Finding Home | ✔️

Chapter Ten

Sandy and Daniel tried to convince me to go to school but I laid in bed, ignoring them. The thoughts in my head became voices that never seemed to stop talking. The two of them left for work and I was alone with the house. Thor laid next to me and I petted his white fur. His fat belly was flipped upwards as I petted his belly. The sun shined from the window and unto my face. I flipped over and continued to sleep, hoping my dreams would be a reality.

"Where's mommy?" Oliver asked, his four-year-old self gripped his black blanket while looking up at me.

I stood watching the blue truck leave the drive away before turning to him. Asher quickly appeared from a doorway and looked at me. "Are they gone?"

I nodded before leading them down the stairs to fetch them dinner. All that was left in the house was stale crackers and chips. "Are mommy and daddy going to the store to get food?" Asher asked as I stood in the pantry with what was left. My stomach aching from the recent hit and the craving for food. A tear slid down my face as I faced the two innocent kids.

"Yeah. So we'll eat this for now so when they come home we will have lots of food," I lied.

The sound of kids munching on food was the only noise in the house. We sat playing Go Fish except for Oliver. He was too young to understand but sat on my lap watching. His thumb in his mouth as he started to drift off to sleep.

Pounding hit the door before it broke off its old hinges. Men and women in black clothing entered making us jump. They lowered their guns and stared at us. At that moment I felt relieved and a sense of freedom. Tears streamed my face in happiness while the two younger kids sat in fear.

"North. Wake up. Wake up, sleepyhead."

Groaning, I flipped over only to be shaken awake once more. "I don't want to." Everything went silent before I started to squirm awake. "No stop!" I giggled.

"Only if you get up," Valeria said, as she stopped. I looked at her before closing my eyes. She took this as a no and tickled me again, but this time ignoring my pleads to stop.

"Val, no stop... I can't breathe," I giggled before squirming off the bed. Valeria held my arms not letting go. She sat on my bed with a smile before slowly releasing me. I looked at her before noticing her book bag on the floor next to my door. She sat in her day clothes while I was still in my pajamas. "What you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?"

"School ended twenty minutes ago. The question is why weren't you at school?"

I slowly sat back down on my bed, staring at my hands. It was quiet again and Valeria slowly reached for my hand and squeezed it. "Everything all right?" I wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come. I had cried most of the night and slept through the day.

Instead, I shook my head and said, "My social worker took my brothers. If the Thompson decide to adopt now then it'll be me, and my brothers will have to go back into foster care." I looked at her with determination. "I can't let them do that. They need me. We have to stick together because we are family."

"And I'll be right beside you. When did this happen?"

"When I left your house. My brothers have gotten in a lot of trouble lately but they don't mean to cause any harm. Either way, they pushed Sandy and Daniel's buttons too far."

Valeria bit her lip and said, "Well. I may be able to convince them to rethink their decision but it's their choice. The last thing you'll want is for them to be terrible parents because they cannot handle it."

"Not as bad as my real parents."

She sighed and looked at me, "I've gone through many pre-adoptive homes before I found Madison and Jorden."

"Why?"

Valeria stayed silent for a minute. Her face watching mine closely before averting her brown eyes, "I've been in rehab twice. My parents were alcoholics and were abusive to me and my sister. At a young age, I was already drinking, not knowing any better. My parents actually encouraged us," she paused momentarily to wipe away a tear before continuing. "I was only eight then when my sister passed away or so the police say. I woke up that night to the police at my house. My sister being carried away in an ambulance. Our neighbor called saying they heard a gunshot and there laid my sister in a pool of her own blood the gun right beside her. And my parents gone. The police never found them but my best bet is they fled to Mexico."

Valeria sat quiet and I rub her hand with my thumb. She smiled a little and I decided for once to share willingly. "My parents weren't always abusive. Thinking back on it we had a fairly normal life until I was seven. That was when shît hit the fan. We left everything behind and moved into this house in the woods. My father's personality flipped like he was a whole new person. I stopped going to school and I was never allowed to leave the house. It was not long after that my mother's changed also. They would be gone long periods of time while I was locked in the house. I guess you could say I learned some skills that way: Cooking, Cleaning, and etc."

"I don't think you want to be a maid when you grow up," she told me.

"Definitely not," I shake my head, laughing softly. "Anyways my parents tended to ignore more until Asher was born. Asher was my temporary savior because my parents started to include me in things. They hardly ever left the house except to get food and it was great. It started to feel like a family again. I was about 10 when the bond broke once more. My mother and father would get drunk and start to take their pain on me. Whether it was physically or verbally. Whatever I would do, it would never be good enough for them. Luckily, they harder ever touched Asher and I made sure of it. Whenever Asher did something wrong I took the blame. I'd rather be seen as the imperfect child and he would be their perfect child."

Valeria rested her head on the pillows, her eyes focused on me. She laid waiting to hear the rest but it was her turn to comfort me. She laced our fingers together as I continued, "I was eleven when Oliver was born and my hopes went up once more. I stood waiting that this time for the bond to be restored but it didn't. Instead, the baby was handed to me and I was left with the responsibility of raising him. In those four years of his life, I did the best I could until the police came. I like to think my parents took pity on me for once because there was no way anyone would have known where I lived. They had told me that someone had called us in and gave them our exact location but the caller was never identified."

"I'm sorry about what your parents did to you," she said to me, she played with our interwoven hands as she laid on my bed.

I laid beside her and said, "I'm sorry about your sister. I wouldn't know what I would do if my parents had laid a finger on them."

Valeria smiled slightly. "Probably turn into protective mom mode."

"Probably," I smiled back. I laid beside her, as we talked. The tension from my past lifted off my shoulders and it felt easier breath for once. She hadn't pushed my talk but was understanding. Valeria went on to rambling on her plans for the summer, and I was glad to have a friend like her.