Ever since I was born, my aunt and I had been close.  She was the youngest of my dad’s siblings, to the point that she was only fourteen when I was born while he was twenty-three.  To me, she was always more of a big sister than an aunt, and she and I had that relationship even now.  I never thought of her as someone “higher”, if you wanted to put it like that. So, when she got married, I reacted more like a younger brother rather than a nephew.  When I graduated high school, she at my graduation, which no other than immediate family were at.  My dad, well, he never quite understood why she treated me this way.  I think, though I can’t prove it, she was still at that age where she couldn’t relate to me as a grown adult would to a child so she related to my like a much-younger sibling.

                Honestly, I’m glad for it.  Even now, while I’m twenty-one and she’s thirty-five, there not as much of a gap there as you would think in terms of how we relate to each other. She is a fully actualized adult (I want to make that clear, she isn’t childish or immature in any way), and I’m a twenty-one year old with (as she points out) a lot to learn, but it’s still not the same as with my parents or with my other aunts or uncles.  Hell, she’s the only member of my family outside of my parents, siblings, or grandparents I see regularly.

                One day, I was walking to meet her at a local coffeehouse with a friend who was on his way somewhere else.  His name is Ian.  I guess I should share my name and my aunt’s name at this juncture.  My name is Brendon, and her name is Hillary.

                As we walk toward the shop, I can see her in the window, sitting there at a booth, sipping her normal Americano as she waited to meet me, her face in her phone, undoubtedly in work.  She worked in an office as a CPA, and was often looking at accounting sheets on her phone even outside of work.

                Ian, who is not noted for being subtle, saw her (not knowing it was her) and expressed his opinion.

                “Damn, that bitch is fucking hot, man!”  Ian said, pointing at my aunt.  Now, this genius was told prior that my aunt was in there and how she was dressed.  You’d think he’d see a thirty-something woman in a black skirt suit and be able to figure out maybe it might be her, but no, you’d be wrong on that.

                “That bitch is my aunt, fuckbag!”  I snapped at him.

                “Shit, sorry, man, don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

                “I told you what she looked like, where you’d see her, and her likely work clothes.  She meets all three!  What made you think I’d not react that way, especially when I told you not to only even fifteen minutes ago?!”

                “Damn, sorry, man, Jesus.”  He was getting annoyed at me, but I didn’t care.  “Just, she is hot man, you can’t deny that!”

                “Yeah, I can.  You think your sister is hot?”  His sister was two years older than him and smoking hot.

                “Fuck no, man!  That’s sick!”

                “Same with me here!  I can’t and don’t see her that way.”

                Finally, when I said that, it clicked in his brain. Ian isn’t exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he can still make a connection.

                “Ah, yeah.  Sorry man.”  He said, giving me a light punch to the shoulder, which didn’t hurt one bit. That wasn’t the point.  Some people hug, some people fist-bump.  Ian lightly hits.  No one knows why, not even Ian.

                “It’s cool.”  I say, meaning it.  Ian is a bit dumb, uncouth as hell, intentionally rude sometimes, but ultimately a decent human being.  He just needs to be sat straight ever so often.

                “So, where are you going, anyway?”  I asked him.

                “Oh, man, this girl is helping me study for a final. Man, I, I think she might be into me?”

                “Do I know her?”

                “Bree.”

                “No.”  I said with a laugh, knowing exactly who he was talking about.  It came off as a little condescending, which I didn’t mean it to.

                “Sorry,” I said.  “Just, she’s a lesbian.  And married.”

                “Oh, shit, son!”  He said.  “Thanks for telling me!  Damn, I was planning on moves after we finished.”

                “No problem.”  I said with a gentle laugh.  Ian, for being a bit dense sometimes, was actually really good with the LGBT+ community.  He might not always realize someone is in that community, but when he does, he has almost a gift on what to say, how to act, and how to support.  No one knows how he got this skill.  Certainly not him.

                “Well, then I’ll just be studying then.  I’ve never seen her with her girlfriend.”

                “Deployed.  She’s a marine lieutenant.”

                “Damn.”

                “I know.”  I said.  I was impressed too when Bree told me.  “Anyway, I’m going to go see my aunt.”

                “Cool, man.  See ya!”

                “Bye.”  I said, walking into the coffee shop.  I order a vanilla latte and I then go and set my cup down at the table.  When Hillary saw my cup out of her peripheral vision, she looked up a smiled.  She got out of her seat and hugged me.

                “Brendon!”  She gushed. “How have you been?  How are classes?”

                “Good!”  I say as we both sit down.

                “You’re what, math still, right?”  She asked, taking a sip of her expresso.

                “Yeah, but I’m thinking of going to statistics and just minoring in math.  I’d add a year to my time, but while I’m not bad at math, I’m normally doing low B’s and high C’s and stats I’m getting B’s and A’s.”

                “Do it!”  Hillary said with a smile.  “I’ve had to work with statisticians before.  It’s a hard field, and if you’re good at it, do it.  You’re in demand literally everywhere in the corporate world.”

                “Don’t hold back,” I said with a smirk.

                “Bite me.”  She said with a laugh.  “It’s a great field, really, if you’re good at it.”

                “What about you?”  I ask.  “How’s work?”

                “Work is great, actually.  I’m up for a promotion.”  She held up both of her hands, her fingers crossed, an anxious smile on her face that she exaggerated for effect.  “My social life is fine.  It’s, well your uncle.”

                “Damn it.”  I said.  She had married Harvey two years ago.  Initially we all thought he was a great guy, as did she.  It wasn’t long after they were married that he started to show some small signs that something wasn’t right.  Soon, the small signs gave way to massive red flags, and it became obvious he was a controlling, angry, manipulative arrogant asshole.

                See, my family isn’t rich or sophisticated.  My aunt was actually the second family member to go to college and while my generation is either in college or a trade school, the older generation is a mix of skilled and unskilled blue-collar. My uncle thought that because of this he could just manipulate us like a bunch of simpletons.  He was wrong.

                My aunt, for her part, as stayed not out of any misplaced loyalty to him, but because she’s been building a file on him and his real net worth.  He made a huge mistake treating a CPA as a mindless trophy.

                “What did the fucker do now?”  I asked.

                “Actually, it’s what he’s not been doing.  He’s been sweet as pie.  I think he might finally be catching onto the fact that when I divorce him he’s going to lose his shirt.”

                “You need to get out of there.”

                “That’s why I asked to meet, Brendon.  I’m moving out tonight.  I’ve got all evidence I need to show his behavior toward me is cause for divorce and enough to give the courts a reason to deep-dive his finances. I just want help moving my clothes out. I have a place to stay.  You know my friend Sarah and her husband Luke?”

                “Yeah.”  I said.

                “I’m moving in with them for a while.  They live in the country, it’s safe, he’s a police chief, and she is a prosecutor.  I’m safe there.”

                “Good,” I said.  “Luke should be joining us as well.  Plus, by luck Harvey is out of town for a day-trip.”

                “You want to go now?”

                “Let’s finish our drinks, then go.”

                I just chugged mine.  It burned like hell, but I didn’t care.

                “That had to hurt!”  She gasped.

                “Let’s just go.”  I said.  “I’d rather you get out quick as hell.”

                “Concerned for my safety?”  She asked. “You know, it’s my job to be concerned for yours.”

                “I’m not a child anymore, and you’re in need. Let’s go.”

                At that, she just got up, tossed her coffee in the trash and we walked to her car.

                Twenty minutes later, we were at her place.  It was this very nice, big house about a hundred yards from the road, with woods all around it.  We get there and we started to pack, but she did have a lot of clothes and even she had not realized how much she had.  We had to dump some storage bins out to get the space we needed. Finally, though, we were packed up and were able to get all of it into the back of her SUV.  We both noticed Luke didn’t show up, nor did we hear from him. That wasn’t like him.  Well, no matter, we both thought, we were packed up and ready to go.  She started the car, and she was about to put it into drive when a pair of headlights appeared.

                Initially, we thought it was Luke, but he had a nice pick-up and this was a luxury sedan.  We both froze.  It was Harvey’s car.  He wasn’t at a regional office like he said.  More than that, he was blocking the driveway.  Trees kept us from going around him.

                We saw more headlights, two vehicles of what looked like ambulances.  He pulled up just enough to let them pass and they flanked us.  He parked in front of us then.  When he got out of his car, he smiled.

                “I knew you were planning to leave.  Well, you deserve what’s coming to you, and you, you little shit, for helping her, you get to be part of this!”

                We locked the car, only to find the doors unlock. He had the spare set.  Four men walked got out, two from each ambulance, and grabbed his out of the SUV, injecting us with, well, who knew what?

                Soon, we were both out and the last I remember was us being dragged to the ambulances.  I heard one of the people say something I realized even then was very strange.

                “We get them situated, then we join the units up. Make sure it’s done properly, wouldn’t want…”

                When I woke up I found I almost bolted up, expecting to fight my way through a horde of, well, I don’t know, EMTs, maybe?  At this point I’m not sure.  I think my body was ready before the higher levels of my brain were.

                I was in a very nice bedroom, which I instantly recognized from when I had been at Luke and Sarah’s house.  If my uncle’s house was big, Luke’s was a borderline mansion, though not done in the manner of one.  It was done almost in the style of a large farmhouse (though much more modern than a typical example), but with three floors and an attic that actually had a full apartment in it.  I knew from the only time I was here I was on the third floor in a guest room.  I was facing the door as I woke up and I saw Luke sitting there in a nice swivel chair, a pistol on his side, and a bottle of water in his hand.

                Luke was what professional wrestling probably thought a police chief should be physically.  He was slightly over seven foot tall, built like a bodybuilder, with a long red beard and a shaved head.  You’d expect a man like that to be gruff, ultra-tough, and domineering, but Luke was soft-spoken, kind, but was more than able to be tough and hard when it was needed. He saw I was awake and walked over. Even with the very modern flooring and the fact that he was bare foot, his steps still made an impressive sound. He was just that big.

                “You’re awake, Brendon.”  He said, looking at me.

                “Luke, uh, why, how am I here?  Where’s Hillary, and I, I feel, what’s going on?”

                Luke got close to my face, a kindly smile on it.

                “First, Brendon, don’t look until I say so.  Can you do that?”

                I nodded.  Luke smiled with genuine warmth.

                “Good.  So, first Hillary is safe, she’s here.  She woke up earlier than you, she’s been up for about two hours now.  It’s nearly five in the morning.  I called off work, my second-in-command is more than capable of handling things today.  You’re here because while I arrived late, I did arrive.  I want you to know, you’re safe, Hillary is safe.  Now, keep your eyes on me, feeling has probably returned, right?”

                I nodded.  I had noticed it before I even spoke, but I needed to be sure my aunt was fine first.

                “Okay, good.  That’s a good sign.  That meant everything went well.  See, your uncle, that, well, I’ll save those words for later, because she decided to leave, because she dared do something he didn’t approve of, concocted this.  He was planning on including you anyway since it would be a give ‘fuck you’ to your family, so you helping her made no difference.  See, Brendon, that bastard, I just can’t save those words, took you and her, and transplanted your heads onto each other’s bodies.  There’s no good way to say that, so there it is.”

                “Now,” Luke said, backing away somewhat.  “Look down.”

                I did.  Luke didn’t lie.  I saw her skirt suit, her hosiery on feminine legs, I could feel every singular inch of it as well.  I wanted to cry, not for myself, but for my aunt.  She was so close to getting away and she couldn’t escape his cruelty.  I felt the tears well up, and I heard a knock on the door.

                “Come in, Hillary.”  Luke said as Hillary opened the door.  She was dressed in pajama pants, black socks, and my black hoodie. Obviously I wasn’t wearing those.

                “I changed after my we took some clothes from your apartment.”  Hillary said with a sheepish and almost sad smile.  “How are you?”

                “We’re each other now?”  I asked.

                “Below the neck, yes.”  Hillary said.  “I can’t believe Harvey did something like this!  I can’t believe he could even literally do this!”

                “How did he do this?”

                “I don’t know.  His company is in the biomedical field.  Maybe there was some project, I don’t know, I never heard of something like this, Brendon.  I’m sorry you were dragged into this!”  At that, Hillary hugged me hard.  I hugged back.

                “It’s not your fault!”  I said, tears welling up and now streaming down my face.  “It’s not your fault.”

                She hugged back hard, tears in her eyes as well when she faced me.

                “He hurt us bad, Brendon.  Either as some deranged revenge or for some additional purpose I don’t know.  I’m going to get to the bottom of this.  If we can reverse this, I will do all I can.”

                “No.”  I said.

                “No?”  She asked.

                “We both will, Hillary.  I will do everything I can.  My dad, your siblings, our family- “

                “And don’t forget a chief of police.  I’ve already opened an investigation with the county sheriff here.  And, while Sarah is sleeping, I think I can speak for her when I say she’s more than willing to go to bat for you.”

                “We’re in this all, Hillary.”  I said.

                Hillary, at that, started to cry, and cry hard. Luke and I both comforted her, and, between the sobs, she thanked us for helping her.  We assured her it was nothing (and we meant that).  Soon, exhausted, we all went to get some sleep. For me, I did strip off everything but the bra and panties and Hillary had gone and gotten me a t-shirt and some shorts to sleep in.  I, avoiding looking down, stripped off my remaining clothes and put the shorts and t-shirt on.  I laid down on the bed in the room I was in, and I was instantly out.