38 | foster parents

9.7K 367 89
                                    

38 | foster parents

You're looking at Jem's new foster parents

You're looking at Jem's new foster parents

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

I hear voices downstairs. I check my phone for the time. It's already past 9 a.m. I'm late for school.

I drag myself out of bed and pull on a sweatshirt, quietly wandering to the banister and peering down around the hallway wall to the living room. My heart skips a beat. Axel is on our couch in a change of clothes, the bruises on his face already fading a little. He looks tired, and stressed, but his eyes are clear and he speaks with ease.

"They're not charging me," he tells my mom, and Dad walks into the room with a cup of coffee and hands it to Axel. "Not yet anyway," he adds, taking the cup. "One of our neighbours called the cops because of the noises coming from our house and said that when she went to check it out later, she found my step-dad on the floor. When the cops got there, he was gone and they thought I came back to hide the body."

Axel shakes his head, holding the mug of coffee to his nose and inhales. He sighs. "Turns out the asshole isn't actually dead. He left town because he knew they'd be investigating him after he heard the phone call from our neighbour. He's wanted in 3 states for domestic violence, burglary and assault or something like that. They've been looking for him for six years, which is like, how long he's been married to my mom. He's in custody right now."

"Wow." Mom sighs, shaking her head, her arm around Axel's shoulders.

He nods and takes a sip of his coffee and bites his beautiful, bruised lip. He sighs and chuckles in disbelief. "I'm not a murderer."

"I can't believe you've been dealing with him for six years, man," Will marvels, sitting on the other side of Axel, his legs crossed up on the couch.

Dad sits down in the love seat and nods with Will. He's always been an amazing father, or at least he has tried. I don't know where Axel's real dad is, but no father, biological or adoptive should ever treat his child with the abuse Axel and Jem have had to endure. My heart reaches out to Axel when he shrugs too, like taking care of his mom and his sister and experiencing beatings from his mom's husband is the most ordinary thing to him.

"Will you be staying with your mom and sister now?" Mom asks. "What will happen with that? You can't take care of them alone."

Axel sets his cup down and rubs his eyes with his fingers. "I'm trying to get my aunt to foster Jem, but she has five kids, and they don't have the greatest living condition, so I doubt the agency will grant her custody anyway. They have Jem now. She's probably so scared. I want to go see her, but they won't let me until they figure this thing out with her dad. And our mom, after Friday night, has completely changed. She doesn't even remember what happened. My aunt and I put her in a medical home but we can't afford it for long, and Henry's not going to pay for it unless he's forced to."

✔︎ | Part of Me (Trilogy)Where stories live. Discover now