Never Like

Chapter 57

The mood shifts as all of Aden's attention zeroes in on me. I take a deep breath. I need to tell him now. He didn't hold back. He didn't judge my request. All I can do is hope he won't judge my story either.

“You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”

“I’m trying to emotionally lean on you. Are you going to let me?”

“I just thought you’ve had enough emotional upheaval for one day; that’s all.”

I laugh.
“More physical than anything else.”

Aden beckons for me to lie with my head on his lap.

“Right, continue.”

“Joseph was my father’s older cousin. They were close. My father essentially considered Joseph his brother. He would often visit us. It was usually a lunch or an early dinner. I was even fond of him. He always brought sweets for me.
“One day though, when I was around six and Oliver was just two, my father said he needed to go home for an emergency. It was his sister, Gisella; she was ill. For some reason, Nancy felt the need to go with, so Joseph – well, uncle JoJo – volunteered to care for us.
“I remember being so excited to have him around. He was so sweet at first. He would read Oliver and I bedtime stories. I loved him.”

Already tears are pooling in my eyes even as I keep Aden’s face out of focus.

“Then one day, I heard a noise after bedtime, coming from Oliver’s side of the room. I turned, all drowsy, to see Oliver sleeping and uncle JoJo sitting there, taking his hands out of his pants. I screamed because I thought it was a monster. He immediately came to get me and hauled me to the living room. He took me across his knee and spanked me so much that I couldn’t sit the next day. At school, the nurse called my parents, but they just redirected the call to uncle JoJo.
“When he came to pick me up, I thought he was going to beat me to death. He stopped near some woods and we walked into it a bit before he began to punch me everywhere. I was so bruised…”

Aden’s arms tighten around me and I realise my tears are falling on his pants.

“He took me home and told the school I had a really severe case of the flu. When Oliver saw me, he cried. I wish I had hidden from him, but I didn’t know better then. JoJo thought that Oliver was crying because of something I said to him. So, JoJo beat him to a pulp. His face was so swollen that he couldn’t eat; Jesus.
“He kept beating us until one day I woke up in the hospital with Oliver by my side. I don’t know what the time lapse was; I lost count of the amount of times he put his hands on us. My parents were there. Nancy cried so much, and my father could barely look at us.
“We don’t speak about it in my house because he was locked up for what he did and was stabbed by one of his prison mates. I think my father can’t help but blame us for losing his best friend; especially when Gisella didn’t make it either – cancer.”