The following is a work of fiction. Any similarities are entirely fortuitous. The story may contain profanity and references to gay sex. If such content offends you please leave now. The author retains all rights to the story. Do not copy or use without written authority from the author. Write Bobby at brokendreamboi@yahoo.com with your comments.

Fly Me Away 11

Brandon

Danny was sleeping when I left him alone to go out and buy donuts for breakfast. It was just him and I since Carmen and Alan left earlier this morning to look at garage sales. Reno accompanied me on the short trip to the donut shop and loved every minute of it. He kept his nose out the partially open window the entire time. Storm clouds were moving in quickly, dropping a heavy pouring of rain even before the skies were completely dark grey, almost black. On the way home, it was hard to see too far ahead of my truck. The visibility was horrible. Lightning lit up the sky with quick flashes of bright white light. The thunder was deafening even making Reno nervous. Hopefully this storm hasn't woken Danny up. I don't want him to find me not there.

Reno shook all the excess water off of his body that he didn't shake off while on the porch. Carmen definitely wouldn't like that, but the rain was coming down so heavy that we were soaking wet by the time we actually got to the porch. I set the donuts down in the kitchen, then went upstairs to check on Danny. As I walked into his room, I immediately noticed his bed was empty. Then I saw him sitting in a corner, arms wrapped around his knees, which were pulled up to his chest. His head was cradled by his knees and he was sobbing hysterically into them.

"Danny!" I rushed to his side. "Baby, what's wrong?" He was trying to say something, but between his sobbing and voice being blocked by his knees I couldn't make out anything he was saying. "I can't understand you. Look at me, please!"

He slowly lifted his head up. "Yyyyyyou left mmmme!" His face was dripping wet with tears. "W-w-w-why did yyyou leave m-me!?"

"Baby, shh," I pulled him into me to try to calm him down a little bit. Instead of calming down, though, he started to shake. "I only went to buy us breakfast." Water started to cloud my eyes, but I held it in. "I'm so sorry,"

Danny continued crying wildly for a long time. I never knew someone could cry as hard and as much as he did. But eventually he started to calm down enough to at least talk to me about what happened. I never want to see him this upset ever again.

"I-I-I can't be llleft home alone," he said sadly. "Please, d-d-don't ever d-do that to mmme again."

I kissed his forehead softly. "I promise to never do that again. And I'm sorry, but I just didn't think you'd wake up before I got home."

"W-well, the thunder didn't hhhelp any," he giggled. It was so nice to hear his giggle.

Before going downstairs, I changed into a pair of older clothes that Danny lent me. They were a bit snug, but I didn't mind the snugness. He really enjoyed the donuts I got and said it was worth the episode he had. I didn't think they were that great. Carmen and Alan came home a little bit later with some things from various garage sales. In private, Carmen reminded me that Danny's doctor appointment was right after school on Monday. She said she'd just take me along instead of me going in my own car. I was actually very nervous about his appointment. People aren't called in for MRIs just for fun. They're used to check serious conditions. What if Danny has... No, no, no! He does not have cancer.

The rest of the weekend Danny and I stayed indoors and close to each other. The relentless storm outside gave us virtually no freedom. We did go to the movies once, but nothing exciting happening there. In the theatre, we were two out of maybe ten other people. So Danny didn't have any problem resting his head against my shoulder the entire movie. Then again, we were at the very top where no one else was so I guess his comfort level was higher. Sunday I spent quite a few hours at my own home. Dad was actually there as well, but-big surprise-we didn't talk to each other at all. Whatever, though, right? The point is that we were at least in the same area together. Once the awkwardness sank in, though, that's when I drove over to Danny's. He hasn't ever pushed to get to know my personal life, which I'm grateful for, but I kind of feel like it's time to open up about everything. There isn't really anything too bad anyways. Just a whole lot of heartbreak.

Danny was sitting in his desk chair studying when I walked in. At first, he didn't even notice me until I started rubbing his shoulders. Usually there's no sneaking around with him. He has like supersonic hearing or something.

"H-hey," He flashed me a bright, white smile. "I thought y-you weren't gonna b-be over until lllater?" I kissed his neck softly. A very dirty image of the two of us suddenly entered my thoughts.

"Awkwardness at my house drove me here," But I pushed them away.

"O-oh, well, I'm g-glad you're here. I needed a break a-anyways."

"Cool because there is some..." I couldn't finish what I was saying because Reno came barreling into the room and mauled me. This damn dog is like a hyper little kid always wanting to play. Guess that's normal for a lab, though.

Laughing, Danny asked, "Wwwhat were you going t-to say?"

The timing wasn't right for the talk apparently, so I just let it go. "Nothing important,"

Reno kept us preoccupied until Carmen surprised us with a big plate of warm macaroons. I thought I smelt coconut on the way in, but I forgot all about it once in Danny's room with the strong scent of cherry wafting in the air. She asked if I'd like to stay for dinner, but recently I've been feeling like maybe my welcome has expired. Carmen and Alan haven't changed in attitude towards me at all, but it's just a polite feeling inside of me I guess. So, I declined the offer much to the disappointment of Danny. I asked if she needed help, though, and she took me up on my offer. For dinner, she was making a lobster pot pie. I made the crust for the top while Carmen made the filling. In the living room, Danny and Alan were watching TV. An occasional laugh could be heard from the two of them. This might be too forward, but it feels like this is my family now. There's Alan, the dad who loves his son unconditionally. Then there's Carmen, the protective mother who would do anything for her son. And Danny. What is there to say about him? He's not the typical son, but should that matter? Of course it shouldn't and it obviously doesn't. Where do I fit in, though? Am I just the boyfriend of the untypical son? Or am I more to them?

Carmen and I finished the pot pie and put it in the oven, then went into the living room to be with our... Well, our own lovers essentially. How funny.

"Brandon, Alan and I are throwing a cocktail party tomorrow. Would you like to invite your parents? I've been anxious to meet them." Carmen said.

Danny looked at me with curiosity. He's probably wondering about my parents, too. The only thing I could do, though, was lie about them for now. Talking about what happened is still something so far from easy for me to do. I mean, sure it's been eight years since mom just up and left me like she did, but does anyone truly ever get over something so devastating? It's constantly in the back of my mind. I'm constantly wondering who will leave me next. Danny could leave me, however unlikely that may be.

"Um, actually they're out of town right now. Dad had to go to...China and do some negotiations or something." It sucked to lie, but it's better than telling them about my nonexistent family. "I, uh, have to go to the bathroom."

Upstairs in Danny's bathroom, I flushed the toilet and turned the water on so that my faint sobs couldn't be heard at all. Mom and I were so close. If she was having any kind of problem, surely I would've known, but she never gave any signs of distress or even unhappiness. God how I miss her. There's still a lot of anger in me about the abandonment, but honestly if I could just see her one more time, then the anger would disperse.

A light knock came at the door. "B-Brandon?" I unlocked the door after making sure it wasn't obvious I had been crying. Danny took one look at me before giving me a hug. "It's o-okay, Brandon. You can cry y-you know."

"How did you know?" I asked, surprised.

"I c-can just tell," Danny squeezed me tightly. "I-is it about your p-p-parents?"

My voice cracked as I said, "Yeah,"

"Want to t-talk about them? I noticed that y-you never really m-mention them ever."

"I probably should tell you the truth at least," Danny held on to me even as we walked to his bed. When I started to talk, he rested his head on my shoulder. "My mom and I were always so close. She's always asked how my day was and made sure I had plenty to eat. A normal mom, I guess. But one day when I was ten, I came home from school and expected a warm greeting and an even warmer lunch. Mom wasn't home, though. I looked in every single room in the house, but there was no trace of her. All her clothes, shoes, make up things, perfumes, even photos were just gone. It was like she never existed." I had to breathe deep for a few seconds so that I wouldn't cry.

"B-Brandon, it's okay to cry," Danny said lovingly. He nuzzled at my neck and made the cutest whimpering sound in the world. "D-don't be afraid to c-cry in front of me."

I'm not sure if it was Danny's talk about not being afraid or just reliving the loss of my mom, but the tears came. Oh boy did they come. Danny held me tight as all the pain came rushing out. How could mom just leave me like that!? The two of us always got along. We always did stuff together-played games, talked, cooked. She always kissed me before bed and always kissed me good morning. Was it something that I did maybe? I'll be the first to tell you that I wasn't an innocent child. I did more than my share of troublemaking. Was it all that troublemaking that drove her away?

Dad never acknowledged her leave. That's when he started to stay at work more and avoid the house. Now I realize he was probably just as depressed as I was, but that doesn't mean you abandon your child! I was abandoned once at that time and then again by him. How could he do that to his own flesh and blood? For God's sake I was only ten-years-old! How did he expect me to take care of myself?

"When she left," I took in a deep breath, "my dad spent mostly all of his time at work, or just away from home. I had to take care of myself, Danny. No one was ever home. I was alone! I was fucking alone!" I sobbed pathetically. It felt so stupid to be crying over something that happened eight years ago.

"Shh, i-it's okay now," Danny continued softly. "You've got m-me and I'm nnnot going anywhere."

I sighed sadly, "You're right,"

"And b-believe it or not, y-you have my parents as w-well. I know my d-dad really likes you and m-mom does, too." We were quiet for a few minutes before Danny spoke again. "Are you excited t-to go back to school tomorrow?"

I chuckled, "Yeah," I wiped my eyes and gave Danny a kiss on the top of his head. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better. I actually feel kind of relieved you finally know the truth."

"M-me too,"

The next morning was a little difficult for me. After being able to sleep late over the past week, waking up at a decent time was horribly annoying. But I managed to make it to school just before the first bell rang. Miss Sheeba was happy to see me back finally, and it was so nice to be back. I was bored out of my mind throughout the suspension. She went over some things that would be on the final exam in about a month or so. Graduation is an event that hasn't been on my mind at all lately. Crap, I still need to buy my cap and gown for this school.

After walking Danny to his second period, I went to Mrs. Dern's class. This class has been on my mind every single day of my suspension. I've been so excited to come back to this class in particular. She didn't have a lot of work for me to catch up on, but she was nice enough to print out all the notes I missed.

"Okay, today we are going to continue on with our discussion about abnormal psychology." Mrs. Dern said happily. "I have a story for you guys about this subject. Back at the college, I taught a very interesting group of students. They were very curious about the world and the people inhabiting it. They wanted to know what made people tick. One day I started on abnormal psychology and a few of the students got together and came up with an experiment." Mrs. Dern cleared her throat. "Four students went to the Burger King down the street and sat on the floor in front of the register. Surprisingly enough, they were actually helped."

"Isn't that a fire hazard, though? I mean, they must've been white or something because there's no way that blacks or Mexicans could've gotten away with that." The girl who spoke her opinion is known to play the race card often. By the way, she's black.

"The students in the group: one white, one black, one Mexican, and one Iranian. All four were helped." Mrs. Dern replied smugly. "They eventually went to eat at a table. Then there was another student who came in-white-and began ordering, but then stopped. He turned to his right, asked his imaginary friend what he wanted, and continued to order. He, however, was not helped. The employee spoke to a manager and the manager called the police to help with the 'distraught' man."

Some guy, who annoys the fuck out of me, raised his hand. "What advice do you have if one of us came in contact with that kind of situation? Like, if we were the ones sitting on the floor and we were refused service, what should we do?"

Mrs. Dern looked at him curiously. "Don't sit on the damn floor. There's some advice for you." The entire class erupted into a fit of laughter. Leave it up to her to create a joke to lighten the slightly tense mood in the room. "Anyways, moving on from the story right now. We'll finish up with that later."

Danny

The doctor, after making sure I was okay leaving from the MRI room, told my mom that he'd review the scans immediately and to go down to the cafeteria to get some food while he studied. Mom instead took Brandon and I out to eat somewhere with edible food. I've been so worried about what the doctor might find on the scans. What if I have a tumor or something? Doesn't a tumor mean cancer? That would be my luck!

"Boys, I see a friend who's coming to the party tonight. I will be right back." mom said, already standing from the table.

Brandon shot me a sad look. He must know exactly what I'm thinking about. There is no way that my luck could be that bad, though, right? I mean... Cancer?

"Danny, please eat your food. You've barely touched the plate at all." Brandon sighed depressingly. "I know you're worried about what the doctor is going to find, but it's gonna be okay."

"N-nothing is ever okay with mmme!" I muttered, not looking him in the eye. "I p-p-probably have cancer. Why does this s-stuff always happen to me?"

I felt Brandon touch my feet with his. "Come on, Danny. You do not have cancer."

"You're nnnot a doctor so you..." I trailed off because in my peripheral vision I saw mom answer her cell phone. And when she walked away from her friends, I knew who was on the other end.

Brandon looked up at her when she was next to our table. "Okay, boys, back to the hospital we go." She left thirty dollars for our meal since we hadn't gotten our check yet.

The drive to the hospital, however close, was miserable for me. Brandon was even silent. The doctor just has to have bad news for me. That's the story of my life. Bad news. My heart started to pound when we entered the hospital. But it was nothing compared to when we stepped into his office. He was sitting at his desk thumbing through some paperwork.

"Ah, please come on, guys," he said casually. My doctor is pretty cool. He's at least a very nice guy.

"Thank you, Dr. White," mom said politely. I knew, though, that she was just as anxious as I was to learn what the doctor had to say.

"Well, I checked and checked and checked the scans. Eventually I found what could be causing your severe migraines. Just to be on the safe side, though, I checked with a colleague of mine to get a second opinion."

"Is it anything s-s-s-serious?" I asked impatiently, standing from my seat and pacing the room. Dr. White fidgeted with his fingers. "I knew i-it! It's c-c-cancer!"

"It is definitely not cancer," Dr. White said abruptly. "What you have is something called Chiari malformation. It's a condition where brain tissue pushes into your spinal canal."

Mom sighed with relief, but I wasn't convinced. "What does it take to correct it?"

"Well, Mrs. Turner, it will require surgery. The surgery is very safe, but there is a chance that... Well, that he could be paralyzed should something, however unlikely, go wrong. We are dealing with an area very near his spinal cord."

My heart sank to the very bottom of my stomach. He just said I could be paralyzed after the surgery. Something that is supposed to make me better can actually make me worse! Why does God like to punish me!? What did I ever do to deserve this!? I go to school. I get amazing grades. This crap always has to happen to me! I'm like a bad luck magnet! Brandon sensed my stress and pulled me down onto his lap. He whispered something in my ear, but I wasn't even sure of what he said. All I was focused on was the impending surgery that could easily ruin my life.

"What does the surgery involve?" I could tell by mom's voice she was scared. Her facial expression gave away no fright, though. She seemed as strong as ever.

"The surgeons will remove a small piece of bone in the back of his skull, which should relieve the pressure caused by the protruding brain tissue. They will then open the dura, which covers the brain, and sew in an artificial patch to enlarge the covering and give the brain more room. The surgery will take anywhere from two to three hours and recovery in the hospital will vary depending on his pain." Dr. White seemed to sympathize for the situation we were in, but no matter how scared I am of going into surgery and possibly becoming paralyzed, I want the surgery to happen.

"I w-w-want to go through with it," I boldly spoke up. "I want th-the surgery."

Dr. White looked at mom, searching for her approval. She turned to me and asked, "Are you sure, Danny? Maybe we should talk about this with your dad first."

"N-no," I harshly said. "I want it."

"We will schedule the surgery for next Tuesday. I will be calling to check in every couple of days. I will tell you now that the surgery will be very early in the morning and you won't be able to eat or drink anything six hours prior to the appointment."

"Th-that's fine," I walked out of the office in tears. Brandon was calling after me, but I didn't stop or turn around. He finally caught up to me and spun me around. He stared into my watery eyes wanting to know what he could do to help me. Honestly, there was nothing he could do. I just wanted to go home. Brandon led me to the elevators where we rode down to the lobby. Mom came down several minutes later with many papers in her hands. She looked kind of sad, probably feeling pity for me.

Dad was home when we arrived. He dropped the hose and quickly came up to my side of the car. Mom shot him a warning look and he stopped coming towards me. Brandon walked me up to my room where I kicked off my shoes and crawled under the covers on the bed. He scooted up next to me, wrapping an arm around my body, allowing me to grieve my impending surgery.

I hope you all enjoyed chapter eleven. The story is soon ending, but I'm not entirely sure what chapter yet. Feel free to write me at my e-mail address that's given atop every chapter. Also feel free to join my group: Shades of Wisteria. Oh, and don't forget about my instant messaging screen names! And don't worry about bugging me because you WON'T.

AIM= brokendreamboi

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By the way, I started a blog up, which you can read without being a member or anything! Here's the link: Bobby's Blog.

I published Beautiful Lie! You can purchase it by following this link: Bobby's Storefront. It's exciting to have another one of my stories created into a book. If you do decide to purchase it, then I really hope you enjoy it. Speaking of purchasing, you must purchase the book in order to read the entire story. But (and I mean a big but!) if you cannot purchase the book for any reason and would like to read the entire story, then please contact me. Exceptions can and will be made for you. And please don't feel embarrassed if you can't buy it. I have had many hard times in my eighteen-and-a-half-year-old life. Thanks ahead of time!