Romeo And My Juliet

Chapter 2

          Pride, dignity, right, wrong, and honesty were all new morals ingrained in me at the house across the neighborhood. The very same house I once tried to fool its owners. Now all of its heavens are opened wildly for me.

          Blackmail doesn't seem so immoral if it benefits you.  

          "When you tried to put up your little play earlier, you and your husband's presence was more significant than any money you'd ever steal. I'll do you a favor and keep your recorded audio -of your nine-year-old child confessing your crimes- away from the police's hands, under the condition that: June doesn't steal ever again. Deal or...? Welp, I guess you have no other option anyway. ". Her name was Jennie, Julie's mom, but I call her badass Jennie. Lies lies, lies. Everything she said was a lie and I somehow liked her even more now. She didn't feel their presence. She didn't record me when I confessed, she wasn't even around. She had nothing, absolutely nothing, that could be used against them. She did have something they don't though.

          The reassurance that she did nothing wrong.

          They live in fear, fear of being held accountable for their wrongdoings. Mrs. Choi, Jennie, threw the bait, and they fully took it in. She stood up for me against my parents for my well-being, when I myself didn't dare to dream about it in my wildest nightmares.

          I started to like school because I saw Julie for six hours. I started to like the hometime because that's when I go straight to her house and see mom Jennie, a name she wanted to be called by. I started liking life simply because they were living in it. I started liking many more things since that day when I met them. I developed a dream, hobbies, friends, a college plan, and a family. Nothing lasts forever but the only time I know this will end is when I die. 

          I took my time opening up. Two whole years before I started to call Jennie mom, and Julie my best friend. I grew up in their house, between their arms as my mom and sister. Between their family members as if they were mine. Getting Christmas gifts from them, enjoying my Thanksgiving eating turkey on their kitchen table. There are a lot of days in which I forget where I come from. But it didn't matter to me, because I belong here. I belong where my family belongs, in my home.

          My parents never stopped stealing. Nor did they get caught. And nor did they gain money. As soon as any green paper enters the house, my father would extend his claws and run away with it to the bar.

           Sometimes I wonder how these two people married each other. I am not specifically talking about my parents, but really any two people. How can two full-grown, adult people, and supposedly wise, get married whilst being sober knowing fully well that they have no capabilities to live and pay their bills? And then again, still not drunk enough, agree to bear a child without having the mental capacity to love it. It's a legitimate question, why? Why would you ever wanna do that to your child, and yourself? They both could've lived single forever or waited for the right person. And what I don't get is, why would someone as selfish as my parents be willing to share their theft profit with another human being? And have a child, so the profit is divided by three. One who is just a crying machine sucking money outta them.

          The last declaration didn't come out of my ten-year-old brain, but rather from my 35-year-old mother. 

          "Some people are evil," Jennie spoke in an attempt to calm my intrusive thoughts that she knew when exactly I would have them, "and we can't do anything about it,". Julie raised her hand to speak, and Jennie allowed her. "I don't agree with that," she declared. "They could be kind if we gave them a chance. It's impossible for someone to be purely evil. It just...can't be. Deep down, they have a very beautiful hidden side," she smiled brightly. How cute. "I agree Julie," Jennie calmly smiled. "I never said they are 100% evil. And no they aren't born like that. No one is naturally bad. However, the evil side does win sometimes. The internal conflict of whether a human being is bad or good is long and tiring. It's their fate, Julie. No matter how hard you try to bring out the good in them. It's their fate to be evil. For the sake of balancing our world,".