Anthony's Story by MELODY DUPREE (animal farm read TXT) 📖

It was late but we were enjoying ourselves. With no adult to tell us we had to go to bed at ten at night, we were grouped in a circle with an empty beer bottle, that Junior had drank out of, in the middle of the circle with all of us taking turns to spin the bottle. With no girls around for us to kiss we resorted to acting gay for a minute or two so we could play the game properly. I was sitting between Jamie Pierce and Joseph Jones when suddenly the bottle landed on Jamie. I suppressed a groan and dropped my head into my hands causing the guys to laugh and making Jamie pout. I knew I had no other choice and couldn’t force him to choose someone else so I turned towards him, quietly conveying that he had to do all of the work in this. He nodded and leaned towards me meeting me halfway and made the kiss quick and short knowing I didn’t want to do it. After I got that out of the way it was my turn to spin the bottle and it immediately landed on me. I smiled and turned to my other side away from Jamie and lunged at Joseph almost immediately. I planted a big kiss on his lips and smirked when he started to complain after I pulled back.

“Man why couldn’t you have kissed Junior? He’s drunk enough that he wouldn’t remember that unless someone here took a picture of it,” he said causing all of the guys to laugh.

“Just take your damn turn and shut up,” I said and he spun the bottle which immediately made it my turn again.

I lunged across the circle towards Junior who met me halfway and made it the longest kiss any of us ever had while playing this game. Junior pulled back after about five minutes and spun the bottle which landed on Jason the youngest player on the team. Jason looked towards me and then at Michael before looking back at me. I nodded and we met halfway across the circle before our lips touched completely. Just then the lights went out and I heard a swishing sound coming down towards Jamie who let out a scream and I turned to see the mother of most of the team glaring down at me and Jason, looking completely out of her mind. I looked at Jamie who was a sobbing mess and noticed his back was bleeding through the white T-shirt he was wearing.

“Jamie,” I cried as his whimpers grew louder.

His blood was pooling on the floor and there was no way we could explain this one to his dad. Except by my disappearance and that was if I could get her to take me without hurting the guys which was a very slim chance. I crawled towards Jamie and noticed a tear in his shirt and quickly looked at his mother’s hand to see a horsewhip wrapped around her hand with just the tip hanging loose. I cringed away and gently pulled Jamie into a sitting position and ripped the shirt off of him and pressed the soft cotton against the open wound. By the time his mother realized what I was doing I had wrapped an ace bandage around the shirt and secured it just as his dad came in to check on us. When Jamie’s dad saw Jamie’s mother standing over us he immediately thought we had done something wrong. I explained that we had just finished playing spin the bottle with Jason being the last one to have the bottle land on him and that Jamie’s mother had probably walked in on something that she didn’t think her children were capable of and that was us kissing each other. He nodded and walked away taking Jamie’s mother with him. I sighed in relief and started to get to my feet to go to the bathroom when Jamie’s dad came back in with a scowl on his face and it was directed at Jamie.

“Jamie were you boys playing spin the bottle without girls being here at all during all these parties you boys always throw,” his dad asked.

“Yes we do, dad,” Jamie whispered, and leaned against me as he started to cry harder.

“I got to go okay guys? See you on Monday at school,” I said and got up.

I walked out of the room and straight into my new master who grabbed my upper arm and dragged me out of the house and threw me into her car before I could even speak.

“Um, you do know I have a car and I can follow you to your house from here,” I stammered and she looked back at me and laughed.

“You are coming with me. There’s no way I am letting you take your car and then you head to your father’s house. You are now my slave and your father’ requested that I tell you that he loves you,” she said and I threw myself from the car just as she pulled out of the driveway.

I ran for my car and jumped in quickly starting the engine and pulling out of Jamie’s driveway and heading for the plantation on the outskirts of town. The one place I had always dreaded going to was the Johnson Plantation and now I had no choice but to go. The one thing I knew for sure was that I had just earned myself a beating when I get there.

“I will just do it and take my punishment,” I said looking in the rearview mirror.

She was hot on my tail and I made the final turn and drove up the long winding path all the way to the front door. This would possibly be the last time I used my car so I took a few minutes to let her park and get out of her car before I opened my car door and got out of mine. Once out of my car I breathed in the smell of pine and walnut and slowly I walked over to her quietly kneeling down in front of her; my new master.

I stared at the boy kneeling in front of me with nothing short of anger on my face. He kept his head bowed and stared at my feet not saying a word. Then I noticed he was shaking and that all he had on was a wife beater tank top and his blue jeans with ratty sneakers. I made a mental note to check his clothes and see what was too old for him to wear before I made any judgments. I took a deep breath in and smelled the scent of ripe and ready to be picked walnuts before I looked back at the boy.

“You may stand,” I said and he slowly stood up his eyes never leaving the ground.

“Where is your shirt,” I asked gently lifting his chin so I could have eye contact.

“It’s in my book bag because it ripped so I took it off and put it in there instead of throwing it away,” he whispered and I took off my jacket quietly wrapping it around his shoulders.

“Let’s get your bags out of the trunk of my car and up to your new room so you can unpack okay,” I said and he nodded quietly looking back at the ground hoping and praying that I had not seen his tears.

Suddenly I realized why Anquan had always been so adamant about refusing to let him go: Anthony was emotionally attached to his dad since he grew up without a mom all of his life. Right there I decided that I would be that mother figure that he needed and probably wanted. I pulled the shivering boy into my arms and let him break down as I pulled him down to the ground so we could be comfortable and not have aching feet when he calmed down enough to get his things out of the trunk of my car.

“There, there everything’s going to be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen to you here. I promise you that. Do you hear me Anthony,” I said and he nodded quietly wiping his face dry with the back of his hand.

“I want to go back home to my dad, please. I can come and check in every morning before I go to school and every afternoon before I go home,” he whispered hopefully.

I shook my head and said, “That is not possible but I can allow you to call him just so you know that he’s okay. And I will also let you visit him over the weekend every weekend: from Friday night to Sunday evening. But here is the condition in that: you cannot go to anyone else’s house unless you have my permission and you have to tell me how long you are going to be there and if I have to pick you up from that person’s house. Is that okay with you Anthony?”

“Okay I guess that can work since it’s probably the only offer I’m going to get like that,” he whispered and I let out a laugh.

“You can call him after we unpack your things in your new room okay,” I said and he nodded.

He stood up and offered me his hand which I took gratefully and he helped me up. If there was one thing I had been doubtful about before every doubt I had was erased. He was probably the best trained kid that was probably more obedient than my own children and that was from what I had walked in on. Reflecting now I realize that I probably got Jason into a lot of trouble when I called his dad and told him what had happened and what I had walked in on.

“Well it’s too late to go back now,” I thought and clicked open the trunk of my car.

I went around the front of my car and grabbed the laptop case and handed it to Anthony and gestured towards the trunk of my car. We walked around my car and I helped him with his bags taking the two that were the heaviest.

“Anthony do you want me to show you to a room or do you want to choose from the rooms which one you want,” I asked and he shook his head.

“You decide because it’s your house,” he whispered and walked towards his car.

I followed after him and showed him to the master bedroom and