Credits to my fabulous editor zoyiab.
*
To Rachel,
This letter seems long overdue. I can't remember the last time we spoke. There are so many thoughts in my head, so much I want to say. I just can't find the words. So let me start at the beginning of it all.
You were all of six years elder to me, but it felt like so much more. You were always so much more mature and understanding. I don't remember Mom, was she pretty? As pretty as you, I mean. Sadly though, I remember Dad.
Dad was a real mean one. Remember that squalid little place in Hell's Kitchen that we called home? It was replete with memories of abuse. Every day, he came home from the docks, smelling of cheap booze and let out all of his pent up frustrations on us. I still have some faint scars and welts on my back and thighs. Strangely, I like them. They remind me of us and what we endured together.
I think I was ten when Dad abruptly stopped hitting me. Your scars kept getting worse though, but you never failed to give me that comforting smile through all those bruises. I know you never wanted me to know but I do. You made a deal with Dad that if he stopped hurting me, you wouldn't fight back any more. But don't ever think that I was spared. Those blood-curdling shrieks from your room as he lashed out at your prone body still ring in my head. The things you did to protect your weak younger brother. I never saw anything but a smile on your face, a smile that failed to mask the frightful bruising, and that was just the start.
Remember your eighteenth birthday? We had saved up a little money for a cake. Of course, Dad found it and spent it on some booze and a complimentary beating for hiding it from him. That night we just sat in my room hugging each other as the cruel winter air swirled around us. A thermostat was such a luxury, and we were so far behind on rent itself. The door opened with a crash and we saw Dad stagger in surrounded with half a dozen of his buddies from the pub. Two of them threw me out of the room while the rest of them traipsed in, led by our dear father obviously.
I vaguely remember two of them holding you down before the door slammed shut.
I am not even going to try to imagine the kind of emotional and physical trauma you went through that night. I stood against the door wailing my twelve year old lungs out and banging against it desperately. I am sorry, Rach, I know how much it hurt you to hear me crying, but I couldn't help it. Your screams intensified as I heard slurred sounds of encouragement as different men mounted you. After an hour or so, I did the unthinkable, I looked through the keyhole. I still remember the sight vividly- three huge grown men forcing their oversized erections into your slender frame. Some nights I wake up sweating after seeing that scene in my mind again.
Sometime late at night, I saw them stumble out of your room, laughing. They took out some rolls of bills and handing them to Dad. Then they left, still laughing.
Remember my feeble attempts at comforting you? I tried my best to wipe away your tears in the morning. I swear I tried my best. You just would not stop crying. I held you tightly and refused to let go unless you stopped crying.
It just got worse from there.
You tried your best to hide it, but didn't do a very good job of it. Suddenly, Dad had a lot more money to squander on booze and your condition just got worse. You hid in my room while trying to suture up your belt-wounds with cheap fibre thread, but I knew. You tried to cover your cigarette burn marks with long sleeves, but I saw them as well. You cried in pain as you tried to bandage your vaginal lacerations, and I heard them all.
Then there were the times he forced me to watch.
We endured him until I was fifteen. Finally, he decided to pick on someone bigger than his kids. Unfortunately for him it was a drunken biker in a leather jacket. It would be his last bar fight. One would think our hell ended there.
It wasn't long before our sleazy landlord knocked on our door for many months' worth of rent. You tried to give him the little money you had hidden from Dad but it wasn't nearly enough. We were unceremoniously evicted.
The cold winter seemed so much worse when we were on the street. You always looked out for me, even with whatever little we had. We got a tiny one room grotto in the Bronx with a shared bathroom. Shared by an entire floor I might add. The living conditions were unsanitary at best, but we were content. There was no one else.
Remember how many jobs you worked just to make ends meet? Seedy jobs, a cocktail waitress, a stripper, even a submissive. You came back with scars all over your body where your sadistic clients got particularly "friendly" and a G-string full of cash. You spent the necessary little on rent and food and handed over the rest to me to buy some books and study.
I knew how tight the money was back then. I got a job at the local warehouse stacking crates. Remember that time you walked into the warehouse with that livid look on your face and dragged me out? Imagine that, dragging a sixteen year old back to the flat and ordering him to study. That night when you came back late at night, you got me my favourite kind of pastry and sweetly cradled my head while you apologized for your actions. I just want to tell you, you didn't need to, I always knew you had my best interests at heart. That never changed.
When I told you about my plans to become an author, you were ecstatic. I always had so many stories to share with you that it seemed like a natural choice. I was eighteen when I submitted my first manuscript, and subsequently got my first rejection letter.
That night, I was inconsolable. You held me close and tried comforting me with your soothing words but it was no good. Finally, you decided to take me some place special, some place where we would be so far detached from the grim reality of our existence that I could forget my grief. Honestly, I had no idea what you had in mind.
But I knew it was going to be special.
I admit I was a bit amused when I saw the familiar expanse of Central Park. I remember silently wondering what kind of surprise you could possibly have in store for me there.
Remember how you made me close my eyes as you guided me by hand through the dense foliage? The cool night air kissed my face and I heard the soft rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze. I opened my eyes just a sliver to see the vast natural expanse unfurled in front of us, bathed in the clear moonlight. You immediately spotted my indiscretion and playfully chastised me. So, I closed my eyes again.
I remember walking for a long time. The terrain sloped gently upwards. After a while, you asked me to stop. You held me by my shoulders and turned my face in the direction you wanted. Then, you softly asked me to open my eyes. What I saw in front of me was a sight to behold. The best way to describe it would be- soulgasm! Yes, Rach, my soul had an orgasm in that instant.
From our elevated vantage point, I could see the dense green terrain unfold on all sides like a large billiards board. The moon shone down upon everything creating a surreal ambiance. At the far edge of this panoramic vista, the glittering towers of the metropolis rose up, like brightly lit spires, their pinnacles aspiring to touch the sky.
Time had stopped as I just stood there drinking in the majesty of the scenery in front of me. In slow motion, I turned to look at you. You were smiling a beautiful, affectionate smile that seemed all the more alluring under the pale light. Your beautiful honey blonde hair formed a whitish halo around your face in the lunar light. Your eyes were shimmering with love and you parted those sumptuous lips to kiss me. The moment was perfect. We had transcended our bond of sibling love and all that was between us was love. We shared a love that was beautiful in its purest form, unrivalled in its intensity and yet somehow innocently affectionate. I do not know what possessed me then, but I leant in and you did not shy away.
An unseen current passed between us when our tongues touched. There was no moral wrong or incestuous misdeed in that moment. We were soul mates, created out of the same mould by the unseen hand in the sky. We had endured so much and emerged together. Shared grief, shared hardships, shared trauma.....shared love. How could anyone say what we were doing was wrong? How could something wrong feel so right, so natural?