The Misbegotten

It was much later that evening. After dinner and after we all helped my mother clean up the kitchen that events from all around the world washed over us. We were all sitting before the 52-inch plasma. The latest news flashed on screen from both the Intra-national and North American news networks.

We listened to the growing threat of the strange sickness befalling thousands in almost every country on earth. It was a sickness that killed some and deformed others, made them terrible, gross. At the same time, with yet another group it was changing them. Those multitudes with a specific genetic marker were mutating into something else. They were emerging from this illness altered, forever different among humanity. They – these mutated – wielded abilities beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.

What this alteration was exactly, the heads of the over-arching NIA governing body of governments weren’t saying. There was only one message they wanted to make sure all its’ representative citizens understood. They were making damn certain we knew and believed that this third group, this changed group, was dangerous. They were telling us that quarantining this third group from the rest of the populace was the only answer. With immediate and forced segregation, the “altered” needed removal or the rest of us were all doomed…

That was the message, in a nutshell, blaring over and over. We all heard it the first night Katie stayed with us. Hour after hour, until my step-father had finally stood and said it reminded him of old Germany during the second Great War. Wherein, he said, resentment had led to suspicion and suspicion to prejudice and prejudice to genocide. Decades later, before anyone realized what had happened, six million innocents lay murdered. Burned in ovens or gassed en masse in vast death chambers, while more toiled unto death or just left to starve.

He had ranted and raved that the modern world, even with so much progress, was heading down the same path. He told us then, the unifying government of the Northern Alliance was just using this as an excuse. He said, they were ignorant and cowards, and would do anything to safe guard their power. Prophet-like, he espoused the Northern Intercontinental Alliance would be the downfall of the United States as we knew it. He said way back then, this would be the undoing of the old world and the harbinger of a new, even more dangerous one. “In the end, we all will suffer,” - his words.

I wish I knew back then, sitting next to Katie and my mother, how right he’d been. I knew my step-father as many things. I should’ve paid attention to the prophetic side of him. He might not have had much schooling, but he wasn’t stupid either.

Instead, though, I shook my head at him with a smile on my face. I glanced over at Katie who was sitting next to me, staring at my father as if he were a lunatic. Her expression made my smile broaden, because I knew, in her parents’ household, no one spoke of worldly issues. Seeing my step-father stand before his overstuffed chair, exclaiming this and that about the world, must’ve been foreign to her. There was ample reason to believe it most likely struck her dumb.

On the other hand, I wish I had known then just how correct he was, unmistakable when stacked against my near future. I wish I had known what we were watching this night were the vestiges of things to come. I wish I known there would be gripping fear and paralyzing self-righteousness and indifference. I had no clue it would lead, as my step-father had said, to genocide.

I guess I could say it was its' nature that confounded us early on. It was of a sort unseen before. For the first time in human history, the issue didn’t involve religion or race or creed, even ethnic background. No, this would be the wholesale slaughter of every man, woman and child who, by chance, developed a mutated string in their genetic code.

This was a war on DNA and it was about to rage across the globe. It was a war that would injure my family and many, many people I held close to my heart. These were people I would avenge in the most gruesome of ways, methods that were unholy as some would say.

Once my mind was set though, there was no turning back.

[He feels the need to make a point.]

I mentioned this before, and I don’t mean to come across as redundant, but I’m not a good person. It is my contention, you are now beginning to understand the truth of this statement in regards to me. There is still time to recuse yourself from my madness. All you need do, my reader, is stop reading. If not, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

I was thorough.

[His sentiment made, he continues.]

So it was, that night, after the news ended and the late night shows began, Katie stood up. She stretched and stated she was going to bed. She walked over to my mother and gave her a tight hug, reiterating her thanks and appreciation for allowing her to stay for the summer. There was true gratitude in her whispered tones.

My mother just held the girls cheeks with both hands and told her she was always welcome in our home. My gracious mommy even told her she loved her like a daughter.

Katie’s eyes had misted over at that.

My father took it upon himself to move over to them and embraced Katie a few second later. He told her much the same.

She dipped her head and thanked him too. Then, she made for the stairs.

It was a school night, so my brother and sisters were already asleep in their beds. It was only the four of us still awake at the time.

For me, I usually stayed awake with my parents until just after midnight and then stumbled off to be myself. So, I had no real intention of leaving the TV at the moment. But, when I glanced in the direction Katie had gone, it surprised me to find she hadn’t gone up the stairs like I had first thought. In fact, she had stopped a few steps above the landing where the stairs began. She was just out of sight from my parents.

She was motioning for me to follow her.

I made to get up, but then she put her finger to her lips and waved me off with her other hand. I stopped. I immediately understood what she wanted to do. She wanted me to come up after her, only not now. She wanted me to follow her in a few minutes. That way my parents wouldn’t suspect I was following her.

This told me two things at the same time. One, she had no intention of sleeping just yet. Two, there was something else she wanted to do or say. Like always, when she did things like this and became all mysterious - I got excited.

I winked and nodded small, so only she could see.

She resumed her trek up the two flights of stairs to the Loft. The pads of her bare feet slapped against the hard wood of the stairs as she went.

I waited through two more segments of the show we were watching to pass. Then, I leaned over to my mother, told her I was going to call it a night. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

She glanced down at me and whispered, because the show had engrossed my father, “Goodnight, I love you.”

I stood and waved my hands at my father. “Dad, I’m out, see you tomorrow.”

He waved back without taking his eyes from the TV. Then, as an afterthought, “Hey, kid, is it ok if you miss school tomorrow?”

Flabbergasted by the question, I looked at my mother for more of an explanation.

She was already gazing back at me. “We don’t think Katie should be by herself tomorrow,” she said, picking up where my step-father had left off. “Since it’s already the end of the school year and tomorrow is your last full day, we felt you should stay here with her. And… well, make sure she stays out of trouble. You can take her with you to school the following day, which is a Minimum Day, if I recall correctly.”

I nodded.

My mother continued, “From then on, its summer vacation, so her being alone won’t that much of a problem. Is that ok with you, Effy? Do you understand?”

I was a little perturbed by the suggestion. I was looking forward to spending a full day of bullshit-time with my girlfriend, my friends and my cousin. But, the thought of having Katie to myself for the day kinda grew on me the longer I thought about it. After a short spell, I nodded. “Yeah, that’ll be fine, I guess.”

“Good, so that’s settled,” said my father with his ringing intonation of finality and turned back toward the TV.

“We’ll let you two sleep in, ok? I’m going to leave some money on the counter, so you can order take-out or something like that, sound good?” My mother was patting my forearm, her way of telling me to pay attention. “Just keep her around the house, at least for tomorrow, so she can get her feet on some solid ground. She needs to catch her breath and get centered and do… all the other good shit they say nowadays. Do you think you can manage that?” She gave me one of her sardonic smiles.

I returned it. “Not a problem.”

“Good, well good night, then,” she added. Then, she moved closer to my father, who had dropped onto the couch. She snuggled against the side of him and began watching TV with her head resting upon his shoulder.

I shrugged my shoulders and made for the stairs.

When I reached the Loft, I didn’t know what to expect. I had spent a little longer with my parents than I had anticipated.

Katie had only the small table lamp on, the one next to my bed on the nightstand. She had changed into her pajamas, a cotton top, light-blue. It had buttons up the front and a matching pair of comfy looking, baggy shorts. She had propped herself up against the headboard of the bed. She flipped through magazine she must’ve brought with her on her little foray into the wrong side of the law. Her Galaxy VII cell was next her on the bed. She had opened the windows wide to let in the warm summer breeze. It made her shoulder length hair play lazy about her head every time it flowed into the large room.

She looked up at me, over the edge of her magazine, her gaze direct. “Took you long enough,” she bitched.

Good to know at least some of the old Katie had returned.

“Ah, I had to work out some logistics involving you with my parents. That delayed me a few minutes, so blow it out your ass, little miss impatient,” I countered. I walked to my dresser and began rummaging for something to sleep in.

“Logistics? What do you mean?” asked Katie. She put down the magazine and picked up her cell, tapping at the glass within moments.

“It seems as though you and I are going to have the entire day together tomorrow at the request of my parents,” I replied. I settled on some loose shorts and a wife-beater. I closed the drawer with my ass when I finished.

“You’re not going to school tomorrow?” she inquired still focused on her phone.

“No, I am to stay here with you and hold the fort.”

She snorted, derisive. “More like keep me prisoner,” she mouthed around a sneer.

I never said Katie was stupid.

“Yeah, well, at least for a day until you ‘get your feet on solid ground’ or some shit like that.” I smiled. “Then the day after tomorrow, I’m to take you to school with me, and introduce you to all my friends.” My tone was dripping with sarcasm. I walked into the bathroom built right across from the door leading into the Loft. The contractors had built it between the two sleeping areas, providing some degree of separation to the two sides.

I began to change my clothes. Katie didn’t respond, so I continued on in silence, thinking she was still busy with her phone.

“So, what are we going to do tomorrow?” she asked into the silence. Yet, she had not inquired from the bed like I expected, rather from the doorway to the bathroom itself.

I just about jumped a mile into the air. I was still pulling up my shorts, well aware that she had been looking at my ass before she had said anything. “Jeez, Kat, you scared the shit out of me!”

“Why, because I caught you with your tight, little butt hanging out?” came her coy question.

Oh yeah, Katie was recovering from her ordeal quick.

“No, because I didn’t expect you to turn into a Peeping Tom or a Peeping… Oh, whatever the fuck you call the female version of the same thing!” I tried to keep the exasperation out of my voice, but failed.

“Ah, just admit it, you’re embarrassed. Get it? Em-bare-assed,” she retorted, making fun of me, laughing. “Besides, you shouldn’t have left the door halfway open.” Her challenging tone was back as well.

“Well then, next time you walk into the bathroom and we’re having a conversation, and you leave the door half way open, so you can hear, I will walk in on you and stare at your ass for a few seconds before I say anything.”

There take that!

“Be careful, Eff, you might like what you see…,” she trailed off and left the threshold of the bathroom.

I must’ve looked like an idiot, standing there with my mouth hanging open like a retard. Bitch!

I emerged from the bathroom to find her talking on her phone, and felt my ire creep up a few notches. What the fuck, I thought she wanted to talk or something? Unsure of what to do, I lounged on my bed, listening to her soft voice, speaking in low, measure tones. I let the length of the day seep into me. I slowed my breathing, deciding to wait and see what she wanted to do after she got off the phone.

Had she really leaned forward to taste my cock? Had she? I closed my eyes and dreamt of how it would’ve felt.