Because of Samantha | Original Novel

03 - Because of Dennis

Back when I was a bit younger, there was never a chance to sit down and eat dinner as a 'family,'especially after dad went missing. I usually sat down to an improvised bowl of cereal, or a bland, tasteless sandwich. Mom would always be at work. She'd never eat dinner with me.

And yet, here we sat at a large dinner table. There was actual real food, too. It was all because of Dennis and his rotten children. Mom wanted to show off her 'little housewife' skills, which I couldn't stand. She was a much more capable woman than what she was letting on, but it's not my choice. Everything is out of my hands.

"So, Emil, how did you do in your football game?" Emil, the oldest of Dennis's kids, shrugs his broad shoulders in reply.

"We won, but it's cause of me," he claims. "If I weren't there, the entire team would probably crumble under the crowd pressure."

Oh, great. He was gloating again. Emil is a cocky guy, and spoiled rotten, just like his siblings. His eyes are as cold and empty as the bottom of an endless, black lake. I faintly recall the lake that one of my aunts lives by, up in North Dakota. I was always scared of it as a child. I thought that once I fell in, a monster would come and eat me. Maybe that's why Emil is so good at getting what he wants through intimidation.

Mom swallows her food slowly, bobbing her head up and down. I could tell she didn't like his answer, but who was I to assume? Sometimes, it was like she cared more about these kids than her own. In all honestly, that's completely fine. One more year, and she doesn't have to see me again.

"Would you kids like to know a surprise? Sam, Margret, don't say anything," mom says enthusiastically, trying to spark a light in this dull, empty silence.

"We're moving into a crappy apartment," Margret states, shattering my mom's efforts. "Well, duplex. I don't think it's a very pleasant surprise at all, Julia."

Mom winces at the use of her name, and Dennis glares at his daughter. At least he knows how to discipline his monsters. I doubt he even wanted to have them. Maybe they showed up on his door out of nowhere, mother unknown. I wouldn't be surprised.

"For your information," Dennis interjects, "the duplex we are moving in is a very neat place. It will just fit us better, financially."

Right. Mom quit her job to be around the 'family' more. Oh, how I wish she would have thought of that back when I was alone all the time. Deep down inside, I knew that it wasn't how things worked. If she quit her job then, we would have hit rock bottom. Besides, I had Aaron to come over and be with me all those lonely nights. We'd turn on some cheesy movie, or mess around on the beach. I wasn't completely alone.

"Will it be able to fit all my trophies?" Emil asks.

"Will I get to keep my... collections?" The middle child, Ronaldo, was the creepiest of the siblings. He reminds me of a lanky, moody, rat.

"Will I be able to show it off to my friends?" Margret demands.

And, as always, I say nothing. I feel a warm body of fur rub against my legs under the table, and automatically reach out my hand. It was my Great Dane, Valentino. The only thing I'm going to have left of this old life.

"And what about Valentino?" I couldn't hold back on that one. If I lose my dog, I lose my grip on such a shaky tightrope of life. Mom bites her lip.

"Yes, yes," she finally agrees, "you'll each be able to keep your things. Margret, Sam, you'll be sharing a room, and the boys will be sharing the other."

I feel my heart drop. I'm going to have to share with Margret? But, I'm seventeen! I need my space, and frankly, Margret isn't exactly going to give me any. I bite back my retorts, pretending that I'm totally okay with this. I'm not. But I can pretend really, really well.

"I don't want to share with her!" Margret shrieks, slamming her fist on the table. "She's going to make it terrible for me!" She sobs with this incredibly fake cry. "She's out to get me!"

"Am not!" I shout. Mom glares me, and I shove the chair back, standing up and storming up the stairs. "I'm done," I holler down.

I wasn't talking about just the food.

I could hear Valentino's heavy, clumsy body following me up to my room. My own room. The room I'm going to have to pack in boxes. I slam the door shut, then throw myself onto my bed, staring at the picture on my bedside table. Me and my dad. I was about seven then, kissing him on the cheek as he said his last words to me. He was going out on his police man job. The last job he'd ever do.

When we heard about the awful crime he got caught up in, the informants told us that they couldn't find his body. They searched, and searched, and searched. A whole year was wasted, because they searched that much. Mom was wasting away. I was feeling more alone than I could bear. They declared him as missing.

Not dead.

Missing.

All I can do is hope and pray that he'll come back, even ten years later. Maybe he could save me from this downwards spiral. If my dad was around, I'd have more options. I would bail faster than you can say 'bye, mom, have fun with the family you've always dreamt of.' It'd be easier without me, anyways. I'm a seventeen year old burden. What happens when I go to college?

Suddenly, something occurs to me. What if I can't go to college?

I shake my head vigorously. Now was not the time to start worrying about such things. It's the very last thing I need. Closing my eyes shut, I listen to the silence in my lonesome room. Eventually, I catch myself in a deep web of sleep.

Who knows what horrors tomorrow will hold?

***

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