Finding Family

Chapter 12

"Phones in the basket.  Sit at your name tag."  Said Mr. Daniels, as we walked in.  There were three desks on one wall, about three feet apart from each other.  Across the room three more desks faced the first three.  One lone desk sat on a third wall.  It was set up with me on my own wall, Ben facing Sabrina, Nate facing Mouth, and Rory facing Peyton.  I raised my eyebrows at that last one, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.  I could tell that Rory was jealous of Peyton, and resented the fact that Peyton didn't appreciate Mouth. 

    "So, we're going to play a game, called enemies closer."  Said Mr. Daniels, placing mini whiteboards and marker on our desks.  "I'm going to ask a question, and you're first going to write down your answer, then you're going to write down what you think will be the answer of the person across from you.  You are a team.  If one of you correctly guesses the other person's answer you get a point.  The team with the most points gets to skip a session with me."

    I hesitantly raised my hand, confused about my role in all this. "I'm getting to you now Amy. Here is the twist guys, if Amy can answer at least three other people correctly, she gets a point. Amy is her own team so she too can win. Let's get started with a simple one, what is your teammates favorite book?"

    None of them could answer for the others. "Alright Amy, give it a go." Said Mr. Daniels.

    "Nate is a succer for sci-fi. In particular anything Stephen King. Rory still loves Harry Potter. Mouth, despite detesting Animal Farm, adores 1984. Sabrina is all about the distopics, especially Unwind and Vampire Academy.  Ben likes to read Shakespeare." I said all this softly, looking away from my friends, a little surprised in myself for knowing all that.

    Mr. Daniels continued like that. Occasionally I missed a fact about Sabrina or Peyton or Mouth. Sabrina and Ben admittedly knew a lot of the answers. Rory knew that Peyton's favorite color was blue. Everyone knew the boy's favorite sports. Finally Mr. Daniels started asking hard questions.

    "What is your biggest fear?" Now everyone froze, unsure what to do. "I figured you guys wouldn't know. So let's just go around and say it outloud. I'll go first." Our mouths fell open at his willingness to participate. "I was the youngest of 7 kids, my oldest brother basically raised me. He was the greatest man I've ever known. Four years ago he and his wife died in an accident... I've been trying to care for his daughter the way he did for me, but I know I'm not half the man or dad he was. My biggest fear is failing her." Rory let out a sob from across the room. Her body shaking. We all sat there and watched her cry as she tried to stop. I wanted so badly to hug her but as I tried to get up Mr. daniels signaled for me to stay put, drying his own cheeks.

    "I can go next..." Said Sabrina quietly, clearly trying to help.

    "It sh...it should be me." Said Rory shakily. "I'm scared that I won't live up to my parents legacy and that they will have died in that car in vain." Rory looked up at Mr. Daniels and he smiled sadly. Suddenly I began to piece together the two stories. This was how he knew her name already on the first day. Rory was the daughter in the story. I could tell the others had come to the same conclusion.

    "My brother has down syndrome. He will never get to live the life I do. I am scared to not be worth the life I have been given." Peyton had begun to cry as well.

    "I have always struggled to be a happy person. My brain just doesn't naturally want to. I didn't know how until I came here. I'm scared that when I leave I will never be happy again." Sabrina finished and looked down.

    "I'm supposed to be the golden boy. I'm scared I'm going to let everyone down. Especially you, Ames." My brothers eyes met mine and our identical eyes filled.

    "I um... have never told any of you this so try not to freak." Ben started. "From age 8 to 13 I underwent keno therapy for pediatric leukemia. I'm worried it'll come back. I'm scared to die."

    I took a deep breathe. "I'm scared of being alone. I'm scared of losing all of you, but maybe I already have."

    We all looked around the room. Not one eye was dry. Quietly our shoulders shook. It always seemed random, how we became friends. Now I understood. We were all damaged, so we understood each other. Finally Mouth spoke up. "I'm scared of dogs." He blurted. "Like, so so so scared." We all looked at each other and burst out laughing.