Me? - Adopted By Phan

3

"WHERE WERE YOU?!" Dan yelled. No. No please not yelling. Please no.

"ANSWER ME! WHY WEREN'T YOU HERE?!"

I stood frozen. I can't handle yelling. My voice came out tiny and shaky as I replied. "Li-li-br-rary." I could feel the tears threaten to spill from my eyes. I fell to my knees. "Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry! It'll never happen again I swear! I swear I'll be good! I promise!" The tears slipped down my face. "Please," I begged, "I'll be good."

I looked up and saw stunned faces staring back at me. "Hurt you," Phil said, "We would never hurt you. Ever. But that leaves the question who did?" Phil came closer to me and touched my shoulder. I flinched. I thought he was going to slap me. He pulled away visibly hurt. And he left. Dan went after him and it was just me on the floor.

Fin ran over to me. "What happened, big brother? Why are you crying? Are they 'the bads'? Was I wrong? Did they hurt you?" I shook my head. "No buddy. I just really hate yelling. It reminds me of 'the bads'. I didn't mean to scare you, buddy. Those guys won't hurt you. But I don't know if I'll be able to protect you." "Why not?" "I think I hurt them. Real real bad. I think I'm 'the bads' now." "No, you're not." He yawned. "Naptime?" He nodded.

I tucked him in and sat on his bed. And just before he fell asleep he said. "You're right about dad and papa but not you. They aren't 'the bads' and neither are you." I nodded and kissed his forehead. I whispered to him. "Unfortunately I already know who I am. And that's why I need to go."

I went to my room and sobbed in the closet. I wish I had a computer so I could message Mikey. He makes me forget about the bad things that happen for a while. I heard a knock on the door and didn't answer. Dan walked in and heard me crying in the closet.

"He's in pain. I know it. Can you tell him I'm sorry before we go?" "Where do you think we're going?" "Back to where I came from." "No. You're staying here. He doesn't want you to go." "Well, he should and so should you. It'll take me 2 minutes to pack." "You're not leaving! Why would we let you go?" I shrugged.

"Wanna go shopping?" Dan asked. "Don't have money." "Covered." He said and we were off. We found a really cool electronic store because Phil wanted a new camera for Christmas. Dan looked in the more pricey area and I went to the beginner's section. As I was looking at a sign someone bumped into me and we fell on the ground.

"I'm so sorry. I'm too clumsy I swear." The person said. I coughed and looked at the person who fell on top of me. "Kris?!" They yelled. "Mikey?!" We hugged while still on the ground. He flipped us so I was on top of him. We were going to continue our conversation when I heard someone gasp.

"Kristen Lester!" I looked up and saw Dan looking absolutely appalled. Me and Mikey got off the ground. I looked at the floor and imagined what that must've looked like. "I'm not sure who you are but I assure you it was an accident." "That's Dan. He adopted me. Dan meet Mikey. Mikey meet Dan."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Lester." "What happened?" Dan demanded. I groaned. "I was looking at a sign and he bumped into me. We recognized each other and hugged. Then you came." "Oh thank God! I was not ready to have that talk on my second day of parenting in an electronics store." "Eeew! This is the first time we're even meeting face to face." Me and Mikey laughed. "Where did you meet?" Dan asked. "YouTube." We said at the same time. Which caused us to laugh harder.

After some more harmless banter between Dan, Mikey and I. We were on our way.

"Boyfriend?" Dan asked. "What?! No! We're friends! I don't like boys!" I shook my head attempting to shake off the bad thoughts that were associated with that.

Dan dragged me to a park bench. I sat down with him. "Kris. I know you're new here but I need you to talk to me. Why did you think Phil was going to hit you? And why were you so strongly against dating Mikey?"

I sighed. I knew he would want to know. "Some things went down at the orphanage. Some kids there... were bad.... real real bad. One of them... he did bad things to me... and the lady... she didn't stop it... no one did. He hit me and yelled at me and... other things... so now I'm like this."

I looked up and Dan was crying. "I'm so sorry. You're so young."

People were starting to take pictures. Dan didn't notice. "Let's go. People are taking pictures."

I grabbed Dan and sped to the library. "Why are we here?" He asked. "It's closer." was my simple response.

"We're closed. Leave child!" I heard Ms. Carmen joke. "Ms. Carmen!" I yelled and hugged her. "Who is this?" She pointed to Dan accusingly. " You don't need to kill him. He adopted me with his partner Phil."

Ms. Carmen walked over to Dan and I thought she would rip his head off. "Take care of my boy. And raise him right. I don't care straight, gay, two women or men. I want my baby raised to be a good person. And you will do that."

Dan smiled. "I will."

"Can I borrow your phone, Ms. Carmen?" She nodded and handed me the device.

"What are you doing?" Dan asked. "Uber," I said showing him the phone.

We all chatted happily until the car came to pick us up. The ride was silent. I was nervous.

Soon we entered the flat and I saw Phil looking like a wreck on the couch.