You Promised Me a Tomorrow
Chapter 10
After my father carried TJ in, the house became a chaotic scene. My father took him upstairs and laid
him in my bed. I was frantic. I kept yelling and screaming. Carter stood in a corner watching silently.
My mother was rushing wet towels to my father who was cleaning the wounds on TJ’s body.
“Is he going to live?” I was screaming. All I could think of was that I was going to lose him.
“I think it looks worse than it really is.” My father tried to reassure me. I kept looking at TJ’s listless
body. He appeared to be alert, but he still hadn’t said anything. His eyes were so swollen; it was hard
to tell if he could see me.
“I’ll call 911.” My mother shouted.
“NO!” TJ sat up and screamed. “Please don’t call an ambulance. I don’t want to go to the hospital.
Please!” He looked in the direction of my mother, but it was obvious he couldn’t see her through his
battered eyes.
“Randy. Run next door and get Elizabeth.” Elizabeth was our next door neighbor. She was a nurse in
the emergency room at the hospital. If TJ needed to go to the hospital, she would be able to tell.
I bolted down the steps and ran next door. I pounded on the door repeatedly for several minutes
before the porch light came on and Mr. Anderson opened it and peeked out.
“Randy, what’s wrong?” He asked sleepily.
“Mr. Anderson, I need to see Mrs. Anderson.” Just as I said that, she looked over her husband’s
shoulder.
“Can you come with me? Someone’s hurt.” Her face paled when I told her this.
“Is it your father?” She said anxiously.
“No, a friend of mine. He’s been hurt really bad.” I cried. She disappeared for a minute, and then came
out pulling on her bathrobe. We hurried back to my room where my father was still wiping the blood off
TJ. Elizabeth took one look at him and began to attend to his wounds.
“I don’t think anything is broken.” She said after a few minutes. “He’s got some serious bruises. Bring
me some ice and let me see if I can get the swelling down. I think we should get him to the hospital.”
“NO!” TJ shouted again. “I’ll be alright. I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“I really think you should young man.” Elizabeth insisted. “Can you tell me what happened? Who did
this to you?”
“I don’t know.” TJ insisted.
“I’ll tell you who did this.” My father said angrily. “That goddamned brother of yours did this. Didn’t
he?”
TJ didn’t say anything. He turned his head away. My mother entered with a plastic bag full of ice. TJ
winced when Elizabeth put it on his swollen eyes.
My father looked over and noticed Carter for the first time. He’d been so busy taking care of TJ he
hadn’t noticed his presence.
“Who are you?” He asked rather harshly. Carter seemed to cower in the corner.
“He’s a friend of TJ’s.” I said quickly. “He brought him here.” My father went over and put his hand on
his shoulder and led him out of the room. I followed them into the hallway.
“Do you know what happened?” My father asked him calmly.
“No, Sir.” Carter said. “He came to my bedroom window and woke me up. I went to the door and found
him like this. I didn’t know what to do, so I called a friend and had him bring us here. He refused to go
to the hospital.”
“You did the right thing, Son.” My father put his hand out and pulled Carter into him, embracing him in
his arms. He knew Carter was devastated over what had happened and needed comforted. Carter
looked so small wrapped up in my father’s arms.
“I’ll be right back.” My father informed me. You go back in and see if there’s anything you can do.”
He walked down the hall and disappeared into the den.
TJ was sitting up and Elizabeth was giving him small sips of water. He still couldn’t see but he heard me
enter the room.
“Randy?” He asked quietly.
“I’m here, TJ.” I sat on the side of the bed and took his hand in mine. Elizabeth looked down at our
hands and then she looked at me and smiled.
“He’ll be alright, Randy.” She said reassuringly. “It looks like most of the injuries aren’t serious. A lot
of bruising, put I don’t think he needs stitches. I’ve been able to stop the bleeding. It’s probably going
to be a few days before he can see anything. Just keep the ice on his face for the rest of the night. I’ll
check on him before I go to the hospital in the morning. If I don’t see an improvement, I’ll take him with
me and have a doctor check him out.”
“Thank you, Elizabeth.” My mother said as she walked over and gave her a hug. They’d been friends
since before I was born. Mrs. Anderson and her husband had never been able to have children, so
they’d adopted me as their son. I liked that. I got some great gifts for my birthday and at Christmas.
“You alright, Baby?” I asked kissing his swollen cheek. It was breaking my heart to see him like this.
It didn’t look like the beautiful face I was accustomed to.
“I’ve had better days. It was a great birthday.” Tears were falling from his swollen eyes. I reached out
and held him tightly. I looked over and saw Carter leave sadly through the door.
“Ssshhh. It’s alright. You’re safe now.” I rocked him in my arms.
“I ain’t nothing but trouble.” He cried. “I ain’t been nothing but trouble all my life.”
“That’s not true, TJ. Could I love you as much as I do if you were trouble?” I whispered in his ear.
“I’m not worth loving. I’ll just make your life miserable too.” He clutched me tighter.
“I love you and there’s nothing you can do to make me not love you.” I began to cry.
“Give me time and you’ll hate me like everyone else.” He released his hold on me and started to move
away.
“No you don’t.” I said angrily. “You’re not going to shut me out. Dammit, I love you.” I grabbed him and
pulled him back into me again. He was wracked with emotion. I just held him and rocked him in my
arms. After several minutes I felt his body begin to relax. Realizing he’d finally fallen asleep, I laid him
gently down and pulled the covers up onto his body. He was still dressed in his bloody clothes, but I
figured he needed his rest more than he did clean clothes.
I left the bedroom and walked downstairs to the kitchen. My father was sitting quietly drinking a cup of
coffee.
“Where’s Mom?” I asked.
“She took Carter home. He wanted to walk, but she wouldn’t let him go home alone at this time of
night.” He told me. “He’s a rather strange kid.”
“I know.” I said thoughtfully. I really didn’t know anything about Carter. I couldn’t figure out why TJ had
befriended him. Of all the people at our school, why did he become friends with a known stoner? It
made me wonder if TJ was also involved. I was concerned, too, that maybe TJ and Carter were more
than just friends.
“So, what are we going to do?” I questioned my father. I knew that he would not let someone hurt TJ
without doing something.
“I called Dave and he’s going to come by in the morning and talk to TJ. We’ll decide what to do after he
talks to him.” Dave was my dad’s attorney friend. He’s the one who had bailed TJ out of jail yesterday.
I still couldn’t comprehend everything that had happened since Friday. It was now early Sunday
morning. In that time TJ had seen me and Dean kissing. He disappeared and missed the party I had
planned for him. Then he gets arrested for shoplifting. He goes home where his mother accuses me
and my father of sexually abusing him. Then he shows up at our house beaten and battered. What a
way to spend a birthday.
“You ok, Son.” My father looked at me sympathetically. “I know how you feel about TJ. He’ll be
alright.” I walked over to my father and fell into his arms. Everything that had happened to TJ finally
overwhelmed me. I needed my father to hold me. Several minutes later my mother arrived. After
talking a few minutes with them, I decided to go to bed. I was extremely tired.
I went to my bedroom and closed the door. After stripping down to my boxer shorts, I climbed quietly
into bed. TJ rolled over and put his arm across my chest.
“Randy?”
“Yeah, TJ?”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
“Randy?”
“Yeah, TJ?”
“I love you.”
He moved in closer and nestled his head into my shoulder. A few minutes later I could hear him snoring
softly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The past twenty four hours have been a nightmare. I had to be stupid and take that bottle of cheap
wine. Funny thing is, I never really liked drinking wine. It usually gave me a headache. But after what
had happened last night, I just needed anything to take my mind off the crazy thoughts going through
my head.
My first instinct was to hate Carter. It disgusted me to think what he’d done. Then I began to feel sorry
for him. I thought how desperate he must be for love that he felt he couldn’t get it any other way than
to take it from someone who was asleep.
Then I remembered the look in his eyes when he was jacking off admiring my body. He was so busy
looking at me he didn’t see me watching him. He never said it, but I knew he was falling in love with
me. He’d sat next to me all night and really seemed to be comfortable. Then his actions in bed. I knew
he’d never tell me because he knew I was in love with Randy.
This was something I couldn’t deal with. A week ago I’d cried myself to sleep because I’d never find
love. Now I had two guys I thought were in love with me. I should be happy, but I was miserable. When
I saw that bottle of wine I felt I could get some temporary relief. I got relief; it just wasn’t what I thought.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as embarrassed as I was when I looked at the disappointed face on Mr.
Lawrence’s face when he came and picked me up at the jail. When I went out with him and saw my
mother sitting passed out in the lobby I wanted to run as far from this town as I could.
To make matters worse, he insisted on taking us home. I wanted to take the bus, but he forced us to let
him take us home. My mother was more than happy to accept the ride. At least she wouldn’t have to
pay for bus fare.
Overwhelming shame washed over me when he came in and saw our pig sty we call home. It hadn’t
been cleaned in weeks. Beer cans littered the house. Then Butch had to come out in his underwear
and begin making a scene.
When Mr. Lawrence offered to let me return home with him, my mother went into a tirade. She called
him a pervert and asked him if he was fucking me like his son was. I held my head in shame. She
screamed some of the most obscene words at him. He stormed out of the house, not even bothering to
look back.
After he left things got worse. I went to my room but my mother kept coming in yelling at me. Each time
she returned she was drunker than the time before. I wanted to scream listening to the vile words she
was hurling at me. I knew she never loved me, but I didn’t realize she possessed such a hatred for
me. After several hours of verbal abuse, I heard her stumble into her bedroom. I looked in later and
she was passed out on her bed.
I went to bed around midnight, depressed and hungry. I tried to sleep, but couldn’t. I had laid awake
about an hour when I heard Butch return from his night out. He stumbled down and hall and into his
bedroom. Five minutes later I heard him open my bedroom door. I looked over and he was walking
towards my bed completely naked. His small, ugly cock was jutting out and he was stroking it as he
approached.
He stood over my bed and threw the covers off me. He looked down angrily at me.
“Fag! I’m going to show you what a real man does.” With those words he threw his filthy body on me
and pressed me to the bed. I could feel his cock trying to penetrate me from behind. He was tearing at
my underwear trying to pull them off. I was thrashing around on the bed, trying to throw him off me.
“Stop fighting me! You’re going to let me fuck that ass, Bitch!” He began to stab his cock into me.
I gave a final push and managed to throw him off. I then rolled over and tried to get off the bed.
Suddenly I felt a searing pain to my face. Then another and another. I knew he was trying to kill me. He
kept pummeling me with his fists. I was so dizzy from the pain that I could not fight back. After several
more blows I passed out.
I awoke later completely disoriented. I was lying in a pool of blood. I tried to see what time it was, but
my eyes were blurry. I felt my face and realize it was swollen and blood was dripping down onto my
chest. Butch was nowhere around. I reached behind me to see if he had raped me and sighed when I
realized he had not. My stomach was wet with his cum. He must have masturbated on me and then
gone to bed.
I got dressed and went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and gasped when I saw myself. My face
was bruised and my eyes were almost swollen shut. Blood darkened my face, making it almost
unrecognizable. I ran out of the house and stood on the street. I was quickly loosing my vision.
I knew I needed help quickly. I couldn’t call for an ambulance. I didn’t have any insurance to pay my
medical bills. The hospital would call the police. Once they found out what had happened they would
call children’s services and have me put in foster care. I didn’t want that. I’d heard stories about kids
who had been taken from there home, especially kids my age. I only had two more years until I turned
18. Then I could be on my own. I’d endured my life for sixteen years; I could do it two more.
I started walking, barely able to see. My eyes were quickly closing. The only place I knew to go was to
Carter’s. I had planned on never seeing him again, but right now he was the only person I knew I could
trust.
When I reached his house I went around to his bedroom window and began tapping lightly. When I
didn’t get a response, I knocked a little harder. Soon I heard his bedroom window open. By now both
my eyes had closed shut.
“TJ? What in the fuck do you--Oh, Christ, hold on! I’ll be right out.” I soon heard footsteps coming
around the house. He grabbed me by my waist and led me to the chairs beside the garage.
“What the fuck happened?” He asked worriedly.
“I need help. I can’t see.” I cried.
“I’ll get my mother up and have her take you to the hospital.” He insisted.
“NO!” I screamed. “You can’t take me there.”
“Jesus, Man. What can I do?” He was becoming frantic.
“I don’t know. I’m scared.” I screamed.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.” I heard him running away. It sounded like he ran next door. About five
minutes later he came back. I could hear that someone had come with him.
“TJ. I’m back.” He said breathlessly. “I brought Robby with me. He’s a friend of mine. He lives next
door. I’m going to have him take you to Randy’s house.”
“I can’t go there like this.” I cried.
“I don’t know what else to do.” He said excitedly. “They’ll be able to help you.”
He came over and helped me up. I could feel another pair of hands take hold of me. They led me out to
an awaiting car parked on the street. Carter opened the back door and helped me in. He then got in
beside me. I gave Robby Randy’s address and he quickly pulled off.
Carter gently pulled my head onto his lap and lightly stroked my hair on the way to Randy‘s house. He
kept telling me that everything would be alright. I felt him kiss my forehead several times. Suddenly, all
the anger I had for him earlier left me. I was glad he was here to comfort me.