Truth Behind the Lies

Review Responses:
doesitmatter: Well heres more for you.
Nekosune: Oh great then. Take your time, I'm not rushing ya. :) *happily takes yamyams, pocky, cookies, and halloween candy and puts it in my Goodies drawer.* I've gained 10 pounds cause of you. Haha, borrow a child for next year...that'll work.
Bookworm51485: Oh I totally get that. I do the same thing when I'm waiting on a story I'd been reading. I understand where you're coming from on that. I'm a daddy's girl myself. In this chapter, you'll see what Corrine has to say about Randy hanging out with Shay.
Anon: Yay, yay, yay!! LOL.
Jaimi: I wont lie, I love writing it. I'd never leave this story hanging. I wouldnt do that to you.
Chrysler: Did you really? I first heard that word two years ago in my American Literature class and when I did and learned what it was, my brain started ticking and I thought I should do a story about that....but then the thought went away cause I knew I'd be too lazy to even think up characters for it, let alone write a chapter. So I decided to give the word a cameo in this story instead. :)
MIMI: Thank you. Your wish is my command, here's your update.

Chapter Seven

Tuesday morning

Randy whistled aimlessly as he came out the inventory room at the back of the store carrying a box of Top Ramen noodles and began to restock a lower shelf. He heard the ring of the bell, and since he had yet to properly open the store—which only consisted of turning the sign from CLOSED to OPEN—he knew it was either Corrine or young Doug. He heard the sound of tennis shoe covered feet making their way to where he was.

“Randy?” A female voice said.

“Yes, Aunt Corrine?” Randy kept stocking shelves.

“What’s this I hear about you bein’ seen in public with Shay Gibson?”

Randy’s hand paused from inside the Top Ramen box. “Who told you that?” he asked, his eyes not meeting hers.

“My friend Ida called me yesterday. She said she and Nathan were in the new park and saw you with Shay……holdin’ his baby. Is that true?”

Lie, Randy. Don’t tell her the truth, cause you’ll never hear the end of it. No, tell the truth. You’re a grown ass man, and if you want to hang out with Shay then you’ll do it. Either way, this is your opportunity to out your relationship with Shay and set the record straight…….whether it’s the truth or not.

“…….Yeah. It’s true.”

The blonde heard his aunt gasp in disbelief. Oh Lord, here it comes. “Are you completely out of your mind?! Do you know what associatin’ yourself with a Gibson around here would do to a person’s reputation? Your life will be ruined, and you only just moved here!”

Randy placed the rest of the food packs on the shelf then stood up with the now empty box. He looked directly in his aunt’s eyes. “Let them talk.” He walked passed her to put the box in a pile of other empty boxes in the inventory room. Corrine followed.

“Randy, you cant do this to yourself. Shay……Shay is bad news. He’s a whoremonger, he has no morals—“

“Stop.” Randy warned his aunt, but she was on such a roll, she wasn’t listening.

“He’s a golddigger, he's crazy—“

“I said stop it!” The heavy, threatening tone in Randy’s voice startled Corrine, silencing her with a shocked look on her face. “You base this on what information, Auntie? Word of mouth? Ida? Your lady friends at church? The librarian in town? Did you hear any of this from Shay? Did he tell you in person he was all those things? No. Have you thought about him or his family’s feelings when you go around talking all this bullshit? That his 1 year old son is the butt of people’s jokes? I’m really shocked at you, Auntie. In all my life, I never would’ve thought someone I considered the sweetest, most caring, and considerate person I know would be so cruel and judgmental of a person you never even met.”

Corrine was quiet for a moment, finding her words, then she finally spoke. “I understand where you’re comin’ from, Randy. I don’t know Shay. But this town is brutal, and they don’t care whether these things about Shay are true or not. All they know is that Shay is rumored to be this or that and quite frankly that’s all they care about. Plumsfield is small, Randy. Your image is all you have. You want to be portrayed as a clean, friendly, citizen here and you’ll corrupt that if you keep hangin’ out with Shay.”

“I wont stop seeing him.”

“Fine. You’re grown, you can talk to who you want to. However, when more people start to see you two together and tongues get the waggin’, they’ll start matchin’ your likeness to his. There’s a saying that old folk here like to say, ‘When you lay down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas’.”

Sighing, Randy walked passed Corrine and made his way to the front door. “Where are you goin’?”

“Out. I need some air. The store needs to be open in ten minutes.” He left.

***

That afternoon


“We’re home!” Buggy called out as he and Jack walked into the house. He found Shay coming down the stairs.

Buggy knew what day Shay’s birthday was and at what time. He knew what his favorite color was and what he loved to eat more than anything. He knew when he was at his happiest and when he was at his lowest. Buggy looked at Shay and saw the young man was at his lowest.

“Mama!” Jack yelled out, stretching his arms out when he saw his mother. Smiling, Shay reached over and grabbed Jack, kissing him on the cheek.

“Hey, pookie. You have fun with Buggy?” Jack nodded.

“We had a great time. I took him to the playground for a while then we went to get ice-cream. It’s a good thing you packed an extra shirt for him in the diaper bag, cause he’s a messy eater.”

Shay chuckled. “I learned that fact the hard way.”

“So how are you, kiddo?” Buggy asked him.

The young man shook his head. “I’m alright.”

“Have you been able to get in touch with Bry?”

Shay shook his head. “No. I know I’ve called that place over 20 times this morning and each time they say that he’s in a session, or he’s in the cafeteria, or he’s in the bathroom. Just excuse after excuse.” All the calling and uncooperativeness from the asylum left Shay with a steady growing headache. The stress made the bruise his father left him on his cheek throb even more and the young brunette was just about ready to pull his hair out.

“Hm, I guess a visit to the place is in order.”

“Looks that way. Would you go with me?”

“If you want me to.”

“I do. And I’m sure mama could use all the friendly faces he can stand right now.”

“You taking Jack with you?”

“Who else can babysit him? Besides, it’s almost his naptime, so he should be asleep by the time we get there.”


***


“What do you mean, we cant see him?” Shay asked once he and Buggy had reached St. Augustines Institution of Mental Health. He had been right about his son, Jack was passed out in his stroller, but before they left, he insisted on carrying Moo-moo with him.

“Mr. Gibson is……indisposed at the moment.” Shay and Buggy both frowned at each other, trying to figure out what the hell the woman was talking about. Suddenly they heard a loud, “Let go! You’re hurting me!” coming from the double doors behind her and they knew who’s voice that belonged to. Shay was the first to react, walking both he and Jack through the doors. Buggy followed. “Sirs! Excuse me! You’re not authorized to go in there!”

Shay’s mouth dropped at what he saw. Two male nurses were surrounding Bryant. One had him pinned against a wall tightly by his shoulders and the other was trying to force pills down his mouth. “Take the medicine, you fuckin’ retard!” the man with the pills yelled at him. Other patients around the large room were stepping away and looking fearfully at the sight before them. Angry at the scene, Buggy walked over to the man trying to force pills down his cousin’s mouth and shoved him so hard, he nearly fell to the floor.

“What did you call him?”

The man chose to change the subject to keep from having to explain being caught yelling harsh words. “What are you doing back here? You’re not authorized.”

“And you’re not authorized to talk to him that way.” Buggy then shoved the other man off Bryant, releasing his painful grip on his shoulders. “And you get your hands off him or I’ll break your fuckin’ wrists.”

“It’s time for his meds. When we gave them to him, he tossed them away—“

“And you thought hurting him into submission would fix things? What kind of place is this?”

While the men were talking, Shay walked over to his mother who had now slid down to the floor with his knees pressed against his chest, his hands rubbing the sides of his temples, and rocking his body back and forth. He kneeled down before him. “Mama?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no….” Bryant chanted under his breath.

“Mama, it’s Shay. Look at me.”

Slowly, Bryant looked up and saw his son and his chanting and rocking stopped. “Shay?” The young man nodded. “Did you come to take me home? I wanna go home.” He whispered, tears forming in his eyes. The pitiful sight was bringing tears into Shay’s eyes.

“No. I just came to check on you.”

“Why cant you take me home? I don’t like it here.”

“I’m not able to take you home, Mama. You’ve got to stay. Maybe if I tell dad about this, he’ll take you out of here.”

“I doubt it. I’ma die here.”

“No, you’re not. Don’t say that, Mama. You’ll see, once I tell him how bad this place is, he’ll make arrangements to get you out. But in the mean time, you’ve got to take your medicine.” Shay extended his hand and the nurse handed him the five pills and water. “Here.”

Bryant took the pills and looked down at them for a moment. “…….You gonna watch me?” Shay smirked. At home, Bryant used to say that every time he’d get his medicine. So, he gave his usual answer.

“You know I have to.” Shay heard the slight chuckle come from Bryant and knew it made him feel a bit better considering the situation. Bryant wiped his eyes then took the pills and when he was finished, Shay hugged him tightly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They were already in trouble for barging in the hospital, so they decided to make their stay short, this time. Buggy and Shay both hugged Bryant and he gave a kiss to the still sleeping Jack and watched as they all walked out. And as soon as they did, a nurse came up to Bryant and gave him a shot in the arm of what the patients called Slo-Mo. He was out the rest of the day.


***


Later that afternoon


Randy was taking his time unpacking decorative plates, vases and the like from his boxes that he moved in with, when his phone rang. Leaving the livingroom for the kitchen, he grabbed the cordless and saw the call was from Larry Gibson. He quickly answered. “Hello?”

“Hi Randy.”

“Hey Shay.”

“I had called for you at the store, but some guy told me you were at home. Isn’t Mondays and Tuesdays your days to work?

Randy walked back into the livingroom, sat down with the phone in the crook of his neck, and started wiping off an Indian vase. “Yeah. I did go in earlier but my aunt was getting on my nerves so bad today, I left. Which is okay though, cause I can take this free day and finish unpacking my stuff to decorate the house with.”

“That makes sense.”

“So what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me?”

Shay stretched out on his bed, looking at the ceiling. Jack was sitting on the bed next to him, playing with his collection of balls. “Well, I need someone to talk to. And since you’re the only friend I have….you know.”

“I understand. So whats up? How’s your mother?”

“He’s ready to leave there. Me and my cousin, Buggy went to the asylum today after finding out they wouldn’t let me speak to him on the phone. What I saw nearly made me sick. The people there are so mean to him, shoving him around, calling him names, yelling at him. And all that does is make him react even more, falling into more of his fits. It was so hard seeing my mother being treated like….like he didn’t matter.” Shay paused for a moment, keeping himself from breaking down on the phone. “He doesn’t belong there, Randy. He needs to be at home.”

“Have you talked to your dad about this?”

“I tried to but when he gets home from work in the mornin’s and goes to sleep, he wont get up even if I told him the house was on fire.”

“Do you think it will work? You think he’ll take your mother out of there?”

“I can only hope. Listen, um I wanna apologize to you for the way I acted yesterday. I was upset and I overreacted.”

Randy put down the now well polished vase then grabbed the matching one out from the box and began to wipe it off. “Don’t apologize for yesterday. I totally understand your anger. You’d been helping take care of your mother all these years and then all of a sudden, he’s taken away……I’d be mad too.”

“Yeah. But I…..” Shay paused.

“You what?”

“I…it wasn’t me. It was like I couldn’t think. That scares me.”

“Why?”

“Because…..it felt like I was going crazy. Like I had no control over what I was doing.”

“Shay, that’s called anger and anger is not an illness……I know what you’re thinking and the answer is no, you’re not mentally ill.”

“But it’s possible, right? I mean my mother’s got it, so why not me or Jack?”

“You’re fine. You’re not your mother, alright? You’re not sick and neither is Jack. Because your mother is unstable, you’ve developed some type of phobia that whenever you feel not in control, then you must be going crazy and that’s not the case at all.”

“I hope you’re right.” Shay finally took his eyes away from the ceiling to look for Jack. He didn’t hear anymore of his baby gibberish and that’s never a good sign……it means someone’s up to something. He looked to the floor of his room and saw Jack had somehow pushed open his closet door and pulled out a stack of Shay’s comic books from a box of collector’s item comics Buggy had bought for him 10 years ago at a collector’s store when he was on route in Texas. The box of 20 books were worth $500 all together. Jack had just reached a tiny hand into the plastic of one comic when Shay jumped off the bed and stopped him. “Jack!” he grabbed the book quickly and smacked the boy’s hand not hard but enough to be considered a punishment. “Don’t touch those.”

Jack’s face turned red as a beet and tears ran down his face as fast as a waterfall as he started to literally bawl. Walking away from his mother, the small blonde went to the edge of the bed—he was still shorter than the bed—and pressed his face against the comforter, crying into it. What a drama queen.

“Is that Jack?” Randy asked. “What’s the matter?”

“I caught him reachin’ into my comic book collection and I smacked his hand. Now he’s actin’ like the world’s gonna end.”

Randy smiled. “Put him on the phone.”

“Jackie, come’ere.”

“No!” his son responded, with his back took him still crying.

“Come take the phone, pookie.”

“Uh uh!”

“It’s Ambie.” Shay practically sang. Slowly, Jack turned around and walked to his mother. Shay kneeled down and held the phone to his ear. “Say hello.”

“Ullo?”

“Hey Jack. Are you behaving yourself?”

The boy nodded, like Randy could see him. “Yea.”

“Are you telling the truth?”

“Yea.” He answered in his baby voice.

“Jack, did you go into your mama’s comic book box?”

“…..Yea.”

“You know that was bad. Don’t do it anymore, okay? Be a good boy, alright?”

“Yea.”

“Okay then. Bye. Give the phone back to your mama.”

“O’tay.” Jack handed the phone back to Shay then climbed back on the bed to play with his rubber balls.

“Hey, I’m back. What did you say to him? He’s stopped cryin’ and everythin’.”

“Nothing, really. I just told him that what he did was wrong and for him to behave his self.”

“Well, one things for sure, he loves you. I mean, he’ll do anything you tell him.”

He may love me, but do YOU, is the question. “I just have a connection with kids.”

Shay laughed. “I guess so. Well, I’ll let you get back to your decoratin’ then.”

“No problem. I don’t mind taking time out to talk to you. I like talking to you.”

“I like it too. I do wanna thank you though. I was feeling pretty depressed alittle while ago with mama being in the asylum and all, but if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have anyone to unload all this on. My brain’s feeling a bit clearer.”

“You know where I am and you know the number. Call me anytime, yeah?”

“Okay. Talk to you later then.”

“Alright. Oh, and I’ll invite you back over here once I finally get this place decorated.”

Shay laughed. “Alright. Bye, Randy.”

“Bye, Shay.”