A family grows closer in the wake of tragedy. All characters are 18+
It’s funny how quickly things can fall apart. One minute you’re a normal suburban family of four, happy, prosperous, living the American dream; the next you find out your father was reduced to a puddle of red goo on the asphalt after getting t-boned by a drunken 18 wheeler.
It broke all of us, I think.
My mother, Alena, became inconsolable. When she wasn’t weeping uncontrollably she was staring dead-eyed out the living room window like Dad would pull into the driveway any second. She turned into a zombie, a shell of the woman she had been. She shuffled through her daily routine, still mostly meeting her obligations, but the spark had gone out of her. She was empty. She lost a concerning amount of weight, and took on a gaunt, haunted appearance. Still fresh from the pain of losing my father, watching her get like that broke my heart all over again.
Cora did a little better. My sister got all her tears out at the funeral. But I don’t think I ever really saw her smile again after that, and her anxiety went through the roof. That first night after we put Dad in the ground, she came to my bedroom around 3am and asked if she spend the rest of it with me. Not sexually, you sick fucks (we’ll get there). She wasn’t in a state to fully articulate it, but apparently she was waking up every 30 or so minutes from nightmares that I was dead too. Being able to hear me breathing in the dark calmed her down, reassured her. Not enough that she didn’t wake up screaming several times, but she said it helped.
For my part I tried to step into the role of man of the house. It didn’t work out so good. My father was a wise, patient man who always knew exactly what to say (and what not to say) to keep everything running smoothly. Those were shoes 20-year-old community college student Kevin Marengo was just never going to be able to fill. The first time I woke up in the middle of the night, crying like a baby, my sister holding me in her arms rocking me back and forth, I knew I was cooked. At least I didn’t have to worry about being the family breadwinner. Dad’s life insurance would cover us for a while, long enough for me to graduate, so that was one problem we could defer.
As our collective living nightmare settled into just another routine, Mom, Cora, and I came to rely on each other in ways we hadn’t before. According to my girlfriend, Jade, we were becoming too dependent on each other. But we were the only ones who knew what we were going through, and that meant we were the only ones we could rely on. We were together every waking moment. Cora routinely spent the night in my room rather than her own. She was the most overt about it, but we all clung to each other out of the desperate fear that another one of us would be taken away.
A year passed. We pretended we were getting over it. Mom went back to work. I’d never stopped taking classes, though the first semester after the accident my course-load was much lighter than it had been. Cora deferred college applications, but entered her Senior year determined to keep up her grades and maintain her social life. I think we almost had each other fooled.
Then came the next big hurdle. Mom’s friends invited her out. This wasn’t unusual by itself. These women had done their best to make sure my mother stayed engaged with other human beings as she navigated the death of her husband, but this time was different. No one said it outright, but it was clear Mom’s friends thought it was time for her to get back in the saddle. Instead of going out to one of their usual spots, they were headed into the city to hit a club, and it was intimated to Cora and me that we shouldn’t necessarily be surprised if Mom didn’t come home that night. That Mom wasn’t ready for a committed relationship again did not mean she wasn’t ready to get dicked down, apparently.
I’m being catty. At the time, part of me thought it wasn’t a terrible idea. Though I tried not to think about it, Mom was a grown woman with a grown woman’s needs. God knows in the months after Dad died physical intimacy with Jade had done a lot to keep me grounded and sane. Mom hadn’t had any of that, so I told myself that a night on the town getting her insides rearranged would probably be good for her. Cora was clearly unhappy that Mom wouldn’t be spending the night at home with us, but basically seemed to agree with me. So we smiled as we waved goodbye to Mom, ordered ourselves a pizza, and spent the night on the couch together watching meme compilations. When we went to bed at 1:00am Cora even decided to sleep in her own room. I guess she wanted to show that she was also letting go of the past and didn’t need to be with us 24/7.
I was woken at 3:13 to my bedroom door opening. At first I thought it was Cora, the loneliness having finally gotten to her, but peering up at the silhouette in my doorway I realized it was Mom. I was just starting to sit up and greet her when she closed the door behind herself and shuffled further into my room. Even in the dark her gait made it obvious that she was quite drunk.
Kicking her heels off she made it to the edge of my bed, where she sat down giggling. The mixed scent of sweat and vodka filled the air. Mom’s hair was disheveled. She still wore the frankly scandalous little black dress she had gone out it. To my relief, it didn’t look like it had been taken off at any point in the evening.
“What’s up, Mom?” I asked blearily, “You need some water? Want me to help you back to your room?”
Mom shook her head.
“You’re such a good boy, Kevin.” She said. She wasn’t slurring as much as I expected. Scooting in closer she rested her head on my shoulder and leaned into me. “You remind me so much of your father. I miss him so much, baby. I see how you take care of your sister, and I’m so proud of you. But I’m also a little sad. I know how much it means to her, but sometimes I wish I could have that too. I’ve never said it, because I don’t want to take it away from her, but I want it too. I miss having another person with me when I sleep, y’know? So can I, just tonight, can I stay here, Kevin?”
I reached my arm around her shoulder and pulled my mother in closer to me.
“Yeah, of course Mom. I get it. It makes me feel better knowing someone else is here, too. Just close your eyes and get some rest.”
Mom hiccuped as we lay down together. She pressed herself into my side as I gently lowered both of us down. I closed my eyes. Not being alone in the dark with her thoughts always helped my sister. It helped me too, I could admit. It made sense Mom would want the same reassurance. Cora might have bristled slightly at the suggestion, but deep down she and Mom were pretty similar.
Mom rested her head on my chest and snuggled into me, pulling my arm tighter around her shoulder. Reaching across my abdomen she held me just as tightly, her leg hooking around mine at the knees. We cuddled each other in the silence of the darkness, enjoying the calming effects of our physical intimacy. Periodically Mom rubbed her soft cheek against my bare chest (I was sleeping in just a pair of boxers). Suddenly, I felt moisture on my pecs. I heard the ragged inhale of breath a moment later. Mom was crying.
I didn’t know what else to do so I gently rocked her. This reassuring gesture seemed to give her the okay to let everything go, because at that point the weeping started in earnest. I pressed my lips to the top of her head. The fruity scent of her shampoo cut through the aroma of her night on the town.
“It’s okay, Mom.” I said, rubbing between her shoulder blades supportively, “Let it all out. I’m here for you. I love you, and together we’ll all make it through this.”
Mom nodded into my chest then turned to look up at me. Even in the darkness I could see the watery glistening of her large, green eyes. Pressing her head forward she kissed me gently on the lips. It wasn’t how we normally kissed, but it wasn’t anything spicy. For that brief moment as she caught my bottom lip between her own I felt nothing but pure love and gratitude coming from her.
“Thanks, Kevin.” She said, “I know it shouldn’t be your job to comfort me, but I’m grateful all the same.”
I kissed her on the forehead in silent acknowledgment, then we both settled back down. Mom still had herself wrapped all around me, but honestly the warmth of her body and rhythm of her breathing was incredibly soothing. She felt so small in my arms, yet there was something solid about her too. Soon, feeling more secure than I had in forever, I drifted off to sleep with her.
***
The clock on my nightstand told me it hadn’t even been an hour when I was woken up by my mother once again. I had been having a lovely dream about a attractive woman caressing my body and grinding herself into me, only to wake up and find the dream coming true. My mother’s palm was gently running over my abdomen, and I could hear her hot breath in my ear. My thigh was grasped between her legs, and she was grinding her pelvis against it. Though I couldn’t see anything, the silky feeling of slightly wet panties rubbing up and down my leg told me my mother’s dress had ridden up during the night. Coming out of an erotic dream into an erotic reality, it took me a moment to remember that the woman currently using my muscular thigh to get off was my own mother.
She must still be asleep, I thought. Or in her drunken state she had forgotten who’s bed she was in. Embarrassing, certainly, but I wanted to think we were both mature enough to deescalate the situation and move on.
“Mom,” I whispered quietly, shaking her gently to wake her.
My mother’s response was immediate. Still grinding against my leg, her had shot up from my abdomen and a single finger touched my lips.
“Shhh,” she said. My eyes went wide and suddenly I was 100% awake. Mom was not doing this in her sleep, and the crispness of her movements told me she wasn’t that drunk either. I guess she could feel the sudden tension in my body, because as she ran her hand back down over my pecs to caress my abs once again she kept speaking.
“I’m sorry baby, but I need this so badly. I’ve been so lonely, and you...you smell just like him. You feel just like him. I can’t hold back.” Her lips pressed against the side of my face as she let out a soft, low moan. “It’s like he’s back with me again. My Ben. My lover. God I missed you so much my darling.”
I relaxed. It wasn’t a proper explanation, but in that moment I understood exactly where my mother was coming from. Call me weird for it, but as she continued pressing herself into me with an urgent need to get off I just wanted to help her however I could. If for even a moment I could help attenuate the feeling that she had lost my father, I would.
Saying nothing, I put my hand on the small of her back and pulled her in. I could feel the warmth of her beneath the flimsy material of her dress. Mom let out a high pitched gasp like nothing I’d ever heard come out of her before. Her hand dipped lower, moving across my pelvis. As she felt between my hips her pinky finger strayed lower, and suddenly we both froze as it’s tip grazed the head of my engorged cock where it was pressed against my confining boxers. I think that was the first moment we realized that I was aroused as well. We both lay stock still. Mom was clearly afraid to keep moving, but she didn’t pull her contact away at all. She must have been grappling with how to respond.
I moved to reassure her.
I slid my hand lower. Her dress was bunched-up around her hips and soon I was touching her bare skin. Placing a hand on her ass, I noted that she was wearing a thong as I palmed one well-toned cheek. Mom still wasn’t moving, but her breathing was growing more intense. Grasping her behind firmly, I pressed her into me so that her crotch ground once more into my thigh. I moved my leg at the same time, pressing it to the hot, wet chasm between her legs. “It’s okay, I’m here for you, Ali.” I said. This was what my father always called my mother, and the choice of appellation had the desired effect.
With this encouragement, my mother started grinding on me once again. Her movements were slow and sensual. Her face was pressed into my neck, kissing it sloppily, as her hand wandered all over my exposed torso. As she pressed her panty-clad mound into me I could hear the catch in her breath every time her clitoris made the contact it needed. Emboldened by my approval of her behavior, her hand wandered even further. She never fully grasped my hard dick, but as she felt me up it would glide over it from time to time, fingertips tracing it’s length and outlining it’s head. As she began to feel precum soak my boxers her grinding intensified. Soon, my mother had wrapped her arms around me and was humping my leg for dear life.
Relaxing my grip on her ass I lay there and let her use me. I didn’t want to break her spell. Honestly the feeling of her increasingly soaked silk panties gliding along my thigh, the sensation of her hand exploring my body, her wet lips and tongue on my neck, felt amazing. Practically bucking her hips against me mom began to moan out my father’s name.
“Oh god yes Ben, I love you so much baby. Make me feel good like you always used to.”
All of a sudden she froze. Pressing her mound into me with desperate pressure her vocalizations stopped. So did her breathing. Her arms and legs tightened their grip around me to the point of almost being painful. Her head, by contrast, moved off of my neck as she arched her back. Her entire body felt like a bar of iron so tense were her muscles. Then, just as suddenly, she went totally slack. Mom collapsed onto the bed like a deflated balloon, and warm fluid soaked through her panties onto my thigh. The musky scent of female climax swiftly followed it to my nose.
Once more alone in the dark with my mother I could feel her breathing take on the slow steady rhythm of a person in a deep, untroubled sleep. Kissing her on the top of the head, I joined her in slumber. This time, it lasted through the rest of the night.