Dumpster kids

chapter 4: saint bernard

---- March, 5, 2014 ---- 6:00 AM-------

A loud pounding sounded at Casper's door.

"C'mon get up." A shrill high-pitched voice Casper had gotten to know as his stepmom, yapped from the other side of the door. He had sadly gotten quite acquainted with said voice after being forced into his dad's house.

Although, no matter how much Casper disliked his stepmom, he did exactly what she said. Because he knew for a fact that it would be much worse if his dad was the one on the other side of the door. He climbed out of bed, every bone in his body screaming in the process. He pulled on the exact same clothes he had worn yesterday, at least past him had folded them nicely. As he was going to leave his room, he heard the rowdy footsteps that he had gotten to associate with his step siblings. The twins weren't that bad, they took the attention away from him, so they were fine in his eyes. Maybe a little annoying but they were seven, so it was excusable. Still, he waited until their footsteps were gone to exit his own room.

He trudges down the stairs with a walk that most would consider lazy, but in Casper's mind he was simply trying to delay the inevitable as much as possible. He did the same with going to the kitchen. Walking as lazily as possible until he knew his dad could see him. When he saw his dad his posture straightened and he held his head high

His sister was sat at the dining room table like always, their dad in the seat next to her. Casper didn't need mind reading to know what they were doing, they did it every morning. Their dad called it "training" Casper called in "torture", and it was part of the many reasons Casper was glad he had no useful power.

"Come on you can do this," Casper heard his dad say as he walked past them to the kitchen.

He pat his sister on the head as he walked past, saying, "Good morning, Annie," his sister mumbled back a greeting. Casper took a second to marvel at the elegance of her powers.

"Cameron don't call your sister that, also go your distracting her," his dad spoke waving Casper away.

As much as Casper would've loved to argue with his dad that his sister deserved a break, he didn't. He knew how that ended, and he would rather not have Annie heal his broken collar bone again. So he said nothing and walked into the kitchen.

Their dad had learned about Annie's power a month ago when Casper's injuries had mysteriously healed overnight. He had threatened to break more of Casper's bones if he didn't tell how he healed so quickly. Casper hadn't answered and wasn't planning on ever answering the truth, he was resigned to his fate. Annie, however, had heard the conversation between him and their dad and she confessed.

There wasn't a day Casper wished she hadn't.

Whenever he finds her passed out on the dining room table with her father's blood on her hands. He wishes he could hold her and tell her that everything is alright. But he can't, he never has the stomach to lie to his sister. Lies come easy to him for everyone except her. So instead, he carries her up to her room and they cry. Sometimes both of them cry together, sometimes it's just one of them. Sometimes Annie patches Casper up, sometimes she doesn't have to. They stay up there awake for hours, sometimes they watch the sunrise. Eventually one of them, usually Annie, will drift off to sleep, the other following suit

Their older brother comes downstairs, his head held high and his eyes glowing. He walks past their sister without sparing a glance and joins Casper in the kitchen. You could never tell they were brothers. Casper had been told that enough times to believe it. They both walked the same, straight back, head high, long strides. That much had been trained into them.

Casper's eyes were dark, maybe green? It was hard to say, and they looked in constant need of sleep. His hair was a constant mess of brown and blonde no matter how much Casper tried, it never looked cohesive, so he had stopped trying. Connors eyes were a piercing blue, or at least that's always how they had been described, Casper didn't really know what the difference was. His hair was always a perfect swoop of gold. Annie was the middle ground between the two brothers. Her hair was brown but much lighter than Casper's, dirty blonde in the right light. And her eyes were hazel maybe, technically a darker color than her brothers, but they were still shining with innocence.