Dean junior is smart. He knows if he wants to be loved as much as his Dad loved his Uncle, he needs to be an adequate replacement. Have the same mannerisms, same looks, same stupid jokes. So he listens well to any story about his Uncle, and he digs up the old photos locked in the chest his Dad thought he hid from Dj.
Dj plays out each scene in his head, tries to imagine what his namesake did to make their Sam smile like that. Practices in the mirror. Finds a dead man staring back. The dead man tells him, âItâll never be enough.â
One day his Dad leaves on a short trip and Dj decides to dig a little deeper in the chest. He inspects the faded leather jacket that sits atop the pile of junk. It smells of gunpowder and whiskey. Under the jacket is a soft flannel, worn and fraying at the seams. It looks just like any of his fatherâs other flannels, but when he unfolds it at least 50 polaroids spill out. Curious, Dj picks one up. He expects to find yet another moment between two brothers frozen in time.
Instead he finds only one young boy. His face is cut off at the mouth so Dj canât tell who it is, but he knows those arenât his Dadâs lips. The boyâs neck is bared and his skin is naked save for a dark necklace. His arms are held behind his back and thereâs one very clear bite mark bruising his collarbone. Djâs not sheltered, he knows what this is. He swallows and flips the picture over. Dated 10.06.95. Definitely not his Dad then.
Dj picks up another one. Itâs the same boy sat on his knees. All bare skin save for that necklace still, with his hands covering his crotch. Thereâs another hand in the photo, a much older hand, gripping the boyâs jaw. His face above the nose is cutoff again, but his lips are parted and wet. Dj can guess what happened.
He picks up a third. The boy looks younger, but he has some clothes on in this one. Small blue shorts that hug his limp body. Heâs on a motel bed sprawled on his stomach, asleep by the looks of it.
Something hot and tight crawls up Djâs chest. He picks up a new one from a different area in the pile. Same boy, older again. His eyes are green, Dj learns. Green and teary and so big. Those lips Dj is coming to recognize stretch over a hard cock, spit dripping from the corners. That gruff hand is back and holding tight in the boyâs hair. Itâs a closeup but heâs in the backseat of a car, Dj can tell. It almost looks likeâŠ
Dj scrambles to pick up another photo. The boy is bent over the side of a car, back arched obscenely. His lower half is cutoff past the hand gripping his hip but Dj sees it. Sees the silver rims and mirror attached to an Impala heâd recognize anywhere. He flips the polaroid and finds another date. 11.07.96.
It was Dean. Heâs the boy in the photos.
And the mystery hand.. Dj moves back to the chest and rifles through the family photos he had seen countless times, looking for one very specific man. As soon as he sees it he snatches the photo and brings it back to the polaroids with the mystery hand to compare.
Thereâs no doubt. Itâs the same hand. Ring and all.
These photos are all of his young uncle Dean and his grandfather.
And his Dad had kept them.
Dj feels something cold settle in his stomach.
















