Page 34 of Hostile Saint

I swallowed. “Okay.”

“She even found your birth certificate. Honey, have you ever seen it before?”

I thought for a minute. “Uh, actually, no. My mom handled all my records for school.”

“Well, Justice found you some real good news. Your dad is indeed your dad.”

That didn’t shock me. I knew that man was of my blood. I just knew we were connected on more than one level.

My legs began to shake under the table. “That is good news.”

“Do you think you’re ready for more of what was found on your birth certificate?”

My ears began to heat up with a rush of adrenaline. “I think waiting will make it worse.”

“Yeah, baby, I agree. So, here we go. Your mom is not.”

I could barely hear with all the ringing in my head. “She’s not what?”

Elle, being so kind, like only a woman can be, explained, “Tate, baby… the woman who raised you is not your mama.”

As her words sunk past my ears and into my brain, I could feel twitches in my face. My mind was trying so hard to understand what Elle meant. There had been a woman, whom I shared a home and my whole life with, but I wasn’t her son?

“I…” My face twitched some more. “But…” My right eye almost quaked shut.

“You’re an idiot. We would never hurt our mom…”

My heart spasmed. I believe it literally shuddered as pain sunk in.

All at once, every scar on my body came to life, as if the injuries were happening for the first time. I stared at the wicked and distortedly shaped S on the inner part of my right forearm. Once the brothers were old enough and had done some research on the internet, they learned what they were.

Most human beings, discovering they are sadists, would be terrified. At least, that is what I assumed in my rational untwisted mind. But that wasn’t the case for my brothers and their two, just as perverse, friends. They actually celebrated. It was as if finally understanding what they were, they felt they belonged to some elite club.

That is when and why I received the S scar. Just like cattle, I had been branded.

At the table, no one spoke. They just gave me the needed silence to adjust to my new reality; my mom wasn’t filing any police report because I wasn’t hers.

“Wait,” I blinked. “My brothers?”

Elle sighed. “There is no record of your father having any other children.”

Again, I heard ringing in my ears.

My mom wasn’t real. My brothers weren’t real. I felt like a lost rocket floating in outer space with nowhere to land. No place to call home.

Didn’t someone have to birth me? If so, where was that person?

With such kindness, Elle said, “Her name was Melony.”

My mouth fell open… What a beautiful name—

Terrified to ask, I barely voiced, “Was?”

“Honey,” Elle’s voice cracked before she sniffled, “I’m so sorry. She passed away when you were just a baby.”

Just like that, I lost two mothers in one short conversation.

It was simply too much to take. My mind fizzled into a nothing state. No true thought stuck long enough to make any sense. Words and objects faded in and out of my mind, but there was no rhyme or reason. Only confusion.