Burning Paper Bridges

Chapter 1

The sun rose on the state of Texas, it was cold, but it wasn't going to be cold for long. The buzz of traffic becomes increasingly loud as parents walk or drive their children to the elementary school next door. As older kids walk to their bus stops to be retrieved by the ever so famous large, yellow bus with its increasing scent of BO and no A/C to prevent it. The sun shone through the windows at the back of the decent sized two story, gray house. Birds chirping away as they also arise to seize the day. The rooster that crows an hour late to sunrise in its coop across the road from the gated community. It's only six in the morning as the sound of footsteps increase and the sounds of cars starting hums and the doors shutting ring out. A small breeze rustling the leaves of nearby trees and grazing the blades of grass covered in morning dew. Oh how lovely it was outside. If only it was as lovely inside.

Alastair rolled over, pulling the blanket from over his head as he turned on his laptop. 6:57. He sighed as he heard the sound of his 5 year old sibling walking into their parents room. He shared a room with them but he preferred the gaming room couch which was much more comfortable and much more peaceful besides even if they complained, he cleaned that room and kept it in order which is why they didn't really complain much. He pulled the blanket back over his head as he heard his mother sternly talking to his younger sibling for taking so long getting ready for school. He closed his eyes to go back to sleep but if only it were so easy. He peaked back out at his laptop to see it was now 7:03. He groaned as the time went by fast. He laid there for a sec when the familiar footsteps of his mother entered the room and as they did, the light came on. He quickly covered his face as she apologized. "Oh sorry, I'll just get it later." He rolled over with the blanket still covering his head. "You can get it now, it's fine." "No, I can get it later. It's just bub's stuff for the trip tomorrow." He groaned at the thought. It was a fine Thursday morning, at least outside. It had been a tormenting week of the nasty remarks and the attitude directed at him and to think he agreed to spend two days in a car and hotel with the same people who tormented him for a week, well weeks. The backhanded comments were consistent but some days they were worse than others. In this case, some weeks they were consistently worse. His mother turned the light off as she retreated out of the room to finish getting his sibling ready. Then the voice of his 14 year old sibling rang out.

"It smells like pee down here." He clenched his jaw as his mom looked down the stairs. "Alastair, your dog peed in the front room!" He removed the blanket from his head as he looked down at his dog who was sleeping by his feet. It took a second before the dog sat up to meet his eyes. He sighed and rolled off the couch before grabbing the dog's collar. "Let's go." The dog's tail wagged as they went to the steps, thinking he was about to go outside to play but as they reached the bottom steps the dog froze and tucked tail. He never could hide it when he did something wrong. Alastair pulled the dog over to the puddle sized pee spot. He rubbed his nose in it before popping him and then put him outside. He then walked back upstairs to the game room, that was not until he made eye contact with his youngest sibling in their parents room while he was in the hallway. He continued walking before rolling back up in his comforter, attempting to get some more sleep. His head once again covered by the blanket. He opened his eyes as the light footsteps of his sibling approached the couch. "Alastair?" He uncovered his face to look up at the child. "Can you take me to school?" It basically became routine for him to walk his little brother to school. Even if it was only 7:10 in the morning. He couldn't really be mad at him because he was only five so he had no reason to resent him other than being a bit upset that he was the only one who really took him to school. Which was the reason he only asked Alastair. "Go put on your shoes and get your snack." His brother smiled as he hurried out of the room. Alastair got up and walked to his room to put on pants before heading downstairs. He slipped on a pair of crocs as his brother took his time, getting his stuff.

He was going to be late. Alastair rolled his eyes as he grabbed his snacks, putting it in his backpack. "Put your shoes on." His brother did so as Alastair grabbed his sweater and his backpack, helping his brother put both of them on. He then grabbed his keys and walked out. His brother grabbed onto his hand as they both walked across the street to the gate. They had to end up going back because the gate was locked and they didn't have a key to open the gate. As they entered the house, Alastair called out. "The gate is locked." Their mom then came downstairs with her work bag and sighed. "Are the other parents going to the gate?" He looked back outside. "No, it's just the kids but they're running back to their house now because it's locked." His mom sighed. "Alright, hurry up bubs, go get in the car." They both walked out of the house. Alastair took his swim instructor uniform out of his work bag. He took his mother's clothes out of the dryer and set them on the front couch with the rest of her clothes. "Funny how she yells at us about our stuff cluttering her couch but it's usually her stuff." Alastair was speaking to himself when his 14-year-old brother appeared in the living room. "Well it's her house, she can do whatever she wants." He snapped his head up. "That's rich coming from the person who complains." Alastair continued moving the clothes.

"That's you." Alastair laughed sarcastically. "No, that's you." "Well, I don't do it much anymore." "Right. Then she takes your stuff and then what?" He shook his head as he walked back upstairs. "Don't defend her if you're also going to complain." Alastair was not in a mood to argue as tempting as it was. He thought it was funny that his younger brother who honestly complains more than he does defends her. All it takes is for him not to do the dishes one time and she'll go wake him up in the middle of the night to do them. He gets mad every time. He gets mad every time she tells him there's no smoking allowed for a while but he's also very quick to kiss her ass when it benefits him. Like mother, like son. He bitches to me about telling our mom information that he doesn't want her to know when it isn't even me doing it but then goes and does it himself. Alastair was tempted to point that out but in the end it would have been pointless because he would have bitched to their mom and Alastair would have gotten in trouble. Alastair keeps to himself for that very reason and that's why his secrets stay his secrets. He stopped sharing his business with most of his family because they have a tendency to use it against him. Plus if he responded any further to his brother, another argument would have been triggered and his 17 year old sibling would have overheard it and said something to their mom as well. He stopped picking petty fights no matter how hard they tried to spark one.

One thing he knows is that he's no longer going to just let them take advantage of him. He's going to do what he needs to do and move on. He won't spend money on whatever they want him to buy them, only on what they actually need. They are going to be mad about it, that's just how things are going to be from now on. Alastair tried to go back to sleep but now his stomach turned due to his anxiety and he was too depressed to sleep. He grabbed his laptop and made his way downstairs and sat at the table trying to find a second job while on call with his boyfriend. They were in an open relationship recently because they wanted to be in each other's lives. Alastair had some things to figure out about his sexuality so they were leaving that way till he did. Alastair sighed, today he needed to talk to his manager about getting a second job because he would have to fill out some paperwork for his current one. He needed to make as much money as possible so he could stack it up. He needed his own place, his own space, his own car and his own way so he could live. His mother didn't really help him. On top of that, he needed to get health insurance because there was no way he was able to see a doctor if he got sick or a therapist due to his lack thereof. It wasn't entirely his fault. His legal guardian, his grandmother, wasn't helping wither. She needed to go see his social worker to get it transferred over but she kept doing what she wanted and putting it off.