Nocing Down Destiny's Door

It couldn't have been a crisp and prettier late Autumn day. It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and 43 year old Colleen Follett had made the short, three block drive over to visit her friend, Destiny McCullough.

Dressed in her black exercise spandex along with a pair of black leggings, it had been such a lovely day, Colleen decided to leave her coat in the car figuring even when it turned off cooler, she'd be so fired up from her workout session, the last thing she need was a coat for the drive back home.

For most of her life, Colleen would have never envisioned being friends with someone like Destiny. First off, people in Colleen's social circle rarely named their kids Destiny. The typical suburban housewife who was the spawn of several generations of waspy suburban housewives, Colleen had very little contact with people who were as liberal, artsy and somewhat Bohemian as Destiny McCullough.

If it wasn't for the fact that they both found themselves on the same PTA committee at the local high school, Destiny and Colleen would have probably never met. At that point two years earlier, Colleen had been going through a few things and had gained 15-20 unwanted pounds. Colleen had always been too modest, and used the excuse of being too busy, to join a gym, and pretty much every diet she tried had eventually petered out. When Destiny had spoken during a meeting of her long devotion to Pilates and Yoga, Colleen's curiosity was certainly piqued when she assessed the shape the slightly younger, auburnish-brunette was in.

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Destiny McCullough had grown into one of the most energetic, ingenuitive, prudent and passionate people God had graced the world with. The second of four children, Destiny's father had been a folk singer, and she spent most of her summers growing up traveling with her brothers and sisters around the country in the family camper to his various gigs.

While she hadn't been born with her father's ability to carry a tune, Destiny had developed a deep love for dance from the time she could walk. She'd actually been studying dance at college in hopes of possibly finding her way to Broadway when she found herself pregnant following her Sophomore year. Around the time Murphy Brown was making national news, with the help of Dan Quayle, for defiantly raising a child without a dad in the picture, Destiny found herself having to drop out of school to do it for real.

At 39, Destiny was beginning to harvest the fruits of her labor. Four years earlier, she'd opened what was now a very successful dance studio in the quant, suburban Denver town she called home, where she taught everything from ballet, tap, modern to ballroom. It was certainly a far cry from the exotic dancing she'd done on and off after dropping out of college to keep a roof over her and her son's head all those years earlier.

Brennen McCullough was now 20 and halfway through his second year at Colorado St. The one goal Destiny was now focused on was seeing Brennen finish what she'd started two decades earlier. In fact, she'd even promised him that after he got his sheepskin, she'd go back to school herself and steadily finish off the five semesters she had remaining.

Even though Colleen Follett wouldn't have traded her family, or lot in life, for the world, she'd developed quite the keen appreciation for Destiny, and how she'd raised a son and built a business all on her own.

The depth and texture of that appreciation was about to take on a far more significant meaning.

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The first hint something may have been amiss was the absence of Destiny's car in the driveway when Colleen pulled up. They'd met nearly every Tuesday for the past six months at Destiny's, doing a joint Pilates routine together then working out on some of the equipment in Destiny's home gym.

It didn't dawn on Colleen until she recognized the car currently parked in the driveway as her son, Brennen's, that he was home from college on Thanksgiving break.

"Now did she say we would skip this week's workout?" Colleen tried racking her brain as she slowed her advance up the McCullough's front walk.

Colleen was 15 feet or so from the front door when it clicked in her mind that Destiny did, in fact, mention Brennen was coming home and they'd catch back up with their exercise schedule after the holiday.

The second foreboding wave to ripple through Colleen occurred when she noticed the blinds in Destiny's living room window were closed on such a beautiful and unseasonably warm Fall day. Destiny's entire house was full of lovingly tended plants and greenery, and this was the first time Colleen could every remember coming over in the middle of the day and the curtains not being open.

"Her son's home...maybe he just closed them to take a nap on the sofa while she's out running errands," Colleen thought to herself before a shrill, muffled shriek snapped her from her malaise.

"Did that come from inside the house or next door?" she mumbled under her breath, craning her head back and forth between the McCullough home and the one to the left to figure out where that lone, cat-like wail had come from.

Destiny lived on a relatively quiet street, and at two in the afternoon, most of her neighbors were likely still at work. The only sound, as she stood on the walk, was the crunchy echo of the already fallen leaves, dancing past her feet in the light breeze. Standing there allowing her heartbeat to settle, Colleen held her breath long enough until she could hear the faint, grinding rhythm coming from the other side of the picture window in front of her. Clasping her right hand against the smooth and silky material of her leggings and taking a long deep breath, Colleen gradually recognized the sounds as something that was as old as time itself.

Stifling an embarrassed chuckle, Colleen was able to piece together what she thought was happening. Brennen was home from college, his mom had stepped out to run some errands, perhaps maybe even teaching a class at her studio, and he'd used the opportunity to sneak a girlfriend of his over.

The flesh on flesh vibrations growing louder coming from inside the house, Colleen continued to stand in the center of Destiny's front yard for several more seconds, knowing she should just turn and go. Before she could, yet another high pitched cry, this one followed by several hearty masculine grunts, tripped through Colleen's senses.

Like a lit and sizzling fuse, the symphonic interplay between Brennen and the girl he was with burned Colleen's ears as she slowly stepped away from the house.

"At least somebody's getting some," she told herself, blissfully re-calling her younger days when things were far more serendipitous.

Turning back towards her car, Colleen visibly dragged her feet, coyly trying to absorb every sound she could until prudence pulled her far enough away she could no longer hear what was going on inside the house. Folding herself back into her car, Colleen startled herself by just how moist her thighs had gotten when she settled into the seat and quietly tried backing her car out to leave.

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Colleen spent the next few hours as fidgety as a cat with a bad case of fleas. In a completely innocent attempt to visit a friend and share an afternoon workout session, Colleen had stumbled into something that had indelibly etched itself into her mind.

"He's a 20 year old boy...having sex with a girl from his hometown on his trip home for a holiday isn't that big of a shocker," she tried telling herself, but considering how Colleen was still blushing well after the fact, she had no clue how she'd ever face Brennen's mom the next time she saw her.

Colleen would get a chance far sooner than she thought. Around 4:30 that afternoon her cellphone rang. Destiny's name was glowing on the display.

The next few minutes of conversation proved to be the most surreal of Colleen Follett's life.

Destiny wanted to know if Colleen had a few spare minutes to come over to run her to the garage to pick up the car she'd dropped off for service that morning. Brennen had followed her over earlier that morning and brought her back home, but he'd run off to hang out with some of his friends and she needed a lift to get her vehicle.

The phone nearly slipped from Colleen's grip as Destiny casual inquiry for a favor swirled inside her head. Colleen dazedly agreed to come over and pick Destiny up, but her entire body was numb as she tried piecing together what she thought she'd experienced during her first trip to the McCullough house a few hours earlier.

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"If I knew Brennen was going to run off this afternoon, I would have kept our Tuesday workout date," Destiny told Colleen after she'd jumped into the passenger seat for the short ride to the garage.

Doing her best to focus on the road, the gears in Colleen's head grinded, trying to figure out the logistics to what she'd been party to earlier in the afternoon. Destiny hadn't specified what time Brennen had left to join his friends, leaving Colleen to think that it may have been Destiny that was partaking in a little afternoon delight after her son had ducked out.

"She's in her late 30's...must be nice to be single and do what she wants, when she wants, with whoever she wants," an inner voice of jealous admiration tickled Colleen's spine, knowing full well what the juices felt like at that age.

Juices, as a married woman of 42, Colleen still found herself struggling to mitigate.

"Looks like I've got the afternoon free after all...I was going to workout when I got home...you game?" Destiny asked Colleen as they pulled into the service lot.

"God...I'd love to. I don't have my workout clothes with me though," Colleen replied. "Besides, Larry's gonna be home in an hour or two. I promised to make lasagna, so I better get home and get dinner started."

Another nagging sliver of jealousy pricked at Colleen's ribs having to tell a beautiful and carefree single woman like Destiny she couldn't do what she wanted because of her domestic obligations.

"Lasagna tonight and Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. Damn...that's a lot of kitchen time...somebody's eating well," Destiny joked, clearly a little envious herself.

"Yeah," Colleen smiled and nodded. "I'll defiantly need to put double time in when we meet up next week to work off the calories."

Colleen waited around long enough to make sure everything was OK with Destiny's vehicle before the two women parted ways. For a few hours, at least. By seven that night, Larry Follett was lucky he wasn't wearing the pan of lasagna his wife had painstakingly prepared.

Perhaps it was the unresolved residue of the fight the two had a few nights back. Maybe it was just the aggravation boiling over from a litany of everyday frustrations big and small, or simply the pressure that a husband and wife need to blow off every once in a while. Whatever it was, it turned the Follett's kitchen into a warzone that sent their two kids barreling upstairs to their room without dessert.

Knowing she needed to get out and get some fresh air to keep from saying or doing anything she'd truly regret later, Colleen found herself walking the neighborhood for a half-hour or so until she decided she needed someone to talk to. Of all her friend's, Destiny McCullough's house was the closest.

"That offer still stand to come over and workout?" Colleen called and asked her stunned but understanding friend.

"Sure," Destiny said.

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In her haste to leave the house, and frankly having no clue where she'd wind up, all Colleen left with was her cellphone and the clothes on her back. Thankfully, considering Destiny was easily two sizes smaller, she had a couple of oversized teeshirts and shorts Colleen could fit into for her impromptu workout.

The lather she worked up on Destiny's various pieces of equipment did wonders to get much of the angst boiling inside her out. With Thanksgiving, and everything it would entail, two days away, Colleen sensed she still needed a little more decompression time if the holiday wouldn't turn into a complete quagmire.

Destiny had a spare bedroom and was more than happy to offer Colleen a place to rest her head. Brennen still wasn't home, and Destiny was thrilled to have a friend for a sleep-over. After calling her husband and fending off his apologetic pleas for her to 'come home', Destiny and Colleen popped some popcorn and watched a few reality shows before turning in around 11.

Destiny insisted on putting clean sheets and blanket on the bed considering no one had stayed in that room for two years, but with all the jumbled stuff weighing down Colleen's mind, combined with all the sounds you cant help but hear in a strange house, she still had a bitch of a time trying to fall asleep. Just as she had dozed off a little after 1am, the sound of the front door opening downstairs stirred her back awake, followed quickly by the echo of footsteps ascending the stairs.

Brennen McCullough was home, and from the disjointed pace of his steps, he sounded a little drunk.

Her room 12 feet from the top of the landing, the sliver of light in the hallway filtered through the cracked opening of the door, dancing on Colleen's iris as the rhythm of Brennen's footsteps carried into the bathroom right beside her.

"I don't remember Destiny texting him at any point telling him she had company over when/if he came home," a calm but clearly unsettled voice inside her head offered as the report of Brennen's piss stream hitting the bowl echoed through the wall.

"You don't have your car in the driveway...he probably has no clue you're even here," that voice continued to prod as the hiss of Brennen turning the shower on filled the post midnight silence.

"You'll be gone before he even wakes up," Colleen assured herself.

Turning to her left and putting a pillow over her head, Colleen made another attempt to force herself to sleep as Brennen showered the smells of the night from his body mere feet away. Teetering in that netherworld of sleepy consciousness, Colleen once again was on the verge of dozing off when the sound of Brennen cutting the shower off and screeching the shower curtain aside roused her up.

"At least the boy has good hygiene," Colleen laid there and thought, not only hearing Brennen shower but also brush his teeth before bed.

Taking the pillow she'd covered her face with, folding it and stuffing it behind her head, Colleen closed her eyes and once again tried drifting off. The hushed whispers of her friend, Destiny, from down the hall quickly stirred Colleen awake.

"Probably just telling him there's company in the spare bedroom tonight," was Colleen's natural assumption.

Colleen was just about to pull the covers over her head and start counting sheep again when the tone and intensity of the whispers increased in the hall. Sensing correctly that Brennen had come home intoxicated, Colleen instinctively dragged herself out of bed and slipped across the floor as quietly as she could towards the barely cracked door. Peeking through the narrow opening, Colleen's blood immediately curdled.

Brennen McCullough was standing at the far end of the hall, halfway between the bathroom and his mother's bedroom. There was a white towel wrapped around his waist, and his hair and body still glistened from his shower as he towered at least six inches above Destiny, who's face was barely visible on the other side of him.

Colleen's already shallow breath lodged in her throat when she saw Brennen rear back and extend his right hand towards his mom. Biting her lower lip and lurching upwards onto the balls of her feet, Colleen watched the muscles of Brennen's bare back flair and tighten.

"He's getting ready to hit her," Colleen just knew.

The truth was far more debilitating.

Instead of punching or slapping his visibly upset mother, Brennen's right hand came to rest on the center of Destiny's chest. Every muscle in Colleen's body went limp as she tried to process what her eyes were telling her. Her forehead even bounced gently against the door in front of her when she saw Brennen's right hand began to squeeze at his mom's left breast through the front of her nightgown.

Colleen's legs just about gave out when she saw Destiny do precious little to stop him.

The mystery of what she'd stumbled upon earlier that afternoon on her first trip over to the house now added up, even if the sum of the quotient left Colleen dizzy and disjointed. Watching Brennen calmly and openly massage the swells of his mother's breasts, Colleen mumbled an inaudible prayer when the boy pressed his lips flush against Destiny's.

"NNN...Nooo...not here Brennen...not now..." Destiny did her best to fend off her son's advances, but the message was overridden by the way her hands gripped tightly at his well defined arms. It was clear she wasn't pushing him away.

The prayer on Colleen's lips ceased when she saw the young man lean to the side and whisper something into his mother's left ear. A mighty exhale rushed from Destiny's lungs, and she suddenly looked hopelessly defeated when Brennen began nuzzling his lips against the nape of her neck.

Despite his visible intoxication, Brennen looked like a master musician manipulating a well worn instrument. Guiding his right hand down the center of Destiny's nightgown, Colleen's eyes bulged and watered seeing the way the hulking 20 year old closed his palm possessively on his mother's crotch.

"This isn't the first time she's let him do this," the horrible realization swirled through Colleen as she hid in the shadows, forced to witness to most depraved thing she could imagine.

Her thighs parting with magical ease, Destiny crouched backwards slightly and braced her back against the wall as her son once again whispered something into her ear, this time doing it while he freely caressed the very womb he'd emerged from two decades earlier.

Sickened on so many levels by what she was seeing, Colleen stood there as still as a statue, absorbing the carnal glow of acceptance and want radiating from her friend's face.

Continuing to work his hand beneath the hem of his mother's animal print nightgown, it wasn't long before Colleen could see Brennen's fingers dancing across the smooth alabaster landscape mother's pubic mound. Goosebumps littered her back when she saw just how puffy and distended Destiny's pink labia had become.

Placing her hands flush on each of her son's pectoral muscles, Destiny initially made a feeble attempt to hold him at bay but it wasn't long before she'd flared her nails and gently began raking them down his chest and stomach until they reached the visible bulge that was tenting the front of the white towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Colleen could feel herself swooning when she saw Destiny's right hand actually reach inside the towel and grab the meaty shank of her son's penis.

A clear, arrogant look of "I thought so" gleamed across Brennen's face as he kissed his mom once again, this time taking her by the hand and leading her towards her bedroom when her meager defenses were shot.

Colleen was left hiding in the shadows as the two disappeared out of sight, the sound of her heart thumping inside her chest interrupted only by the softest of clicks when Brennen closed the door of his mother's bedroom behind them.

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"This...can't be...happening...," Colleen muttered to herself as she huddled behind the closed door, her right hand gripping the knob tight as her left hung aimlessly by her side.

"My friend is in her bedroom...having sex...with her son...," the depraved words bounced around her head with the incomprehensibility of an alien language.