What Lies Beneath

I'm Collin Harris

Hi, my name is Collin Harris. I'm 13 from a small town in New Jersey. I've always been the one that Ma is always worried about, I'm right smack dab in the middle of 3 children none of them are my full siblings only half but we love each other 110%. Whenever I go out in public we get a lot of looks, I have a disease called vitiligo. It means that I have blotches of dark skin and blotches of light. I also have to go to my resource teacher every day because of my learning disabilities. My teenage sister Lourin aka the coolest person I've ever met was born black like my skin, so dark we'd blend into the shadows. When she turned 15 she got really sick and was in the hospital for 3 months straight. Not only did she lose her sense of smell and taste but she also lost the skin color that gave her a better life but destroyed mine. I miss the times when Louri and I got to be the special ones, we would make fun of Jordyn because he is white. Jordyn Tillerman, my 6-year-old brother who's also 6 feet. That might be a little dramatic but he's taller than me and everyone knows you can't be taller than your older sibling, ever. Jordyn was born to be an NBA star and Marri would teach him basketball, he has been a b-ball champ since he was born. Jordyn was always the favorite, he was a daddy's boy and ma always loved him too. His dad, Marri always called Jordyn Jorri even now we still call him Jorri. Although Marri isn't my dad I still love him like one. Laurin hates Marri. Laurin and Ma aren't exactly on good terms either. Ever since Ma and Marri got married and Laurin got sick, home just hasn't been the same. Going back and forth between houses is very overwhelming also dealing with being the dumb kid at school. In my classmates' eyes, I'm the funny kid or the class clown as some people call it. Jori had all eyes on him, he's even the popular kid of his grade. Me, well let's just say I don't exactly get the girls with my condition. Maybe if I was still fully black I could be cooler but Laurin says that now I can be ½ her and Jorri and ½ ma and dad. I still don't think it's cool. I wish I wasn't like a toy. With a tight housing schedule, I could barely ever hang out with friends. Monday, Wednesday, Friday with ma. Tuesday, Thursday with Laurin, and every other weekend with dad. That is until I got "THE CALL."