Phoenix Rises

Chapter Ten Bring the Rain

When Danny went to jail, he wasn't the only one who had found himself in hot water. The police charged us with whatever they could come up with. I was charged with misdemeanor unruliness; Christina was charged with a felony "allowing drug abuse" and Anna was charged with simple drug possession after the police found a marijuana joint in her purse.

"Phoenix, my probation officer called me in today and told me that I had a probation violation and that he was scheduling a court hearing for me." Anna confided in me, clearly upset.

"What? Did you do anything?" I asked her.

"No, I have no idea what this is about, but court is scheduled for first thing in the morning." She said.

"I'm sure everything is going to be okay. You'll go into court in the morning, and they will figure it out." I tried, but failed, to comfort her.

The next afternoon I arrived home from school to see Danny and ask him where Anna was and how court had gone. "Phoenix, Anna is in juvenile detention." Danny said to me. "What! Why?" I said exasperated. At that moment the upstairs phone rang, and I raced to the kitchen to answer it.

"Hello?" I said hoping it was Anna. It was.

"Phoenix, Christina called my probation officer and went into court and told the judge that she didn't want me to live with her anymore." She said choked up and crying.

"Oh my god Anna! I'm so sorry where are you at?" I asked.

"I'm in the juvenile detention hall and I don't know how long I am going to be here." She said crying harder now.

"I love you, Anna. I'm going to do everything I can to get you home with me. Hang in there sissy. I love you." I felt hopeless, now wondering what I could do to help my sister.

This moment was a shock to me. Anna was a good girl. She went to school every day and got good grades. She didn't cause Christina any trouble. Christina was picking on Anna, and she would've gotten rid of me too if it weren't for her beloved son, Danny.

I sat in the kitchen chair, my heart racing. Anger filled every vein in my body, I felt the artery in my neck pulsing. "That fucking bitch" I thought to myself. In that moment the love I previously had for Christina faded entirely and I was filled with only hate and contempt for her. In a move that I am not proud of, I flew into a rage. I ran through her house destroying all her precious antiques and ceramic relics she kept nicely set up in her home. "How dare she! How dare she do this to us!" I thought to myself.

Was Christina blaming Anna and I for her own son's decision? It sure felt like it. Not only this, but when she realized her boyfriend Jerry didn't want us there, she no longer cared about our wellbeing. The promises of helping me get my license and apply for colleges now just seemed like a cruel joke. A carrot hung over the head of a suffering animal.

Danny was standing by trying to calm me as I ran through his mother's house wrecking everything in sight. I was hyperventilating and screaming, completely overwhelmed by my life that was falling apart month after month. "Please stop Phoenix! Tell me what the hell is going on!" he begged.

I ran downstairs and laid in bed crying, "Fuck you! Fuck you and your fat bitch mom! Fuck all of you! Why did you do this to us? This is YOUR fault, Danny!" I screamed. I continued laying there crying, neither Danny nor I saying a word to one another.

I heard Christina come into the house with her sister Dione. They had gone for a day of shopping after Christina abandoned my little sister to the system. It was no fault of Dione's, but I was livid with Christina. "I hope she enjoyed her time with her sister." I thought to myself, tormented now by the thought of my own sister in shackles.