Killer Unknown

Chapter 7: The Cancer Among Us

Two days went by without any activity from King. The girls stood huddled in front of his door not sure of what they were suppose to do. He wasn't answering them when they banged on the door or called his phone. Out of desperation, Jules decided to call King's parents. They informed her of the same news that King received two days ago. The other girls began to panic when they saw Jules's face show horror. Jules hung up with King's parents and rushed to the garage without saying a word to the other girls. She grabbed a hammer from the tool box and returned to King's bedroom. She used the hammer to break the door in, damaging it beyond repair. The other girls had no clue as to what was happening, but they knew that something was wrong for Jules to spring into action the way she did. Once they were in King's bedroom, they saw the room completely destroyed with him sitting on the floor in the corner.

"King are you okay?" Jules asked with a sincere voice.

"King, talk to us!" Penelope said, kneeling down beside him.

"You... you're a liar," King sobbed, incapable of getting more words out.

"Liar? About what?" Penelope questioned, completely clueless.

"King, she doesn't know!" Jules exclaimed.

"Know what? Will someone please tell me what is going on here?!" Penelope yelled.

"Penelope, you and King are half siblings. Your dad had an affair with his mom, your dad's assistant," Jules explained, holding Penelope's shoulders.

"Jules this is not the time for you to be making up stories," Penelope replied as she removed Jules hands off her shoulders.

"Oh dear, I thought I saw Governor Cruz kissing his assistant when I was younger. He told me it was a greeting when I asked him about it. He gave me candy to keep it a secret and I honestly forgot about it. I mean I was seven," Beverly added.

"Really, Bev? Candy? How could you be so easy?" Jules said.

"You know you were starting to be human there for a second, but you just had to ruin it didn't you?" Beverly asked.

"Quiet, both of you!" Penelope snapped, pulling out her cell phone to call her dad.

Governor Cruz answered on the third call. He was out of breath when he spoke as if he was running a marathon. Penelope placed the call on speaker phone so that King could hear even though he continued to cry. Biological love was a major issue for King growing up and clearly it still affected him.

"Dad, is King your son?" Penelope inquired, getting straight to the point.

"Penelope, who is that crying? Are you okay?" Governor Cruz asked, dodging the question.

"No, you don't get to answer a question with a question. Is he or is he not your son?" Penelope demanded.

"Where do you get off speaking to me this way?"

"For the life of Christ, just tell the truth. Is he or is he not your son?!" Penelope screamed.

"Penelope, I am not going to talk to you if you continue to disrespect me," Governor Cruz stated.

"Sir, with all due respect, King found out two days ago and hasn't left his bedroom since. Sir, that's two days without food and water, he tore up his room and he won't talk to us. Emotions are high right now; we really need you to explain," Jules said.

"Sir, I remember when you were kissing King's mom. It's time to tell the truth," Beverly piped in.

"This is a conversation that we should have face to face. I can come to you or you can come to me. Which would you like?" Governor Cruz offered.

"Is he or is he not your damn son?" Penelope exclaimed, furious.

"Alright, alright! Please allow me to explain, I love you both with all my heart and I made sure that you both were treated the same. Your mother and I were stressed due to elections. There were a lot of late nights with my assistant at the time. One night we were celebrating and one thing led to another. The next thing I knew, she was pregnant. She died during child birth and I was listed as the father, so I did the next best thing at the time. I knew a couple who were trying to have a child and couldn't, so we did an in house adoption. I made them promise to live close to me so that I could have a relationship with him, but keep our blood relation in secret. Your mother found out one day when she took King to the doctor when he was sixteen. We learned that he was really sick and he needed a blood transfusion. She filed for divorce the next day and we vowed to protect you. Darling, I am so sorry to the both of you," Governor Cruz cried.

"All this time, you kept this from us! I blamed myself for mom leaving and it was you. I-"Penelope yelled but was stopped mid sentence when Jules hung up the phone.

"It's for your best honey, I knew what you were about to say," Jules said.

"Have you hit your head or something?" Beverly gasped.

"Have you been hanging around me too long? Shut up Bev!" Jules yelled.

Penelope darted out of the room and didn't look back or respond to any of her friends calls. She got into her car and sped off, leaving the girls standing on the front porch worried. Knowing that there was nothing more that they could do for Penelope, the girls returned to King. Though he too, had left the house. They figured that they both needed some time to be alone. Beverly decided that she had had enough drama for a life time and opened a bottle of Chardonnay.

"Can you believe that scandal?" Beverly said pouring Jules a glass.

"Seriously, what has gotten into you? It's usually me that states the negative and obvious," Jules asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about; I am just saying what you are thinking," Beverly corrected.

"Yeah, but you usually don't say what I'm thinking," Jules said.

"And to think that we have been calling each other siblings this whole time and those two really are. Goodness, could you imagine how awkward this would've been if he had told her about his crush on her?" Beverly continued.

"Okay, I get your point! You can stop now!" Jules yelled.

"Oh have you? Because I really don't think you could understand in just five minutes. I've got more material, I've plan this for days," Beverly said smiling.

"No, I get it! I'll try to curve my feelings from now on and be more sensitive to others when I speak," Jules apologized as the two of them touch their glasses together in a cheers motion.

"Makes me want to call home and ask my parents if I have any secret siblings," Beverly said.

"Right? I feel the same way!" Jules laughed.