Ch.5 Joel

Chapter 5. Joel

“Hi” says Roan

I look at him standing in front of me, I can’t believe this is happening. I left the state, I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I did it all to never see any of them again. Yet here he is, the reason my life was turned into a living hell. The primary reason anyway.

I look at him, and I know I am about to start crying so I slam the door shut. I double lock the door, fall to the ground and sit pressing my back against the door. Hoping, wishing that if I do this long enough everything will go away. It doesn’t.

“Joe, please don’t do this, I came here to talk, baby come on. Open the door, we can talk about it we are grownups. I came all this way for you, I came to take you home. Stop acting like that is not all you want”

He keeps talking, I keep ignoring him. Then the knocks, turn into banging, the banging turns into kicking, very soon I start feeling my back ache, but I can’t move. I don’t want to move. In some sick twisted way this is the closest I have been to Roan in almost a month.

“Sir!!! Sir!!! You’re going to have to leave the building. Immediately or I will have security take you out” The voice of a young man I do not recognize starts to interfere. I feel relief that somebody interfered because I could not have predicted my actions if Roan persisted.

“We are not done here, Joe. I promise you that” said Roan, in a voice harsh and rough, the voice he used only when he was genuinely mad.

I hear footsteps walking away from the door followed by lighter footsteps then follows the “ding” of the elevator door, once opened. I sit there feeling numb, I wasn’t scared of him, I feared myself for what I would have done if enough time had passed, if he would have had more time to try and convince me.

There is knocking at the door again, and my stomach tightens.

“Mr. Mason, are you okay? Is the strange voice from earlier of a young man.

I slowly get up from the floor and open the door. I am sure he can tell I have been crying. I wipe my eyes and look up at him. It’s the scrawny receptionist. He is giving me a comforting smile.

“Do you need me to call anybody for you? Would you like me to call the police?  The young man whose name is Taylor asks me.

“No, I’ll be fine” I reply

“I just wonder how he found me? I ask vaguely

“Well your debit card bank called, and wanted your paperwork from when you checked in. They said the transaction were fraudulent, so my manager had to give them all the information. That is probably how he knows.” Says Taylor in a whisper

Of course, Roan would go through my bank he would go through anything to find me. I don’t know how I could overlook that. He was also a primary signer in my bank account. How the hell am I going to get my money out of that account if he is required to sign off on it.

“Thank you for getting rid of him, Taylor I really mean it” I said through deep breaths.

“It was nothing” says Taylor

“Well I need to get some sleep, so I’ll see you around, Thank you again. Goodnight” I said as I closed the door.

I sit in my bed, and grab my phone, try to distract myself of what just happened. Then my phone starts to ring. I drop it in a hurry as if it’s cursed, more as if I knew it was Roan calling. However, when I look at it I see it is Lizbeth. Lizbeth was my cousin something more like my sister. She always knew about me being gay even when I was dating girls. Whenever I finally dated Roan she was happy I was openly being me but she never liked Roan. The last time I talked to her was maybe three months ago because Roan had argued with her. It happened at a dinner for my birthday, we were all having fun, I was taking shot after shot and Lizbeth was keeping up with me. I accidentally spilled over my water on Roan, all hell broke loose. Roan jumped up, to get out of the booth he pushed me aggressively out of the way.  It might have been the alcohol but I fell to the floor. Somehow a knife which we were using to dine with ended up cutting my arm about three inches long. Everybody froze when my arm started bleeding unstoppably, my cousin pushes Roan out of the way because he was standing in front of me. Quickly uses gets a gauze out of her purse and places it on my open arm. I am feeling very unconscious by then so I pass out.

What happened next apparently was crazy. My cousin tried to get me up from the floor with help from the restaurant staff. However, Roan kept getting in the way saying things like “He is fine” “Just dramatic” “Give him a few minutes” “I’ll take him home” “It’s not that serious” with that last comment Lizbeth had had enough. She turned around and punched Roan so hard, his nose started to bleed. Roan pushed Lizbeth and well her husband interfered. Roan ended up needing stitches on the side of his left eye.

Roan was set on pressing charges, however I convinced him not to. His trading chip was for me to cut off communication with Lizbeth and move in with him. I see now how stupid of an idea that was. When I had caught Roan cheating on me a month ago, I drove to Lizbeth’s house she was the only person I wanted to talk to. However, when I arrived there she wasn’t home, but Roan parked behind me and got off his car. Whatever you think this is, don’t forget I can still get them charged for assault. I drove off to my parents’ house. Only to hear lectures about how this is what happens to sinners. God did not make a man for a man. They even went as far as to praise Roan because he was finding his way back to god, since he was cheating on me with his secretary. My parents had never been fond of me coming out as gay, right after their religious beliefs was the disgrace that would follow their family. It was never an open we hate you and don’t want to see you again type of reaction from them it was a we hate what you’re doing but we will try to fix you.

However, in the last month I spent with them, the month after Roan and I broke up. They would recite bible verses of homosexuality. They would play documentaries of gay’s who turned straight. They went as far as to sign me up and pay for a camp where I would be turned straight. That was the day that led me to leave and tell no one.

I picked up the phone that was probably on its last ring.

“Hi” I say.