The Everglades - Chapter Sixteen

16

1970. Phillip Billie was five years old. He’d recently conceived self-awareness. Life’s purpose had yet to be defined for the youth. It would take decades for the second offspring of Victoria and Johnson Billie, Jr. to realize he’d been left to seek meaning without parental guidance.

Jacob was the couple’s first born son; a source of pride. The boy’d come along when both were teenagers. A fact that hindered the oldest son’s development.

Phillip never knew his paternal grandfather. He was a man who embraced goodness that resonated within most humans. The murdered patriarch also understood threats to decency by allowing evil to flourish.

The youngest son was a universal being; understanding that he’d been cast into a role as son. He looked to parents for guidance. Due to Victoria’s repeated rapes between seven and ten years old, she suffered from Pathological Narcissism. That which had been bred into her by parents, intensified to a degree that threatened all three men in her life.

Victoria Northrup was blissfully ignorant of the damage she’d caused. As long as men found her attractive there was never a reason to question supposed purpose in life.

Both pregnancies were accidental. The couple desired not burden already meager finances with the addition of a second child.

Phillip became a hindrance.

The young boy floated about the house daily; silently observing that which defined his environment. Without emotional connection to family, Phillip’s existence was purely physical. Intergenerational circumstances defined life’s course.

Two German invaders affected the boy’s life without ever having met him.

Similar psychoses spread freely throughout society.

Lack of connection to the spiritual realm, the essence of who Phillip was, subjected the second son to a life more difficult than meant for any human.

Miami remained relatively small, but much larger than when his mother was young.

Phillip’s grandfather had been murdered by Hochstühl and Von Unterscheisse for trying to destroy the German’s trafficking operations. The boy’s maternal grandfather had fallen under the control of those same men. The second son of Johnson and Victoria became trapped by circumstances.

A favorite pastime of the boy was to peer longingly through his window at beautiful tropical birds that flew into and out of his yard. He’d taken to drawing them; wishing to preserve association beyond ephemeral sightings.

Phillip’s diluted native blood became conflicted. Something within desperately wished to connect with all creatures. He possessed a sublime understanding that all living things were bound by universal energy.

Victoria never stoked eternal passions. She’d only ever taught the boy requisite and rudimentary tasks for living a hygienic life. Having been repeatedly raped stunted the woman’s capacity for mature thought. She perpetually considered herself to be six years old. It was a safe mental space for her. She refused to acknowledge pervasiveness of evil.

Memories remained in the mind of the woman who’d been acutely abused. She’d been so psychologically damaged, Victoria was incapable of perceiving what a truly horrible man her father was for delivering her to such brutality. Inversions of reality emanated from her consciousness and soaked into the souls of both sons; neither of whom conceived human struggles for their psychotic nature. It was easier for everyone in the household to view the world for its physical properties; ignoring ethereal considerations.

Psychoses fed directly into the German’s plans of making family irrelevant. Only those seeking short-term stimulation thrived in an environment created by evil. Those embracing God’s longevity were vilified and publicly chastised.

The Billie’s gladly contributed to debauchery.

Phillip sat quietly in his room; as was the case on most afternoons. In his lap was a sketchbook purchased by his mother. The boy sat closely to the window; peering through as birds entered and exited his vision. This circumstance became his daily sanctuary; protecting him from outsized energy that engulfed the youngest, weakest member of the family.

The inexperienced son connected with beauty inherent in nature. The native half of his soul resonated strongest within the boy. Although spirit sparked, Phillip fell victim to physical beauty without consideration of benevolent souls.

Victoria Northrup Billie’s narcissistic resonance doomed her son to a life seeking unfulfilling relationships.

The budding artist’s peaceful contentment was shattered by the sounds of his older brother, Jacob. The eldest son’d always projected an outsized and dogmatic persona. This time was different.

The boy sensed distress.

Phillip placed his sketchpad on his bedside table, stood and walked across his room; stopping at its closed door. The boy settled behind the protection of the closure; listening intently; trying to discern the nature of his older brother’s agony.

The youngest son continued standing behind the comfort of his closed bedroom door. He could tell his older brother was in pain. The nature of conflict remained unknown.

Slowly, Phillip reached for the doorknob. He turned it carefully; opening the door only slightly. The sound of his brother’s misery became louder. He knew the sound’s origin was the family’s kitchen. The youngest son stepped into the hallway; walking cautiously toward the its end. The final doorway opened onto the kitchen.

Phillip peered around the corner and saw Jacob sitting in a chair that’d been pulled closely to the sink. Victoria stood next to it. Water poured from the faucet. She repeatedly soaked a dishcloth, squeezed it of excess water, and gently pressed it about the face and shoulders of her oldest son.

The boy’d gotten himself into a situation whereby outsized energy, in the form of five teenagers, beat him into submission. The experience had been primal and intense.

The mother’s first sexual experience was filled with the same outsized control. Nothing ever compared. She found herself becoming sexually aroused at its memory. Genitals swelled. Depraved sense of love without boundaries had been defined when she was seven years old. Victoria was incapable of conceiving warped sexual feelings she had for her son; a boy in intense pain. She had no conception of differences between pleasure and pain; right and wrong; good versus evil.

The woman shifted uncomfortably to quell the sensation.

Victoria continued working on her son’s wounds.

The younger brother was aghast at what he witnessed. Cuts all across his brother cheeks and brows gushed blood. Flesh was swollen and puffy. The boy’s vision was reduced by enlarged eyelids; not so much he couldn’t see his brother enter the room through his periphery.

Jacob stared disgustingly at Phillip, before refocusing on his mother.

Phillip eased himself slowly across the kitchen floor until he stood next to his mother and brother.

Victoria glanced down at her youngest child and offered a smile.

“What happened?” Phillip asked.

The woman never told complete truths. Secrecy had been instilled in her from the moment Marty Markham began regularly raping the girl. Her explanation painted her oldest child in the best possible light. “He was jumped by some bad guys who beat up your older brother.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re jealous of how good your brother is.”

“Good at what?” Questions came naturally to the boy.

Victoria inhaled deeply. She’d opened a pathway by which her youngest, most intellectual offspring entered. “They were playing basketball, and your brother was single handedly beating them.”

The word beating confused the five year old. How had it applied to a game of basketball? “He was beating them, and they beat him?”

Exasperatedly, Victoria implored, “he was scoring a lot more points than anyone else.”

Phillip thought momentarily about his mother’s explanation. “So, they beat him up for that?”

“Yes.”

Victoria’s unwillingness to be completely honest with her youngest child shielded him from a greater understanding of life.

Innate senses spoke to a greater purpose. 

It seemed a cosmic joke that the woman, incapable of appreciating men, was given nothing but sons.

Jacob and Phillip suffered most.