Cameron Adamski · @MiniCannibal
5th Dec 2014 from TwitLonger
Third Movement
They called him a faggot. His father had called him a bastard. Really, when words were only words, what was the difference?
His /old/ father. Now, after over a year with the Lecters, Cam was often reminding himself of the fact that Bill Adamski had been replaced. The idea that the man was still alive hadn't really occurred to him. Life before the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane was all a blur, every hurtful word washed away by the years.
Just like the bully Tristan's words would be, too, with time.
“Faggot! Homo! Cock-sucker!”
“Bastard...fucking bastard...not even my fucking son...”
How were those really any different?
The difference, Cam soon decided, was that Bill had spoken softly most of the time, an angry grumble directed at a very young boy who didn't often understand these drunken rambles. The boys at school yelled at the top of their lungs, to an audience that very much understood, hoping to coax tears, retreat, any reaction.
It was much more like the way Bill had yelled at Cam's biological mother. “Slut! You think I don't know what you're trying to pull? You think I'm stupid. Goddamn stupid.”
These words were repeated often enough that, even at thirteen, they seemed to lose their meaning for Cam. Half-reconciled with Grace, half lost in his own world, Cam was waiting and praying that Christmas break would come soon. But before that could happen, there was a concert to put on. Once the one thing he was looking forward to, Cam couldn't awaken himself to the same joy as before. His skills improved, but outside of class he was listless, moody. At home he put on the best show he could, likely fooling all but Nate, who he told he was worried about Jacob.
/This will all pass,/ he told himself. /Like the things dad said. I don't even remember why he was always yelling./
That was, until things began to escalate. Words became a shove, a shove became a punch. Small, isolated incidents. Growing. Consuming his thoughts to the point where Cam probably wouldn't have even reacted to the realization that his father's rambling reflected the strong possibility that he was not, in fact, Bill Adamski's biological child.
Nate's arms were his haven, Winter Break his escape.
A week before school let out, he was followed home.