Coma White

White Trash

Chapter 2 – White Trash

Four months later…

Jessie slowly felt her previously impenetrable barriers melt away every time she was around Brian. He was the first decent person she’d met in ages… they’d slowly bonded over their mutual love of music; having similar tastes usually tends to help in that regard. She hadn’t expected there to be anyone in Canton, Ohio that would like any of the things she did, and yet here next to her sat a guy who loved all the same things she did, had similar opinions to her own… it astounded her.

The two sat at the back of the park, hidden behind the bracken that encroached on the river bank where they were, listening to tapes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Kiss, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, David Bowie, and Motley Crue. They were relaxed in that way friends are when they’re enjoying each other’s company without the need to talk too much… and that’s when he asked.

“So, you never really talk about why you moved here…ever.” Jessie looked sideways at Brian and, sure enough, he was looking at her.

“It’s complicated…” Jessie shifted uncomfortably, the ease she’d felt before blowing away on the breeze.

“I’m sure I can keep up.” He gave a reassuring smile and reached over, across the space between them, to tuck a loose curl behind her ear.

She looked at him, uncertain, then back the river. “It’s kind of a depressing story.”

Brian scoffed. “So’s mine.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please?”

“Okay…” Jessie took a breath and, after not telling a sole since the incident, finally told her story.

***

Brian waited for her to begin, watching as she lay down against the leaf littered riverbank, not looking at him. “My mum and I… we’ve been moving around for a while, trying to find a place to fit in. It… it all started with my dad. He was a good dad when I was younger. He sent my older brother and me to a military school for ex-army officers. He was a great dad…except, he had quite an issue…with his temper. One night he’d had a fight with mum about sending my younger brother, James, to the military school with my older brother, David, and me, and he’d stormed out of the house in a terrible rage. Mum said to just let him get it out of his system…but he went drinking instead. When he came home he went after mum, hit her over the head with an empty bottle. Knocked her out completely. And turned his rage on the next person in the room…James.”

Brian began to piece together what had happened, but he continued to listen. “I tried to get him to… to hit me instead of James…and, for the minute or two it took him to choke me into an unconscious state, he did…but he went back to beating James after. By the time he stopped beating my little brother, James had been dead for about half an hour…a neighbour had heard screaming and called the cops. My dad was arrested, charged, and imprisoned for aggravated assault, murder and attempted murder. That was in New Orleans. Then Mum, David and I all moved to Jacksonville, hoping that we would be able to move on…David moved on in the only way he thought he could…he hung himself. He’d gone out the night dad had gone mental and he blamed himself for the harm that had befallen us all…I found him swinging from the fan fitting in his bedroom one afternoon after school.”

“I’m…sorry…” Brian didn’t really know what to say. He watched her laying there on the cold earth, tears falling silently from behind closed eyes. “Have you ever talked about this before?”

Eyes still closed, she shook her head. “No…I didn’t feel as though anyone would…understand…I guess that’s stupid though, hey?”

“No, not stupid…” Brian saw a flicker of a smile flit across her lips. Oh, how he’d longed to kiss them…but, no, he couldn’t think about that now…there was more to the story that had led them both here. “Where…where did you go after Jacksonville?”