Maniacal [ziam]

yon

FOUR

past (2006)

Zayn's family wasn't close.

He rarely saw his aunts or uncles or grandparents or cousins or anyone extended. But one year his aunt decided to pay a visit to him, his sister, and his mother.

She claimed that she was there because his sister was sick. She claimed that she was checking up on her.

It was a lie.

She went to make them feel awful for being poor. Because she had money and they didn't. She was an awful person, almost as heartless as the grinch, Zayn had thought.

On Sundays she would force them to church. Explaining all of the religious beliefs of a Christian.

"Pray every night before bed."

"Don't have sex before marraige."

"Homosexuality is wrong and disgusting."

"Always have money to give at offering. It's respectful to God when you give, not recieve."

Zayn didn't like it. He didn't like how they all judged him. He thought they were supposed to be good people.

The children were kinder than the adults. They didn't talk to him, which was better than them scrutinizing him.

When Zayn called another little boy pretty, they locked him in a closet with a girl.

"Girls are pretty. Not boys. That is a sin." they told him.

Zayn cried that night, in his mother's arms. He didn't understand. He thought the boy was pretty so he told him. It was a compliment.

The next day, Zayn had given the boy a red rose and apologized. He didn't get why he was apologizing, but it felt right.

The boy kissed Zayn. The pastor saw and locked Zayn in the closet. But it wasn't Zayn's fault. The boy kissed him! Why was he being punished?

He cried in his mother's arms again.

His aunt made him memorize the bible, hitting him with a small stick everytime he would question God's word.

Why didn't he think the girls were pretty like the other little boys did? He cried to his mother every night. She told him he was unique. Just like her.

"Am I sick like you, mama?"he had asked.

"No, sweetheart. You're special. Beautifully special."

It was what she had told Zayn's sister when she was diagnosed with her sickness too.

They were a beautifully special family.

One night Zayn heard his aunt screaming to his mother about how repulsive he was.

"He likes boys! That's going against God's wishes!"

"Leave him be!" his mother had defended, "He happens to like the same gender. So what? It's who he is."

His aunt walked out and never came back.

When his sister died, him and his mother cried. They were all they had left.

Zayn's family didn't notice she was gone, nor did they care.

455 words

*I'm not here to be rude to christians, so I'm sorry if I offended your religion. It's all a part of the story and I have nothing against you.*

please leave comments, I like knowing what you think.

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