Oleander

Chapter 2

Oleander : The Crybaby

The day Oleander was born it snowed for the first time in Dalmouth after a span of ten years. He was the harbringer of a white Christmas everyone prayed for. He was the bundle of joy, the miracle baby and the most awaited Christmas gift. He was called a lot more but he wouldn't know. All he cared about at that moment was kicking his legs and taking his first breath of air as his lungs released his first cry. It was a wonderful moment in the most joyous of times. Tom and Emma Hartley recall the day to be their happiest and they never forget to remind Oleander everyday.

Emma Hartley was diagnosed with early stages of Ovarian cancer a few years before he was born. It caused her to lose one of her ovaries and a lot of complications due to the fact of her being a premature baby. She had wept because the doctors told her she could never have a baby.

They made quite the sad picture. A tall resilient man holding his grief stricken wife as the man with the white coat broke their heart more and more.

Emma Hartley prayed everyday to the God she never believed existed. She couldn't say if this God had heard her prayers but it didn't stop her from believing there was someone out there greater than men with white coats. Someone who could do the impossible. No one could explain where the boiling devotion that had arisen within her had come from. She believed He would soon answer her pleas.

One cannot say whether it was her God or simply her will but Emma Hartley beat the cryptic monster riddling her bones. She beat Cancer. She describes it as the day of her rebirth. She was a brand new person with a pure body no longer stained with the rapid multiplication of devil cells.

Two years after Emma Hartley had been baptised at the neighborhood church she conceived. It was a beautiful moment for the eager parents who were told that it was safe for Emma to undergo pregnancy. She was going to be okay, so was the baby. Tom Hartley who had never shed a tear since he was thirteen wept like a baby. Atleast that's what his wife says.

Nine months later, they gave birth to a lusty baby boy with soft black hair and  beautiful teal eyes. They named him Oleander Lewis Hartley and they couldn't have been anymore ecstatic.
But if anyone told them that at the moment Tom Hartley would grab him by the collar and Emma Hartley would sit at the edge of a couch and weep repeating the same word again and again - "Why? "

Tears pricked his eyes as Oleander struggled against his father's grip. He could never have guessed his father would look at him like that - disgusted. "Dad" he whispered hoarsely only to be pushed back.

"No son of mine is a faggot" Tom's cold words sliced his skin and crushed his heart. Oleander did not stop the tears now that rolled down his supple cheeks. "Mom?" he asked softly but his mother refused to look at him as she cried into her already wet sleeves.

"Go to your room and if you say another word of this bullshit again I'll forget you're my son" Tom's voice shook with malice and Oleander looked at him with wide eyes. The same pair of eyes looked at each other - one full of anger and hate, the other full of despair and sorrow. The same eyes yet so different. It was like looking at your reflection only to realise "Did I always look this twisted or is that the devil staring back at
me?"

He slowly walked away not before he saw his father take his mother into his arms saying soft words into her ears. His body felt heavy and a painful spasm shook his heart. He felt like sliding down to his knees and crying till his throat felt raw. But he didn't atleast till he reached his bedroom.

He slipped into his bed and sobbed into his pillow. It smelt like detergent reminding him of how his mother always did his laundry without a single complaint. It made him cry more. He clenched his shaking hands and cried like he had never before.

"Lee?" he froze when he heard a small voice. It was his eight year old sister Caroline. He wiped his tears on his sheets quickly when he heard her footsteps come closer. She lifted his sheets and looked at him curiously.

"Why are you crying Lee?" she asked naively and it took all his strength not to break down more. "I don't know" he told her and smiled brokenheartedly. She huffed. "You're being a crybaby?" she asked. "Yep" he said hoarsely.

"Just like me?"

"Yeah" he chuckled despite his cracked voice. She hugged his neck and stroked his hair.

"I'm sorry for calling you a crybaby when clearly I am one too" he said as he reveled in her sweet, soft warmth. She broke free and gave him a toothy smile and said the only comforting words he had heard the entire day.

"It's okay to be a crybaby sometimes."