Seventeen Secrets about Boys

My name is, Evelyn Birch. I was sixteen. I had honey colored hair. I had sky blue colored eyes. My cheeks were always tinged pink. I was five foot tall. My favorite color was blue. It was August.

                I repeated these things back to me over and over in my mind; I knew that in doing so I was doing myself a favor by keeping myself conscious.

                I stared at the police officer in front of me, then to the social security worker to the left of him. I didn’t know what was going on. What were they saying? In the jumble of words they said I managed to make out only three words: parents, dead, California, and Garner. I had no idea what they meant. I couldn’t comprehend much of anything. A thick fog started to cloud my brain as I struggled to mentally repeat the facts to myself. I tried to focus my sight on the officer who looked like he was speaking to me, all the while making wild gesticulations with his hands. I felt my eyelids start to droop; I strained to keep them open. I felt my knees weaken and my legs start to get wobbly. A shaky, uneasy feeling washed over me, as a sense of nausea entered into my stomach. My left leg was steadily growing weaker as the seconds ticked by, and I could feel myself start to lean. As I began to count down the seconds before I passed out (there’s no avoiding the inevitable) the sudden realization crashed down on me.

Three. My parents were dead.

Two. I yelled at them the last time I saw them.

One. I was never going to get the chance to apologize.

Thats when everything went black.

                “Please wake up.” I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was barely there, a whisper of a touch. My eyes were closed, but I could tell that sunlight was beaming into my window. Even if I wanted to open them I don’t think I’d be able to seeing as they had become crusted shut after I had fallen asleep after sobbing. I heard a sniffle. Who was this that was crying? Or maybe had a slight cold? I slowly lifted my hands to rub my eyes. Whoever this was didn’t need to cry. However, I did.

                Sitting before me was a young man, probably in his mid twenties. He had sandy golden locks and bright, bottle green eyes. His lips were contorted into a frown, which messed up his incredibly beautiful bone structure. Even as he was sitting, I could tell he was extremely tall and it was obvious he worked out. His large hand was still on my shoulder, and even through my shirt I could feel the calluses on his rough hands. When I made eye contact with him his mouth twitched upward into a weak smile. Even through my pain and misery, his slightly happy face made me want to smile too.

                “You’re awake,” he breathed. I guess he was making reference to my fainting spell. Looking around the room I noticed the absence of the police officer and the social worker.

                “They’re gone,” he said quietly. “Oh, I’m forgetting my manners.” He pointed his hand to his chest. “I’m Darcy Garner. I’m your dad’s Godson. This is going to be a lot to take in, so bear with me. Our parents were good friends, inseparable really. My parents are your Godparents, which means that if anything were to happen to them, they would take over the role of your parents." Darcy paused to take a breath- I wish I could have done the same. “My parents passed away three years ago, though, and since your parents are…unavailable at the moment, and my parents are unavailable too, things got switched. You don’t have any living relatives, so I was granted custody for you. You’re going to come move with me to California.”

                Darcy looked at me with wide eyes; I felt my breath catch in my throat. This…this person was going to play the role as my father? Like hell he wasn’t. And I sure wasn’t going to be moving to California either. My parents were important people, they knew important people. They had connections for God’s sake! Why was I being placed in a young man’s care? To be taught how to handle my liquor correctly? How to roll a blunt? No thanks. My head was spinning, thoughts whirling around inside. I felt my throat constrict and my head start to feel light as the color drained from my face. My world went black again.