MERCY

Mercy had a brother that committed suicide when she was 10 years old. He was called a faggot when he was not one. He was bullied and harassed and if it would have happened today, it would have been a hate crime, Mercy thinks. He ripped someone off some money, weed and soon after the rumors started flying. Brother was a faggot. Brother had fucked a cat with a candlestick. Brother had tried to suck everyone's cock, by everyone they meant all the boys he hung out with. The rumors spread so thin, so deep, like ice. He had to change schools five times. The rumor followed him, people knew his name by the rumor. O, that's your brother? Is it true that he stuck a candlestick up a cat's ass? Is it true that he's a faggot?

When Mercy was young, where Mercy was raised, was a desolate Midwest town. When she told her brother she was going to adopt an Asian baby, he said he would call it Slope-y. When her friend was dating many black guys, he called her the Black Guy's Girlfriend. These are the types of things that were ingrained.

Mercy's brother shot himself and in Mother's house there were no pictures of him and at Mercy's father's house there were so many from every stage of his life.