Familiar Faces
Travis
It all just felt weird, and I wasn’t thinking about the slow and quiet kind of sex I just had with Wrenly in her childhood bed. A bed we slept in as kids, but it was way more innocent back in those days.
I was thinking about the entire trip feeling weird. Being in a house I spent my childhood visiting, playing basketball with Wrenly in what I considered the driveway of my childhood home, long talks with Clint, and of course the fact that my mother was only a few miles away in a home she shared with a daughter that she lovingly raised. Not to mention my father’s grave was only two miles away.
Wrenly was sleeping in my arms, which brought a smile to my face. I kissed her head and took in her scent before I looked back up at the ceiling. Playing basketball at Tony’s felt weird, but when Wrenly came out it was fun. Just like the old days. She was funny and absolutely adorable when she challenged those kids. She actually put effort into scoring more shots than a few eleven year old boys. I ended up throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her back to Clint’s so she would stop rubbing her win in the boys faces.
I finally fell asleep, but it wasn’t the most restful sleep. It was awkward and the past was constantly gnawing at me to stop ignoring it. I woke early and went for a walk, which led me to the cemetery. I visited with Tony, and the addition of the name Tyler Trenton to his head stone really brought Wrenly’s loss to reality. I was glad she put the baby with him, but also curious how Matt truly felt about it. It was kind of an odd thing to do in my opinion.
It was my first visit to Tony’s grave. I was only home the one time, and I wasn’t ready to see it yet. Seeing his name carved into that stone brought back a bad memory of seeing him in that casket. Then of course needing my parents to comfort me, instead I got sick alone in a bathroom and they left me there, with Tony’s dead body and an empty old house. I was sure the old man that ran the place was still around, but nonetheless it was the most alone and scared I ever felt in my life.
I looked up from Tony’s headstone and saw another headstone with Irons written in large letters. It was huge, which made me think more than one person shared the plot. I walked toward it and saw my grandparents names but next to them was Robert Irons. My heart didn’t just sink, it nosedived. It was real, my dad was really dead. On the grave was a little teddy bear and a photo frame. It looked brand new, like it was just left in the last few days. The picture in the frame confused me, it was my mother with a little girl. A girl that wasn’t his daughter, but the daughter his former wife had with another man. A small smile did Crack the surface when I saw the girl, she was adorable. On the back of the frame was “I miss you, Uncle Robert.”
I shook my head in confusion. Wrenly said my parents became close friends after the divorce, but how were they possibly that close?
That was when I heard something, a groan from the other side of the headstone. Come on, it was a cemetery, of course it freaked me the fuck out at first. But I wasn’t a chicken shit, I slowly peeked around the back and saw a kid asleep with an empty bottle of Windsor. He was half propped up on the stone, the bottle laying between his legs, and he was young. Not like Jacob, but an older teenager. He didn’t look familiar at all. His black hair was shaggy, and he definitely wore decent clothes, unlike what I would expect from a runaway. I took a look around the cemetery to see if I saw any other kids, but we were completely alone. I didn’t even see a car.
I tapped his shoe with mine. “Hey kid.”
Nothing, he didn’t even stir a little. I tapped it a little harder again, and he groaned. “Hey, what are you doing out here?
He groaned and barely turned his head.
“Well, at least you didn’t freeze to death last night, but you better wake up.”
His eyes fluttered and he reached for his head like he was in pain.
“Yeah kid, a hangover will do that to you. What are you doing out here?”
As I stared down at him, he fought to open his eyes, then they slowly trailed up from my shoes all the way up until he squinted, then his eyes grew. “What the fuck?” He jumped then looked at me again. “Dad?”
I chuckled. “Well, no I’m not your dad, but I’d really like to know what you’re doing passed out drunk in a cemetery. The last I knew the legal drinking age was 21 in these parts.”
“Wait.” He tilted his head and rubbed his eyes then looked at me again. “Dad.” He whispered. “Am I dead?”
I chuckled. “Are you dead? I sure as hell hope not, otherwise it means we’re both dead and I think I still have a pulse.”
The kid shook his head. “You’re…so young now.”
I sighed. “Okay, I don’t know what kind of shit you’re on, but we need to get you out of here and somewhere warm. Don’t you have any parents or somewhere to go?”
He pulled his legs up like he was scared. “I’m never drinking again. This is so fucked up, you can’t be real. Please leave me alone if you’re his ghost.”
I tilted my head a little more in confusion. “Kid, seriously, you need help. Don’t you have a home to go to or somewhere safe?”
He rubbed his eyes again. “Please make it leave. It’s not my dad, just a figment of my imagination. Jesus, how much did I drink?”
I put my hands on my hips. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He whispered something to himself and slowly opened his eyes again. “Shit!” He jumped. “It’s still here. Did someone roofie my drink last night or what?” He shut his eyes for a second then whispered something. “No, you’re too young to be my dad. Are you Uncle Tony? He was young when he died.” The kid slowly opened his eyes and suddenly I knew exactly who the kid was.
“Oh shit.” I ran my hand down my face. What the fuck do I do now? It was the kid my dad abandoned me for all those years ago.
“That’s it, isn’t it? Dad sent you, he’s pissed isn’t he?”
It took all I had not to laugh. “No kid, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not Tony and I’m definitely not Robert. Didn’t really know our dad all that well, but you did.”
His eyes grew even larger, and he swallowed hard. “Travis?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’d say that guess is a hell of a lot more logical of a guess than a dead dad or uncle. What the hell are you doing passed out in a cemetery?” The kid looked nothing like me, dad or Tony. I never would have guessed him to be a half-brother. He had dark hair and dark brown eyes, whereas the rest of us have light hair and blue eyes. He’s not built either, though it looks as if he might have the Irons height, that was about all.
“Holy shit.” He muttered as he looked me up and down. “You look…like…”
“Tony.” I answered for him.
He shook his head then nodded but then shook his head again. “I didn’t know Tony, I mean I was really little when he died. You look like dad but that’s not what I was going to say. You look much bigger than your photo.”
I tilted my head in confusion. “My photo?”
He nodded. “Well, you were in your fatigues and had a helmet on. Your face looks the same, but you’re big. Like huge.”
“What picture did dad have?” That sparked my curiosity.
“The one from the website. I mean, the Facebook page. You know, your basic training thing from a long time ago. Dad printed a few copies and well...he was buried with one copy.” He said.
“He followed my basic training?” I was surprised.
“Yeah, it was some Facebook group for families to follow their soldiers and see pictures…and he had another picture too. It was you with a bunch of other guys in fatigues, but I could always pick you out. You were over there, I think. In the war or maybe on a mission.”
I was totally confused. “Dad knew where I was?”
He looked around again, then at the empty bottle, at his clothes then back up at me. “You’re home? Wait…yeah obviously you’re home but why now? Wait, that didn’t sound right. Umm…dad said you’d come home someday but not to call you, he was ashamed of himself at the end. Um…he fucked up and had regrets. That he was the last person you needed in your life, but um…yeah he tried keeping up with you…but don’t worry he didn’t tell Paula. Um…dammit my brain isn’t working yet.” He scratched his head then lifted his arm to sniff himself, then made a grimacing face. “Holy shit what happened to me?” He looked around the cemetery again. “This is totally fucked up, and not the way I ever dreamed I would meet you.”
“Yeah, how the hell did you end up passed out in a cemetery?” I asked for a final time.
“I don’t remember. I was out with my girl, and it was my birthday. I dropped her off then went to a buddy’s place and had a few beers. My other friends came, and they were already shit faced.” He picked up the bottle and studied it. “I was upset and that’s why I drank in the first place, I was pissed off.” He paused as he thought about it. “Yeah, everyone was drunk, I was thinking about dad and…hell my mom…shit I remember walking out of the apartment and…” His eyes lifted to mine. “I didn’t want to go home and see mom. Not that way, so I umm… just walked.” He looked down at the bottle. “It wasn’t even half full but shit that’s a lot of liquor.”
I squatted down so he didn’t have to look into the rising sun to see me. “Do you live far away?”
He shook his head. “No, we moved in to my…I mean our grandparents place when dad got sick. Mom and I still live there…well at least for now.” He looked over at me. “Why are you home? They all said you were gone forever.”
“How about I walk you home and I’ll answer your questions? How the hell you kept from freezing last night is beyond me.” He barely had an ounce of fat on him. Maybe a little muscle but nothing like most men in the Irons family. Even my grandpa was a big man. I remember being skinny as a kid, Tony helped me bulk up, but by my late teens there was some natural muscle, like dad and especially Tony.
He looked a bit nervous. “I um…well I don’t think it’s a good idea to meet my mom.”
Yeah, well she was the fucking bitch dad cheated with and threw me away for, so I had no desire to meet her either. “I won’t walk you in, just walk you home and that’s it.” I’d rather be back with Wrenly than take the walk anyway.
He sniffed himself again. “I guess having breakfast with me is out of the question?”
I nodded in agreement. He looked like shit. “You’re a mess, come on, let’s get you home.” I put out my hand and he pulled himself up, and my eyes were the ones to grow. He was as tall as Drakos, Jesus. “Holy shit you’re tall.” And skinny. “Please tell me you played basketball.”
“Yeah, I did but that’s another story for another day.” He looked miserable, but wiped the seat of his pants off. I grabbed the bottle and spotted a trash bin and walked over to it and he followed me.
“It’s been awhile since I read dad’s obituary, what is your name again?” I felt weird asking but the whole ordeal was something I didn’t think much about after Wrenly told me.
“Brock Irons.” He answered. “I’m guessing nobody told you about me?” He asked.
I shook my head. “Not until recently.” We started walking the opposite direction of Clint’s place, toward the west gate of the cemetery.
“That’s at no fault of your own. I’m not under some sort of delusion that dad was the best father a kid could have, honestly he was fucked up.” He surprised me.
“In what way?” I wasn’t even sure why I cared.
“Aunt Tricia told me all about life before I was born and obviously I lived to see dad’s end. From what I was told, we had an older brother that was kidnapped. Dad and Paula abandoned you and let the family toss you around for a while. You were closest to Tony, dads brother, then you got into some trouble when he died. Nobody saw you again after that, and dad made it well known that he fucked up by not helping you. Believe me, he made it quite clear.”
“That’s true, but what kind of a dad was he for you?” I genuinely wanted to know, not to punish myself but the kid obviously had some problems.
“I’m not making light of your situation, honestly I’m not, so please don’t take this wrong, but I think you were the lucky one. Dad was a drunk, a functional one when I was a kid but that changed, at least that’s what I’m told. Mom always told me it was regrets that made him that way. She stuck with him, and I never understood why. He was nicer to your mom and her daughter than us. Sure, we had our moments. We went fishing and all, but those times were few and far between. He wanted your mom back for as long as I can remember. He was obsessed with the internet, always looking for you. He thought you would be killed over there, you know?”
I walked with my hands in my pockets as I listened. “You obviously miss him, I did find you sleeping at his grave.”
“Pfft…miss him? Nah, I don’t miss him, I think I have some memory of cussing him out last night. He left us…hell he never wanted us. He made it very clear to me that he lost two sons, and he didn’t deserve to know one of them, the war hero one. I guess all he deserved was me.”
“That was probably addiction talking.” I said.
Brock shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. He kept Paula around, always showing up on their doorstep with gifts for her, your sister. He didn’t come home with gifts for me, hell all the effort he put into me was showing up at my basketball games drunk and being tossed out. It got real bad by my freshman year, I could have had a scholarship, maybe gone pro by now, but that’s not how it worked out.”
“Are you still in school?” I asked.
“Nope, graduated last year, but just barely. That’s what happens when you try to hold down two jobs and take care of your mom. Instead of a basketball career, I took mechanics at vocational school and graduated with a certificate. Now I work at a restoration shop, fixing up classic cars and making them beautiful again.”
I nodded. “That’s an honest job. But, what I saw back there…why? If dad was an alcoholic, why risk it?” I was concerned for the kid.
He stopped walking and scratched his barely there kid beard. “I fucked up a lot, especially near graduation. Almost missed it, got arrested, you know, what else do kids of fucked up parents do?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What kind of fucked up?”
“I got tired, okay? Dad didn’t have liver failure, that’s the lie they told everyone. He didn’t have cancer either, neither does my mom. Dad’s life insurance didn’t last long, mom gets social security but it’s not much. Her medicine…” He let out a long breath. “She misses him and hates him at the same time. She’s fucking crazy and she’s sick. It was her fault though, she knew he was married and cheated on Paula. Why the hell she thought he would be faithful to her is beyond me. He made her sick, he lost his job, and we needed the money, so I sold drugs and got caught. Except my mom doesn’t want anyone to know anything, so I’m just fucked up. I’m a bad kid.” He paced.
“What was wrong with him?” I asked. If it wasn’t cancer or liver failure then what was it?
“The subtype he caught isn’t what most people catch. His subtype…the virus moved to aids very quickly. He cheated on my mom with a foreign woman, then he got sick. Made mom sick, but nobody else knows. Not even her family, it’s all on my fucking shoulders. She’s depressed, pissed off at dad and whoever else, his drinking and his lifestyle in general helped progress the disease. Hell, by the time he learned about it, he already had aids. The strain of the virus he brought home to my mom should have killed her by now. It’s so fast with its progression that women go from being infected with HIV then having AIDS within months. Mom is on medication, but it is going to kill her.” He reached up and wiped a tear away. “That’s one reason he never contacted you. He left all the shame that comes with his disease and alcoholism on me. You deserved better than a dad who was drunk your entire life then slowly kills your mom.”
“Jesus Christ.” I was growing angry, not at the kid, but dad. “How long ago was he diagnosed?”
“Five years before he died. Like I said, nobody knows, but I’ll be damned if I keep their secret from you. I refuse to let you see me as some druggie fuck up like everyone else does.” He cried. “I was just trying to help my mom. I’m not on drugs, in fact I’ve never even smoked pot. I work my ass off to make ends meet. It was my fucking birthday last night, I had a shitty day, so yeah I fucked up by drinking so much.”
Fuck! I never would have guessed dad’s end came that way. The man fucked another son up far more than he ever fucked me up. Damn, I did get off lucky.
“Does my mom know?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Not as far as I know but those two kept a lot of secrets. I can only presume nobody but my mom and I, plus the doctors ever knew. My mom’s family doesn’t even know about her. They think I’m a fucked up kid and they want nothing to do with me. That I’m sucking the life out of my mom, she’s too ashamed to tell them about herself and would rather I look like the bad guy.”
Holy shit, his parents did a number on him.
“What happened last night?”
He stood with his hands on his hips and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m even talking about this to anyone. I’ve never done it, the shame was pounded into my head.”
I let out a breath as understanding came over me. “You’re a kid with the world on his shoulders. You’ve taken the fall for a man who was a damn good man at one time. He was a good man, and he had a great career ahead of him, but he lost a son. I can’t claim to know what it’s like to have a three year old son kidnapped, let alone try to juggle a grieving wife and an infant. I’m not trying to make excuses for him.” I paused and shook my head. “I don’t know, maybe I am, maybe I can see how things turned out bad. My mom was screwing around on him, not taking care of me, he was trying to keep a roof over our heads, and fund the search for Bobby. That’s a lot and I can see how that could drive a man into drinking, but there comes a time where you have to take responsibility. I don’t know you, hell you’re my brother and I want to give advice, shit this is a lot.” I hadn’t even known him for an hour, and he unloaded a lot of shit real quick.
“None of this is your problem, I guess I’m on the defense. I waited my whole damn life to meet you, and it happens as I’m passed out on a grave, it’s fucked up. Now you’ll believe everything people say about me. I did sixty days for a first offense. Got out two months ago and came home to a mom that’s barely hanging on to her sanity. My girl dumped me because I didn’t devote all my time to her when I got out. I’m lucky as hell that I got this job. It pays well and they let me work overtime, despite my criminal record. I was late getting to her house and instead of celebrating my birthday we fought. The guy you found on that grave isn’t me, and I’m kind of freaking out, okay? I waited my whole damn life and already fucked it up.”
My heart melted for the kid, dammit. “You didn’t fuck anything up. I’ve had my fair share of crazy nights and woke up in…well never a cemetery, but I did wake up in the hospital once…well also a strange closet with a girl who has a killer body, but anyway, you haven’t fucked up, but I do think we need to talk.” I couldn’t just walk away. He was my kid brother, it was a fact, and that kid was screaming for help. “Come on, I’ll walk you home for a shower then I’ll pick you back up for some lunch. We can talk and maybe I can help you get this shit figured out.”
“You can’t help me.” He said.
“Try me.” I started walking and he walked next to me. He told me a little more about his job, the kid like the job, and that was good, but it really didn’t pay as well as he thought. He was only eighteen years old, spent the summer after his senior year locked up, and his mom sounded like a real hand full. As promised, I didn’t go into his house, well my grandparents’ house. The next issue was getting back to Clint’s and telling Wrenly why I won’t be spending the day with her. It wasn’t that I felt like lying to her, I just remember her saying something about Devin being a bad kid. I didn’t want any other influence going into it. I wanted to make my own judgement call as far as my brother was concerned.