Sunday, May 9, 2010

Church Stories: In love with my brother

This is a short story inspired by the old testament of the bible, Ammon and Tamar located in 2 Samuel 13:1-21. Though these stories are not the same they both deal with loving a sibling in a sinful way. If you have any other bible references that can go with it let me know and tell me what you think of the story. What you like and what you don’t. Just give me whatever feedback you can.

Church Stories: In love with my brother

Juan Balaba lifted up the last box that was on the ground into the truck that was parked in front of the office store. He swung the door closed before turning toward the street corner, staring at the man standing there with his arms folded and a bright red hat and jacket on. “Is there anything else your boss wants to return?” the man asked upset. “Like maybe the entire store.”
Juan slightly lowered his head and smirk. “No, that will be all.” He looked straight into the man’s eyes.
“Yeah, well it better be.” The man headed for the front of his truck.
Juan was a twenty-year-old, Filipino man that was in good shape for his age. His hair was the color of oil that spiked up in the middle, his skin had a healthy tan glow. He possessed two small piercing on the right side of his bottom lip and two big circle earrings in his ears. Juan had a sense of innocence to him while also having alluring black eyes; he wore jeans and gray shirt with a broken wooden cross around his neck.
Juan leaped onto the sidewalk, walking back into the store. The setting sun graced his skin.
Across the street, Jennifer and Alexis were walking side by side, laughing. Alexis gazed forward to spot Juan’s back. The Hispanic sixteen-year-old pointed to him. “Hey isn’t that your brother?”
Jennifer sent her attention to where her friend was pointing. “Yeah, that’s him. He has an extra shift today.” Jennifer had no piercings, unlike her brother, her skin was a lighter shade and she was a small thing only having a few curves seeing that she was still young. She had on a white and black strip top with jeans.
Alexis looked at Jennifer, confused. “I thought he was a musician?”
“He doesn’t really make any money off of that,” Jennifer stated. The two girls stopped at the corner of the street. Two cars drove by. “He’s really good, but he hasn’t met anyone he can really show his music to yet. So he works there since our parents died.”
“That’s why he dropped out of college, right?”
Jennifer nodded.
“That’s too bad. He’s cute; I bet he would have had a lot of fun there.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes. “I doubt it; my brother is really into being a good Christian, not one of those ‘fake Christians.’” She used air quotes around the ‘Fake Christian’ part. She then looked at where her brother was and smiled slightly.
“What’s a fake Christian?”
Jennifer stared at her friend with a smirk still on her face. “You know, people that say their Christian but don’t really act like it.”
“Sounds like my grandma.”
Jennifer shrugged her shoulders. “Could be. Anyway, I got to go and finish this homework before my teachers get ready to gang up and kill me.”
“Maybe if you didn’t wait to do it, until class everyday that wouldn’t happen,” Alexis joked.
“Ha, ha, I’ll see you later.” Jennifer waved to her friend then looked both ways, before she dashed across the street. She went to her right going toward the apartment buildings that were two blocks down.
*
That night, Juan was doing push-ups with his shirt off. His room was bare only having a closet, table, lamp, and bed, not even having a carpet for the wooden floor. The door to his room was painted sheet white and cracked slightly open. Jennifer was at the door.
Jennifer watched her brother while he worked out. Her eyes stayed glued to his back, watching as every muscle moved and the sweat rolled off his body. Juan’s hair had become damp from the continuous excise.
Juan did one more push up; afterward, he stood up to grab the towel that he had on his table. He wiped his face then threw the towel over his neck. “Jennifer, you don’t have to hide in the hallway. Come on in and tell me what you want.”
Jennifer opened the door, stepping into the room. Juan turned around, smiling at his little sister. Juan closed the gap between them with in just a couple of steps. He placed his hands down on top of his sister’s shoulders. “Are you ok?”
Jennifer lowered her head, having a glimmered of sadness in her eyes. Juan wrapped his hand under her chin, guiding it up toward him. He kissed the top of her forehead then lowered his head down and kissed her lips.
Jennifer’s eyes popped open. She was lying in her bed in her own room, staring up at the ceiling in the darkness.
*
The following day, Jennifer left her room, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She only had on a long night shirt that just went below her butt. She walked down the hallway that leaded her into the kitchen. Juan was already inside the room, cooking them both breakfasts. He scraped the bacon, eggs, and mini pancakes on two blue and white plates.
Juan shut off the stove then grabbed the plates, putting them on opposite sides of the round table. “Good morning, sleepy head,” he said cheerfully. Jennifer didn’t respond. She sat down still daze from just waking up. Juan went over to the counter, getting them both a cup of orange juice and silver wear.
Juan sat down and gave Jennifer her half of the dishes. He putted his own glass down, before he dug into his eggs with his fork. After taking a bit, he asked, “So how did you sleep last night?”
Jennifer clumsy grasped her cup almost knocking it over. She brought the cup to her small lips, taking a drink. She putted it down right above her plate. She didn’t respond to him or even look at him.
Juan just stared at her plate. “Jennifer.” He waited for a respond, but there was none. “Didn’t you hear me? Jennifer!”
Juan brought her gaze up. She looked into her brother’s eyes which were bigger than hers and considered much more admirable. She turned her body to the right, saying, “I need to get ready for school.” She pushed herself out the chair and went around it.
“You didn’t even eat,” he said.
“I’m fasting.” She left the room and headed for her room. Juan just stayed at the table dumbfounded. Jennifer shut her door behind her, locking it. She went over to her pink cover bed that matched the rest of her room. She dove to her knees, clasped her hands, shut her eyes, and bowed her head.
“God, forgive me for I have sinned,” her voice quivered. “I’ve fallen in love with my big brother and I don’t know what to do? Please, help me from loving my brother in this way and love him like a sister should. Amen.”
*
That night, Juan had just finished taking a shower after getting off his shift at work. He wrapped the towel on the counter around his waist. He left the bathroom, going down the hallway to his room.
Jennifer left her room. She had on a green basketball hat, jersey, with some rolled up blue jeans. Juan partly narrowed his eyes; he had his hands on the towel near the knot. “Where do you think you’re going?” Jennifer twisted her body in Juan’s direction. “You do know it’s a school night?”
“Juan, your starting to sound like a parent,” she said. “I’ll be back home before midnight so don’t worry.”
Juan halted a step away from Jennifer. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to his chest. “I thought tonight we could have some fun of our own.” Jennifer shook in her brother’s arms. He leaned in closer, being face to face with her.
*
Day and night from that day forward Jennifer would pray with no good coming from it. Whenever her brother wasn’t looking she would image or dream things about him, sometimes shirtless other times completely naked. When he had his back turned to her she stared at his butt. Whenever Juan looked at her she couldn’t look at him, afraid she might try to live out her fantasies in real life.
On Saturday evening a month later, Jennifer fell asleep on her bed. Another sinful dream came upon her which was the worst of them all. She and her brother were just about to have sex when the phone rang. The rang tone on her phone gently knocked Jennifer from her sleep. She rolled on her side, grabbing the phone that was on her side table.
She brought it to her ear. “Hello.”
“Hey Jenifer, I forgot my cross at home,” Juan said into the phone.
“And?”
“And I need you to bring it to me. My boss won’t let me go back to the house to get it.”
“You’ve been without it all day, can’t you just wait?”
“I really need it,” he replied. “It’s been bugging me all day.”
“I don’t wanna.”
“Jennifer, you’ve been home all day. All I’m asking you is to make a small little trip down to where I work. Just bring it here ok.” Juan had hung up.
“But, uh.” She brought her phone in front of her, clicking the end button.
*
Jennifer entered her brother’s room, spotting a dirty shirt that was on the floor. Without any thought she dove next to it picking it up. She took a whiff of the shirt. Which kept her there for a minute.
A light hit her eye, getting her to look up. She saw the chip wooden cross hung on the lamp on the desk. She dropped the shirt and got off her knees. She went over to the cross, wrapping the string around her hand and clasp the cross in her hands. Her hands were practically shacking.
She bowed her head and shut her eyes for a silent prayer. She asked the lord one last time to free her from the evil thoughts that made her love her brother in a sinful way. This time at the end she called on Jesus’ name, before saying amen.
She headed out the room and to the office store. When she made it to the office store, Juan was exiting the building. He looked over to the side, spotting his little sis. He walked over to her. Jennifer kept her sight down to his feet.
“Jennifer, are you ok?”
She nodded.
“Then why aren’t you able to look at me?” Jennifer slowly raised her head, looking up into her brother’s eyes. She blinked for a second in amazement. She smiled as she handed her brother the cross. He thanked her and she turned around, heading home. Her smile boarded, knowing that when she looked at her brother she saw him for nothing more than that.

1 comment:

  1. J.R. Happy Birthday to you. I am proud to be your Grandmother. I have seen your writing styles develop over the years. This new area that you are exploring really fits you well. I enjoyed this story and I hope your will continue to develop this area of your writing.

    ReplyDelete