Ryan Vincent Peavey
2003-2018
Loving Son and Brother.
"Forever in Our Hearts"

"At least he's finally at peace," was the first thing that left Oliver's mouth. "Ryan had a lot of demons in life regarding Jillian, Theo, and Artem. "He wasn't a bad guy, just a little displaced with romance.

Two weeks later, Oliver and I paid our respects at his grave at Kingdom Memorial Park. Of course, the two of us attended the funeral out of respect for the Peavey family, Mr. Peavey thanking us for coming. "I know that my son gave you two a lot of grief and all that, but he would've loved for you two to pay your respects," he had told me after laying his casket in the ground. "I hope you both find forgiveness with everything that happened. I wouldn't blame you if you decided not to, but at least this whole ordeal was now over."

And now, Oliver and I were at the cemetery as we laid a bouquet of roses by his grave marker.

"This is so  surreal," I said out loud. "Who would've thought that a quarterback had his issues with romance in the past?"

"Well, I just hope that no one else would have to go through the same ordeal we went through," Oliver intoned, his stare hardened at the memory of being kidnapped. "I wouldn't even wish this on my late sister if she was alive. She may have joined Mom and Dad on hating me for being transgender, but I'm not that petty. Teenage love can be very toxic if one's not careful."

I nodded, motioning him to follow him to Artem's grave with a bouquet of flowers on hand to lay down at the marker. "I wonder if Artem had any idea that this was set to happen when he first met Ryan last summer," I mused, setting the bouquet on the cold ground. "I mean, his encounter was the start of the eventual turmoil that I soon got caught up in."

"I can't really say for sure since my cousin originally thought that Ryan was a great guy while Jillian was the villainess," my boyfriend replied. "Hell, I didn't even know the whole story since I was away with my transition process."

"I hardly had a clue myself before I came here. But the moment that I met him when Holly introduced me to him was when he would be too much trouble. I originally planned to stay away from him even before all this went down, especially after meeting Jillian at the party."

He hummed as we soon made our way to the final grave of the young woman who was originally a blonde-haired femme-fatale. Jillian Elise Kendricks, her grave marker read followed by her birth and death dates. Loving daughter. Beautiful woman. Forever Loved. We dropped a bouquet of tulips on her grave. "Speaking of which, I kind of feel sorry for Jillian as she got caught into this whole delay," I commented. "She may have looked as if she was a young woman scorned by the jock and didn't want anyone else to have him. I kind of guessed why she felt that way. She still held onto the hope of wanting Ryan back into her life. Who would've thought that she was betrayed by him and her godbrother."

Oliver snorted. "I bet Theo's rotting in hell for his crimes," he said lowly, eyes narrowed in silts. "I'm kind of glad that we're not attending his grave since his family had him cremated. "No doubt that everyone at school would've defaced his headstone and all that since nobody missed him."

"That's for sure, given that he was too lost in his hatred for life all because Ryan scorned him," I commented. We looked around, taking in the cold and cloudy late Saturday morning. "Well, at least everything is now at peace and everyone can move on."

Oliver smiled thinly, wrapping me in his arms. "Don't you have to be at Fairlake Arms soon?" he asked.

I nodded. "The Tuckers said that the people there have been asking for me," I replied. "I might as well pay one more visit there since you and I will be at Berman-Dawes Academy in January. And in a way, Dr. Nguyen said that I owed myself one last visit to the place where I grew up to get some closure."

"It might be good for you. And if you want, I can tag along."

"I'd like that. Let's go."

******************

(A/N: Play the song above as you read the next two parts)

Fairlake Arms Apartments was a five-story apartment complex that was located in the rough side of Fort Worth. It was five minutes from the YMCA where I swam laps and part of their swim team and ten minutes from my old school. Nearby was a string of convenience and liquor stores, a laundromat, a Wal-Mart, some fast-food and soul-food joints, and the church where the funeral service for my family was held. And after an hour's drive and showing Oliver the hot-spots that my parents and siblings frequented (while I had to stay behind), we were in the courtyard of the apartment complex where almost all of the tenants were waiting for me with a small barbeque and some old-school music playing.

"Demario," greeted Mrs. Tucker as she greeted me and Oliver with hugs, the scents of cinnamon, chocolate, and barbeque sauce tickling our nostrils. "We've been expecting you for a while."

"Had to stop by the cemetery up north to pay our respects to some people," I replied before I introduced Oliver to her and her family, they taking a liking to him and nonplussed by him being transgender. "But yeah, it's been a while since I came here."

"Well, everyone's been waiting to talk to you for a good bit about your family," Mr. Tucker said. "And they've been wanting to have their say on everything."

I nodded as I was soon greeted by every tenant- young and old- working, retired, or unemployed- came to me as they sat me down and had their say about my upbringing with the Ingram-Bader family.

"I wanted to beat your momma and siblings' behinds for treating you like that. You did right by them and they paid you back with a lot of hatred and shit! If it wasn't for your late uncle's dirty tactics, I would've gladly punched their lights out for barring everyone here to take care of you when she locked you out."

"My folks would've beat my ass if I treated my sisters and brothers like dirt. You had to clean up after their behinds and do all their homework while they just acted like pigs. Believe me when I say that I'm glad that they're dead."

"I may be tough and all that shit when it comes to the streets since I'm a thug for life. But even I don't wish that kind of life for you when it came to your family, bruh. You're one of the kids who had a chance to make it out alive, gone places with your musical talent thanks to the Tuckers and your late grandmama. Lottie Mae and her husband were good people and you came from a family that made mine look like saints, and we did some reckless-ass shit back then."

"My heart stopped when my man and I saw you being taken on that stretcher and learning of your suicide attempt. I lost my son to the same fate a month ago when he was bullied and I didn't do much to help him through it. It showed me that your momma and her family left a nasty mark on everyone, Demario. She made us not help you in any way possible so she could continue to clown you to make herself feel better. And the way I see it, she and her whole family deserve to burn in hell for their crimes."

And in between each chat, I ate some good food and played some music on the keyboard that one of the young musicians who went to church asked me to play with his band. It felt nice to be with people who knew what it was like to suffer under my late mother's control. And she had a lot of dirt on everyone to blackmail them into complacency while I had to fend for myself. She made it clear that she ran the complex with an iron fist and wanted me to not be a part of it.

But now, her and her family's reign of terror were nonexistent. And all I could do is focus on the present.

*********

Too soon, it was time to get inside the apartment where I grew up inside. The people who now lived there, an affluent Korean-American couple with twin boys, allowed me to step inside and gain privacy as I looked around at the walls and rooms where I had to cater to everyone's needs and whims. "Going back to my old home felt so unrealistic," Ja'Marcus explained at group therapy earlier that morning. "I knew that I wasn't welcome, but I felt like I needed to get some closure."

He wasn't wrong about that as I wandered around, memories of the past flashing in my head.

I said a silent farewell to the days of me cooking meals nonstop yet not being allowed to eat anything...

to the nights of doing Demarcus and De'Sean's homework so they could remain eligible to play a sport that Mom intoned that I wasn't "man enough to be a part of..."

to moments when Mom would drop her hints of wanting me dead as I swept and vacuumed the floors...

to watching Dad gaze at me with complacence and hatred as he sipped on his flask of vodka...

I said silent goodbyes and wishing the new family prosperity and love and praying that they too would have it easier than I did. Heading back into the living area, I closed my eyes and nodded as I left my old home for the last time. "Thank you for allowing me to say one final goodbye," I told the family, the mother handing me a red packet full of dollar bills. "I just needed some closure to say goodbye to the past."

"The Tuckers told us about what happened," Mrs. Yune, a work-worn mother who owned a bakery down the street, replied gently as she gave me a sad smile. "Young man, your late mother didn't know greatness. She treated you like unwanted garbage while playing favorites- something that my family wouldn't allow despite pressuring me to remain faithful to my heritage. Keep the faith, young man. Know that the past is history and the future is a mystery. Accept the gift of the present and thrive in it."

Her husband nodded.

"Thank you," I said. "Please treat your kids equally, and be a great family to one another. Don't be like my late parents and siblings."

With that, I let Oliver escort me back to his vintage Camaro and we said one final goodbye to my past. And from there, the future has never been brighter. It was time to count my blessings and follow the sun.

It's nothing like finding some peace and healing from the scars of the past, folks! And after all that Demario's been through, I'm glad that he's saying farewell to his toxic life!

Anyway, Demario's celebrating another milestone with his new family- one that he never enjoyed back then in the next chapter as he gets ready for the Winter Concert and Formal! And Oliver has a special...gift that he'll share at the end. Don't go away!

Song: "No More Rain" by Angie Stone. Dedication: CathAnneSweetflower.

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