Anyone who has grown up in a home filled with volatility and sinister secrets or who has seen it will agree that child abuse is wrong and repulsive. In this story, a preteen undergoes the struggle of wanting to come clean about her abusive parents b...
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Kalani hands Achilles a photo album of their family in it. I sat beside Achilles to see the photos that were kept for a long time. A moment he's been waiting for, he can see who people looked like all around him, comparing to how they sounded. I pointed to a picture of an old married couple with three siblings in it. There were two boys and one girl in it. I asked who the boy was that was wearing a rusty brown farm hat and had some overalls on. Achilles replied it was him, he remembered his Aunt Maeve was telling him to stand in beside his sister, Daisy, and his younger brother, Raymond. When he saw his parents, tears rolled down his face.
"You alright, grandad?" Kalani hugged Achilles.
"I'm fine." Achilles wipes his face. "Just that I never saw what your great grandparents looked like."
"Thanks to the prayer you had, you can finally see them of how they were. "
"Hardly enough to see that they're in a better place. "
"You're right about that, Elora." Achilles looks at Kalani and back at the photo of him and his family. " To be blessed by all this, I knew that it was better after what happened to me."
Kalani turns another page to find out who his wife looked like, he did have five children in all.
"So this must be your own family, Achilles."
I pointed at the kids and then raised to be pointing at Achilles's wife who's in the picture. Kalani and Achilles nodded. His wife wore a flowery blue dress and a white hat.
Kalani steadily seeks at the album to see the rest of the pictures. "You'll be alright, granddaddy."
I picture my family as continuing to be connected to Achilles and Kalani. I have a sense that I am already a part of it.
"You're the nicest friends I've ever had," I admit.
"Thank you for letting us know, darling." Achilles says.
I cheerfully joked with them; I didn't want to forget the Freeman family, who are friends of mine, as well as Uncle Atticus and Aunt Margaret.
Kalani flips the page so Achilles can see the images of his offspring. He sees his two daughters and four boys. Oddly, while I requested it, I started to wonder whose names were on the photo that was used to capture this. They used to live in a barn, which is where the picture was taken.
