Almost Eden

Chapter 3 Adam

​"Samantha!" My mother's voice rang out. This was an obvious cue that another relentless morning was starting.
'Seven am' read the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was Monday morning and it was back to school for all of us except Josh, who was to stay with my father until it was off to college again in August. This morning looked as if it were to be less bleak than the past mornings that lied over the weekend. It might have been the fact that I could use my education as an excuse to be out of the house for half the day or maybe even the good news I received the night before, I was not sure. I just knew deep down that things were beginning to look up for me.
After my shower, I felt completely refreshed and headed downstairs looking casual as usual, but with a slight glow on my face. My mother noticed.
"Why are we in such a good mood this morning?" She questioned curiously.
I simply shrugged in response and headed outside. Shortly after I heard her call for me.
"Hey Sam?!" I turned around, glanced and paused my walking. "Do you want me to give you a ride to school or something? I mean, I'm already bringing Danny." The splendor of life was already beginning to have an effect on the others around me.
"As great as that sounds mom, I rather walk. It's beautiful outside."
I sauntered off and enjoyed the peace that lay surrounding me. School was to be over soon and when it finished, all this open space, all this loveliness would be mine for the taking. My spacious daze continued for quite a while, until I was episodic by the sound of footsteps and panting approaching. I wheeled my body around to find my neighbor and good friend trying to keep pace with me.
"Why didn't you wait for me this morning? I mean I know school is almost over and everything, but I figured we'd still walk together." He chattered tiredly.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I just figured you were sick. Karen told me you came down with the flu over the weekend. I wasn't sure if you would be going to school or not."
"Don't believe a word that bitch says!" He remarked a bit peeved, if you want to put it lightly.
"What? Why?" I stared at him puzzled.
"News flash Sam: You've been duped."
"Well...why did she lie? Where were you really?"
He sighed heavily and commenced to reveal the truth. "My social worker thinks it may hurt me later on in my lifetime if I don't confront my father with my true mind-set of our situation. She also wants me to realize the extremity of what my mother has been put through So that's where I was this weekend; in prison and then the hospital."
"Sorry to hear that."
Adam Gregory Ellis was his name, not Adam Thompson. That's right, he was stricken with a child's worst case: foster parents. Not so long ago, maybe a few years back, Adam lived with two drug-addicted parents. Scott and Rebecca Ellis, two young adults who brought a child into a world they themselves were unprepared for. So how did they lose custody of baby Adam? Apparently one night, the couple was so high on an assortment of drugs, especially Scott, that they became rather violent. Scott turned on Rebecca and brutally bashed her head against a wall repeatedly until apprehended by the authorities. If Adam hadn't called the police, she probably wouldn't be alive today.
Maybe that's my connection to Adam: two fucked up parents and no way to unburden our problems. I may have issues, but I know that Adam's amount of angst is probably just ridiculous as of this moment. I also know that if worst came to worst, he could always depend on his new guardians or me for assistance. Despite the fact that he had to adjust to the way they raise him, I think he realizes that they are there for him. They're there for me and I don't even live in their house.
"It's cool," he said, moving along the conversation. "So how was your weekend?"
"You know, the usual all around sulkiness: mom was being inattentive and insensitive, dad was no better and I had an argument with him before leaving his new home. I ended up sleeping over Willow's Saturday night, but then became covetous when observing what I can't have in a family"
"Well that sucks."
"Tell me about it."
"Was there anything that occurred that was mildly comforting? There must have been, you seem too peppy right now for that to be all." He knew me all too well.
"Actually, something else did happen." I mentioned shyly.
"Well come on, tell me." He pushed.
"At around eighth o' clock last night, I received a call from an old friend."
"...who..?"
"Vincent Cantos." The name shrunk from my lips as if some kind of sweet secret were being told.
"Hmm... sorry doesn't ring a bell. Care to expand?" Adam gawked at me perplexed.
"Well it shouldn't ring a bell at all. You don't know him." I paused faintly as I found myself caught in a flashback. "I met him about three summers ago when my parents sent me away to camp. You see they wanted me to do something with my summer, so I went there as a participant for awhile and later I attained my first job there as a camp counselor. Anyway, he too was in a similar situation and through working side by side, we became close friends. At one point, almost too close."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means we were almost more than friends, but we're not, we're still just friends."
"You still got a thing for him?"
"No, I don't. The admiration is still there, but that's with most circumstances, look at how Duncan and I are." I turned to an issue of a past ex-boyfriend.
"Duncan is your ex, which makes sense, you and this other guy don't."
"I don't know what it is, there's just something about him that I'm drawn to, but whatever, it doesn't matter much any more."
"So what were his reasons for calling?"
"Oh, he just wanted to inform me that this summer, his parents are moving to Bridgewater. So next fall, he'll attend our school. Who knows he might even be apart of our little crew."
"Right..." he said unenthused as we entered the two-story building that was Bridgewater High.