Unkept Promises // Brolby

...11...

Chapter 11

Youth by Daughter

    I lay in bed and stare blankly at the ceiling. It's been a few days since Sam's outburst on Twitter. I haven't left my room, with the only exception of using the bathroom. My phone died the night of the incident and I hadn't had the courage to charge it. Every once and a while, one of the roommates would knock on my door and see if I was still alive. I wouldn't vocalise my existence, only knocking on the wall or the bed frame to let them know I haven't died and turned to dust yet. They'd usually leave food in front of my door but I always forgot about it, so it would be left to rot for a few hours.

    Sam hadn't come home which really worries me. Despite the circumstances, I still considered him a friend. Years of friendship can't just be flushed away in an instant. Yes, I lost my trust for him but I can still worry and fear for him. I wanted to know why he did what he did. He would never do something like this. My throat began to close up and tears began to form in my eyes. I let out a shaky breath and slowly sat up. I looked over at my dead phone on the bed side table and bit my bottom lip. Weakly, I picked up the phone and plugged it in. Soon, my dark room became illuminated with the bright screen of my phone. I squinted my eyes, typing in the password. My service and wifi came back on and suddenly, my phone began to blow up again. I sighed and turned on the Do Not Disturb mode.

    Looking at my messages, I had a lot. I scrolled through to see most of my close friends with texts of encouragement or disbelief of the situation. My family had strange reactions, most consisting of good comments but others consisting of "this is a joke right?" or something about going back to Kansas and attending the church there. My dad and all of my siblings had good reactions surprisingly, but my mom had the worst. I chocked on a sob as I read the message.

Mom:
Colby Brock, this better be one of your stupid videos.

Mom:
Answer your phone!

Mom:
Colby!

Mom:
If I find out that this is real...

Mom:
Wow. You're gay.

Mom:
You're a faggot.

Mom:
I thought I had a son, not flamer

    I scrolled through countless insults, my heart breaking each time. I heard a knock at my door but I ignored it. I went to my calls and saw voicemails upon voicemails. I listened to some of them, but yet again. My mom's caught my full attention. She was crying as she yelled into her phone. "You faggot!! You flamer!! You Twink!! No son of mine is gonna be a faggot!" I sobbed as I listened to the woman who I had loved my whole life yell insults at me through a phone.

    With the voicemail still ringing in my head and the sound of knocking still at my door, I open up Twitter and bit down on my bottom lip as the first thing that came up was a picture, heavily edited to make it look like I was in the middle of jerk circle, the slur words of gay people written all over my body. I slowly put my phone down and shook. I needed to open the door, I needed someone. Quickly, I ran to the door, ignoring the pounding in my head. I unlocked it and opened it up only to reveal someone I wouldn't expect to see.

    "B-Bradlee?" I whispered, confused. Suddenly, he pulled me into a hug. I tensed up but immediately hugged him back, crying into his shoulder. "I-It's so bad." I cried.

    "It's gonna be okay. I promise. Calm down, Colby." Bradlee said. We stayed like that for a few minutes, him mumbling encouraging words while I let out days of pent up anxiety and sadness. Slowly, he backed us up into my room and shut the door. He lead me back to my bed and sat down. I sat next to him and just stared at my lap. "I understand how you must feel right now." Bradlee started out. I looked up at him confused. "I was forced to come out a while ago. An old ex I had, had outed me on Twitter then on YouTube. Posted a lot of shit that he swore to keep private. But you can never really trust people nowadays can you?" He chucked bitterly.

"Apparently so." I mumbled looking away.

"Hey, it's not gonna be the end of the world. Although it may feel like it, everything's gonna look up in the end. You've actually gotten so much positivity in your feed about your sexuality. I know you must be focusing on the negatives but please, look passed those. Sam's gotten a lot of backlash from this."

"He has?" I whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah. I think he unfollowed everyone and deactivated his account on Twitter. His Instagram and YouTube are still up and running though."

"Wow... I don't know what's gotten into him. He just kinda.... blew up? Maybe if I wouldn't have filmed with Brennen when I was supposed to film with Sam then everything would've been okay... it's all my fault." I bit my bottom lip.

"None of this is your fault." He said softly. A few seconds of silence followed. "But speaking of Brennen, he's here if you want to see him."

I immediately stood up and stared at him wide eyed. "W-What?" I stuttered. My heart ran fast and the anxiety within my being forced its way throughout my body. "N-No. I can't s-see him! N-Not after what S-Sam said!" I began to shake.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's gonna be alright. It's okay if you don't want to see him. Calm down." Bradlee hushed, standing up and pulling me in a hug.

"I-I can't see him.." I mumbled into his shoulder.

"That's alright, but you're gonna have to talk to him at some point. Just text one of us when you're ready okay? Good night, Colby." Bradlee whispered before letting me go and walking towards the door.

"Night." I mouthed and watched as he exited the room and shut the door behind him. I was again left in darkness.

    A couple minutes have passed, soft talking could be heard from downstairs every now and then, but suddenly a loud booming voice interrupted the calm atmosphere. Jumping, I stared wide eyed at the door. Quickly, I locked it and backed up thinking maybe Sam came home and was ready to end me once and for all. I was scared.

    "No, fuck this! I need to talk to him! I need to see what the fuck is going on!" Brennen? He was right outside my door. My breathing grew heavy and short.

    "Brennen, give him time!" Bradlee.

    "I've given him enough time! Move! Colby!"

    I backed further into the wall and slid down it, hugging my knees to my chest. A series of knocking and yells went on for a few minutes before everything went quite. "Fine..." Brennen mumbled, defeated. "Colby, if you can hear me, please talk to me soon. I'm just as scared and confused as you are. Please, text me, call me, do something so I know you're not trying to avoid me. Goodnight." I listened to his footsteps fade and walk down he stairs. I bit my bottom lip and shakily stood up and went to phone.

    Ignoring the tweets, I went into my messages and saw Brennen had tried to message me a few times. First, was disbelief.

Brennen:
Is Sam serious?

    Second, was confusion.

Brennen:
Colby, wtf is going on? Don't leave me in the dark.

    Third, was realisation.

Brennen:
Colby, please talk to me soon. We really need to talk.

    I drew in a shaky breath as I began typing.

Colby:
I'm sorry for not answering your texts or calls or when you were knocking at my door. I'm still trying to figure out what just happened. Come back in a few days. I'll fill you in on what's all happening.

    I huffed out as I pressed send. I immediately got a response.

Brennen:
I'll be there.

    I turned off my phone and laid back in my bed.

    What the fuck is happening...