To Keep Her Safe is All I Know

Chapter 16

Sadie sits alone on a swing on the playground. She was doing the late pickup program more often now that John was gone and Chris was on tour. Jason, John's brother and his wife, Michelle, would be moving to town soon and would be able to keep Sadie after school whenever Melanie had to work late, but until they came to town, Sadie was stuck doing the late pickup program at school.     

She missed her dad. She just didn't understand why he died. She didn't understand why he didn't like that she wanted to be a boy sometimes. What was so wrong with that? Usually the 'feeling so alone in the world' phase comes during the teen years, but Sadie had never felt so alone in her life.    

Melanie and Sadie had actually gotten a lot of money after John died, but Melanie knew that it wouldn't last and that she'd soon be in a bit of trouble without child support coming in. She made a good amount of money with her job but was still adjusting to not having John's income as well to help with bills and everything needed for Fred and Sadie. Melanie was actually beginning to think about moving to a smaller house so that she wouldn't have to pay so much for a place to live and so she'd have more money coming in to pay for other things that Sadie and Fred needed. As much as Melanie appreciated Chris' help to her, no way was she going to ask him for help with money. 

Sadie watches the wind blow the leaves. Her actual father was gone and the only other father figure in her life didn't even know that he was a father figure to her and she couldn't ever tell him. Chris was now the closest thing she had to a father and he was gone a lot of the time too and she wasn't even allowed to tell him what kind of impact that he'd had on her life. She missed him so much though. She couldn't wait for him to come home.     

One of the teachers walks over to Sadie, "Your mom is here, Sadie."

"Okay." Sadie says, getting off the swing and getting her things. She walks with the teacher over to Melanie.

"Hey, you." Melanie says to Sadie.

"Hi."

"You ready to go home?"

"Uh huh."

Melanie looks to the teacher and smiles, "Thank you." She says before she and Sadie walk off and get into the car.

"How was school?" Melanie asks as they get situated in the car. She then drives off.

"It was good."

"How was staying late again?"

"Boring. I don't have any friends that do the after school thing."

"Well, why don't you try talking to some of the other kids some time? Maybe you can make friends with some of them."

"No, I don't like any of them."

"How do you know you don't like them if you don't talk to them?"

Sadie sighs, "Because."

"Because why?"

"...They make fun of me."

"For what?"

"...For being a boy sometimes."

Melanie's heart falls, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I didn't want you to worry. You already worry so much about work and school and Chris on tour, I didn't want you to have anything else to worry about."

"You still should have told me."

"But I'm okay, really. Chris taught me how to stand up for myself."

"You told Chris you were being bullied and not me?"

"No, I didn't tell him that, I just told him that I was scared of getting teased about being a boy sometimes and he told me how to stand up for myself."