Old Secrets:

Simone’s Notes:

How long can a secret lay hidden? Weeks? Months? Years even? But the longer a secret lies, the worse it becomes. It takes over one’s guilty mind. A heavy secret can wear pressure on the one holding it. But can one do? Keep ignoring it? The secret will eat them alive. Tell it? But how will the people take it? Get rid of the secret? But what if it comes back? Then what? More secrets build up after that. And before long, one has too many secrets to deal with. And that is what nobody wants!

Mikey was next to asleep on the porch of the Ryan’s house on Saturday morning. His father made him get up and run around the neighborhood again. It was hell as usual. Ten laps around the neighborhood at three in the morning was just wrong on so many levels. There should have been a law against it. Mikey finally managed to escape to Hunter’s house to avoid more evil exercise. The boy was now catching up on some sleep. But not for long! Hunter looked up from his chores. Mikey was leaned against the screen door away in dream land. He shook his head to himself. “Poor boy!” the Irish boy thought. “I ought to do something for him! But what?” Hunter thought about that for a moment. So far, nothing was coming. Then, an idea hit him. The Irish boy smirked to himself greatly. He walked over to the sleeping boy and hit him awake on the shoulder really hard. The gay boy’s eyes shot open lighting fast. “Ow!” he called as he lightly rubbed his shoulder. Hunter stood in front of him smiling. “Why did you do that for?!?” “You were dozing off, dude!” the Irish boy called. Mikey rubbed sleep out of his eyes. “You try being forced to get up early and run around the neighborhood for ten laps!” “Oh…” Hunter replied. Both boys went silent for a while.

Then, the Irish boy acted on part two of his plan. “Hey!” he called. “If you promise to stay awake for the rest of the afternoon, I’ll show you something interesting!” Mikey’s eyes grew big in curiosity. “Ooo!” he called. “What is it?” Hunter grinned at him pride. “Come with me!” he called. Then, he headed inside. Mikey followed behind in curiosity. The boys went all the way upstairs to Hunter’s grandfather office. “Hunter,” the gay boy spoke up. “Are you sure this is a good idea? What if we get in trouble?” The Irish boy didn’t turn around. “Don’t worry about it!” he said. “Grandpa is having breakfast with some old friends! So we’re in the clear!” Mikey nodded even though he was uneasy. Hunter took out the key he had nicked and unlocked the door. He slowly opened the door and went inside. Mikey followed behind slowly.

The office smelt of old cigars. Irish pride was everywhere! Even the flag was right on the ceiling. The ceiling was slowly turning despite it being next to freezing outside. Mikey looked around amazed. Hunter walked over to hickory smoked desk and looked for the right drawer. He found the correct drawer and unchained it. “A, Mikey!” the Irish boy called. “Come look at this!” The boy looked up confused. He slowly crawled over to the desk and looked with his pal. Inside was a drawer full of porn! Not just any type of porn! This porn dated back to WWII! They were amazing still in good condition. These women were either naked or in their underwear. Mikey looked away sick. Hunter grinned. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “They’re naked!” the gay boy yelled out. “Of course!” the Irish boy yelled. “It’s porn!” Then, Hunter remembered why. “Oh that’s right!” he called. “You’re gay. But anyway, my grandfather has had these babies since he was a teenager!” His friend still couldn’t speak at all. “But…” he finally said. “Why? I thought he feared God as much as his wife when she’s angry!” Hunter shrugged. “Collectibles, I guess!” he called. “How did you find this?” Mikey asked. “Boredom,” the Irish boy answered. “I was curious to find out what grandpa had up here. So I wandered in here while he was out last year, took the key from the doorway, and unlocked this drawer here.” Mikey looked away embarrassed. How could someone so righteous be so… dirty? The boy just couldn’t understand.

Hunter’s grandfather wasn’t the only one with secrets. Sophie sat at her desk in Jaime’s apartment staring out into space. Her eyes were completely blank. Her fiancée was worried sick. He tried everything. When he tried to talk to her, she didn’t answer at all. The lt. was running out of options. All the man could do was sit around and wait. Jamie was about to give up when he heard a soft mumble. He quickly looked up and saw Sophie. She was still sitting at the desk staring out into space. Only this time, his woman was mumbling softly to herself. Jamie strained to listen. “Sophie?” he asked softly. “What’s wrong? What are you saying?” Sophie didn’t look up at all. “Yes daddy,” she kept saying over and over again. “I’ll be good! I’ll be your special girl!” Now, Jamie was really confused. “Sophie?” he asked. “What’s wrong?” Within seconds, Sophie slowly looked up. Her eyes slowly returned to normal. “Jamie?” she asked. “Yes, dearest!” he said quickly. “It’s me!” A pause came between them slowly. Tears began to form in Sophie’s heavy brown eyes. The poor woman began to cry. Jamie looked at her in concern. “Sophie?” he asked. “What’s wrong?” The woman didn’t answer at all. She just got up and ran into bathroom to cry her eyes out.

Jamie waited around the whole afternoon. Sophie didn’t seem to come out of the bathroom. After a couple of hours, the lt. started to get waited. He slowly rose to his feet and knocked on the door. “Sophie?” he asked. No answer. The lt. kept knocking. “Sophie?” he asked. “Are you okay?” There was still no sound. Now, Jamie was really worried. He slowly opened the bathroom door. His fiancée leapt onto his body in a rush. Jamie was confused. “Sophie?” the lt. asked. “What’s gotten into you?” “Shut up, Jamie!” his sweetheart yelled. “Just shut up.” Then, she kissed him hard on the lips. The lt. was too confused to react. Sophie ripped open his jacket and shirt. Her fiancée was completely confused now. This was never like his love at all. She told him that she didn’t want to have sex until they got married. But now, Sophie just… wasn’t Sophie! This was a wild woman wanting to shag him on the spot. The worst part was there was no way to stop her at all!

But when Sophie got to his pants, she just… froze. It wasn’t a seductive pause to heighten the mood. This was just a complete and total pause. Jamie looked down at her. “Sophie?” he asked. His woman didn’t answer. She just let go of his pants and sat back. Really lost, the lt. sat up to look at her. “Sophie?” he asked again. Again, there was nothing but silence from her. But, he listened closely and heard… crying. Her fiancée slowly reached out to touch to her. His girlfriend turned to him crying. “I’m so sorry!” she whimpered. “I’m so sorry Jamie! I don’t deserve you!!! I am so sorry!” Jamie was confused. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Of course you deserve me! I love you! You love me! Now, tell me! What’s the matter?” He waited for his girl to calm down. Then, Sophie began to talk. It was going to be tough, but it had to come out now.

“When I was growing up,” she began. “My mother lived the wild life and my father was a righteous man! I had many mixed signals. My mother constantly cheated on my father. She brought her boyfriends over to the house. A couple of them tried to hurt. I would tell my mother, but she would say I imagined. I told my father and he would yell at me to get out of his office. Later, I would be woken up by them fighting about it. They weren’t cute little arguments that normal couples had. My father would use my misfortune to lecture my mother about sin and Hell. He even hit her constantly. I feared for her, but yet I wanted to be her. She never cried when my father yelled and hit her. I feared my father, but he never abused me at all. I didn’t know it would get worse. But one night when I was twelve, mother’s boyfriend tried to rape me over Christmas. I told my mother and she said I was dreaming. When I told my father, he got very angry. He yelled at me to get out of his office. That night, the fighting was worse than ever. *Sobs* Father couldn’t take it anymore. So he…” Her words trailed cold. She couldn’t talk anymore. “What did he do Sophie?” Jamie asked. The woman took in a deep breath to speak again. “He took a glass bottle and smashed it against to black marble end table,” she began again. “He held down my mother and cut up her face! I was scared to death now. My mother was devastated. She thought that my father had permanently made her ugly. Days later, she sat over the full bathtub and shot herself in the head. I came home and found her like that. I was really broken. I was really afraid of my father. I was afraid that he would hurt me just like my mother. I wished that I stronger and could defend myself from him. From then on, I developed Emma as a shield to protect myself. I ended living a double life, myself at home and Emma at school. Years later, I was diagnosed with DID. I thought Emma died when Yasmine hit me. But now I see some of her is still in me!” Sophie broke down and cried even more. Jamie just held him tightly to his body. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’ll get you the best doctor to help you cope!” Sophie just cried harder at his chest. This was the beginning of a long and battle to get her back to normal.