Forgotten

Caden and Jonathan sprung apart at Mr. Whyte’s yell.

“What the hell is going on?” Daniel asked through clenched teeth.

“I-I, w-we,” Caden stuttered. Jonathan stood, resting a hand on Cadey to quiet him. He looked his father in the eye straight in the eye and spoke.

“I love him, Dad.” After he said the words he realized just how much he had wanted to come out and declare his love for the beautiful boy beside him. Despite the predicament they were now in, Caden couldn’t help but smile. He loves me?

“No -- Liv,” his father protested.

“Dad, Liv is just a friend. I told you we were together because I was afraid to tell you the truth, but I’m sick of lying. Th-This is the truth. I love Caden MacCoroy. I’m in love with a boy. I’m, I’m gay.”

Daniel seemed too stunned to speak. But after a moment he rounded on Caden. “What did you do to my son?!”

“No! Dad, he didn’t do anything to me. I’ve been gay forever, I just haven’t been happy about it until now.” Jonathan said firmly, standing in front of Caden like a shield.

“Happy? Happy? Do you know what an abomination this is in God’s eyes?!” Daniel yelled, spit flying from his mouth.

“Why would God care? Doesn’t he say to love your fellow man?” Jonathan asked earnestly.

“‘Do not lie with a man as you lie with a woman. It is an abomination.’ Leviticus 18:22! ‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.’ Leviticus 20:13! That’s the word of God!”

“Why do we have to place the entire basis of our belief system on something written hundreds and hundreds of years ago? Times have changed!”

“Some things don’t change! I don’t know what perversions this boy has been filling your head with but this is wrong, morally bankrupt behavior.” He practically lunged forward, grabbing Caden by the wrist and dragging him from the room. Jonathan ran after them.

“Dad! Let him go!” he cried out.

“No, Jonathan! I will not have this boy bring his filth into our home. You’re never to see him again, is that understood?” Daniel said as he yanked open the front door and shoved Caden through it. He slammed the door in Cadey’s face. Jonathan tried to run past him and get to Caden but Daniel held him back.

“Let go of me!” he shouted, clawing at his father’s vice-like grip.

“You’re not going to see that boy ever again. He corrupted you!”

“What’s all the shouting?” Melanie said, making her way out of the kitchen with Sarah. The two of them stared at Daniel and Jonathan struggling with each other for a moment.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked.

“Sweetie, go to your room,” Mel said. Sarah glared at her mother, looking ready to protest but Melanie cut in before she could. “Now.”

“Daniel, what is going on?” Melanie asked again once she heard her daughter’s door slam shut upstairs.

“I found our son fornicating with that boy,” Daniel whispered furiously. Melanie looked from her husband to her son.

“Jonathan, go to your room. Your father and I need to talk.” Jonathan batted at his father’s hand that was still gripping his arm tightly. Daniel released him grudgingly and Jonathan ascended the stairs, slamming his door.

He could barely believe that he had just come out to his father, that he had declared his love for Caden. And while everything he said was true he wished he hadn’t been forced into it like that. His door opened and he turned to see his little sister framed in his doorway.

“What the hell do you want?” he asked moodily.

“Are you really a fag?” Sarah asked.

“Don’t use that word,” Jonathan said angrily.

She ignored him and spoke. “Well, are you?”

“Yeah. I am. Faggot, pansy, fairy, sissy, cocksucker -- any other little nicknames you can think of?” Sarah looked at him, wide-eyed and clearly stunned. “Well? No little smartass reply?” She continued to stare at him at him for a moment.

“Why would you choose to be that? It’s wrong, you have to know it’s wrong. Why do you want to hurt Mom and Dad like that?”

“How am I hurting them by being in love?” Jonathan asked as he took a seat on his bed. Sarah drew nearer.

“You’re shaming them. And what if they can’t save you? They don’t want their son to burn in hell.”

“Oh my God, Sarah, just shut up!” Jonathan yelled, standing up and pushing his sister towards the door. He pulled it open and threw her out of it.

He had always known that coming out would be a torturous event but now that it was upon him it was a thousand times worse than he could have imagined. And not only did his family now think he was a freak but he wouldn’t be able to see Caden. The door opened again.

“Why doesn’t anybody knock?!” he yelled. His father and mother stood in the hall, watching him silently. They entered his room after a moment. Melanie took her son’s hand and guided him to the bed, taking a seat beside him.

“Honey, we’re going to get you help. There’s a program that Pastor Frank swears by down in North Carolina. They can help you,” she said kindly. North Carolina? That’s like six hundred miles from Massachusetts.

“I don’t need help. I-I need Caden.”