Broken Pt. 02

Editor's note: this submission contains scenes of incest or incest content.

Thanks to WA001 for the edits.

******

There I was cursing down the interstate heading home for the day. The wind blowing through the windows of my black '67 Chevy Impala hardtop. Yes, I'm a fanboy, so sue me. Yes, I'm that kind of fanboy that even has a devils trap on the underside of the trunk. Its 502-cubic-inch big block v8 purred as the engine hummed at eighty miles an hour. No. I didn't inherit the car. Found it on Auto Trader actually. Then spent the next four years in community college restoring it so I could practice my engineering skills, plus it's not like we had a lot of money. You know the saying: Idle hands do the devil's work and such. It wasn't a true restoration since I installed an A/C compressor and a Bluetooth enabled radio in it. Still, I love that car. Anyone who's lived on my street for any length of time would recognize the sound of the rumbling exhaust as I roll by. I'll give Roy this one little compliment, he could pick property. My eyes ran along the flowering Eastern Redbud trees that lined the driveway. When Roy and my grandmother had bought the place it was nothing more than farmland being sold off in chunks at the time. So now due to urban development my ten acres were completely surrounded. Not that I cared, I had a very spacious buffer zone.

"Who's piece of crap is that?" I muttered as the sound of my tires spoke as they rolled along the gravel. Eyeing the spot rusted, faded blue Buick as I drove past it to park in the very wide parking space Roy had cleared so if or when relatives came over no one got stuck and over stayed their welcome. Noting how it was parked underneath the cherry tree that sat at the left edge of the driveway. Shifting into park, sliding the key out of the ignition, not bothering to roll up the windows as I got out of my car. The gravel crunched underfoot as I made my way over to that out of place car. Arching an eyebrow when it was full of clothes and belongings, and it appeared to me someone was living within it. "Who the hell thinks they can squat here?" I asked, aloud. I turned my head at the sound of footsteps at the back of my house. "Hello...?" Instantly my anger shot up as my mother and her daughter came running around the corner. "You two want to tell me what the hell you're doing on my property?" I barked. Of course, I wasn't so blind not to note the scars, some old, some newer or the bar of soap in my mother's hand; or the fact that they both were in two piece swim suits.

"We didn't know when you'd be back," Pauline said, quickly hiding the bar of soap behind her back. Why was my mother ashamed? No, it couldn't be? I looked back to the car. They couldn't be living in that car? But why?

"We were trying to take a bath," Emily said aggressively, crossing her arms below her breasts. Casting me that look as she jutted out her left hip. For a second there I could have sworn I saw the vision of my young mother standing before me.

"Emily! Jacob doesn't need to know that!" My mother gasped. "He doesn't need to know of our..."

"I'm not ashamed of the sacrifices you made Mom." Sacrifices? What the hell is my half-sister going off about? "Don't let that ass," her chin gestured to me, "tell you otherwise. He doesn't know half of what we had to go through with Dad, or grandpa to you."

"You know what... I really don't care. Just get the fuck off my property," I said, waving off my sister as I walked towards the front steps of the wrap around porch.

"Please Jacob! Just give me a minute to explain?" I heard my mother rushing up from behind me.

"Explain what? What's there to explain!" I shouted throwing my arms into the air as I walked away.

"You're sister needs your help, if not she'll..." Okay, call me a softy but that did stop me in my tracks - literally.

"She'll what?" I asked, as I turned back. Noticing my mother on her knees bawling her eyes out into her towel.

"I'll die," Emily said, in that cold, sweet tone. "It's okay Mom. We knew this might happen. I'm already on the list. We'll just wait." List? Die? What the hell?! "I have aplastic anemia, that's the real reason we're really here. And before you ask, Mom stalks your Facebook page."

"I guess I'm going to have to set that to private," I muttered to myself.

"The reason she hasn't reached out is because that's her punishment to herself. To only be able to watch yet never to be able to speak with her own son. That's what she told me when I caught her staring at the small screen of her phone one day. The only thing Dad allowed any contact with the outside world in the apartment was that phone. I don't know what your life was like... listen I am sorry about your dad. I know me being here, or even alive is just a reminder of why he's dead. We honestly didn't know what had happened to him. They got me on medications that cost an arm and a leg. While it keeps the disease at bay, it's not a cure. Mom isn't a full match for me. And since you're my last close relative, I may have..."

"Alright, stop. If I'm going listen to this... lavished story. I'm going to need my strength to dig myself out of it," I said, trying to be polite, yet enforcing my displeasure at the notion. "That being said, I'm not about to be labeled a 'perv' by having two women bathing themselves in my backward. If you need a bath she can show you the way to the first floor bathroom and the guest room to change," I said, waving to my mother. "You have one hour, and I expect you not to wander through my home."

"Hey!"

"Emily don't!" I heard my mother hiss as I walked up the steps to the front door.

"I don't know you," I said darkly, as looked over her. "I'm not about to allow some person I don't have a clue about to wander my house freely. I don't trust you. We might share the same blood, but you are not my sister. You're right, you are absolutely right. Your very existence is a constant reminder of my father's death. I might hate you for what you represent, but not so much to let you die. Then you'd get off too easily. If I have to suffer so do you, there's that little pesky blood-tie. So if you would please, hurry up," I gestured to my house. "Those are the conditions I have in agreeing to hear you out. Take it or leave it."

"We'll take it," Pauline said, quickly before my half-sister could open her mouth.

"Well, hurry up, I'd like to get back before eight," I said, walking into my home.

I silently screamed into my hands as I sat on the corner of my bed in the remodeled master bedroom after I had freshened up. Well, that's one way to counter my bravado - well played Fate, well played. What if I am a full match for her. What then? Does she want a kidney? Part of my liver? Am I going to find myself waking up in a tub of ice in some seedy motel? Fuck me. Sighing as I lifted myself off my bed. I had changed into my favorite blue jeans. We all have a pair, am I right? My Nikes felt like a cloud compared to those dress shoes I have to wear. My fingertips skimmed along the wall of the stairwell as I walked down to the first floor. It was something I always did when I was growing up, it seemed old habits do die hard. Then... then well, Fate seems to be at work as my foot hung in the air to step onto the first floor and my half-sister looking up at me with doe-like eyes clutching her towel to her chest. Her wet hair draped along her back. The glass of soda that was in her hand shook at being caught.

"I-I thought you may not mind if I got..." Emily began to stammer.

"You wash it and put it in the sink when you're done," I said, keeping my sigh from my voice.

"I will," Emily muttered before scurrying off to her room.

I sighed loudly in my mind as I stared out onto the side yard as I sipped on my own glass of water. Pondering if I could even agree to do what she asked. What I said was true, I did want her to live, only to cause her as much torment, without being labeled sadistic, as I could. Or was that too mean of me? To do that to an obviously sick girl? Hell if I know, I'm in uncharted waters here.

"Jacob... we're ready." I heard my mother's voice from behind me. Turning, trying not to let my perplexed look mar my face at the sight of my mother's clothes. Even I could see that her attire was three to four years old. The places where she had sewn up tears, little patches for the holes too big for a simple sewing kit. While they were clean, that didn't hide the fact that it had been worn a lot. "What happened to the clothes from this morning?" I asked myself. Those did give off the feel that my mother was doing okay for herself, not this image of homelessness and poverty. Emily's clothes, while almost looking like they came off the rack, still had the look of being washed a hundred times. "Thank you, for letting us use your shower," Pauline said, bowing her head. That did peek my interest, this was not the woman that had left me eighteen years ago. "What the hell did Roy do to her?" I pondered.

"I assume the two of you are hungry?" I asked, setting my glass into the sink.

"Yes, but you don't have to do this, we can just sit down and talk, then... we'll leave and give you time..."

"Well, I'm hungry, if you want to come along... if not," I said, shrugging my shoulders. The sound of my keys scrapping along the table as I picked them up. This way if I do decide to throw them to the wolves they can't hide in my house. Feeling them at my back as I walked to the front door. Locking up as they filed past me. "Get in." Were the only words I uttered as I walked around the front of my car.

"Billy would have loved this car." I heard my mother whisper as I slid into the driver's seat. I chose to ignore it. The car shook as I turned over that big block v8. The beeping of the Bluetooth of my phone connecting to the radio flared off in my pocket. Starting my iHeart station as we rolled down the driveway. I watched as my mother and half-sister were pushed back into their seats as I peeled out heading towards old Kent's Diner down the road. AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell' spilling out the windows as we zoomed down the street.

******

"So..."

"Can we get anything we want?" Emily asked, looking at me with pleading eyes as she peered over the edge of the menu.

"Within reason."

"Thank you again... son," Pauline whispered. I noted how she fought herself from reaching out and touching my hand.

"What are you doing living in a car?" I asked, not blunting my tone or the question.

"After... Roy," I watched her carefully chose that word as she searched my face, "died, we were finally free. The moment his life insurance payed out I packed up what little me and Emily had and left that town. I never wanted to be there. I wanted my son, I wanted to hold you. Sing to you like I always did. Yet my father was a very controlling man. It only got worse when Mom divorced him. Emily and I were essentially slaves to him, me more so than Emily. That was another reason why I couldn't leave Emily alone with him if I wanted to slip off and come and see you. I knew if he could do that to me, he would have no problem doing that same thing to Emily." My eyes glanced over to my half-sister who looked away in embarrassment.

"So what I saw that day... was what?"

"You have to understand, the bank was about to foreclose on the house due to the money Billy and I had used to get him some help that he really needed. Roy," I listened to how she tried to hide her sneer at his name, "learned about it and offered a way to help pay off what we owed to get back into good standing with the bank for a price," Pauline said, not hiding the truth any longer.

"So... he forced you to have sex with him in order to get the money you needed? Am I getting that right?" I asked, skeptically.

"Yes. I did it for my family. I love Billy. I knew how hard he would take it if we lost the house. I knew at the time he just couldn't handle the stress. Yet Roy only did it to control me. Thinking that once he had me, he could do it any time he wanted. I never wanted either of you to find out. I was willing to do that, to degrade myself in order to help my family." I looked down as my mother's hand covered mine. "Yet given how I ran out of the house without my ID, purse, and wallet. I had no way to get home. I was at Roy's mercy as he drove and drove. It took me years just to get him to agree to let me outside the apartment on my own. More so, for me to have my own bank account again. He only wanted two things from me, to cook him dinner and to take his... you know," Pauline said, her cheeks heating as her eyes glanced down.

"And you couldn't have... I don't know skipped town the moment he left you alone?" I asked, argumentatively.

"No." I watched as my mother's hair brushed against her chest as she shook her head. "He had people watching us. They would always pop over unannounced to make sure we were always there. If we weren't Roy would find me and beat me, never Emily, she was too young at the time. Then I finally got him to buy me a phone after fifteen years of putting up with his crap. Then I found you on Facebook... and I kind of sort..."

"Went all 'Fatal Attraction' on me?"

"Yes," Pauline giggled.

"So all that I heard was what... you faking it?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink as we waited to be served.

"Duh! You honestly think I enjoyed doing that?" My mother looked at me with a pointed look.

"So what actually do you want from me?" I asked, ignoring my mother's question. "Other than my DNA."

"I was hoping that you would agree to be tested to see if you're a match for Emily," Pauline said, reaching over and squeezing her daughter's hand.

"If I am, then what?"

"I need a bone marrow transplant. The infection that gave me aplastic anemia can only be cured with it. If not... well they don't give me much longer," Emily said, sounding like she had already accepted her fate. "I know us showing up like this out of the blue, is probably really hard for you to take. But could you please see it in your heart to think about it... brother," she said, gently placing her hand on my arm as she reached across the table. What the hell was her relation to me anyway? Sister? Aunt? The Queen of Timbuktu?! Fuck if I know.

"If I'm not a full match, then what would you do?" I asked, looking at my mother.

"I'll pray and hope that someone does match. But I'm not leaving town, ever again. You might not want to see me after the test comes back, and I'll understand if you don't. We'll find some where to live in the meantime... while we wait."

"You'd go back to sleeping in your car again wouldn't you?" I asked, to which my mother nodded.

"All the money we got from the policy, other than using what we had to use to get down here, has been sitting quietly in the bank for when Emily can have her operation." I had wondered how she was going to pay for it. There was no way in hell I was paying, that was for a fact. "So until I can find a job, that's where we'll be staying."

"And just how long have you been doing that?"

"A couple of weeks. It took a while for that car to make it down here with its constant overheating," Emily said, setting down her menu. Fuck me sideways! Am I really going to have to be the good guy here?! I so hate you Fate!

"You can use the guest..." Holding up my hands at their gasps. "Room. Until the test comes back, after that I want you out."

"Really son? You would do that?" Pauline asked, I could see the tears in her eyes. I better get a fucking medal for this!

"Sure," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"I promise, we won't be a bother," Pauline said, once the waiter had taken our order. "I'll cook, I'll clean, do whatever you want while we're there."

"Uh-huh," I muttered. Already hating myself for even offering it.

I ate my food slowly, noting how Emily was wolfing down her hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, and Cole slaw. Every so often taking a sip of her milkshake then chasing it down with her coke. I wondered how long it had been since they'd had a decent meal and not something they could get off the dollar menu.

"Jacob, do they still have their key lime pie?" My mother whispered thinking that if she said it any louder her request would go unanswered.

"I guess, I haven't ordered it since..." I left my words hanging in the air knowing she would know what I meant.

"Oh. Would you mind if I had a slice?" Pauline asked, those hazel eyes of hers silently pleading with me.

"No."

"Thank you." I looked up at my mother as her thumb brushed the back of my hand. It almost felt like it was eighteen years ago as my mother turned in her seat and waved her arm to get the woman's attention.

I watched as Emily's cheeks sank in as she drew the last bit of her milkshake through her straw. Then how she winced as she pinched her nose. I would have laughed if it wasn't so cute. Okay, where the hell did that come from?

"Thank you for dinner, son," Pauline said, in that warm motherly voice I had once known as she slid in beside me.

"I love this car! So roomy!" Emily exclaimed as she stretched her arms.

"Umm... yeah... thanks," I mumbled as I started the engine. I tried not to notice her smile as I turned in my seat to back out of the parking space.

I tried; I really did try not to notice how my mother was leaning on the armrest. The way the wind lifted her hair, the way the sun played along her smile as she stared out before us, or how her hand sat in the middle of the seat. Waiting for the time that I would hold onto it like all those years ago. The exhaust rumbled, reaching forward, turning the radio up as Shinedown's 'Burning Bright' came over the speakers as I pulled out of the parking lot.

Their song 'The Crow and the Butterfly' softly faded out as I cut off the car as we idled in my driveway. I don't know how long we sat there waiting for one of us to say a word. So without a word, I opened the car door, closed it, and walked towards my home. Whether or not they were following I didn't know. As I was walking back down after I slipped out of my shoes and put on a more comfortable shirt. I eyed the bags Emily was carrying and the laundry basket my mother was carrying as I stood on the last step of the stairs. I didn't say a word as they quickly walked past me. Honestly, I just wanted to binge watch some Supernatural on Netflix and go to bed. This was not how I thought my night was going to go.

"Honey..." That word stopped me dead in my tracks. I have forgotten when the last time I heard that word. My grandmother never used it with me. It was either son, or Jacob, never honey, sweetheart, or any other forms of endearment. Okay, yes at seven I didn't understand her bitterness, while it wasn't directed at me, however, I was the only one she could take it out on. As I grew older I began to understand, that when she got angry with me for no reason, it was me she was venting at, but it was about Roy and Pauline. Maybe my dad too, given how she was stuck raising his child when she was just turning 50. "Jacob?" My mother tentatively peeked around the door that led to the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I answered coming out of my stupor. God. I needed a drink. I don't drink a lot just every once in a while. I would think anyone would agree right then, a drink was very much required.

"Would it be okay if I washed mine and Emily's clothes?" I did notice how my mother looked at the glass of brown liquor and the few ice cubes that were floating within it. The way her eyes shot to mine as I just stood there. I knew she wanted to say something as I took a sip yet held her tongue.

"I kind of figured that, given," I said, my hand gestured to her own attire. I wondered how many times they had to wear the same clothes... equally horrified about underwear. "The ground floor layout hasn't changed, the laundry room is still where it is, just with newer machines," I said, turning to walk the roundabout way to the living room. "The detergent is in the top shelf, same with the dryer sheets, if you use them," I stated as I left the room.