the captured red hibiscus flower (editing)

i'm sorry

      My mother raised me and my brother till we were 7 years old. Our dad ran off when we were only 6 years old, even with being so young. I knew my mother hated my brother and I. So much that she if she had it her way my name would be "thing one" and my brother would be "thing two" Dad told us that our legal names were "Alexandra and Zechariah"

        I later learned that Dad lost the custody battle when my mother's Lawyer painted my father as un fit parent with an alcoholic addiction.

        Mom and Dad would argue for a while then dad would go out, and come back the next day. Dad loved us but he couldn't handle our mom much longer, and One day he never came back.

       After our daddy left, I vaguely remember one day, when my mother locked us in the soundproof music room. She slipped food under the door, and left a pail of water for us to drink from. While she entertained some company. It happened to become a routine ritual she followed every time she had company over.

        A few months or so had gone by, and I remember her opening the music room door saying: "look I've got a boyfriend now. He might even marry me! But he can't know I have kids, so I've got to get rid of you two." I remember her words crystal clear along with the pain I felt upon hearing that we were no longer wanted.

          She grabbed our hands, walked us out of her apartment and straight to a park, it was dark and gave off a creepy feeling.

         "ok, here have some Tylenol. It tastes like candy" she handed us each one tablet. We couldn't read the writing on the bottle that warned "may cause drowsiness." We trusted her, she was our mother, So my brother and I ate the chewable "candy."

        We soon fell asleep and when we woke up I noticed that Mom was gone. Zack clung to me, and We were scared and alone. Hours had passed, rain was starting to fall. So, we found somewhere sheltered to sleep under the trees. Zack huddled up in a ball, I slept close beside him holding him to keep warm. We slept until morning. I left Zack to sleep and I searched for help. Being the oldest by a few months it was my responsibility.

        Conveniently A young girl aged thirteen or fifteen skipped by me, she stopped and turned around when she saw how scared I looked and I gestured to show my brother was here as well. She grabbed my hand and picked Zack up. She then asked if we were lost, looking at me. I nodded and walked with the girl.

        "What are your names?" She asked sweetly. Mom never taught us to talk (even though we were seven) I fortunately knew a few words thanks to my dad. I muttered a reply. "A-Alex, ack" The young girl seemed to understand me "alright, Alexis and Zack" we smiled at her.

         The kind teenaged girl walked us to a nearby orphanage and rang the doorbell. "hi my is kayla, I found this two poor kids abandoned in the park. I believe their names are Alexis and Zack. I am too young to care for them. will, you please take them into your care?" the lady at the orphanage smiled and nodded "thank you dear, we will certainly take them into our care." kayla smiled then she set Zack down and skipped away.

           Four great years, My brother Zack and I lived in that orphanage; They taught us all there was to know. We were eleven when we went to live with our first foster parents Larry and Margret.

             Since this was our first experience with foster parents we didn't know what to expect. The second we stepped through the door we were greeted with hugs, "hi my name is Alexis and this is my brother Zack"

            The woman introduced herself. "hello, my name is Margret and that is my husband Larry" I smiled "it's nice to meet you both." I looked around and noted that every room in sight. had at least four or five clocks in it. I thought: Jeez, someone collects a lot of clocks, I looked at the clock in front of me and simply just watched it tick.

             Before, I realized that I was standing there zoned out for about two minutes. I didn't even notice that Larry was calling my name, when I snapped out of my thoughts they laughed, Margret smiled and said "You must have been lost in your thoughts, come I'll show you to your new rooms" then she guided me and Zack to our new rooms for the night.

             The next day we were woken up very early, and soon received a list of chores to do. Without question we began our chores. I didn't worry about the amount of chores they had given us. I just did them without complaining, and when we finally finished our chores. Larry and Margret came to inspect.

            Larry rubbed his finger on the shelves and asked "who dusted the shelves?" Zack proudly replied "Me. Sir, I dusted all of the shelves" Larry gave him a disgusted look. "what a disgrace. terrible job tsk-tsk"

             "I'm sorry sir next time-" Zack was stunned when he was slapped across the face hard. First by Larry then again by Margret. I stuck up for my brother "hey! you can't do that" Larry stopped and glared at me. Margret ignored me, and went on with the next question. "who did the mopping?" I meekly raised my hand. "I did" I was also slapped hard across the face, by both Larry and Margret. All because we didn't do a good enough job at cleaning.

            We were sent to our rooms; I assumed Zack went to sleep right away, while, I however was wide awake pondering what happened. They seemed so kind when they introduced themselves. What happened? Did we say something wrong? I mean we did the chores simply because they asked us too. Then they got upset if it didn't meet correct standards and they hit us. I just don't understand what went wrong.

            I heard my door creak open, I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. It was Larry I could tell by the way he walked, he came to my bedside. I felt a chill run down my spine. And internally gulped. He shook me 'awake.' "get up. you're going to learn how behave in this house. Follow me and don't ask questions."

A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger but if you are interested, please vote and tell me what you think. It will be greatly appreciated Thanks for reading. See you soon.  Toodles, Have a great day. :D
~Lini