Siblingly Binding Ch. 09

"Oh my god, you're okay!" She kissed my cheek. "Thank god you're okay..."

"What happened," I faintly muttered, my head spinning.

"What happened?! That beast we called our father has knocked you out!" She helped me to my feet and laid me on the sofa.

"Brooke, my head... is killing me."

"Don't worry, baby, I'm taking care of you. Just keep lying down."

I scoped the room for my parents. It was empty. Brooke fed me two aspirins, and I rinsed them down with a glass of water. She handed me a bag of ice, and I placed it on my brand-new shiner. She then instructed me to rest and only returned twenty minutes later, after the pills enfeebled my headache to a bearable existence.

She sat next to me, caressing my cheek. "Hey, sweetie. Do you feel better?"

"Much. Thank you." I guzzled another glass of water. "Where are they?"

"Who? That animal and that tool of a wife?!" She sniffled. "They'll... they'll be right back."

"Baby, why are you crying? I'm okay; I really am."

"I just can't believe he did that... we're getting out of here today, Josh." She wiped away her tears and kissed me on the lips. "Do you hear me? Today."

A moment later, our parents returned, and a colossal brawl of throats instigated between my dad and Brooke, with my sister and mother weeping throughout. I was still in a daze and out of focus, though the chemicals were slowly taking care of that, and a few minutes later, my head was clear enough for me to comment.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop," I interrupted their battle of lungs, slowly sitting up straight.

"Josh, baby, lie down. Your head—"

"Is fine now. I'm okay, honey."

"You should listen to her before the next one I'll send to your perverse face will keep you permanently down."

Brooke lunged at him like a pussy sheltering her offspring. "If you so much as lay a finger on him again, I'll—"

"Brooke, sweetheart, calm down," I calmly said. "Come sit with me."

My sister scowled at Dad before she sat beside me and collapsed in my arms. Mom sat on the other sofa, trickling the last of her tears while Dad stood a few feet away, looking even angrier than before while sipping on his whiskey.

"Did you get it out of your system?" I said, soothing my sister with loving caresses to her ravishing face.

He shot his whiskey down his gullet and plunked down the lowball glass on the table. A grimace of rage faced me a second later. "You defiled my only daughter, my little girl. You abused her, and—"

"He didn't abuse me!" My sister broke free from my gentle embrace. "Why can't you get that in that thick head of yours already?!"

"There's no way he didn't abuse you." He poured himself another glass. "You probably can't remember because you suppressed it for so many years, but a good therapist will yank it out, and then, mister"—he shot his second glass down his throat—"you're going to jail. I give you my word."

"I already told you that I was seeing a therapist on the matter, and she couldn't figure it out. Things like that shouldn't happen, but they sometimes do. There was nothing Josh had deliberately done that caused this. Now you need to stop trying to fault it and just accept that this is happening and that you have no say in the matter whatsoever. You can accept it or not. If not, then we'll go our separate ways and wish you all the best."

"I'll be damned before I let you leave with him. He'll be six feet under before you even—"

"Dad, stop," I sighed, lowering the bag of ice that concealed my left eye. "Listen to me both of you. As Brooke said, and on the contrary of what you may think of me, I did not abuse her in any way, shape, or form. I understand the need to rationalize it by shouting molestation or abuse or whatever, but the truth is simpler, neater, and much more beautiful: We fell in love without any intention to however depraved and sick it is perceived in the collective mind. We tried walking away from it but eventually couldn't.

"We are aware of the legality issues, yet we repel any moral accusation that you might throw on us. Neither of us finds this immoral or indecent or sinful. We see it as a beautiful gift that we were lucky enough to be awarded with; having said that, we also acknowledge that you may never accept it. You're certainly entitled to. If that is the case, as the love of my life said, we will part ways and bid you farewell, because us -- is not going anywhere. Ever."

My sister kissed my cheek and interlocked our fingers together. "We didn't mean for this to happen, but it did happen. Obviously, we'll be moving away, so we can a start a life together as a couple. You don't have to speak to us anymore or even acknowledge us. We're not expecting anything from you, even though we would very much like for all of us to keep being a family albeit in a slightly different format."

"What did we do wrong?" Mom said, tears springing to her swollen, flushed eyes. "What did we do to deserve this?"

Brooke sat next to her and clasped her in her arms. "You did nothing wrong, Mom. You have been incredible parents to Josh and me both. These things—"

"You mean incest?" Dad cut her off.

"Yes, I mean incest." She returned her attention to our mother. "These things happen all the time, all around the world, and in the best of families. Trust me, I had plenty of time to conduct a thorough research. It doesn't imply that you've been bad parents or that Josh and I are sick and twisted."

"But it does," Mom wept. "How could you be intimate with him? Your own brother? It most certainly implies that something is very wrong with you both."

"Mom," Brooke sighed, petting her hair, "you have raised an incredible son. He's beautiful and smart and funny and sensitive, and any woman would have been fortunate to have him."

My sister paused with face beaming, and a loving gaze was sent to me subsequently. I reciprocated with its twin look.

"I know that I am not supposed to look at him that way, that I should have had a mental inhibitor of some sort to prevent me from looking at him this way, and there had been such an inhibitor, but... one day... that inhibitor was gone, and all I could see before my eyes, was this perfect man that I could have not allowed any other woman to have. Why that inhibitor went away, I cannot explain, even to myself. It had been a tough pill to swallow, trust me. I was very much aware that I shouldn't have seen him this way, and yet... I had no say in it. And as fate would have it, Josh was going through the same thing. Again, we can't emphasize enough how excruciating it was for us to acknowledge it, to accept it... to be in peace with ourselves. You did nothing wrong, but... neither did we."

Mom asked for a glass of whiskey, and she gulped it down just as quickly as Dad emptied his third.

"Now you listen to me both of you," Dad said. "This is unacceptable by any stretch of the imagination, and we will not allow this to continue. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, I'm making an appointment to the both of you with a psychiatrist, and we'll get down to the bottom of this. Do you think that we'll sit by and let you destroy your lives? Our lives? Bring shame and scorn upon our family?! No." He let out a lengthy sigh and pondered. "Josh, pack a bag; I'm taking you to a motel."

I remained still, searching in my sister's eyes for guidance.

"Did you not hear me? Get up, go to your room, and pack a bag. Now."

"Daddy, no," Brooke sighed. "You must have not understood us: You have no say in this. None. We're very sorry that you feel this way, but this is the end of the road. We're not seeking your approval or your opinion. We wanted to be upfront and real with you. We didn't want to lie to you for years. Don't confuse our desire to be genuine with a misguided cry for help."

"But this is incest! For the love of god, Brooke! You may not see how sick and perverse it is, but trust me, it is! You cannot have a sexual relationship with your brother!"

My sister arose and gazed into my eyes. "I think we're done here."

I nodded and stood up, as well.

"What are we supposed to tell your uncles?! Your cousins?! Our friends?!"

"Dad, I don't know, and I don't care," I said. "I'm not going to pretend for the rest of my life that I am not crazy about Brooke. I'm not willing to let her go for anything. The fact that we are deprived of the most basic of rights, the right to be with whom you love, is not our fault. So tell them whatever you want."

I took my sister's hand in mine and proceeded to the stairs.

"I'm warning you, Josh"—his right fist reappeared—"if you take another step with her..."

"Dad, I indulged you before, but I will not again." I made a fist in my right hand. "I love you, and I respect you, but if you take another jab at me, be ready for me to defend myself."

Brooke stood between us, facing him. "We love you very much. We really hope that you will someday accept us." She kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye."

*****