**All sexually active characters are 18+ at the time**
I seldom discuss my past exploits with my second wife. We share all things except the truth in this marriage it seems. There are certain layers I'll never quite peel back, for legal reasons and otherwise.
I guess it all started back in the summer of 2008. If things had gone according to plan, I would have gone to school and started my junior year like the rest of my friends. Three weeks of my summers since the 6th grade were spent at Vacation Bible Camp. Each year held a new theme and each theme latched onto whatever was trending. The year prior, 'Crank Dat Soulja Boy' was the hottest song with suburban white youth. So the camp theme was absurdly titled: Crank Dat - Souljas for Jesus.
Bible Camp, the year it all fell apart was titled: Iron Man - Iron Sharpens Iron, Steel Sharpens Steel. A lot of these themes are long since forgotten, but I'll always remember Iron Man because of the camp shirts. Each year we were assigned a stack of custom camp shirts in our size. Our mother sent in the information long before we arrived. The Iron Man themed shirt had the Iron Man mask(altered enough to bypass copyright) on the chest.
I remember these shirts so vividly because it was all me and my sister wore for the years to come. A day in a half into camp my mother drove onto the field, collected me and Susie, and left. She already had our bags in the trunk. Our last bit of youthful freedom was charring hotdogs over an open fire the night of arrival and playing dodgeball before lunch.
Susie, or as she prefers to be referred to now, Susanne, is two years older than me. This would have been her last year of camp, she was 18. I suppose she could have returned as a counselor but that is only for the truly dedicated Christians. Camp was fun regardless of how much you bought the whole Jesus thing. Sure, we sang songs in the woods and read from the bible. But we went rafting, shot paintball guns, and climbed through obstacle courses. Counselors watch and manage the fun, the kids partook.
I remember Susie's dirty blonde hair in the sun. She sat on the right side and her skin and hair caught direct sunbeams. My mother drove frantically and never told us anything until we reached the destination. My sister's anxious eyes opened and closed like portals to an understanding I didn't have at the time. She knew something I didn't. I was nervous but she was shaking in a way that only someone who knew the danger would shake.
"Mom," I asked. "Are we going home?" I was given no answer. She just turned the music high and floored it down the backroads. "What's going on, Susie?" I whispered to my sister. The only comfort she could offer me was the promise of everything being okay, and in a way, she was right.
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Two years had passed and we were still hiding from our deranged biological father in the basement. Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap allowed us to inhabit the basement of their winter cabin for as long as we needed. They were my mother's neighbors when she grew up and developed a paternal care for her. I had my suspicions that Mr. Dunlap had venereal desires for my mother. None the less, he was nothing but kind to us. I couldn't blame him for how he felt about my mother, she was quite the beauty. Her bouncy black hair was that of a Golden Age Hollywood starlet. Her smooth pale complexation, full lips, and sultry gaze had all beholders wrapped around her finger.
I take after my mother in more ways than my sister. I inherited the dark hair, pale skin, and dark brown eyes while my sister had straight blonde hair, light freckled skin, and blue eyes. As she got older peeks of red started to show in her hair. My mother was slender and gracious while my sister developed large breasts and a plump behind. At this point I was eighteen and Susie was twenty. I'd noticed Mr. Dunlap lingered around Susie during his biweekly supply drop offs. My mother wasn't the only one receiving a "special" attention.
As one can imagine, in scenarios such as these, nudity becomes and afterthought. This had nothing to do with sex, incest, or love. I'll spoil the ending here and now, we spent five years confined to a basement. The only privacy was the small bathroom with a shower that trickles down lukewarm water. The Dunlaps, God rest their souls, were survivalists. What was previously a storage area dug under the Cabin was finished into a place to hold up in times of danger. The three of us shared a rather small 13 X 14 foot room(not counting the tiny bathroom) and made the best of it.
Two twin sized mattresses were pressed together in the left corner and naturally, that is where we slept. Near infinite variations of canned food were stored in the walls of that self imposed prison. Canned goods I never thought existed: canned cheese, canned canned bread, canned eggs, and canned whole chicken, to name a few. The Dunlaps dropped off fresh food when they could but canned goods was our bread and butter, literally. The preservation process made everything salty so for the sake of our blood pressure, we'd rinse most food under water before eating. We spent five years without sun. The sunbeams that made contact with my sister's skin on the way to the cabin were the last ones she'd feel for a while.