Killer Kin

Chp.1: Educated

I feel a shiver go down my spine as I look at the test sheet on my paper, it was 22 out of 100! I need to hide this fast before my father sees it.

     You see my father doesn't take to kindly to bad grades, and him finding out what I got would be pretty devastating, especially because I had studied all night for this test!
    
I hastily run up to my math teacher as she is getting ready to pack up and leave.

     "Miss Soren!" I yell to her as I slam the paper on her desk. She wore a turmoil stare, like I have something weird to say. " I studied all night for this test!" She stops looking and giggles.

     "If this is about you and your grades Ben, yes you did get a 22," she replied as she went back to packing up her stuff.
    But when I was going to say something she interrupts me. "Yes yes I know your father is going to kill you if he sees it, so that's why I left the note on the front," she smiles happily as she leaves the room. A note?
    
     I look at the front page and read the cursive writing she left for my father.

Hello Mr Parkins. I before you harshly punish this young boy for the work he did, you should know that he had the second highest score in his entire grade on this test. And that this was one of the hardest tests he will take all year.
Sincerely Mrs Soren.
I want to hug her until I had enough. She was the nicest teacher a younger boy like me could have. Everything she put in the note was simply untrue, but my father never really looked into the school so he would never find out the truth.

     As I leave the middle school I look for my friend, Jared. Then I see him standing in the middle of the hallway.

     "Yo! Did you hear what Miss Soren did today?!" I bellowed to him across the hall. Once I made it he finally answered.

     "I have no idea," he says to me. I pause for a second and examine his ugly striped purple and blue shirt and his weird choice of hair. He usually wears his hair long and messy, but today it's a buzz cut.
    
     He notices my stare and giggles. "I lost a bet. Now what did Mrs Soren do?" I laugh out loud and look at his short or bald head. He frowns, and then I stop.
   
    "Ok ok, but you have to promise you won't tell my father," I say. He looks confused.
  
     "Your dad? He's a weirdo, I wouldn't talk to him even if you wanted me to!" He yells. Even though I kinda agree with his statement, it still makes me pretty mad when people diss my father like that, sure he's stern and rude, but he's pretty nice to me when he's in a good mood. I frown at him.
    
     "Anyways. I got a horrible grade today in math," I say as I take out my test. "And I think my father would punish me harshly because of the grade I got. But, luckily Mrs Soren was there to assist me," I hand him the paper and he reads the note.
    
     "Uuuhhhh, that's not true!" He screams at me.
    
     I giggle "Of course it's not, that's why it's awesome!" I reply. He doesn't look amused.
   
    "So you mean to tell me, that Miss Soren wrote this?" He asks. I nod. "Brother! You did not just lie to my face like that!" I smirk.
    
     "She literally walked up to me and told me not to worry and to read the note," I say. Again he looks pretty stern. He raises his eyebrow just like my dad. "We can ask her right now!" I challenge.
    
     "Fine, but if she says she didn't, I'm telling your dad," Jared says. But that made me angry.
    
     "Hold up, you said you wouldn't talk to my dad if you had too!" I cry.
  
     "I did, but if you lied to me that's pretty big man, whatever happened to bro code?" He asks. I shush him.
   
    "Don't say that out loud," I whisper. "It's still a thing! You know what, I enforce bro code that I didn't write the note myself!"

     He gaps and looks me up and down. "If she denies it, you are so done," Jared says. I gulp and feel a lump in my stomach. I knew she told me she did it, but would she tell me in front of Jared? And right on que Miss Soren walks up to us.
   
    "Boys, it's time to leave," she says in a friendly manner. I wink at Jared.
    
    "Umm Miss Soren?" I ask, hoping she doesn't care Jared is there. "Is it truly true that you wrote the note on the front of my test, right here," I point at the note she told me SHE wrote. Miss Soren looks closely at the paper. It looked like she was reading it.
   
    "Ha! Nope," she says and then she starts walking away. Jared gasps hard.
    
     "You!" He yells. I feel sweat rolling down my back, and confusion floods my brain. How did she forget already? I run back up to her before Jared pounds me.
    
     "What do you mean Miss Soren? You told me after class that you wrote this!" I yell. She smiles with a twinkle in her eye.
    
     "I did didn't I. I did write that. Remember? I just don't want to get in trouble with the school," she says to me. I feel a shudder roll down my spine. I need her to tell Jared, otherwise (because of how sensitive he is) he will probably ditch me!

     "Miss Soren I told him that you did! And we don't lie to each other! It's kinda like a big thing with us," I look at her eyes and see another smile on her face.

     She then puts a slip of paper in my hands and walks away. I flip it open and read it hastily as I walk over to Jared. Jared still wore a frown.

     "Did you see that?" I ask as I fan the paper in my face.

     He scoffs and hold his hand out for me to put the note in his hand. I haven't fully read it yet and I am pretty nervous but I hand it to him anyway.

     Jared stands there reading the hopefully grabbing note my teacher had left him. Then he finally laughs.

    "I don't know how to say it but you weren't lying!" He bellows. I nod and snatch the paper from his hands and read it. Basically to sum it up it was a note intended for Jared telling him how she actually did and to not tell anybody.

Jared seemed hooked so I guess our friendship stands. We tell each other jokes as we exit the school. He usually takes the bus and my father drives me home. It's always awkward because my dad likes grilling me about how school was.
    
     When he finally arises I wave goodbye to Jared and get in the back of the car. Even though I'm tall enough for the front, my father takes crazy safety precautions about me and cars. He still looks at me like I'm in third grade.

     While I am sitting reviewing my test paper with the note my father starts the drive off with "The Hand" apparently we have this thing that we are practicing that when he extends his hand out to me, I have to know exactly what he wants and hand it to him.
This time it was obvious, I hand him my poorly done test and wince in fear as I watch his eyes on the mirror go dark and mad. As he read he grunted and growled. Then he hands me my test back and starts the car.

   "I'm disappointed in you son!" He bellows back to me. I sink in my chair, I knew I let him down. "I know about how you studied all night for this test and yet you still can't Ace it!" I was about to speak but my father cuts me off by holding up his hand motioning for me to shut up.

    "I know you can do better Ben!" Again I feel like an idiot. I did in fact study all night for this and yet I still tanked. "Do you remember the punishment for failing!?" I groan.
    
     I know the punishment, and I try my very darnedest not to have to do it again. The work will eventually lead me to my demise I swear of it.

     "I have to work the logs for two straight days no breaks but lunch," I murmur. He laughs mockingly this time looking at me straight in the eyes through the mirror.

     "You will someday learn the meaning of hard work! But that day is far yet to come," he growls. I just needed time away from him, I love him and all, but when he punishes me it feels like I'm in prison!

     When we made it to the logjam, he opened the door for me so I can conserve as much energy as possible, that's rule number one in his work book.
     As I look at our log house that is barely suitable for one person I start to question my fathers view on life, ever since mother died he has been acting so very strange. Leaving the house for "work meetings" all the time.

     He never cleans up after himself, he usually just leaves his empty beer cans laying on the ground for me to pick up. I'm proud to be the son of a past hardworking man like him, but now ever since my mom died, he's not been the same.

     I walk into the home and am met with a big work suit to put on. It's a bland gray color and whenever I look at it, it makes me depressed. I glumly trudge up the creaking stairs to put on my sad overalls.
     I slam the door behind me and hear my dad scream at me for doing so. I hate being pushed around, even by my parents! I know the Bible always says, "honor thy father and mother" but I don't have a mother, and my father is a strict couch potato.

     He's in shape and can do a lot of work if he wanted to, but he chooses not to. I barely understand how we still make money! We only get three sales a month and yet the checks come rolling in every day.
  
     At least my dads doing that. I look around my bedroom and then get mad at him again. The floor was old wood that creaked loud every time you put pressure on it.

     The walls were so ragged, I have gotten three splinters on them. The ceiling is a triangle shape because I'm on top of the old garage that my dad doesn't use anymore.

     There's a tiny little round window overlooking our dirts driveway. And my bed, don't even get me started. The frame is a customary carve by my great grandfather. And the matures is something like twenty years old. The stains are easily visible underneath the covers.

     I finally got my overalls on and now I'm headed downstairs. I skip past my father who is sitting at the table and head to the saw mill. I open up the mill doors and look at the machinery in-front I'd me.

     First you have the carbon cutter, at least that's what my father calls it. It's used to cut the smaller logs into doorframes. It's our best seller.

     Then you got the hand worker. That's my favorite station. You sit down and carve whatever you want and we end up selling them or using them for decoration.

We never forget about the furnace, it's where we burn the unwanted wood. It's like a garbage disposal, but for wood.

Obviously the saw is in there. There's a large conveyer belt that travels the log twenty feet and then the log gets cut in half.

And finally the forklift. I usually am the on,y one in here so I play around with it. My father bought it behind my mothers back and I pretty much don't use it at all for actual work these days.
  
     And the thing I can never put my finger on is why my father never comes in here anymore, it's such a cool and fun place to do what he loves most besides me, mother and God.
    
     The only sad thing, is that he's slowly breaking his relationship with God. He never goes to BSF, he never reads his Bible, and he never prays!
     I definitely still believe in Jesus Christ and the Lord almighty. I know my mom would be proud. I start the day off by dinking around with the forklift. I drive it around picking up random logs and drop them into the fire.
    
     When I actually start to work I hear my father knocking on the huge barn doors. I leap in excitement! Is my father going to assist me with my work? Is he going to apologize for treating me like loose trash?
     I don't know but when I open the door I see somebody in a black suit with a red tie. He wore a black mask with a hood over his head. And the worst part, he wore a gun on his side.
     I try to scream but he covers my mouth, I muffle words and try to make him unhand me by throwing punches and kicking and scratching. But he pulled me into the barn and closes the door. The man then throws me to the ground and shushes me.
    
     "Why would I ever-!"
    
     "Ssshhhhh!" He whispers. "I'm not your enemy!" I shut up, I hear people outside the barn conversing.
   
    "Where did he go?" One asks.
    
     "He was just here!" Another one says.
    
     "We had such a good deal for him!"
    
     "Fan out! Find him!" One commands. I struggle to breathe, my mind floods with questions. What's going on!? Who is this guy!? Is father ok!? My brain breaks down and I start gasping and wheezing for air.
    
     The man shushes me again but I'm to far gone, I scream. I scream so very loud, that anybody could hear it. I quickly cover my mouth. He groans and walks over to me. And puts his gloved hand on my shoulder. I feel safe with him for some reason.
   
    "He's in here!" One yells again. The masked figure sighs and looks back at me as the people break open the door.
   
    "I'm sorry kid, no loose ends," the masked figure then lays a hard blow on the back my head. I slowly faint as I watch him drag me toward the strangers who broke open our barn door. Then I faint into the black oblivion. Not knowing what will seek me on the other side.