DISGUYSED

Secrets

Violet.

This was Violet.

Alex’s sister, with her bouncy curls and bright smile stared back at me. It was undeniably haunting to see this childish young, carefree girl; a girl who was long dead by now, stare at me in a picture. I wanted to see what she was like. I wanted to meet her; I wanted to know what Alex’s family was like when they were happy. I wanted to know who this other boy was. I wanted to know everything about this girl and her mysterious brother whose past had eluded me for so long.

And so I could. This folder held everything about Alex’s life. I could take one little peek further into its contents and instantly know everything about him. It wouldn’t hard. All I had to do was muster up the gall to leaf through the top secret contents of Alex’s past.

With shaking hands, I dug further into the manila folder, setting aside the picture of them for future use. I saw other pictures of Alex; one of him as a baby, his mother holding him tightly, her chin propped up against his tiny head. There was another picture of his father with shaggy brown hair, looking young and happy with Alex's mother. One with him, his father, the other boy, and a few other guys playing football. There was another of his mother, him, and sister, next to his father barbecuing. One with the boy, Alex next to him, and the girl sitting merrily in his lap as he read them a book. And last but not least, a picture of Alex curled up with his father on the couch, Alex asleep, and his father stroking his brown locks lovingly.

This is what he meant by them once being happy. What happened to Violet, though? What killed her? And why would Alex’s parents hate him so much because of it and have the gall to call him a murderer? I mean, Alex wouldn’t have…killed his sister. Impossible; I wouldn’t even give that thought the time of day, you can clearly see he loved her in the pictures.

I know I'll never get the full story from the things in this folder.. I sighed. Alex will never tell me what happened. I'll have to keep this office visit to myself.

I don't know why he wouldn't tell me, we've been together for months; he's seen me naked, he knows my secret, he knows everything about me, and whatever he didn't know and wanted to know, I would tell him. I rolled my eyes, now annoyed. I was doing most of the sharing!

There's only one reason why he wouldn't want to share.

Was his father right?

No, no.

I shook off all those negative thoughts and looked through the folder again, seeing documents. There was one in the clutter of them all that stood out. It was a pale pink color and at the top in a fancy cursive font, it read “Swannson’s Care Center & Clinic” I felt myself stiffen and my blood ran cold. Care & clinic? My eyes scanned the page quickly.

Therapy.

Alex had been to therapy?

I squinted and I read the date. “October, 2005.” This was roughly from six years ago. I did the mental math in my head, and realized Alex must’ve been only 10 or 11 years of age. Was this about Violet? I quickly read more of the sheet, finding more of the pink sheets and read further into it. This could be the key to all of the times Alex has misbehaved.

On further inspection of the forms, I found a spot where a child had marked down a few paragraphs. It was barely legible, but I could still make out the name at the top.

“Alex Grey.”

Right above his name, I saw in bold “Self Diagnosis.” I narrowed my eyes, bracing myself for whatever this would bring. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and moved into the center of the room where the moonlight hit just enough so that I could read well enough.