I Found Him On My Doorstep: Brotzly

Chapter One

This is a story about a boy named Todd. He is twelve years old, and he is in the sixth grade, where he has found life to quell his expectations, and be very boring and uninteresting. Todd's mother and sister were nice enough, and so was his father when he wasn't working. But his schoolmates seemed to not care about him very much, but then again, there weren't many kids there that Todd cared about either. They all already had friends, even dates.
Though uninterested, Todd thought it would be nice to have a friend, let alone someone he enjoyed being around enough to want to date them.

Todd was thinking about this as he walked home from school that day. Thank god it was Christmas break, he could finally have some time away from those teachers- with their plastic smiles and 'Stick to the lesson plan' attitude, even though all they taught was crap that wouldn't  be useful in any job except teacher, where the cycle would continue.
With any luck, Christmas wouldn't be held at aunt Esther's again- it hadn't been pretty last time...
Todd pushed those thoughts away, assuring himself that break would be a relaxing time for his family, though boring, that would bring Christmas gifts, and a new and better year.
"Hey, freak!"
Oh well, it was a nice thought.

A boy on the other side of the street stood up and walked across, towards Todd.
"What do you want, Dorian?" Todd sighed,
"Cash? Lunch? A life?" Todd murmured the last part to himself as Dorian approached.

Todd had never understood bullies. They were annoying pricks who no one liked, that got the occasional three dollars or sandwich in return. It seemed like a waste of time. But then again, school was a waste of time- and so was Dorian.
"Cash, now." Todd pulled out his wallet and handed him a twenty.
"Is that all?"
He felt the punch before he saw it, or better yet, the cement.
"Shut it with the smart mouth comments. Later, you freak of nature." Todd watched as Dorian walked to his bike and pedaled away.

Todd got up and inspected his wound. Dorian had given him a black eye, for sure, but luckily no blood was spilled. He continued to walk.
There was frost on the grass that day. There were no leaves left in the trees on his road, which was a boring road in a boring town, in a state that he hadn't seen much of, but he could be very sure that it was probably very boring too. His house was nice, nothing fancy, but it was home.

The house was small, a two story wooden build. It was fairly new, but was definitely gathering dust. As Todd walked up to the door, he could see the lights in the living room through the window. Todd noticed how rain was beginning to fall as the door swung open and a nine year old girl pulled him into a huge hug.

"Todd! Mom, Todd's home!" She called over her shoulder to a middle aged woman with brown hair and loving, tired eyes.
"Yes Amanda, as I am aware, now let him in before he gets soaked! Hello Todd! No more school!" She cheered in a singsong voice.
A slightly soggy Todd walked over to his room and put his bag away. He got the only bedroom on the first floor, which he considered lucky, as he usually got first dibs on TV in the mornings. Speaking of which...
Todd jumped on the couch, remote in hand ready to waste his afternoon away.
~
Later, His father came home for dinner. They all sat around the table with some disappointing looking macaroni and cheese on their plates, until Amanda spoke up,
"Hey Todd, what happened to your eye?" He could feel the table's stare, suddenly hyper aware of the throbbing of his eye.
"Oh, uh, a kid accidentally hit me in gym today." Todd spouted. His mother looked at him sympathetically, going over to his side of the table.
"Oh, honey I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Do you need an ice pack?" He thought for a minute.
"An ice pack would be nice, actually- thanks." His mother went over to the fridge, and Todd finished up his meal with an ice pack over one eye.
Afterwards, he and Amanda sat watching cartoons on the TV.
"So, how did you actually get the shiner?" She asked, almost as if it was an afterthought of hers.
"Dorian, how else?" Todd laughed under his breath,
"Your stunt at dinner didn't help, by the way."
"They may be boring but Mom and Dad aren't blind you know." She replied.
"You really need to grow a backbone, Todd! That douchebag is just gonna keep walking all over you until you do." Amanda turned as their mother walked into the room.
She jumped off the sofa and ran to the window.
"Todd, Mom, look! It's snowing!" Sure enough, as the two looked out, the earlier downpour had turned into white fluffy snow. If Todd had been given one blessing, it was that he didn't have to walk to school in sludge filled shoes tomorrow. Suddenly:
"Hey mom, do you want to play scrabble?" Amanda asked.
"Sure honey! Come on everyone!" Todd's mother called. She was never one to shy away from 'Family Fun Time,' whenever their father was home, and soon the entire family found themselves at the coffee table bragging about wooden tiles.
Words began to pool on the board: basket, always, giraffe- after a while Todd excused himself from the game to go to his room- he never liked scrabble.
Todd's room was big. In it, he kept his guitar, a desk, a sparse bookshelf, closet and his parents old queen-sized bed. (His sister was super jealous.) He was about to sit down when he heard someone at the door. Todd got up and shouted
"I got it!" Before making his way to the door. The knocking continued, slowly quieting as Todd approached. He twisted the lock and opened the door; To something he never expected to see.
A soaking wet, freezing boy, around his age, draped in a hospital gown and jacket stood in front of Todd. His eyes were closed, snowflakes held onto his eyelashes. He was shaking violently, breathing shakily, as if it was painful. The boy pried open his eyes, taking a step forward before collapsing.
Todd reached out to catch him, pulling him inside. What was going on? The boys skin stung to touch. How long was he out there?
"MOM! DAD! AMANDA! HELP ME!" Todd screamed out, to someone, anyone, to help him. This was unexpected, it was scary, and it was then that he realized something he had never thought of. He didn't want this. He wanted something same, normal, boring. He didn't want anyone to die! No because of him! Tears stung his eyes, as he held the boy in his arms, their skin sending a chill down Todd's spine.
Amanda shot up, running to the front hall, hoping Todd had everything under control. Her Mom and Dad trailed behind her.
"What is it Todd? Is everything oka-"
Oh no.
Amanda could only stand and stare at her brother, crying, with a freezing boy in his arms- her parents rushing to him.

(I made some small edits, just wanted to make sure everything sounded right!)