when he felt a terrible pain on the back of his head. It was immediately followed up by a cheer of oncoming jock laughter towards him. Mikey turned around and look downwards at the overripe tomato that was thrown at him. He could also feel the stricky red residue of the tomato being slippery making it way down to his clothes.
"Going home now, Fag? Don't worry, we'll be waiting for you and our girls for that overweight Bambi sister of yours! Keep them coming, Bitch!" Renier Heydenrich...his father was the Head of the School's Governing Body. Need I say more? There was absoutely nothing anyone could do because at the end of the day, Mr Heydenrich always comes up for excuses to keep his precious son and his son's girlfriend out of trouble.
"Yeah, don't beat your baby sized dick too much thinking of Renier overhere!" Jason Steel shouted, however he got a clobbering from Renier for that. Mikey decided to ignore them and got into his car and drove off to their modest house. The Anderson family didn't have much, but they had eachother, their Dad always said. Poor, but honest. Average, but decent.
Their father was making lunch for his twins as he knew that they would be coming home anytime soon. It was a very simple meal...two pieces of toast, a boiled egg for each, along with a glass of milk. He himself had grabbed a donut for breakfast at work so that would have to keep until dinner was served. He couldn't think of himself right now.
"Mikey? Ioanna? That you guys?" he yelled as he heard the front door open and close. Ioanna ran straight upstairts to her room and the door nearly shooked off its hinges at the force with what she did. Mr Anderson turned his attention to Mikey.
"Come on, Mikey...please Son, not again? Geez what the hell do I need to do to convince that fucking excuse of a Principal Powell to react for a change? Do THEY have kids who come home every day in tears over who they've been treated at school? HUH? DO THEY?" he shouted and slammed his fist on the table.
Mikey remained quiet before he sat on the chair beside his father.
"Dad...that's just the way things are. I didn't ask or choose to be gay. Ioanna didn't ask or choose to be overweight either. Its just after mom's death...everything went a little rough on us, especially Ioanna. She was very close to Mom. If Mom was still alive, then we would never even had to move here," he finished with tears in his eyes.
"Son...I wish sometimes that I was gay. I'm serious. Because then I could help you, figure out what you're going through. I've accepted that you are attracted to boys, Mikey and I've told you that I still love you as I did the day the doctor placed you in your mom's arms in hospital. Same goes for Ioanna. I should have never allowed you into that snob school to begin with."
"Dad, the trouble is that its not very gay friendly. Like me, when you're sixteen the other boys and the jocks, they wanna see you with a girl on your arm walking around in school and if you're not doing that, all kinda stuff is going around and being spread about you. For Ioanna its just as bad. She doesn't have any friends, because who would wanna be friends with "the fat chick"? And for me being gay and for Ioanna being overweight, they target us. And the teachers see and hear all these things and they do jack shit about it."
Mr Anderson stood up and wiped his hand over his face. He was clearly thinking. His face was etched in concentration.
"Well Mikey, it cannot go on like this. I love the two of you too much to allow that. Will you find out for me about those online schools...those home schools that Ioanna talked about the other night?"
Mikey's eyes widened.
"But that Dad, when she asked you about it, you said it was too costly!"
"I know, Mikey, you just find out how much it will cost, okay?"
Mikey grabbed his plate of food, followed by his sister's, nodded to his dad and jogged up the stairs to take Ioanna her dinner. She was laying on her bed and she had clearly been crying. Mikey gently placed the food on her desk and walked over to his twin sister.
"Hey...its gonna get better, you'll see!"
"NO...! NO...it won't, Mikey! And you KNOW that! Not unless you turn straight and I can fit into a size 20, will they stop with this!"
"Dad asked me to find him out the prices of the home schooled courses you mentioned the other night," Mikey said, grabbing his piece of toast.
"Oh my gosh...really? Just now?" Mikey nodded. "Oh please I hope he can afford it. It will solve so many problems. Do you know who it feels changing infront of those bitches in Phys Ed?"
"Do you know how it feels changing infront of homophones in Phys Ed? Last week I was thrown out of the lockerroom on my ass because "I stared too much at Jason Steel's cock!" Or something like that."
"Hehehe, sorry that's kinda funny...and so? Did you?" Ioanna asked with a glint in her eye, after wiping off the most streaks of tears.
"I HATE to admit it but...fuck Ioanna, why couldn't Jason Steel look like the fucking douchebag that he is? I dunno how anyone that so mean and goes through life messing mine up be so damn..."
"So damn...?"
"So damn...beautiful! I can't help how I feel, Sis. I have feelings for the most worse fucking person I could EVER have chosen to develop for!"
"Aw fuck...you're in love with Jason after he made you're life hell? His girlfriend Zoe actually brought a cake to school the other day and placed it right infront of me on my desk, when Mr Frank was out of the class ofcourse. She told everyone who would listen that I could finish it in two minutes flat."
"Wait a sec, you never told me about this?" Mikey asked, confused.
"It was the day you had to stay home after Jason and Renier broke your arm...I took the cake and I slammed it on her face with all my might. She was FUMING!! It was then that her army of skanks started to hit me with their rulers and shit...and that's why..."
"?why you got detention that week! You told me it was because you're Maths assignment wasn't done!" Mikey said, clearly hurt that Ioanna would hide something like this from him.
"What does it matter anyway? Zoe innocently told Prinicpal Power that she simply baked me a cake because she wanted to be my friend and OFCOURSE every girl in class backed her up. No one believed my story."
Mikey leaned forward and took the sobbing Ioanna into his arms. The twins sat like that for a good few minutes, praying that this would end sooner rather than later.
Mr Anderson waited for this kids to come home the next week's Monday and when they did, he closed his eyes and prayed for guidance. Ioanna had custard dripping from her forehead and down her school uniform while Mikey had a bruised eye and a busted lip.
"Help yourself, guys. There's chicken noodle soup that I brought from the store. Ioanna, warm it up quickly. I'll be right back."
The twins did as they were told, while Mikey reached for the freezer to get some ice to put on his bruises. Ioanna took her time in trying not to get anymore custard on her uniform.
"What's that thing hanging there?" Mikey asked as he spotted something that was still covered with custard. He carefully wiped off the yellow substance with a piece of tissue. Ioanna's eyes started to water yet again. The ink was a bit blotched but they could clearly make out what was written on the sticker that was stuck to her back: "ZOE'S BITCH"
Ioanna sunk down into her chair and softly began to cry. How many people had to have seen that on her back even before Zoe and her gang poured the custard over her after school? Their dad finally made his way into the kitchen and saw his daughter crying her heart out. One look at the sticker and his chest was heaving even forcefully more up and down than it already was.
"I've just phoned that excuse of a school and informed them that neither of you will be attending there again. Not whilst I'm alive will you EVER set foot inside those walls again. That was the good news...now for the bad news...I've looked at my finances. At the moment, I can only afford to have ONE of you be homeschooled. I'm sorry, but you guys know I'm a single parent and we're struggling as it is. The amount that these schools are asking for ONE student is higher than the amount I paid for BOTH of you until now. I hate to give you this choice, but there is no other way. One of you can be home schooled. The other would have to go and find themselves some kind of job until they have enough to pay for their own school fees. If I could rob a bank for you guys, I would. Mikey...Ioanna...I'm so, so sorry..."
The twins watched their father make his way out of the kitchen, with his head in his hands. Immediately Mikey knew what to do.
"I'll go look for work, Ioanna. I'm sixteen anyway so maybe I can get a job as a waiter or cleaner."
"Are you sure? I can always ask at Mugg & Bean if they need another waitress or I'll ask Mom's friend, Aunt Ida is she can put a good word in for me at Milady's..."
"No, Sis. I'll go and try and find a job. It will all be okay, you'll see, right?" The two siblings embraced and Mikey could feel Ioanna shaking as he once more started to cry. He was determinted to find a job and help his father provide for them more than ever.
Three weeks had past from that particular day. To say that their whole lives was turned upside down was an understatement. Ioanna changed overnight from a shy, overweight insecure teenager into almost the absolute opposite! Since she didn't need to deal with the daily torture of the female bullies at school anymore, learning had become a joy for her, and Mr Anderson was glad that it could help at least one of his kids.
Mikey however found a job looking after children in the local Spur Steak Ranch (Note this story is playing off in South Africa) where he was paid R50 for each shift. In the day time, he was lucky enough to find a cashier's job at the local Debonairs Pizza a few miles away from the Spur. They paid him R1000 per month since he had no previous training or experience, but every sent helped. With Mikey now also bringing in money, things were good inside the Anderson household...until one faithful day...
Mikey knew that it was going to happen some or other time. But his heart still almost stopped beating when he saw Jason and Renier enter the Debonairs pizza palour late one Friday night.
"Shit, dude! You didn't tell me they have fags working behind the counter here?" Renier yelled at the top of his voice, making sure everyone in the restaurant could hear him. Mikey took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"What can I get you guys?"
"Well I suppose we have to talk to the fag if we want our food, bro," Jason said, which felt like a butterknife slicing through Mikey's heart. Why did he fall in love with Jason? Fuck knows. Both Renier and Jason ordered the Cram Crust Chicken Grill Pizza to share and two Mineral Water's to go with that. Mikey found it a little weird that they would order Mineral water, but kept his thoughts to himself, and punched the order in, to which they paid. After a few minutes where they continued to harass Mikey with homophobic chants and insults, their pizza and drinks were ready. Mikey turned away, glad to be rid of them, when he heard Jason's voice screaming:
"What the hell, man? Did you seriously ring us up for two Mineral Waters? Are you trying to turn us into a faggot like you?"
"What the...you fucking ordered that!" Mikey screamed back in his defence.
"Do I look like the type of dude who drinks this shit?" Jason said and took out the bottle of water, opened it and threw it against Mikey's chest.
"HEY! What the hell is going on in here?" Victor Ambrosio, the manager of the store asked as he entered to shop to help Mikey cash up like he normally did on a Friday night. Before Mikey had the chance to speak..."
"Sir, are you the manager?" Renier asked eagerly.
"Yes, I am, is there a problem?"
"Well, we ordered two Cokes to go with our pizza and that dude behind the counter gave us two Mineral Water bottles! Does it look like we drink THIS? And now our pizza is getting cold because he's been arguing about that!"
"Sir, really I..." Mikey started to protest but he was given no chance.
"Mikey, give them a R100 from the till. NOW."
Mikey, his fingers trembling carefully took out the R100, which he knew would be coming off his wages later in the month and handed it over to Jason, who could stop smiling.
"Thank you, Sir. I don't think that my father, who is the Head of the School's Govering body, would have been too happy to hear about this..." Renier said before winking at Mikey as they both left.
"Mr Ambrosio..."
"I don't wanna hear any excuses, you're fired!"
"FIRED? Why? I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Then why have I been getting phonecalls all day from customers complaining that YOU have been giving them bad service? And now this?"
"What the fuck...I'm sorry, Sir, but that is BULLSHIT! I always treat customers with respect..."
"I'm sure you do, and that's why I got all these complaints? YOU'RE FIRED!"
Mikey was walking home later than evening after receiving his final paycheck from Mr Ambrosio. He was only paid R334 instead of the usual R1000 he got each month. He had been saving wisely though, he still have R500 from his first month's wages. He would just have to find another job somewhere. He couldn't figure out where these telephonic complaints had come from. He always made sure he treated each customer friendly and gave them fast service.
"Haha the little fag was FIRED!!"
Mikey quickly turned around and saw Renier and his girlfriend Zoe, Jason and the latter's girlfriend Rianza coming ever so closer to him.
"Guys please, I don't want any trouble, okay? I just wanna be left alone, please!"
The backhand shot which caught him offguard nearly made him lose his balance, but he managed to stay up and look into the eyes of a vicious looking Zoe.
"How DARE you...how DARE you open that homosexual mouth of yours to US? There, get his money!"
Rianza and Renier quickly grabbed what had fallen on the ground when Mikey had lost his balance. Mikey knew he had no chance. Rianza and Renier were behind him and Zoe and Jason were infront of him.
"What now?" Mikey asked, totally defeated, his hands hanging lose by his sides. It was Renier who spoke first:
"Do you know why we tortured you and that fat sister of yours everyday at school, dude? Do you know why me and Jason fucked you over with our drinks order earlier? Do you know why myself, Jason, Zoe and Rianza all phoned Debonairs and complained about the weak service we got from MIKEY?"
"It was YOU?" Mikey whispered, his anger growing by the minute.
"Hell yeah, it was us! And do you know why...because we HATE people like YOU. That's the problem with you people. You look like us, you talk like us...but you will never be anything like us! You gay, fudgepacking, faggot whore!"
"What did I EVER do to any of you?" Mikey whispered, tears streaming down his cheeks. What hurt him more was that Jason, the boy he dreamt about every night, the boy he loved with all his heart, chose to answer:
"You chose to be GAY! That's what we condemn! And now you're gonna get it..." he said menacingly. And as Renier, Zoe, Rianza and Jason charged at him, Mikey knew his last day on Earth had finally arrived.
The white colour of the hospital walls was the first thing that Mikey saw when he groggily opened his eyes. He found that he couldn't make any noise, there was something hard and knotty stuck in his throat. Suddenly a swoosh of wind blew onto his warm face as he saw a nurse making her way towards him.
"Goodness! You're awake! I'll call the doctor immediately. Finally the police can take off and stop preventing us from doing our jobs!" she said before she felt the room. Police? Doctors? What the hell was going on? The last thing he remembered was...they were all coming for him...Jason...Mikey's eyes closed and he passed out from sheer tiredness.
When he finally opened his eyes for the second time that day, he felt a presence sitting close to him. He's eyes were struggling to concentrate but he saw enough to know it was Ioanna. But it didn't quite look like Ioanna when she stood up...since when was she skinny...?
"Hey you...how are you feeling? Oh, they've removed your tube, you can speak now."
"Where...where am I?" Mikey asked, his throat very swollen and dry.
"You're in the hospital. You've been here for almost two years now."
"What the...cough Two years? What the fuck happened? Two years?"
Ioanna stood up and walked over to the window. Mikey's face followed her and he saw that she was crying.
"IOANNA!! Would you please tell me what's going on?" Mikey hissed as loud as his scratched voice allowed him to. Jeez, he had a headache from hell! Ioanna finally wiped her tears and looked back at her brother.
"Two years ago...one night...you were fired that evening from Debonairs. Well...nobody knows exactly what happened, Mikey. That's why the police have been here almost daily since it happened. You are the only person who can tell us what really went on!"
"Ioanna, you're not making any sence...please, my head is splitting!" Mikey yet again pleaded.
Ioanna sat down on the chair next to the bed and took her brother's hand in her own.
"The police found three bodies of three teenagers that night dumped in an alley. Renier, Zoe and Rianza. All or them were murdered, stabbed to death. Zoe was infact mutilated to be honest. You and Jason...you were found a couple of miles away with multiple stabwounds. Jason managed to survive the attack, but he has no recollection of anything that happened that night. His memory seemed to block out what went on. That is why we were so ancious for YOU to wake up! We need to know...well the police needs to know..."
"KNOW WHAT?" Mikey whispered loud enough so only Mikey could hear her.
"Mikey...your fingerprints was all over the knife that was found that the scene. Your blood was mixed on their clothes. You told me two years ago that you were in love with Jason...so it makes sence why you would try and get him out of there..."
"Ioanna, I'm not a fucking killer! I'm your twin brother, believe me!"
"I do believe you, Mikey! I do! But this looks very bad for you. If you can just remember what happened that night..."
Three days had gone by since Mikey finally woke up from his coma after nearly two full years. Neither Mr Anderson or Ioanna had ever entertained the thought of switching off the machines. After the accident, Ioanna also dropped her studies and she managed to score a retail job selling cosmetics. All the time that was spent on her working, meant that she started to eat less and less. After two years, Ioanna Anderson was now a size 32 and she felt totally at ease with herself. She even got a promotion at work, from retail seller to Trainee Manager, earning a few extra Rands.
Mikey had searched his brain thoroughly but nothing about that night came to mind. The day he was finally discharged after two years and fourty one days in hospital, he heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was his dad or Ioanna, he quickly opened...it wasn't either of them.
"Jason?"
Words dried up inside Mikey's throat. Jason Steel was even more beautiful than he was two years before when Mikey last saw him. He wore his thick long black hair loose around his head, letting the strands fall down to his shoulders.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" Jason asked, to which Mikey nodded. He forgot that technically, Jason was finished with school and that both of them weren't 16 anymore, but nearly 18.
"I heard you came out of your coma...Mikey...I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry and I know it doesn't mean anything after two years, but I really am."
"Apology accepted, Jason."
Jason walked to the window and looked down to where all the cars were parked, where all the people getting discharged, those were just visiting were either talking or sipping juice, and ofcouse the staff which were going in and out of the hospital. He then turned around and looked to Mikey with a face that melted the latter's heart.
"What...what happened that night, Mikey?" Jason whispered, his voice but a hoarse, unshed tears just waiting to spill over his ruggedly handsome face.
"Jason...I don't know. I've raffled my brain since I woke up from the coma, but I don't know!"
Jason nodded and walked over towards Mikey. He carefully reached out and placed his hand on the latter's shoulder.
"When I woke up after my surgery two years ago, and they told that me and you, were found beaten and bloody together, while...while...the others were in that alley...I couldn't help wondering why," Jason said, getting emotional as he spoke about his murdered friends. He patted Mikey on the back before he left the room.
It didn't matter how many newspaper clips he read, how much he looked it up on the internet, nothing brought back anything what had happened that night in the alley. The last thing that Mikey remember was that Renier, Zoe, Jason and Rianza were cornering him after they gaybashed him. After that...everything was a total blank. There was ofcourse a lot of publicity in this case because of Renier's high profile father. It was him who amazingly funded the bill for Mikey to remain in hospital, which Mikey found strange. Renier's dad knew how much his son had gotten into trouble for beating up and abusing Mikey in school...so why would he...
He finally made up his mind and called Jason on his cell.
"Jay here."
"Jason...its me...Mikey."
"Oh hey man...did you find out anything?"
"No not yet...but I was wondering if you would help me with something this afternoon."
"Depends on what it is."
"I wanna go back to where it happened. In the alley, and where they found me and you that night. Maybe it will trigger our memories."
"I have been back there loads of times and I still haven't remembered anything..."
"Yeah well, I wasn't with you, then! Come on, Jason! Don't you wanna know what went on that night?"
"Ofcourse I do but...okay, give me 10 minutes, I'll meet you there."
Mikey felt a chill as both boys neared the spot where they were found early that morning by patrolling cops. According to the report, Mikey was totally out and nearly at death's door, while all that Jason said to them before he too passed out was: "Behind us." Not nearly enough to go on. But that Mikey's fingerprints was on the murder weapon...
"The alley is not even five minutes by walk from where they found us, dude. We clearly didn't run here, given the injuries we had," Mikey said.
"I remember one of the cops saying you were sliced up pretty bad. It's a miracle that you actually survived," Jason said, rubbing his arms, as if he suddenly gotten the chills.
"You okay, Jay?" Mikey asked.
"Wow...nobody has called me "Jay" since...since Renier was still alive," Jason said, angrily wiping his tears from his face.
"I'm sorry...I really didn't know that name meant such a lot to you," Mikey said, gently placing his hand on Jason's shoulder.
"We used to do everything together, man. We knew eachother even since we were three fucking years old. Then something happens which I don't even fucking remember, I wake up and I'm told my best friend is GONE. It doesn't stop there...I learn my girlfriend is also GONE! You know how that feels, Mikey? It feels like SHIT!" Jason hissed as he sat down on an old crate that was laying about. Mikey slowly walked over to Jason and once more put his arm around him.
"Now wouldn't be the best time to tell you that I was inlove with you two years ago, would it?" he silently said, which immediately elicted a reaction from Jason.
"WHAT?" the older boy whispered, his eyes wide and full of fear.
"Don't ask me how it happened, Jay. I can't answer you. Before you get angry, I NEVER touched you. I never said anything to embarrass you. You didn't even know. I didn't do anything wrong." Mikey said, still holding Jason.
"Even though I was a bastard and did all those things to you, getting you fired and shit...you were in love with me?" Jason asked, more confusion than anger in reality.
"Still am infact. Okay, whatever, we need to solve this. The last thing I remember was the four of you heading towards me. Neither one of you had a knife I could see...? Did one of you have a knife?
Jason took a moment before he answered: "Yeah. I did."
Mikey shuddered.
"But it was NOT your knife found with the other bodies, with my fingerprints on, was it?"
"No, my pocket knife was still in my trousers. Renier didn't own a knife and Zoe and Rianza wouldn't ever touch one of those things."
"You're seeing a partern here, Jay? Five of us were attacked, three of us got killed, two seriously injured, but it wasn't either one of us! Something must have happened! There must have been someone else!"
"Damn...that makes total sence! If only I could fucking REMEMBER! The doctors told me that my mind had blocked out what happened because it must have been too traumatic to remember," Jason hissed.
"They told me the same thing, dude. Somehow we got to get to the bottom of this. Whoever attacked us, is responcible for me losing two years of my life in a hospital bed!"
"And for me losing my best friend and my fucking girlfriend," Jason said before they stood up and walked out of the alley. When they got to Jason's car, Mikey felt an arm on his shoulder.
"Did you really mean what you said? You being in love with me?" Jason asked, his eyes never leaving Mikey's.
"Jason...I wish I wasn't. I wish I could choose not to be. But I am, okay? So if you wanna stay away from me, that's fine. But I can't tell my heart what to do," Mikey said before he got into the car.
THANKS FOR READING!!!
If you enjoyed it, please let me know at whiteryan65@gmail.com
Or you could follow me @LiciousRyan if you're on Twitter.
MUCH LOVE!!
RYAN WHITE.