Branded

What a perfect night. The fire crackled a little and he held a stick with a marshmallow on the end near the flames. But he wasn't really paying attention to the roasting process, he had no intention of eating it. Instead he was focused on the girl sitting next to him. Ninth grade junior high graduation party at the lakeand after a year's worth of effort, Jenn had finally agreed to be his date.

He sat there with his arm around her, both staring at the fire, she snuggled close to him and put her head on his shoulder. He could feel every place she pressed against him, but somehow his mind still tuned in to the noises around.

A few early crickets in the tree litter. A few late toads making their calls down by the river. Fowler's toad or American toad? Fowler's, he thought. And what was that? A whip-poor-will? No, a Chuck-will's-widow. Much more common around here.

Ah, life was good. In fact, perfect! Just a few more days of school and then they had the whole summer together. He squeezed her closer, but she stirred, "I'm sorry, Jonah. I have to go inside for just a minute and then I'll be right back. Save my place." She kissed his cheek and he watched her walk away. Beautiful. Despite the fire, he could feel the cool night air seeping into everywhere she had rested against him.

He became aware of someone sliding in next to him on the log. He turned, "Noel! What are you doing..."

"Jonah, I need to talk to you. It's important. I know you like Jenn, and that's great. I want you to be happy, but I just wanted you to know that I like you, Jonah. Like I really, really like you and have for years. So, if things don't work out, would you think about calling me, please?"

"Uh, I don't know, Noel...I'll, well, it's too early to think about that now."

"I understand, but I want to give you a little reminder to think about me." She reached in the fire and pulled out a yellow orange heart shaped brand and touched his left chest with it. It burned through his t-shirt and into his skin.

He swatted her arm away almost immediately, instinctively, but not before smoke and the smell of burned flesh filled the air. Jumping up from the log and rubbing his chest, "Arrrrh! What the heck, Noel? You just burned the hell out of me. Why? Why would you do that?"

Noel was in shock. She couldn't speak. Tears filled her eyes and she held her hand to her mouth. "I...oh, Jonah, I'm so sorry. My brothers. My father. They said it would just leave a tiny red heart. It wouldn't hurt! I didn't know it would do that! I am so, so sorry. I didn't know. God, I'm so stupid. Let me help you, please!"

"You're not stupid. You're psycho. Heck, your whole stinkin' family is psycho. Get away from me. Now!" He turned and stomped up to the house taking his shirt off to assess the damage.

She remained motionless for a moment watching his thin, scrawny back disappear towards the house. She could hear him cursing her name all the way there. She stood motionless, not so much as a twitch except for the tears running down her cheek.

Everything at the party had stopped. Everyone was staring at her. But she didn't care about that. She was used to it. They knew her family and assumed she was just the same. The only thing she cared about was the fact that the boy she loved would now hate her forever.

She turned and stumbled into the woods. She considered walking into the lake and putting an end to it all, but she needed to pay a penance. To Jonah, to the world.

He was right. Her family was psycho. She was cursed with a lowlife father and three much older brothers who were known throughout the county for their ability to get into trouble. Each had had more than one trip to juve. But she still didn't understand. Her own family! Why? Why had they done this to her? Why did she even think for a minute they were trying to help her? As soon as she could she was moving out and would get away from them, just like her mom had.

As she walked away through the woods, she took the now orange hot poker and shoved it against her left breast and held it there. A low moan escaped the back of her throat as it burned deeper. It didn't matter. She finally stopped as the brand cooled and the burning stopped. She threw it into the lake. Everything she had hoped for, dreamed of, gone. She started the long, lonely walk home. Not even looking at her chest.

She was still in a daze as she walked through the door, tears still freely falling. "What did that bastard do to you, Noel? Did he hit you? Hurt you? Shit! Look at your chest!"

"No. He didn't do anything except scream in pain and run away. Why would you all do this to me? Why would you intentionally lie to me and ruin everything I wanted?"

"Oh, come on, sis, we were just having fun. He's such a loser. You're our sister and we have to look out for you, plain and simple. Like Dad always says, we can't have you turning into a worthless slut whore like Mom. That guy is a little puny piece of shit. You can do so much better. Don't worry, when the time is right, we'll find the right guy for you."

Laughing, "And she'll be about forty or something, right, Kyle?"

"Yup. That's the plan."

"No! No you won't pick out a husband for me when I'm forty. I just don't understand. I do everything I can to take care of the three of you and Dad and this is what I get? Why?" Not waiting for an answer, she stumbled to her room. Locked the door, put the 2 X 4 into it's brackets and pulled her dresser against it. Her nightly routine since she was twelve. Just in case.

She didn't trust them, not a bit. Too many tweaks, touches and slaps. The boys made her nervous. Never one on one with any of them. She was always on guard. The door was tested way too many times at night, especially when they'd been drinking and the sleigh bells on her door knob woke her up a lot.

But she didn't care about any of that tonight. She didn't even care about the big hole in her breast. It was tiny compared to the hole in her heart. She pulled out the small crinkled photo of her mother. The only one in the house. "I understand why you left, Mom. I do. I just wish you had taken me with you."

The next evening, Saturday, Jonah was on his way to Jenn's house. He was excited. Last night had ended kind of unexpectedly. Jenn was more concerned about caring for him, which was great, and he remembered her hands on his chest, but the romantic part was over.

He never got that kiss he'd been hoping for. The one that would seal the deal on their summer romance. He figured they could take a walk or sit on her porch or whatever. Didn't matter. A car pulled up and three guys piled out. "You! You piece of shit! You hurt our sister!"

"No. I believe she hurt me."

"Maybe, but then you burned her. No one does anything to our sister without our blessing. You're going to have to be punished."

He held up his hands as they approached. "I don't know what you're talking about. I never touched her. I..." The fist hit him in the cheek and he was stunned. Life wasn't like the movies. First good punch ends the fight. He couldn't focus, he couldn't think.

What? The next one hit him in the belly. He fell over and was vaguely aware of being kicked, but all he could do was curl into a ball and wait for it to end.

Laughter, he was vaguely aware of laughter and a car squealing off, but he continued to lie in the grass. Some time later he slowly raised his head. Everything. Every part of him was sore, but not as bad as he'd have thought. He'd never been in a fight before. This was all new. Why did some of the guys he knew actually like to get into fights? Nuts. But nothing seemed broken. His teeth were all there.

He pulled out his phone and called Jenn. His speech was a little garbled and unclear. "Jenn, sorry I'm late. I ran into a little, uh, trouble. I'm going to have to stay at home tonight. Sorry."

"Oh, Jonah! Are you alright?"

"Yea. I think so. I'll talk to you tomorrow. OK? Sorry. I was really looking forward to..."

"Jonah? I can't see you anymore."

"What! Why? Did I do something..."

"No! Absolutely not. You're wonderful. But..my folks...we got all kinds of crazy threats and calls. They said that if I went out with you that I would get the same treatment you were going to get. I was going to ignore them, but when my folks found out who might be behind this... Well, I'm not allowed to see you. I am so sorry, Jonah. I thought we'd have a terrific summer together and maybe longer. I was really looking forward to it. But, Jonah, you sound terrible. Do you need help?"

His world collapsed. "No. No, I'm fine. I don't blame you. I would never forgive myself if they did to you what they just did to me. See you in school."

He wandered home, snuck in the door, filled some baggies with ice and went to bed. The pain was manageable. Turns out you can get pulverized and it doesn't hurt near as bad as he thought.

The brothers were right though. He was tall and gangly. Anyone who wanted to could probably beat the heck out of him. Heck, even a bunch of the girls could probably do it. He became filled with anger. Never! Never again! No one would ever do that to him again. He made a promise to himself. Starting tomorrow...

He awoke Sunday and started to get out of bed, then lay back down. Turns out out getting pulverized doesn't hurt much...until the next day. Everything hurt, but he had things to do. He got up, got dressed and by the time he got to the kitchen things were starting to loosen up. His chest hurt more than anything, in more ways than one.

His mom turned towards him and gasped. "Jonah, what on earth? I thought you were out with Jenn last night."

"Never quite made it. I ran into a few friends who wanted to discuss my choice in music."

"That's crap, Jonah. We both know it. You get burned on Friday and then beat up on Saturday? Is it that Noel girl again? Or those crazy brothers of hers? Do we need to go to the police?"

"It's all under control, Mom. I've got it handled," which he obviously didn't. "But when the sports store opens up, can you drive me? I'm going to spend some of my savings. I need to start changing things."

He got weights, weight table, and a jump rope, but he needed a plan, goals, some instruction. He went online. At school they did the Marine physical fitness test, never his strong point, but not bad, but here was one for the Navy Seals, the PST, physical screening test. Sit ups, pull ups, pushups, running, swimming, along with a set of minimums and best goals.

But more importantly there were videos on how to get started. He watched YouTube videos on weight training and a lot more. He didn't want to join the gym and be the '90 lb. weakling' that everyone laughed about so he would have to do it on his own.

As he thought about it, though, even if he became the Hulk, almost anyone could still beat the heck out of him. So, more research and he found a martial arts place within walking distance of school.

Monday morning he felt awful. Between what they did to him Saturday and what he did to himself Sunday, everything hurt, but he was on his way. As he got off the school bus and hobbled into school, everyone stopped and stared. He still looked all lumpy and bruised. Jenn saw him, burst into tears, "Oh, Jonah, I am so sorry. Are you doing alright?"

"Yea, I guess. I just wish we could have, you know, spent more time together."

"Me too, but I can't, sorry."

At noon, he walked into the lunch room. Again silence descended followed by whispers. Turning to leave he came face to face with Noel, who took one look and she let out an anguished moan and burst into tears. She started to reach a palm to his face, but looking in his eyes she saw the anger and hate and let it drop.

"Here, Noel. I think I still have one place over here on my cheek that's not black and blue. Why don't you punch me there and fill in that blank spot your brothers left."

"They did this? Jonah, I didn't know. I didn't tell them. You have to believe me. I would never do anything to hurt you or have them hurt you. Please? I'm so sorry. What can I do to help?"

"Like I said Friday. Please just stay away. Not sure I can take much more of your affection." She turned and ran down the hall. Her brother grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Sis? What's the matter?"

"What's the matter? You beat up Jonah. Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because he hurt you. No one hurts my sister."

"He never hurt me! I hurt him!"

"Oops! My mistake." She punched him in the face and knocked him down.

"Oops, my mistake, dick head. We're going to talk when I get home."

She went on strike. Did nothing around the house. She was done. They were on their own, no cooking, cleaning, laundry, picking up. Nothing. It worked until Friday.

She knew something was up, she saw her youngest brother, Greg, in school and he gave her an evil, I know something you don't know, kind of grin. She fretted about it all day and got extremely nervous when she walked in her front door and her brothers were on the couch drinking.

"Oh, Noel. You've been a bad, bad girl. So Dad has a little surprise for you. He's going to talk to you after work."

"I have not been bad. I should not have to be the only one that does everything around here. You three..."

"Noel, just go down the hall and check your surprise. I think you'll be pleased." She was more frightened with every step, but then she saw it. THE DOOR! The door to her bedroom was gone, taken off the hinges. Oh, crap! It was one thing to have the wolves at your door. Another altogether when there was no door.

She quickly packed up some clothes and things into a knapsack just in case and slid it under the bed. Better to run away than live without the door. She went into the closet and pushed the bolt closed and felt safe again.

She heard her father come home, scrambled out of the closet, and she stood stock still at her bottom of her bed. She assumed the stance. No feelings; no emotion; blank, empty face; passive stance; and no attempt at defense. Just let it wash over you and hope it doesn't hurt too much.

"Noel, I'm very disappointed in you. You're becoming a common slut, a whore just like your mom and I won't have it. Worse yet, you aren't doing your fair share around the house. So you have about thirty seconds to start getting about your business or the door is going to stay off forever. What do you say?"

"I'm sorry, Dad. I've learned my lesson and will resume my fair share of duties around the house. I'm sorry, Daddy, I shouldn't have acted this way. please forgive me."

"Good. Good to hear, Noel. You know that me and your brothers have only your best interests at heart. So why don't you go out there and apologize to your brothers for the way you've been behaving and then start dinner. Oh, and why don't you whip up one of those chocolate cakes with icing. We need to celebrate being one big happy family again.

"And you need to get busy, Noel. You're about a week behind with the laundry, there's a huge stack of dishes, and the toilets are a mess. I don't know why your brothers can't shoot straight when they drink. KYLE! TRAVIS! Your sister has something to say to you, then put the door back on. Greg! Get me a beer. It's been a tough week."

Once school was out, Jonah went full bore. Up early, calisthenics, weights; run four miles to the lake, swim as hard as he could for forty-five minutes; run three miles to his folks' bakery; run to the training center after his shift; class and workout for an hour or two; then run home.

Grueling, but he loved it. And, after all, he had nothing else to do. No girl would go out with him for more than one or two dates before the phone calls would start and they'd break it off. The word spread and soon he didn't even get the first dates.

Jonah got bigger each year, but still no dates. He was accepted to a wilderness EMT program in Colorado. Undergraduate education mixed with EMT courses. Summers filled with search and rescue, ropes course, rock climbing, kayaking, tracking, nature studies and leadership courses. He couldn't wait to start and was signed up for summer school to jump start his training.

Noel got her GED junior year just in case, but stayed in school to take nursing prerequisites. Her evenings were filled with nurses aide courses and she got her certificate senior year. She was accepted to a four year nursing school in Washington state, far away from father and brothers. Between her double schooling and 'her fair share' of household maintenance, sleep was a rare commodity.

Jonah was excited. He finally had a date. A date to the graduation formal. A new girl to the school. The last hoorah of high school. He double checked his tux, picked up the flowers and corsage he'd gotten for Emily when his phone rang. It was Emily. "Hi, Em, I'll be there to pick you up in just a bit. I am so excited about going to the party with you. Wait. Are you crying? What's the problem?"

Sobbing. "Jonah, I am so sorry, but I'm scared. For two days my family has gotten all these crazy phone calls warning me not to go with you. I told whoever it was to get lost, but they flattened the tires of my car and left a note saying that that was just the start. Jonah, I just can go with you. I..."

"I understand. It's alright. You're making the right choice. I don't want you or your family to get hurt or anything. Those guys are crazy. Thanks for thinking of me. Good luck at State in the Fall. Wait, you know, if you still wanted to go, I'll stay home. That way you won't miss it. I'm sure you'll look beautiful in your dress."

"And what you just offered to do is exactly why I wanted to go to the dance with you, but my folks think I need to stay clear. Thanks though. Have a great summer out in Colorado. I'm jealous."

He decided he might as well go to the party anyway. He knew none of the girls would dance with him, but it was supposed to be a great band and he could hang out with some of his stag buddies. He drove to school, got something to drink and as he turned around, Noel was standing there.

"You're kind of making a habit of sneaking up on me aren't you, Noel?"

"Jonah, I know you don't think much of me, but could we have one dance together? Just one dance? Please? It's OK if you're gay or whatever. That's great if you are it's just...Please?"

The stared at her dumbfounded. "Gay? Why would you say that?"

"Well, you never date any of the girls in school, you've become the most gorgeous guy in the class, and it seems you're always hanging around with the guys."

"You're shitting me, aren't you Noel? I never have any dates because of you. Every time I start to date someone they get threatened and bad things happen. I'm an untouchable. I had a date for tonight and you popped her tires."

"Jonah, I didn't do that. I'd never do that. I didn't know. I had no idea. I want you to be happy even if you don't like me. Shit! My brothers! Oh, Jonah, I am so sorry. If I had known..."

"I'm having a hard time believing that, Noel, and I'm sort of tired of your 'I'm sorries.'"

"But, Jonah, I..." she burst into tears and her eye makeup started to run down her cheeks. She turned to leave, "Jonah, I would never, ever do anything to hurt you. I'll go. Have a great life. If it's any consolation to you, I'm an untouchable too. I haven't had a single date in high school. Not a one. I guess that was also my brothers' work."

She cried all the way home. Damn them! Damn them! She ran to her room, locked it all up, yanked off her new dress--well, new from the thrift shop--and cried.

Her brothers looked at each other. "Guess that asshole is at it again. We've really got to make him pay this time. Why don't we wait until later tonight and..."

At 2 AM the phone rang at the Baxter home and he heard his mom pick it up and gasp, then, "No! No! It can't be. We'll be right there." Hearing the call, he jumped out of bed.