I'm a dad?

A Chapter in Our Lives

Marcus: Hi, my name is Marcus VanHaven and you may have seen me around before. Well, my step sister's name is Penny Palton. My mom is married to her dad and is her mom as well. My other two siblings are Penny's father's kids. they're twins Eric and Annie. Well, they are only ten years younger than me. Penny even though she may not admit it is a shy girl who came out of her shell a bit this year. 

Mom died a while ago and when her dad moved to North Dakota a while back things haven't been the same. Dad said that he didn't want me when I was eighteen so I had to move out and I got a girlfriend named Jenny. (We're engaged now.) She loves Penny and thinks of her as a little sister when I never had the time to get to know her. When mom died, Penny's depression took a turn for the worst. Jenny told me that we should take her in since dad was tired of it. Eric and Annie got their mom to pitch in some money but Penny was still suffering. 

She was picked on a lot as a kid. Annie and Eric had an Irish father but somehow none of the accent rubbed off on them but for Penny, it did... big time. People called her a fat potato and other shit like that. She almost took her life three times before she was finished with sixth grade. 

(Don't worry I got her permission before writing this.)

She jokes about things all of the time but you can never be too sure. She barely ate anything and became a stick. I never wanted that life for her but I didn't have a choice in the matter. All that I could do was be there for her. 

Our mom died one month ago but we didn't tell her because we thought that it would make things bad again but not telling her made it worse. The look on her face when we told her was enough to bring back the memories of when I saw her standing on the edge or holding that knife to her leg. It was too much for me and that was when I swore that I would be the best 30-year-old dad of an almost 16-year-old to ever live.