[Pride 2021 Short Story] C'mon You Shouldn't Be Scared of This

“I cannot stand this rain. Why aren’t you answering?”, a nervous Martha says, as she tries to call her husband, John. She types his phone number again. 

Pip! Pip! Pip! John’s voice recorder answers for the fourth time. 

“Jesus Christ, John! Just please answer!” Martha’s tension increases. She touches her chest, fearing that she might have a heart attack. She breathes while pressing her smartphone like a stress ball.

“1…2…3…”. Martha slowly counts her breathing while keeping her eyes close.

Knock! Knock!

Martha’s eyes widen as she gasps, “John!”, then runs to the front door and opens it. 

“Jesus Christ! God!”, says an exhausted and terrified John. 

“John! I’ve called you several times. What happened?”

“A bastard tried to kill me! I don’t know who it was because of the rain, but the son of a bitch made me stray away from the road. I crashed and the man was gone!”

Martha is shocked as she hears her husband’s story. She looks for any bruises on John. She sees blood coming from beneath his hip.

“You’re bleeding! I have to get you to the hospital or call 9-1-1!”

“It’s no use. There is no signal.”

“You said it was a man who did this?”

“It may be…I don’t know! It could be a woman. It was raining and everything was blurry.”

“Let me look at your wound.”

Thunder. Complete darkness in the house.

“God. What now?!” John says as he stands up and walks to the door.

“Must be a power outage. Martha, I will get the generator up and running.”

“But your wound?!”

“I’ll be fine!” John interrupts. He exits and walks to a nearby storage room.

John wrestles with the rain and his wound but manages to enter the storage. He sees the backup generator. Martha takes a flashlight, turns it on and walks to the second floor. She passes the bathroom and a bedroom with a scratch name on the door, Billy. Martha enters her bedroom.

“Where in God’s name did I put that damn kit,” Martha says in anguish. She sees something above the bed and illuminates it with the flashlight.

“Oh my God!” Martha presses her heart.

John checks the backup generator and tries to turn it on. The storm presses on and John cannot distinguish any sound from the generator. 

BANG!

“What the…? What was that?” a scared Martha wonders the strange sound. 

Martha walks downstairs while holding the flashlight in her right hand and in the other, an object she found in the bedroom; a magazine of some sort. She exits the house and see a blurry image on the ground near the storage.

“John! John what is going on?! Are you alright!” Martha screams at the blurry image.

Thunder. Lighting illuminates a blurry image of John on the ground, his head blown open, blood and brain sprayed on the ground.

“John!!!”, Martha screams as she runs to John. Her flashlight and the rare object fall to the ground.

“Oh god John! Who did this to you?!”, Martha cries. 

She tries to grab the body, but the muddy ground prevents Martha from lifting it. She falls and continues to cry. She stands up again, but this time runs to the house. Martha grabs the flashlight and the magazine, entering the house. Martha locks the front door and looks via the window. She sees nothing but the heavy downpour and John’s body.  

Martha begins to understand the terror but cannot speak as she moves slowly to the kitchen table. Placing the magazine on the kitchen table, she focuses on the cover, and a large black message on the front. C’mon You Shouldn’t Be Scared Of This!!!!! The message was written on the cover of a rugged gay porn magazine. It may be rugged, but the message is there. Staring at the note, her resistance leaves and her cries vanish as she walks alone in the house. 

CLICK

Martha firmly turns on the flashlight.

CLICK

She turns off the flashlight.

CLICK

She turns on the flashlight.

CLICK

She turns off the flashlight.

BANG!

Silence.

Days later. On a warm morning in a calm neighborhood, a young man opens the door and sees an older man.  

“Good morning, Billy. My name is Josh and I’m police officer. Can I come in?” says Josh with a worried mood.

“Yes. What’s going on?” Billy lets Josh into the house.

“I’m very sorry to greet you this way, but unfortunately, I have to inform some terrible news. How about we sit?”

“Okay, then,” a curious and worried Billy walks with Josh to the living room.

Both men sit on opposite sofas. Josh takes a deep breath while looking at Billy. On the other side, Billy is still scared.

“Billy. Your parents Martha and John died several days ago. Both were victims of a shooting in their own home. We think it was a robbery during the middle of a terrible storm. However, we couldn’t find anything to prove that.”

Billy sheds tears, takes some breath, and nearly faints. Josh stands up but Billy gestures him to stop. Billy can handle the horrifying news. Tears fall and almost mucus.

“How… did you say happen?”, says a broken Billy.

“We still don’t know. I’m here to also ask you if your parents told you about any problems they were having? A person or someone who might have targeted them? Anything out of the ordinary?”

“No. We haven’t talked in a very long time.”, Billy wipes his tears with his hands.

“Why?”

“I was thrown away from home and this place is actually my friend’s house. He lives here and I’m his roommate. I’m gay so this is the usual. I’ve seen many others move to this neighborhood on similar circumstances.”

“I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. But I must ask these questions and now, is there any reason that you might think of someone commit this crime? Any motives? Not related to your situation of course.”

“No.”

“Ok. We will need you to come to the station to confirm their bodies and give additional interviews. Besides, we have counseling resources. You are not alone. And please, feel free to call me.” Josh extends his right hand, reflecting his business card.

“Thank you.” Billy takes the card.

Billy escorts Josh out, closing the front door and leaning against it for a moment before heading to the bathroom. He looks in the mirror and smiles while shedding tears. He brushes his face with water and walks past his new bedroom. A box filled with magazines sits near the door, the top magazine is a rugged porn magazine with a rare note. Billy walks to the kitchen, passing the calendar glued to the refrigerator. The calendar has a red circle around June 1, GLOBAL DAY OF PARENTS. Below is a yellow post-it note. It displays a black ink drawn skull mask with the top picturing two faces with crossed eyes (one inked in blue and one inked in pink).

PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO
THE GAYLY HELPFUL FUNDRAISER FOR THE TRANSGENDER LAW CENTER