Hell Week, Chapter 13
Rating: R

Lisa had been sitting in the dark now for at least three hours. It was almost midnight and she had consumed all the beer that was in the twelve pack she had bought several hours ago. Her mood was dark and ugly, like the ashtray heaped with butts in front of her.

The television was on, but she saw nothing. She kept hearing Joe’s voice telling her that she would be barred from all of Kevin’s practices in the future and that if she violated that, they would take away her weekend visiting privileges altogether. There had been another screaming match between them earlier this evening when he came by to tell her that. 

Kevin was already back at Joe’s house. They had seen to that as soon as the game ended. She had not even been allowed to talk with Kevin after the game. 

No one gave a damn that Kevin had made an outstanding play and had stopped the other team from making the touchdown. All they were talking about was the quarterback and how he might be seriously injured.

Her life had turned to shit and it was all because of that fucking queer’s kid. She should have known that Brian would go and tell the whole world about their little altercation in the bathroom. He was a big fairy and they all loved to gossip. The coaches had sounded really pissed when they talked to her on the phone, telling her that she needed to stay away from everyone on the football team, especially that Peterson boy. Lisa didn’t give a rat’s ass! She needed to make sure that he couldn’t play anymore, that way they would have no choice but to look for another quarterback and give Kevin a chance.

It would have all been so much easier if Brian had taken her up on her offer. Then he would have been under her spell and she would have been able to convince him to do anything. He could have talked to the coaching staff and made them put Kevin in as an alternate. 

How dare he turn her down anyway? No one had ever done that before. Everyone had wanted her body; since she was twelve years old. 
She was a beautiful girl and people told her that repeatedly. Her biggest admirer was Uncle Dan, her father’s younger brother. He lived with them and was her special friend. He would tell her over and over again how beautiful she was, late at night after everyone had gone to bed. He would sneak into her room and lay on the bed with her, telling her she was special. Then he would touch her all over, kissing and caressing all her secret places, making her feel strange and mushy inside. 

She had been really upset the night her father had come in to her room and saw Uncle Dan asleep beside her. He had grabbed him and almost killed him, he was so angry. Lisa didn’t know why he was so upset. Maybe he was jealous because Lisa liked him so much. 

After that Uncle Dan never came around again. She only saw him when her family got together as a group. In fact, that was the end of her ‘normal’ life as she knew it. From then on she was never left alone. Her parents constantly monitored her every move. They even insisted that she go back to sharing rooms with Angela, instead of having her own room. 

The worst part were all the visits that Father Reuter made, twice weekly. He would drone on and on about how special she was, that we were all God’s children and that her body was His vessel and that she should respect it and make sure no one ever touched her in all her special places until she was married. She remembered how he always talked to her in his soft voice, laying his hand on her knee, moving it up and down her leg, each time going further up her skirt, trying to tell her that what Uncle Dan and she had done was wrong. Yet his eyes told her that he wanted to do the same things, the only thing stopping him was the fact that they were sitting in the front parlor and Mama was in the kitchen, listening to everything he said. 

After a certain point, Lisa realized that all the men she met were like Uncle Dan. Everyone wanted to be her special friend and touch her where they shouldn’t. At first she resisted, especially with the boys in school. But soon she began to see how much power she had over them, turning them into her little slaves by allowing them to feel her up for a few minutes. She started to learn the different ways that she could get things she wanted by using her body. Most of the time she was successful, only rarely did she not obtain her goal. 

Yet, late at night when she’d lie in her bed, she’d think of all the things Father Reuter had told her about God and how she should remain pure like the Virgin Mary. Then the tears would come and she would start shaking, so angry at Uncle Dan for hurting her the way he had, for changing her. He had taken her innocence and had turned her into something tainted in the eyes of God. She’d stand in church with her parents and her sister Angela and look around and feel like the biggest sinner in the world. Surely everyone there knew she was impure. Whenever she stood in line to receive Communion, she felt that she was doing so under false pretenses and that eventually God would punish her for receiving Him in her state of sin. Yet she continued to play the games with the boys at school. 

As she got older and matured, men flocked to her even more. She never had an awkward period where she was afflicted with acne or did not look like the perfect example of an Irish beauty. Her striking red hair, light blue eyes and iridescent complexion were like a magnet for most men she met. By the time she was sixteen she had reached her full height of five feet eight inches, taller than most girls in her class and always the center of everyone’s attention. 

By the time she entered her junior year of high school, she had earned herself a reputation of being one of the ‘easy’ girls. The boys still vied for her attention but there was now an underlying sense of disrespect because they knew that eventually they would get something from her that most girls her age were not willing to give. This created conflicting feelings in her because she could sense this shift in the way people thought of her. It was no less than the way she thought of herself, late at night as she lay in bed. 

Things changed when Joe O’Riley stepped into her life, the last year of high school. She had just turned seventeen and was in full bloom. Joe had moved to Canada from the U.S. and didn’t know anyone in town. Therefore, he knew nothing about her reputation and at eighteen he was already six feet four inches, well over two hundred pounds. No one would have dared to say anything to him about Lisa once they realized he was smitten. 

He had become her constant companion and treated her with respect and love. He never tried to take advantage of any situation they found themselves to be in, always telling her that he wanted to wait till they were married. She was so taken aback by this, she found herself falling in love with him, even though she knew that she didn’t deserve him. Every day she was expecting someone to tell Joe all about her and burst his bubble, but it never happened. Her parents liked him because he was Catholic and came from a good family. He was smart and planned to go to college, everything they were hoping to find in a son-in-law. 

When they graduated from high school and he was accepted into a nearby college, he begged her to marry him. At first her parents and his objected. They were both too young. How was he planning on supporting her while he was in school? He had an answer to every objection. They waited two years before her parents finally gave in. The wedding was small but lovely; all her family and friends attended.
Her parents were relieved that everything had turned out so well for her, knowing how bad things could have been.

The marriage was good for several years. Lisa responded well to Joe’s kindness and love, learning how to be a proper wife and companion. She insisted that he let her do all the house work because he was still going to school and holding down a part-time job at night. He didn’t really have time to help her at home. 

In reality, she didn’t want his help. She was not comfortable with the way he did things, she preferred to do it all, the way she liked everything done. The few times he would try and help with the dishes or straightening out the room would always turn into more work for her as she would have to redo everything once he had gone to bed. All the while, fuming, not really understanding where all this anger was coming from, yet knowing it was there.

When Kevin was born, it seemed that their happiness was complete. Lisa’s whole life changed the day they put him in her arms. He was a beautiful child and an easygoing baby. He became the center of her small universe, a chance for her to recreate her childhood with a better scenario than the one she had starred in. No one was going to come to his room in the middle of the night and make him feel ashamed of himself. She guarded him and was fiercely protective, sometimes too much. 

When he got a little older and started to participate in school activities and sports, she continued to be on the fringes of his life, making sure that he always got what she considered the best. Encouraging him, yet at the same time trying to control every situation that he found himself to be in. When things didn’t go the way she planned she would always make a fuss and browbeat teachers or coaches into changing their minds. Soon she became known as one of the meddling parents, the kind that always had a say in whatever decision was made. If Kevin dared to contradict her she would fly into a rage, telling him that she knew best and that he should just obey.

When he took up football she assumed they would make him the quarterback. Surely everyone could see how talented he was and how perfectly he fit in that position. When they put him in the linebacker position Lisa couldn’t believe it. She didn’t understand how they could be so blind. 

Kevin tried telling her that he was happy where they had him. She never listened to him. In her mind’s eye, he should have been the quarterback, the captain of the team, the leader; he should have been the most important person on the team.

Lisa wanted to retain control of the only thing within her ability to control. Her son’s life. And by doing this, she hoped to retain a fragile hold on her own destiny which she had derailed by not giving in to Joe’s demands that she seek counseling. Her status among her friends would be elevated by being the mother of the ‘star’. She would no longer be the divorcee who had lost custody of her son. People would treat her with respect. 

Now, it was over. Brian and Joe had seen to that. She had lost everything! They would not even allow her to go near a football field unless there was a game. Her rage at this turn of events had become a powerful force that kept pushing her towards a conclusion that she felt was justified and warranted. She was not going to let them get away with this. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Across town Brian lay in bed trying to convince himself to go to sleep. He had just been on the receiving end of one of Justin’s ‘guaranteed to relax you and make you sleep’ blowjobs, yet, after the initial lethargy, his mind had started up again. Justin, of course, had passed out after Brian had returned the favor. 

Unfortunately, Brian kept going over all that had transpired over the last few days and could not let his guard down long enough to catch a few hours of sleep. After years of constant vigilance, watching his back and Justin’s, he knew that this wasn’t over. All his senses were still on high alert, even though the coach had guaranteed it would never happen again. He was tempted to forbid Gus to play tomorrow but he knew that wouldn’t solve anything. It would only infuriate his son and teach him the wrong lesson.

He leaned over and took a joint off the night stand. Inhaling the smoke deep into his lungs he hoped this would do the trick and give him some much needed rest. His nerves were on edge, unaccustomed to his surroundings and dealing with circumstances that were new and foreign to him. He was much happier dealing with all the dramas of daily life in the world of bitchy queers and back stabbing business execs. Suburban viciousness was a different world altogether. 

Looking at the clock he saw that it was now one-thirty in the morning. He’d finished the joint but still, sleep eluded him. Giving up, he slowly moved off the bed so as not to wake Justin, and headed towards the kitchen. The house was quiet and the only sound he could hear was the rustle of his feet on the hardwood floor as he made his way across the room. He had thrown on a pair of sweat pants but was bare-chested with nothing on his feet, as usual. 

When he got to the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator door to see what he could find. He had not turned on the kitchen lights yet as there was enough illumination coming out of the fridge to allow him to see. There was some cheese and a bit of turkey and ham, all the fixings needed for a sandwich. He wasn’t really hungry, he was just jumpy and anxious, but the thought of food suddenly appealed to him. He pulled everything he needed out of the fridge and made his way over to the pantry to find a loaf of bread. 

As he was getting ready to turn on the kitchen light, he heard a noise coming from outside. He stopped what he was doing and listened. There it was again, a rustling sound, like branches moving across the side of the house. Except there were no branches; the nearest tree was at least twenty yards away. He moved away from the light switch on the wall and tentatively made his way over to the sink to look out the kitchen window which was right above it. His eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness of the room and he stood there and looked out; hoping to see what was making the rustling sound. He saw nothing unusual, just the familiar landscape. As he was about to turn away, he saw something white, moving, behind one of the bushes near the garage. Fuck! Now what the hell do I do?

He moved over towards the door and picked up the house phone that was attached to the wall. He dialed 9-1-1, hoping that they used the same system in Canada. Instantly, a voice came on the line, “911 operator, please state your emergency?”

“Yes, this is Brian Kinney. I’m a guest at the Peterson-Marcus home, 415 North Whembly. I think there is an intruder on our property and I want you to send someone out here to check it out please.”

“Did you actually see someone, Mr. Kinney?”

“Yes.”

“Male or female?”

“I don’t know. I’d just like you to send a police car out here to check it out.”

“Someone’s on the way right now, please stay in the house until they get there, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Brian hung up and moved over to the window again. He could see out a whole lot better than anyone could see in. As he stared out the window there was another flash of white. This time he saw the body it was attached to. It was Lisa O’Riley. She had a two gallon gasoline can in one hand and a Zippo lighter in the other. Her hair was completely disheveled and she was talking to herself as she made her way around the garage pouring gasoline on the ground just outside the wooden frame. 

What the Fuck! He had to try and stop her before she hit the gas with her lighter. He couldn’t wait for the cops, it would be too late!

Brian yanked the kitchen door open and yelled, “Lisa!”

Lisa looked up, startled. She dropped the lighter and the gas can. She started laughing when she saw Brian. 

“Hey, there, Mr. fucking, faggot Kinney. What are you doing up at this hour? Wanna see a fire?”

Brian stared at her, trying to figure out the best way to stall her till the cops showed up. She looked completely looped; either drunk or nuts, whichever the case was, it wasn’t good. 

“Hey Lisa,” Brian said to her, leaning against the kitchen door frame. “Why don’t you come in for a minute? I’ve been thinking about what happened the other day and I think we should talk about it.”

“Why? You change your mind and want to fuck me?”

Yeah, right! “I think we should talk it over, things are never what they appear to be, don’t you think?”

She bent down to pick up the lighter at her feet. She started flicking the lid, open and close, open and close…trying to decide what to do.

“I’m in the mood for a bonfire Mr. fucking Kinney. I think I should put the lighter on top of the gasoline can and we can roast some hot dogs; your hot dog,” she said, laughing hysterically. 

“You don’t want to do that, Lisa,” Brian said. “What’s that going to solve other than putting you in jail?”

“It’ll solve a lot of things,” she said, looking at him. She stretched her arms out and started twirling round and round, chanting in a sing-song voice. 

“My baby will be quarterback as soon as your kid is out of the picture. And Gus will go up in flames, just like you and your hot dog. We’ll have a multiple wiener roast.” She looked and sounded like something straight out of ‘Dante’s Inferno’. 

Brian started walking towards her, wincing as his bare feet stepped on pebbles. She moved backward when she saw him approaching.

“Stop coming to me, Brian. Stop, or I’ll throw the lighter on the ground and start the fire.”

She moved backwards a step and knocked the gasoline can over. Gas started pouring out of the top since she had never replaced the lid. Some of it poured on her shoes as well as the ground she was standing on. She continued to play with the Zippo, flicking the flame on and off.

Brian stopped in his tracks, trying to figure out how much time had elapsed since he had called 911. Was it five minutes, ten? It seemed like forever and still, no sirens were heard. He couldn’t decide what to do. He just knew he had to do something. 

Suddenly, Lisa was startled by a noise behind her and turned to see who was there. Justin was looking at her, holding a mini fire extinguisher that he had pulled off the wall in the kitchen. He had sneaked into the garage through the side door in the kitchen and was able to creep up behind Lisa without her hearing him. 

“Hand me the lighter, Lisa. This is not going to work. I’ve got a fire extinguisher and I can put out whatever you start. Let’s not even go there, okay?” Justin said to her, speaking softly and calmly, trying not to alarm her anymore than she already was.

“Well, if it isn’t fucking faggot number two. Come to join the party, Mr. Kinney-Taylor, or whatever the hell your name is?”

“Justin,” Brian yelled, terrified that he was near Lisa and in danger. “Get away from her.”

“Yeah, Justin,” Lisa yelled back, “Get away from the crazy lady or she’ll roast your hot dog too.” Lisa moved a little closer to Justin and spat at him.

She whirled around and looked at Brian again. Brian could tell that she had completely lost it at this point. Her eyes were wild, darting one way and then another. She kept looking back at Justin then turning around to look at him, all the while touching her hair and shirt with her left hand as the lighter in her right hand was being flicked on and off. 

In the distance sirens were sounding. Brian breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the police were finally approaching the house. Lisa looked at him and realized the same thing. 

She dropped the lighter at her feet.

TBC