1Number 3 In The List Of Sexual Consequences
By Alexandra Tieng
Sandy took a sharp intake of air, a final groan of pleasure, and then rolled off her gasping partner. For about five minutes, the two laid in bed side by side in silence, both trying to catch their breath, both with most mischevious grins split upon their faces. Nightfall was approaching, and the sky was dimming. Arthur's parents would be home soon. Reminding himself of that fact, Arthur glanced at the bed side clock, and with all his will power, got up out of bed and began to put his clothes back on, indicating that Sandy should do the same.
"So you're coming tommorow aren't you?" Arthur said as he finished up tying the laces of his Dr. Martin boots. He tried to catch Sandy's eye but she had looked away so that she covered her face with her own blonde hair.
"You know I'm not so sure Arth." She said softly, in a low voice that was almost a murmur. "You know my mama's just gettin out of surgery tommorow, I should probably be at home for her, make sure shes tended to."
"Sandy," Arthur got up and walked to the other side of the bed and sat beside her. He put his arm around her shoulder. "This is the fifth week you've missed church."
"I know, I know, and I promise - next week for sure.", Sandy gave a weary smile and looked Arthur straight in the face, meeting his eyes. He sighed and nodded; Sandy's promises had been faulty lately.
But Arthur supposed he wasn't worried, its not like this hasn't happened before. Sandy was in fact the type to make one problem the center of everything she did. Whenever she would be upset about one thing, no matter how pety or small, she would act upset about everything, which usually lead her to being quiet and frowning. And yet, once the problem resolved she would instantly go back to being peppy and bubbly; the Sandy Arthur liked seeing.
Arthur gave his Sandy a squeeze and a kiss on the forehead, and Sandy returned him a kiss on the cheek, put on her coat, promised she would call him and walked out the room. Arthur stayed seated where he was until he heard the front door close, and soon, out of his window, the sound of a car starting and pulling out the drive way.
Arthur felt very tired and just wanted to go to sleep, but his parents would be home soon, and they would expect a clean home when they do. And so, all too begrudingly, he lifted himself off the bed and went downstairs, into his kitchen where he began to clean up the dirty pots and pans he had used to make his and Sandy's dinner. He straighted out the cushions on the couch where he and Sandy sat to watch television as they ate. By the hour of ten, the entire house was spic and span and Mr and Mrs. Wilson might have never known anyone had been there at all. By about eleven, the entire family was asleep, earlier than usual, but they were to wake early the next morning for church.
The next morning, Mrs. Angaleen Wilson put on her white pearls around her neck, and then sprayed them with a spray of her newest perfume. She fixed her large white hat and examined herself in the mirror. What she saw was a woman fit and ready for church. She only had to put a tad more cover up on, her eye bags were droopy and made her look like such a tired old woman. Well in truth, she was. The week had been brutal. Besides her usual wifely duties, the damn teenagers at the high school she taught at had not been kind to her this week, and in addition to Arthur's upcoming eighteenth birthday! She was exsasperated and was looking more than forward to a good prayer to the Lord.
It was about two hours later. The church began to clear up as the service ended. Angaleen, unlike the rest, stayed still at her seat, not showing any signs of getting up. Arthur and her husband were talking to the pastor. The pastor, elderly and poised as he was, was actually a good friend of the family. They had known him even before he was the pastor of the town church, but when he was a regular church goer himself. She saw Arthur and her husband laugh at something the pastor said, smile and they walked away, inclining her to follow them as they headed for the door.
"Wait," The pastor said, just as she was getting up. "I would like to have a word with Angaleen if that's alright with you Jim."
Angaleen looked at her husband Jim questioningly, Jim had an equally confused look on his face, but nodded anyway. "Meet us out in the car Ang." He said, and he and Arthur left, leaving the church empty except for Angaleen and the Pastor. Angaleen walked over to the pastor.
"What - is it?" Angaleen asked.
"Arthur's eighteenth birthday is coming up soon." The pastor said simply.
"Yes - and?"
"Did you ever tell him, Angaleen?"
"Tell him what?"
"You know."
Angaleen thought for a moment, "That hes adopted?"
"Yes. Did you ever tell him?"
"Well no." Angaleen confessed, "But thats something he dosen't really have to know does he?"
The pastor gave her a funny look "Well no, but he does have a ri-"
"Well if its unessecary to know, then why should I tell him? After all you know what crazy things some people do when they find out they're adopted! I've heard stories where kids run away from their homes to find they're real parents!"
"Yes," The pastor interuppted before she rambled on any further. "But he is now eighteen years old. He is now become an adult, his own person. Most parents tell theyre children when the child is nine or even seven! He is his own man now, and he has more of a right to know than anyone."
It was not long after this conversation before it was indeed the day of Arthur's birthday. Arthur had not perhaps been overly excited about the day, of course not as excited at least as he was when he had turned 10 or 13, but still he was curious at what presents he would recieve. He got fairly good gifts, a new iPod with more gigabytes in it, a PSP with a few games in the box, a Dave Matthews Band CD, a few gift cards, and a House MD dvd set. Sandy, who looked breathtaking as always, had taken the liberty of baking his cake, which was the most delicious strawberry cake he had ever tasted. Now, the party was over and it was time to clean up. The last of his relatives had just left and his mom was washing the dishes, while his father was taking down the trimmings and balloons. Sandy was still there, she was helping clean up the gift wrapper bits all over the floor, and Arthur was taking out the money inserted into the birthday cards before he threw the cards into the trash. Once everything was cleaned up, Sandy approached him, took his hands, and smiled.
"I saved my gift for last."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. Sandy had told him she hadn't gotten him a gift due to lack of money, and he took her cake as present enough.
"You didn't have to get me anything," He reassured her. She smiled, "I know. Its not much, its just -" She slipped something around his finger. "A promise ring."
He smiled at her and then hugged her tight, she was so cute when she was romantic like this. She hugged him back and said, "Promise to always be faithful, keep me in your heart."
"I promise."
Soon, Sandy left too and now it was just Arthur and his parents. But as he headed to his room, his mom caught up with him along the way, grabbed his shoulder, and said "We need to talk."
Two days later.
Arthur finds himself in front of an agency with an envelope in his hand. An envelope that contained information of a whole different life he never knew about. He had not spoken to his mother since she had told him that she was in fact not his mother, than she was a woman that adopted him because his real parents had died in a fatal car crash. She also informed him that he had a sister, who had survived. Arthur decided to find this person. He took a breath, entered the agency and went to the secretary who told him to wait and fill out a form, he did so and gave it back to the secretary. After about half an hour, a professional looking man escorted him into his office.
"I want to find my sister.", Arthur told him, handing the man the envelope. "Thats all my parents information, its all I know. Ive never met them."
The man looked over the paper in the envelope, nodded, and said, "This is fine, I can mail you the information in about two or so days."
"Thank you."
The information came in approximatley two days. Arthur read it with his mouth agape. He looked over his long lost sister's information with the word impossible repeating in his head. He knew the person. He repeated the name "Sandy Hughes" in whisper.
He sat in his room and thought about the six year relationship he had with the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He thought of everything, what would the future would be like now? Sandy was almost his entire world. Arthur was the worst in bad situations. He felt salty tears falling, he knew he was close to a panic attack. So what now? He pondered. Would he have to break up with her? He couldn't do that? Would he even be able to tell her why? He felt as though he ought to protect her from this information. And yet, even if he kept it a secret, they could never have a healthy family together. And what if other people found out? He could never do this to his parents.
After hours of thought and speculation, Arthur Wilson decided on going to the solution of cutting himself. Cutting and cutting until he felt better, or at least had a dizzy sensation that distracted him. As more blood poured out, slowly, things began to fade, as did his surroundings. By the time Arthur Wilson died, the phone that had been ringing stopped and a voice came on to the voicemail after the shrill beep. It was Sandy's.
"Arthur, I wanted to tell you at your birthday party after I gave you the ring, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Everytime I've tried I could never say this to your face, I'm a bit scared of how you'd react. But I can't keep it in Arth, I need you to know. I-I'm pregnant.," Her voice began to crack, and a sniffle could be heard, "Please call back when you get this message. I love you."