The Jesus Kid

One time, Alesana told me about Him. I remember that day because we'd just finished a bottle Jim Beam and were lying on our backs on the roof of my brother's garden shed. No one could see us back there, you know.

Anyway, Alesana was giggling about something and then suddenly she stopped. It took me a few moments of silence to get that something had happened. There was a drop you know, like in the air around us. It just got cold suddenly, emptier.

I turned my head to look at this girl whose eyes shone when she spoke of everything but herself and I felt her chest rise and fall. I couldn't see nothing, no, but I could feel it. "His name was Kelvin," she whispered before sucking in another gulp of air. I scrunched my face up in the dark, eager to know. Alesana had this knack for telling you things that meant nothing at all. I knew this time was different though. It was in the way her chest kept stuttering - like the air wasn't entirely sure to leave her body or stay. I kept silent.

"His name was Kelvin and I let him fuck me outside Pastor Evans house when I was thirteen." There was another deep breath and the sound of hair being swept across the iron roof.

"Why do you remember him?" I found myself asking, against my better judgment. She smiled in the faint light of the stars -there was no moon that night. "What makes him so special?"

She reached for my hand then, and rubbed her thumb over the bones of my wrist. I could feel the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end. "Because I let him keep fucking me for three years after that. I thought I was in love with the man, and..." She trailed off a bit, "...he with me."

I scoffed. "He never was, was he?"

Alesana shrugged. "I don't know if he was."

Confusion stirred. "But?"

Alesana turned to face me again, this time her eyes had lost their light and for one terrifying second it seemed like they were never going to find them again. "He was my best friend's father."