Dealing with the Past (3 page)

Aiden smiled at the righteous indignation in his friend's voice. "Yeah, stupid me never put two and two together. Family business. Jackson works with his father and brothers from what I found out after I punched the man and everyone came running."

He wasn't proud of himself for what he'd done. Actually, he felt quite sick about it; he still couldn't quite believe he'd struck another person. Never before in his life had Aiden resorted to violence. No matter how many times Aiden had thought about what he would do if he ever caught up with Jackson Thompson, he honestly didn't think he would ever follow through with any of it. That's why he was so surprised at himself for what he had let happen today.

The choking laugher coming through the speaker let him know just how shocked Sammy was at his announcement. "You did what now?"

"I'm not proud of myself, Sammy. You know I'm not a violent person, but when Jackson tried to stop me from leaving by putting his hands on me, I kinda had a flashback to high school and I lashed out. He ended up on his ass. Then his entire family converged.
God
, you should have seen them, Sammy, there were so damn many of them. I didn't realise he had such a large family. And seeing as how they're the only necromancer agency in town, I'm screwed."

"Breathe, honey," Sammy said soothingly over the line.

Aiden did. He took a deep breath in then exhaled slowly. He repeated the act several times.

"Better?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah, thanks. I don't think I've gotten that worked up in ages," he said softly.

"It's okay, Aiden, seeing Jackson Thompson again was bound to have a significant effect on you." His friend was so calm and clearheaded, Aiden had to tell him the rest.

"He didn't recognise me," he almost whispered, still unable to believe Jackson's question.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Sammy asked incredulously.

"After I hit him and he was on the floor, he looked up at me and asked if we'd met before. The man and his friends tortured me for two years in high school, making me dread going to school daily and he doesn't even have the decency to remember me. How fucked up is that?" Aiden asked, really wanting to know the answer.

"He doesn't know who you are?" Sammy confirmed.

"Nope."

"You're right, that's all kinds of fucked up," Sammy stated.

Before Aiden even realised it, he was pulling his car up into his driveway. He had driven home on autopilot, not paying attention to anything around him. It kind of scared him as he couldn't remember the drive at all. If he had gotten into an accident, he could have been in all sorts of trouble.

"Listen, Sammy, I've just pulled up at home and I'm beat. I think I might go have a shower and crawl into bed. I feel like I just need to wash this day away. Hopefully when I wake up, I'll find out it was all some messed up dream. Call me tomorrow?" Aiden sat in the driveway with the car in park waiting until his conversation with Sammy was finished.

"Yeah, will do. You call me before then if you need me or just want someone to talk to, yeah?"

"Will do. Love you, Sammy." Aiden could hear the weariness in his own voice.

"Love you, too. Bye," Sammy said as he disconnected the call.

He knew his friend would worry about him but Aiden really couldn't think about that at the moment. He needed time to process everything that had occurred today without adding his friend's worry to the mix as well. He turned off the car before getting out and locked it behind him then trudged to his front door.

He lived in a small two-bedroom unit. One of six buildings in his little unit block, all of them like mini houses. There were no shared walls, each unit came with its own backyard and attached carport. They were situated in a sort of U shape, with two on the left, two at the bottom and then two on the right. They all shared a communal driveway but that was about it. Aiden had the one on the right, in the middle. It didn't have the smallest yard space out of them all but it wasn't anywhere near as large as the corner blocks had.

He loved his little home. Brendan had never lived with Aiden, though they had certainly spent their share of nights at each other's houses.

Unlocking his door, he gently traced the bluebird in the stained glass insert before he walked inside and locked the door behind him. He walked right into his lounge room. The dining room was at the back and was separated from the kitchen by a bench. Turning right just before he got to the kitchen, Aiden hit the passageway that connected the two bedrooms, the small bathroom, and the laundry. As there was only Aiden, the second bedroom was used as his office.

Aiden entered the bathroom and stripped. He dropped his clothes on the floor, not caring at the moment where they landed. He stepped into the shower and turned it on, hissing as the cold water blasted him before it slowly heated.

Leaning his hands against the wall, Aiden let the now hot water rain down over his back for several minutes before he forced himself to move.

Quickly washing himself, Aiden rinsed the suds before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower stall. He felt completely drained by the time he walked into his bedroom. He clicked his air conditioner on then crawled onto his bed. Holding his pillow tight to him, he closed his eyes, praying sleep would come quickly and easily. He wanted this day to be over more than anything he'd wanted in a long time.

* * * *

Aiden loved maths, had always found it easy and planned next year, in grade eleven, to take an advanced class. However, at this point in time, Aiden hated it more than anything on the earth. He wanted to get up and leave, but he couldn't. Aiden was only a half hour into a double period. He still had over an hour to go before his class was over and he could hopefully escape during lunch and just be left alone.

It wasn't the maths that he hated but the guys sitting behind him. He always attempted to get a seat at the back of the class so there was never the opportunity for anyone to sit behind him. Today, however, that hadn't been possible. As he had made his way through the tables to the back, he had been roughly pushed to the side by Daniel Carman, who had been closely followed by his friends Eddie Williams, Shaun Hill, and Jackson Thompson.

Daniel had snickered as Aiden went careening into one of the tables, dropping his bag on the floor and nearly ending up there himself.

"You should learn how to walk properly, queer boy," Daniel sneered low enough that their teacher Mr Marsden wouldn't hear.

By the time Aiden had righted himself and collected his bag, the table he had fallen into was the only empty one left. Aiden looked around the room desperately hoping he was wrong as Daniel took the seat immediately behind him, smirking. Resigned, Aiden sat down and pulled out his books.

As much as Aiden hated being treated like he was a piece of dirt, or as a second-class citizen, he was used to it by now. The four friends had had it out for him for the last two years. Ever since Daniel had said he had caught Aiden checking him out in the showers after gym one day in eighth grade. It was complete and utter bullshit as Aiden wouldn't be caught dead looking at Daniel.

The boy was a pig—and Aiden meant that literally. Daniel ate twice as much as anyone else, shovelling the food into his mouth and it was starting to show. Actually, it started to even back in junior high. Now he looked even worse. No matter how much footy he tried to play, it didn't really help. Probably because the boy couldn't even run from one end of the field to the other without stopping for breath.

Aiden would never say any of this to Daniel's face though, as he knew firsthand what it felt like to be bullied, and wouldn't be able to live with himself if he inflicted the same hurt on another.

Aiden knew he wasn't skinny or lean or fit or any of those other words you might use to describe most thin people. He had always suffered with a little extra weight around his middle and as such knew what it was like to be made fun of constantly, even before the matter of being gay came up.

Aiden had figured out at the tender age of thirteen that he was gay. When all the rest of the boys in his class had started to get interested in girls Aiden hadn't seen what the big deal was. He did, however, start to notice boys. Wondering what it would be like to touch one, nothing big, just maybe holding hands. As he got a little older, he started to wonder what it would taste like to kiss a boy.

It had taken him another year to gather the courage to tell his dad he had a gay son. Aiden's mum had died in childbirth, leaving his father to raise him alone. His dad took the news in stride, letting Aiden know that there was absolutely nothing he could tell his dad that would stop the man from loving him unconditionally. Aiden had cried like the child he was and his dad had pulled him into a fierce hug.

No, if Aiden was ever going to be caught checking out the goods in the boys locker room it was going to be for looking at Jackson Thompson. That boy was just plain yummy. Jackson was tall; even at the age of sixteen, he stood several inches above most of the class. The lean, flat stomach showed just a hint of the six-pack abs the boy would surely sport one day soon. His shiny black hair had Aiden's fingers wanting to run through the silky strands and his piercing, deep blue eyes caught Aiden each and every time. Jackson Thompson had become Aiden's favourite thought material for when he was alone. Every time the other boy got close, Aiden just froze, unable to move.

It was such an utter waste the man was a complete asshole.

Aiden was lucky, in a sense, that his freezing up had never been attributed to his desire for Jackson but instead credited to fear of being bullied. And really, he couldn't blame them for thinking that, as every time the four of them would surround Aiden, he would freeze. It was easier and safer for everyone to think what they did than to tell them he was stunned stupid by the lust that coursed through his body for one of his tormentors.

Aiden knew how cliché it was of him to have fallen for Jackson, but really, he had no choice in the matter. He fought his body left and right but, every time Jackson came close, it felt like his skin was alive with electrical current. Even now with Jackson sitting behind him to his right, Aiden could feel the boy's eyes on him, his skin prickled like someone was gently caressing him. God he wished that were true.

Instead Daniel sat immediately behind him and in between the low whispered insults of 'faggot, pansy, fairy or queer boy', Aiden was consistently jabbed in the back with the sharp corners of Daniel's metal ruler every time Mr Marsden had his back turned to the class.

The thin material of his shirt didn't stop the extremely sharp corners from cutting into his skin. Metal rulers should have been banned if you asked him. But then again who else would have thought to use them as a weapon?

Aiden hissed lowly as Daniel jabbed him again. As hard as Aiden tried to ignore the pain, it got very difficult to do so when he felt a drop of liquid slide down his side. It didn't help that he currently wore a white shirt, the blood was sure to soak through, which his dad would notice and he would have to explain.

Aiden had spoken to his father at length about the bullying he was being subjected too. The conversation had been hard on both parties but his dad had agreed he could transfer to Darwin High School in the new year. He couldn't transfer so late in grade ten without it affecting his study and exams. He only had another couple of months and assured his dad he could stick it out.

A small wet glob struck to his neck, jolting Aiden out of his thoughts.

Oh Jesus! Now they were spitballing too. How disgusting. He was going to need a shower as soon as he got home.

Aiden turned around to glare at the boys only to cop another spitball on his cheek. He noticed Shaun to be the culprit this time and the guy was silently high fiving with Eddie. Jackson had a hard, pinched look on his face but quickly replaced it with a huge grin as Shaun turned in his direction. Aiden noticed, however, the smile didn't reach Jackson's eyes.

The entire double period seemed to pass at a snail's pace. The continuous jabs from the ruler on one side and the spitballs on the other, combined with the quiet snickers and crude comments, had Aiden shoving his books in his bag and racing for the boys bathroom the second the bell announced lunch, trying desperately not to let anyone see the tears gathered in his eyes.

Try as he might, Aiden just couldn't keep the tears from rolling down his face. His side was killing him. Dumping his bag on the ground in the bathroom, Aiden stood in front of one of the sinks and just looked at himself. He really couldn't understand what it was about him that caused so much hate in others. Aiden didn't think he was bad person.

Running the water, he splashed it over his face, trying to clear away the tear streaks before reaching over and grabbing some paper towel. Wetting the towel he lifted his shirt and turned to the side. He hissed as soon as he saw the red scratched skin. Blood covered his side from several of the jabs and was in various stages of drying.

Aiden clenched his teeth and gently cleaned his side until all the blood was gone. Grabbing some more paper towel, Aiden wet that as well then meticulously scrubbed at the side of his face and neck where the spitballs had hit him.

"Ugh, gross," he said as he found one such thing still stuck in his hair. Turning his head in the mirror, he checked to make sure there were no more sticking to him anywhere. Happy he was finally clean, Aiden dried off.

The bathroom door swung open behind him but Aiden ignored it as students had been coming in and out the entire time he cleaned up. Aiden threw all the used towels in the bin before bending to pick up his bag that was on the floor. Aiden stilled suddenly when he was grabbed and roughly pulled back against someone's groin. Aiden flinched, trying to grasp the situation, not wanting to encourage anything. He closed his eyes and willed his body to obey him.

"Well, looky what we have here, boys. Looks like Monty's open for business," Daniel said lecherously as he thrust against Aiden's ass again. Any arousal Aiden might have felt fled at the sound of that voice. He straightened and tried to pull away but Daniel had a surprisingly strong grip.