A Naiad’s Song

Chapter One 

What do I do? Oh Goddess, what do I do?

Everett stumbled through the darkened streets. Wet cobblestones glistened in the lamplight. Water drenched his clothes and clung to his skin. He shivered as he brushed rain and tears from his cheeks. Droplets of water slid down the lenses of his glasses, blurring his vision. The strap of his trunk dug into his hand as he forced his feet onwards. Everett carried all his worldly possessions in his trunk. Everything else had been left behind when he fled his home of twenty-three years.

He held back a sob.

His home. His family. All gone now, taken from him the moment his father had kicked him out.

How had it all fallen apart so quickly?

It had been a normal day. Nothing unusual. He’d been working in his father’s practice along with his father and brother, treating patients as usual.

At lunch, he went to one of the special bookstores he often frequented. A little store down a side alley in a less-than-reputable part of Losen. He purchased two of the special novels he liked. He even bought a few drawings, one of which was rather explicit. He tucked them in his satchel and returned to work.

In the practice, he placed his satchel on a chair as he asked his father’s advice on one of his patients. He heard the door to the practice open, but Everett’s focus remained on his father.

“So what do you think, Father?” Everett asked. “Do you agree that Mr Nielsen should—”

“Fuck!” his brother yelled.

Everett turned to see his satchel drop to the floor. The novels and drawings spilled out.

Everett’s hands spasmed.

“What by all things holy is this?” Christopher’s face twisted in disgust. He picked up an image of two men in an embrace.

Everett couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. All he could do was stare in frozen horror as his world came to a grinding halt.

His father brushed past Everett and picked up another picture. His father sucked in a breath.

“What is the meaning of this?” his father demanded.

Everett should try to deny it. Should make up some story to explain how those things got into his bag. He should just say they weren’t his. But all he said was, “Why were you looking in my bag?”

“I was looking for one of your case files.” Christopher’s lips pulled back. “I assumed you’d been looking it over at lunch. I hadn’t expected perverse filth.” He threw the image on the floor.

“What are you doing with these, Everett?” his father asked. He waved an image of two men kissing at him.

It was one of the less illicit drawings. Two clothed men. Just kissing. Everett had bought the image because he thought the men together looked so beautiful. He had imagined them in love.

“Everett!” his father yelled. “Explain yourself!”

But he couldn’t. Everett couldn’t explain the desires he had, the desires he had always had. He’d tried to suppress and deny them. But it never worked. He could never erase the yearnings he felt deep in his heart for men.

He’d never acted on them. They were just dreams that filled his mind. He’d only ever looked at pictures and read books. But that was enough to cause the looks of horror and disgust on his father’s and brother’s faces.

“I’m sorry,” Everett whispered, dropping his gaze, unable to look into his father’s enraged face.

A silence followed. An angry, painful silence. Everett wanted to disappear. He wanted to hide.

“Get out of my sight,” his father said, voice hard as flint.

“I’m sorry,” Everett said. “I’ll stop. I’ll change.” The words rushed out. “I’ll burn the books and the drawings, and I’ll never—”

“You think I’d let a pervert like you remain with us?” his father asked. “You think I’d let you pollute our home? Be around your mother? Your sister?”

“I…” Everett’s ribs tightened painfully.

“Go home and pack. If you are still there when I return, so help me…” He shook his head.

“Father, please.” Everett reached for his father’s hand.

His father yanked back. “Get out!” his father yelled. “Get out of my sight!”

Everett stumbled backwards as if struck. He paused for a moment, glancing between them. He turned and fled.

In a daze, he ran home and began to pack.

“Goddess, please save me. Please help me. Please fix this.” He didn’t know what the goddess could do. But he had no one else to ask.

He wiped at tears slipping down his cheeks. He shoved clothes and necessary items into his trunk. His hands shook. He grabbed a couple of novels from his bedside, adventure ones he’d never had to hide.

After a moment’s pause, he opened his cupboard and unlocked the chest at the bottom. He grabbed two of his secret novels. Then grabbed another one and shoved them all into his trunk. No doubt he’d forget many important items but at least he’d have his precious books.

Everett could barely think straight. All his plans for the future slipped away before his eyes.

He’d planned to work in his father’s practice, alongside his brother and father. Then one day he and his brother would take over. He’d planned to watch his sister grow up and become a woman. He’d planned to shove aside his secret desires and longings and live a normal life with a family.

Now those plans were nothing but ash and dust.

He grabbed his bag of coins, all his savings. Thankfully he’d managed to put away a decent amount of coin working for his father. It would be all he had to live off now. He placed the coins in his trunk.

As he scanned the room, his gaze lingered on the shelf, which held several medical journals. He glanced at his trunk, which was almost full. Without much thought, he grabbed a couple and shoved them in. He wished he could take more. Or that he could take some of his medical equipment. But it wouldn’t fit. He closed the trunk.

“Everett?” his mother asked from the doorway. “Why are you home so early?”

Everett turned and faced her.

She inhaled sharply. “What’s wrong?” She came towards him, her plump hand reaching out. The top of her head only just reached his nose. “Everett, why are you crying?”

He opened his mouth, but he found no words. He shook his head. “I have to go.”

He lifted his trunk, flinching at the weight. He brushed past her into the hallway.

“Everett!” she cried, following him down the stairs. “What has happened?”

He turned as he reached the front door. “I love you,” he said, throat tight. He tried to hold himself together. “Be well. You and Eliza.”

He spotted Eliza, his younger sister, standing in the doorway to the sitting room, staring with wide eyes at him.

His lip quivered. “I have to go now,” Everett said and left.

“Everett!” his mother called after him.

But he’d kept his head down and kept going, with no idea where he went.

He couldn’t look back. If he did, he might collapse. He just had to keep moving, one foot after the other.