Page 5 of Like Fathers, Like Son
“Then why would you want to?”
He giggled again. “I just wanna stroke it. Why won’t you let me stroke it, Anneka? I won’t hurt your hair, so why don’t you let me touch it?”
There was something so creepy about the way he was so keen to touch my hair, because that wasn’t how normal people acted, was it? None of the boys at school were interested in touching my hair. Some of them were more interested in other parts of me, that I still didn’t want anyone touching.
“You’re being weird, Blaze. You can’t touch my hair, and you can’t cut holes in fences like this. My dad will complain to yours, and it’ll be a whole big embarrassing mess.”
Blaze laughed, sounding like he didn’t care at all.
“He can try complaining to my dads, but they won’t care. Daddy Dory helped me do it, anyway.”
Oh my god, how weird was his family?? He said dads, plural? And one of these dads helped him destroy our property?
“He helped? But you shouldn’t vandalise people’s fences, Blaze! Your dad really helped you?”
Blaze wiggled his fingers at me again.
“No! Your dad should have stopped you from doing this, not helped you. No wonder you’re so weird, if that’s what your parents are like. This isn’t normal, Blaze.”
“Daddy Dory says ‘normal is overrated’. I think that means that-”
“I know what it means. I’m a teenager, so I understand these things better than you. Your family is weird, Blaze. You need to leave me alone now.”
Blaze
SHE WOULDN’T TALK TO me again after that, so I went back indoors, feeling like a loser. Why wouldn’t she talk to me? Why did she call me weird? What was wrong with wanting to touch her flame hair?
“What are you up to, baby? You want to do more of the books?”
Daddy Dory told me not to let mum know about the hole we’d made in the fence, so I couldn’t tell her where I’d been, or what I’d been doing, but I really didn’t want to do more unpacking.
“My tummy hurts.”
Mum immediately started fussing over me, and let me go to bed for a bit, even bringing me some Lucozade and a sandwich.
“Are you okay, baby? Do you want mummy to bring you some medicine?”
I shook my head fast because I hated medicines. They all tasted bitter and weird.
“I might just read for a bit.”
She pushed my hair back from my face, and kissed my forehead.
“Shout if you need anything, my sweet boy.” She walked out of my room and closed the door, and I listened to her heavy footsteps walking away. She was huge with the babies inside her, and both daddies said it wouldn’t be long before she ‘dropped these ones’.
They were both apparently also looking forward to putting another one inside her? I didn’t really understand what that meant, but mum would get really mad at them every time they said it, so I guessed it wasn’t good.
I leaned under my bed and pulled out mum’s diaries, finding the first one I’d started reading, turning to the second entry.
Wilma's Diary
I knew once I told them that my period was late that they’d assume they’d managed to get me pregnant. I don’t know who was being more smug about it, Dory or Gray. Let’s not forget that Dory was the one who kidnapped me specifically to force me into having his baby.
Since we all decided to be together though, Gray has really started to obsess about impregnating me too, and his new obsession has led to them both making sure they fill me each time. He keeps on about wanting his ‘equal chance to be a baby daddy’.
I wonder sometimes if I made a huge mistake by agreeing to this insanity. I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t have let me go, even though Dory was suddenly realising what a twisted fucker he’d been, and that I deserved to be free.
I know what’s going to happen next though. They’re going to make me take pregnancy tests. They’re going to assume my delayed period is pregnancy, because men never seem to understand that there are plenty of reasons why a period can be late. You know, like stress, terror, being kidnapped, etc.
