Chapter 1 - Tribute
"Honestly Daphna, you won't believe what these kids are into these days".
It was a lazy afternoon at work and Hila was telling me about her ghastly discovery; her son watches porn. She'd always had a penchant for the dramatic, but it was going into overdrive right now. I mean, yeah, people watch porn: it's a healthy habit. If I recall correctly, there were many a nights her bed would be squeaking loudly at 3am when we used to be roommates.
"C'mon, let the boy have his fun, he's not a kid anymore."
"That's not the point! It's the type of stuff he's watching. Brutal, rough stuff Daphna. Honestly it scares me."
She sipped her Lemonade, talking a big gulp.
"Heaven forbid he ever gets a girlfriend. I hope he doesn't think that's what sex is really like!"
"Ron's not seeing anyone? I sometimes worry about Omri too. I mean he's a good kid, but he spends so much time at home and in his room. Things haven't been ideal since his dad died, but it's been years now".
Omri was worlds apart. Straight A student, polite, athletic, caring. Or at least he was. It had been tough losing his father, and he hadn't been his cheerful self for the past 3 years. We would spend hours talking about nothing whatsoever, but now I'd be lucky to get two sentences out of him. He was still my angel, but something switched inside him when his dad had a stroke, and I was having a tough time getting him out of his shell.
I reached home early that day - thank the traffic gods. Usually Omri would be home by the time I get in, but I beat him to it today. He would then make dinner and fix me a plate for when I got home. I really lucked out with this kid, I thought. My mind flashed back to my conversation with Hila, and curiosity got the better of me. Omri insists on cleaning his own room, so I hadn't actually been inside for months. I opened the door slowly. I'm not sure what I was expecting exactly, but the room was honestly tidier than mine.
"What are you thinking Daphna, stop." I muttered to myself.
I am not pulling a Hila. I shut the door and went to the kitchen and started making dinner.
Omri got home a few hours later, and was rather surprised to see me.
"Hey mom"
"Hey honey. I've made your favourite tonight - chicken pie! How about we have dinner together for a change today?" I already knew the answer. Or so I thought.
"Sure mom." And with that, he headed to his room without another word.
I almost started to cry. My baby boy was finally opening up again. Well, not entirely, but this was a huge step! I fixed up two plates, poured myself a glass of wine, and sat in front of the TV, hunting for something interesting to watch.
Omri came in moments later and sat next to me. I couldn't help but smile. It had been far too long.
"Mom you look goofy, stop" he mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Honey you don't know how happy I am right now, I can't help it" I chuckled, giving him a big hug. He blushed a little. He was still my cute little angel.
We watched a documentary, mostly in silence, but occasionally I'd ask about school, his friends, and any girls he was interested in. He told me the girls in his school were so boring, and he was probably more interested in some of the teachers. I wasn't surprised. Omri always had crushes of teachers, even as early as Nursery. It was adorable how he'd try to get their attention with flowers and poems. At parent teacher meetings, his teachers would always call him the cute little charmer of the class. I was glad that hadn't changed, but somehow I doubted this new Omri was being as assertive and his old stuff. But right now I was just happy to hear him speak.
After finishing dinner, we sat a while longer. All of a sudden my phone buzzed. It was Hila, checking in, asking about Omri. I was eager to share my progress. I turned on the camera in selfie mode.
"Omri say cheese"
He looked at the camera and gave a subtle smile. The subtleness was exaggerated by the huge grin on my face - I was beaming. I sent it to Hila and set my phone down.
"I'll wash up honey. You sit and watch. Oh and I love you!" I gave him a kiss on the forehead and another tight hug before taking the plates to the kitchen.
When I returned an hour later, Omri was nowhere to be seen. It was getting late. I wen to grab my phone, and noticed it was unlocked. Strange, but I was too exhausted to dwell on it. As I headed for my room, I heard some strange sounds coming from Omri's room. Was he grunting? Suddenly I realised what it was, and blushed. For the second time that day, IĀ remembered my conversation with Hila, and considered peeking, just to see what my son was into. But then I remembered I'm not a creep, and went to bed.
The next morning I felt like complete shit. My mind tried to make sense of it, before realising that the wine I had last night was from a bottle I had opened several weeks ago. That explained the funky taste. I quickly called my boss to let him know I wouldn't make it in today and went back to sleep.
I woke up again midday, feeling a little better. I headed to the kitchen to make some breakfast - I was starving. I reheated some leftovers from last night, and sat on the couch. While eating, I suddenly noticed Omri's door was wide open. How odd. I couldn't remember the last time he left his room door open. My angel was getting sloppy, I thought.
I finished the leftovers and headed to his room. Stepping inside, everything was certainly very well organised, and not a speck of dust to be found. My motherly curiosity was getting the better of me. Curse you Hila. I sat on his gaming chair. This chair had set me back a fair penny, but I could see the appeal now; it was THE most comfortable chair I'd ever sat on. I twirled it towards the computer screen, and hit the space bar. I was greeted by a login screen. "Damn!" I thought. So close. I made several attempts to guess it. "Password123". "TheWitcher3". "Rex2002". What could it be. Then I tried Daphna121, and bam, I was in.
"Awww this boy really is the sweetest thing in the world". My birthday was on the 1st of December! I was still reeling at the adorable password when the desktop background came on. It was a family photo of us at the beach, but it looked like his dad had been cropped out. My scowl softened once I realised how difficult it must be to see his father's face still. My attention was then drawn to my own figure - this was probably the best shape I had been in my whole life. After giving birth to Omri naturally, my body had succumbed to the usual pregnancy fat. For several years after, I worked hard to get back in shape, culminating in this beach visit. My gaze now wondered to the mirror in the corner of the room. I stood up and took a look at myself now. I was certainly a little older, and a little chubbier, far from my prime. But it wasn't all bad. The extra weight meant I had gained larger breasts and thighs, and I never had a problem attracting the men.
"Stop getting distracted Daphna!"
I turned back and sat in front of the computer.
"What are you into Omri..".
First I opened up his browser and checked his history. Nothing suspicious, some homework help searches, some game guide searches. Either he doesn't watch porn, or he knows how to cover his tracks. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and was about to shut down, when I noticed a folder on his desktop titled "M". I double clicked it to find various family photos, mostly of the two of us. How sweet I thought, my little angel still loves his mom. Some of these pictures I hadn't even seen in years, so I decided to email them to myself. When I hit CTRL+A to select all the files, I received a notification that there were hidden files.