Girl Meets Closet

Chapter 16: Girl Meets Lucas

*TRIGGER WARNING: DOMESTIC ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM*

------Lucas’s POV------

I was wrong. I knew that what I had done was wrong. I never should have slapped Jason, especially not after being expelled for that in Texas. I knew better than this.

I couldn’t blame Jason for avoiding me. Heck, I'd avoid me too! I was grateful that we were able to talk though. My mama raised me right, and I knew I needed to apologize for hurting him.

I knocked on his window, and a shadowy figure unlocked it. I entered his room and sat where I sat last time, which might have been a bad choice now that I was thinking about it.

“Jason, I-” I started, but he cut me off.

“I didn’t invite you here to apologize. I’m not in a place mentally where I can listen to that. I just wanted to talk to you.”

I was confused, but I nodded. “Ok. What did you want to tell me?”

“I meant what I said, and I can’t apologize for that. Everything I said, I meant. I can understand that it hurts, but I couldn’t just sit back and watch you gatekeep Riley, especially not after it was done to me.”

I went to ask him what he meant, but before I could say anything, he continued.

*TRIGGER WARNING*

“When my mom and dad had me, they weren’t ready to be parents,” he said. “They thought they were, but it soon was clear to see that they weren’t. I have to give credit to the fact that they tried, though. They refused to give me up and kept trying to make the effort to be a happy family.

“My dad was my hero. How could he not be? He was strong, tough, manly, and could do anything. He made sure that I could play sports, that I could follow his dreams, and he taught me what a man’s place in the world was. Even though I didn’t have many friends in preschool, especially not girl friends, he made sure I knew he was proud of me.

“Until one day, he wasn’t. I had seen him and my mom play tag all the time, and she always ended up on the floor, crying and screaming. Back then, I thought she was just a sore loser. My dad would laugh at her, or get upset that she was upset. Because he was the man in my world, he would always win. I saw him tag her again and again, and she would cry harder and harder.”

I sat there in shock as I heard him talk about how his dad would abuse his mom. Tears started to roll down both of our faces as he continued to talk. Somehow, it got worse and worse.

“He had a special juice that he liked to drink. He would never let me drink it, only ever just watch. He said I could have it one day, when I proved myself a man. I found myself waiting for that day.

“He and I started playing tag. I would run and hide from him when I saw him start to grab his belt. He would chase me around the house until I left. I’d hide for hours, waiting for him to find me, and tag me. He was always it, but he said I wasn’t man enough yet to try and tag him.

“I started going more and more to the principal’s office, for getting into fights. People kept saying that my dad was wrong for playing tag with my mom, and that it wasn’t okay to tell others the truth. It was probably from my dad I learned how to be blunt and honest with everyone. I would then punch everyone that dared say my dad was a bad person.

“Eventually, enough was enough. My dad picked me up from school and took me home. He grabbed his special juice and drank some. Then, we started our last game of tag. He tagged me, and it hurt a lot. I started to yell and ran away. He chased after me, and his tags became harder and harder. My mom tried to shield me, and she got tagged a lot too. She eventually fell to the ground and stopped moving.