shanmonster | All in the Family

(I wrote this back in 1996, I think.)

Note: This is a true story. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Once upon a time, there lived a woman nicknamed Cheri. She was young and beautiful, and lived all alone. One fateful day, a handsome young man showed up. His name was Wally, and he was a stereotypical "bad boy." He had devilish good looks, and a demonic personality to match.

Cheri, like so many other foolish women, believed she could change him.

His demands for sex were flattering. He made her feel desirable. His amorous overtures were animal-like in their raw sensuality.

Out of an antiquated sense of morality, she refused to give in to his sexual demands. But her resolve was weakening. She yearned to experience the pleasures of the flesh. She was a virgin when she married Wally, but didn't stay that way for long.

On their wedding night, the brusque act was completed within five minutes.

Afterwards, she huddled in her bath wondering what exactly had happened. Was this all there was? A few quick pumps and a squirt? She didn't feel loved. She felt used.

In the meantime, Wally climbed on top of the roof and started announcing his exploits to all who could hear.

Cheri was morbidly ashamed.

She swore to herself she wouldn't put up with his advances again. She decided to get the wedding annulled. Unfortunately, she discovered she was pregnant. Since she had no one else to turn to, and didn't feel able to raise the baby on her own, she decided to give Wally another chance.

Time passed, and Cheri's abdomen grew turgid with the life she carried within. Wally became sadistic. When she refused his demands for sex, he would attack her, pulling out her hair, kicking her, and biting. But she was able to protect herself and her child from any serious injuries. Like so many other abused women, she still thought she could change him. She was determined to love him, no matter how badly he treated her.

When Wally was spurned, his violent needs for sexual release grew stronger. He began looking for other women to woo, but none would have him. His perversions worsened; he assuaged his sex drive by long, ornate masturbation sessions. He became adroit at orally pleasuring himself, especially when Cheri could see him. He began to practice coprophilia, and would languidly masturbate while sitting in his own feces.

Horrified and repelled, Cheri turned her back on him.

Finally, the day came when Cheri went into labour. It was a quick and painless birth, with a surprise. Wally and Cheri were the parents of twins: one boy and one girl. They were named Lisa and Jonathan. No sooner had the babies been born and cleaned off when Wally savagely raped Cheri. She didn't have the strength to fight back.

The next day, Wally tried to rape her again. This time, she was ready, and fought him off in a savage flurry of attacks. He was left stunned and bleeding. Cheri kicked him out of the house, and decided to raise the children on her own. Anything was better than letting Lisa and Jonathon grow up around that sort of monster.

At first, Wally stormed about in a crazed rage. He soon wore himself out, both physically and emotionally. The exiled Wally became lonely and melancholy. He regretted the terrible way he'd been treating his wife. He called her repeatedly. He told her how sorry he was to have treated her so badly; he told her he wanted to see his children, the fruit of their love; he told her how much he loved and missed her.

After a week, Cheri gave into his pleading.

At first, they seemed to get along. Wally was surprisingly tender, and would cuddle with Cheri and their children.

But then the violence started again. He tried to force himself upon her, but she managed to get away from him. Then, to her horror, she discovered he was molesting the twins. This was more than her abused psyche could handle, and her mind turned itself off. She sat in the corner of the house, rocking herself back and forth while staring blankly at the walls. In the meantime, the babies cried piteously as their pedophile father sodomized them.

The babies grew up to be good-looking children, but they were emotionally scarred. Their father repeatedly molested them and their mother didn't appear to care. Child welfare services found out about the abuse, and the children were shipped off to foster homes.

Cheri became pregnant again.

This time, the baby was a boy. He was named Samuel, and was a bright-eyed and bushy-taled little guy. Wally decided to take Samuel under his wing, so to speak, and show him how to be a real man. As Samuel grew older, he watched how his father forcefully enforced his commands. Wally was indeed the lord of his castle, and Cheri waited upon his beck and call.

When Samuel was still a little boy, Cheri became pregnant for a third time. She was starting to feel like a broodmare. She was amazed to give birth to triplets, this time. They were all boys: Michael, Martin, and Zach.

When his newest sons were born, something snapped in Wally's mind, and he once again began to molest his wife and children. When Cheri refused him and stood between him and the infants, he began raping Samuel. He would even do so in front of Cheri and his baby boys.

This continued for quite a while. Samuel, who used to be a bright and cheery boy, became a sullen and moody teen. Cheri became withdrawn, once again, and began to falter in the protection of her three youngest boys. Soon they too were being molested on a regular basis. Wally also upped the frequency with which he physically assaulted his wife.

It all had to end somehow.

One night, Cheri, Samuel, Michael, Martin, and Zach attacked Wally. They flew into him with every weapon at their disposal. They clawed, bit, and kicked him. They threw furniture at him. They pulled out his hair and raked the flesh off his body.

There was no way he could fight them all off. By the morning, there wasn't much left of him. He lay on his bed a bleeding, oozing mass of pus and coagulating blood. He was in shock, and was bleeding to death. His left ear was almost completely detached. His nose looked like it had been chewed off.

A neighbour chanced by that morning and saw Wally through the window. Horrified, she called an ambulance and he was taken to the hospital. His ear was reattached, and he was treated with antibiotics. However, despite the hospital's best efforts, he died later that day.

His family demonstrated no remorse.

Samuel and Cheri were taken to court. The jury decided they had acted in self-defense, and recommended counselling in lieu of jail time. They believed Samuel and Cheri would not be a further danger to society. They did, however, remove the three youngest children from their mother's care.

With Wally out of the way, Cheri began to come out of her shell. Correspondingly, Samuel became less moody.

Nevertheless, their life was by no means normal.

Cheri began to experience sexual desires once again. Unfortunately, they were directed toward her son Samuel. Samuel's twisted upbringing combined with his adolescent hormonal surges. His mother was still a beautiful woman. And her flirtations were provocative indeed.

It wasn't long before they consummated their lust.

And the ever-fertile Cheri became pregnant yet again. And again.

The newest children don't know their brother is their father. The oldest children are unaware of their newest siblings, and their mother's relationship with Samuel.

For reasons unknown, child welfare didn't step in again.

The cycle is bound to perpetuate itself.

This story is the stuff from which legends and soap operas are made. It has repeated itself many times: the Greek myth of Oedipus and Jocasta, Grimm's fairy tale "Donkey Skin," William Shakespeare's Hamlet and King Lear, and John Boorman's Deliverance. It will repeat itself in the future.

The main difference between these tales and the preceding one is that of species. Cheri (née Chichi), Wally, and company are (or were, in the case of Wally) all chinchillas.