Read That One Time Online Free by Sybil Knight

“I heard every word,” he said quietly.

“I—” I started, but he held up a hand.

“This,” he said, gesturing vaguely at me, at the room, at the hospital bed where his son lay unconscious, “is God’s punishment. For Alvin’s choices. For the life he’s chosen to live. The Bible is very clear on this matter, and as much as it pains me to say it, my son has brought this upon himself through his sinful behavior.”

I took a step back, like he’d hit me. Then immediately took two more steps forward. Pastor Carter didn’t move.

“You know what?” I half-barked, half laughed incredulously. Even though there was nothing incredulous about how this man treated his son over the years. “Fuck that. Fuck your God. Fuck your Bible. And fuck you for standing in this room, looking at your son… looking like that, and using it as an opportunity to remind him that you think he’s sick and wrong and deserving of this kind of pain. Any pain for being who he is.”

Pastor Carter’s face went red. “You don’t know anything about⁠—”

“I know that your son is the bravest, most-genuine person I’ve ever met,” I interrupted. “I know that he spent the entire summer trying to protect people, trying to hold them accountable, trying to actually do something about the real evil in this world. Not just the kind you read about in a book. And I know that the only thing standing between him and happiness—between him and life—is people like you who keep telling him he’s wrong for simply existing the way your God created him.”

“Darius, I suggest you⁠—”

“No,” I cut Pastor Carter off a second time. “I’m not done. You want to know what real evil is? Real evil is standing by while your kid gets the shit beaten out of him and then blaming him for it. Real evil is choosing your interpretation of an outdated ideology over your own son. Real evil is what you’re doing right now.”

Pastor Carter’s jaw clenched. And there was a point where I thought he was going to hit me, and honestly, I welcomed it. It would have given me an excuse to hit him back and hopefully not get thrown out of this hospital on my ass.

“We’ll see what your mother has to say about all this, Mr. D’Angelo,” he finally forced out.

And my heart sank for one brief horrible moment, before I realized something else. “She’d say that unlike you, Pastor Carter, she’d rather have a gay son than a dead one.”

Instead of replying to that, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, his footsteps echoing down the hospital hallway until they faded into the ambient noise of the ICU.

I stood there in the sudden silence, my entire body shaking with adrenaline and anger and… a little bit of relief that I’d finally gotten the chance to say what I needed to say to two different generations of Carter men.

I took a deep breath. And then I sat back down next to Alvin’s bed, grabbed his hand again, and held on like I was never going to let go. Because I’d promised us both that I wasn’t.

CHAPTER 39

Iopened one eye. My lips burning like two pieces of cracked sandpaper. My chest tight and every single part of my body hurting in a way that made it impossible to figure out where the worst of it was coming from.

There were machines. Lots of fucking machines. A steady beeping beside me. A bag hanging from a silver pole. White walls. A curtain. A fucking hospital. Greaaaat.

My eye snapped open wider. So did my jaw but nothing came out. Just air. I tried again and pain ripped through my throat. “Dee.”

A nurse appeared almost immediately. “Alvin?”