Pavane for a Lost Boy (Or Rather, How to Survive Loss after Rejection)

Chapter Nine

If anyone of you could ask me how much I weigh and how tall I am for a now-orphaned teenager living in foster care after living in a toxic household for most of my life; well...

Let's just say that my trip to the doctor's office the following day was quite eye-opening.

"One-hundred forty-two pounds," I said after the dark-skinned doctor named Ramash Patel did a thorough check-up on me (vaccinations and all) for two hours with Joel, Taylor, and Jose accompanying me. "Well, that's nothing new right there, Doc."

"Well, young man, you can consider yourself very lucky," the East-Indian doctor said, concern lacing his British accent as he continued to take notes on his clipboard. "At your age and five-foot-eleven hight, you're almost at the underweight stage."

"Sir, Demario's late birth family hasn't been feeding him proper nutrition for most of his life before their tragic deaths not too long ago," Taylor said. "If it weren't for the landlord and his family helping out with giving him some meals when his mother wasn't around to take it all from him, Demario might not be here today."

"Wait, his late mother has been..." Dr. Patel said, his eyes widened in shock.

Joel nodded before giving the man a recap of my uncharmed past and how I almost committed suicide and how I came to their home.

A cold and steely look formed in the doctor's grayish-brown eyes. "Thank the heavens that woman and her brood aren't among us," he said tersely. "I'd have made sure that she, her husband, and their children be given the harshest punishment in court and have them all locked up."

To me as he softened his glare, "I admire your courage, sir. You are a warrior for coming out of that house and finding good people who are willing to help you heal."

I took a deep breath. "Doc, I've heard most people say that since I was at the psych ward," I replied. "Right now, I keep telling myself that this could be my last chance of being given a fair shake in life and for the cards to stack in my favor. If anything, I can only imagine where to go from here."

"You'll get your chance at happiness," Dr. Patel said. "And if you heard this before, then it's worth repeating: everyone has something worth fighting and living for. You may not recognize it yet, but you will."

"For your sake as well as everyone else's and mine, I hope you're right," I replied.

************

Two hours later, I was back at the Lomax residence as Joel and Taylor needed to head back to work but I soon found myself in the company of Noreen and her only daughter Holly (a leggy tomboy of a teenager with sable-brown hair, apple-green eyes, and a fiery personality that can scare off any hater with a single glare) as we all enjoyed a lunch of BLTs and truffle fries. "Mom told me and Dad all about you," Holly piped up as she sipped on some lemonade. "And that late mom of yours sounds like a true witch for treating you like that while she and her husband favored your siblings over you."

I shrugged my shoulders as I popped a fry into my mouth. "I grew used to being ignored," was all I could say. "Mom loved my older twin brothers while my younger twin sisters were the apple of Dad's eye. And both sides of the family loved them as much as they hated me- with a passion. It's little wonder that Mom kept dropping hints of how she should've had me aborted and all that."

It would be easy to just hire someone to kill you in your sleep and make it look like a suicide. No one would miss you if you died.

This family would've been perfect if I had decided to abort you when I learned that I was pregnant with you.

You being alive on this earth is a symbol of me having the worst luck in this family.

I wish for thunder and lightning to kill you where you stand.