The Sons of Adam
The Sons of Adam
warnings: pseudoincest, warping of religious narratives for fiction, unbeta'ed and probably with a lot of comma splices.
Prologue: In the BeginningThe two boys, stood in the field as the sun beat down on them, the tall stalks of grain doing nothing to soften the harsh rays. The taller one was quiet, and he held his head low as they strolled between the even furrows, his hunched back painfully tight with ill-concealed tension. “Your efforts seem to be fruitful this season," the other commented, pausing to run his fingers along a particularly robust-looking plant. Smiling brightly, he turned his face back to figure behind him and asked, “Now, what was it you wanted to show me?”Nate was an only child. It was kind of lonely growing up without a sibling, but he was okay with that. At least he had his parents, and they were good parents. They helped him with his homework, disciplined him fairly, gave him what he needed without spoiling him, and never once fought in front of him. As Nate grew older, he became increasingly sure that the reason they never argued in front of him was because they never argued at all. It was like the whirlwind romance that most relationships started with had never ended. He was lucky to grow up knowing what true love should be, to see what it meant to put one person before everything.
He was lucky. The only thing was…sometimes it felt as if they loved each other so much, loved each other with their whole beings, so that there was no part of them left to love him. That was silly. Of course, they loved him. Just maybe not as much as they loved each other. He was lucky.
It was just a bit lonely.
When Nate was five years old, he had his first real playdate. His parents had set it up with their next door neighbors and their four-year old son. Nate wasn’t normally clingy, but as his mother dropped him off to spend a whole afternoon with strangers, not even at his house like when the babysitters came, he fisted his hand into her trousers and whimpered pitifully, “Mommy…”
She knelt down, gently uncurled his fingers from her pant leg, and removed them. “Come on Nathan, be a good boy for me. I’m sure you’ll have a fun time with Granger. I’ll be back at three to pick you up.” And before he could reach out again, she was gone.
Before long, Nate was sitting with some blocks and other toys across from the other boy—Granger—while Granger’s mommy sat on a chair at the other side of the room reading a newspaper. Nate studied him. He was amazed at how much smaller the other boy looked. Had he been that little a year ago?
“You’re staring.” Nate flinched in surprise. Granger’s voice, at least, was not small in the slightest.
“Sorry,” Nate said guiltily, looking away. But as he did so he had the burning feeling that Granger was staring at him in his stead. And it was true. As Nate looked up, deep black eyes—eyes like coal framed by hair like fire—met his.
“Are you..Are you-” Granger looked confused as he cut off his question.
“What?”
“Nevermind,” Granger pushed a Lego towards Nate like an offering, “Wanna play together?”
Nate’s smile was like the sun.
It was as quick as reaping a few stalks at once. One swipe of polished bone against skin, while the other hand held him steady. If he had kept stock instead of working the arid soil, he might have compared it to slaughtering a lamb. Even as crimson blood bubbled up, and the frozen smile turned grotesque, he held him up, so that his blood would not stain the earth, and that the earth would not soil him. As he felt the life-force drain out of him in pulses and his own grip became slippery with it he held on. But when the stunned voice forced out, “Brother?” he sprang back as if shocked, and he could not hold on anymore. The broken body of his younger brother fell clumsily down, and in the end, despite his best efforts, the Earth drank of the blood, and sighed knowing what had taken place before it.