A Foster's Home

Chapter 13

Dinner went on as Billy had hoped. Everyone was subtle and unsuspecting, even Darla (she's gotten good at keeping secrets). He was now sitting on his bed going over the plan he wrote in the notebook. It's got to work, he thought as his eyes wandered over to the empty shelves on Freddy's desk. It looked so sad. He came to a home with a enthusiastic superhero fanatic and is now living with a depressed 14-year-old.

Just looking at the shelves made Billy nervous. It gave him doubts. Freddy was so happy when he arrived. All that was shot down when Billy started digging into Freddy's past. It was his fault that Freddy was now a depressed 14-year-old. What if reuniting him with his parents reminded him even more that his parents were not with him and that they never will be again? If this didn't work, it would be all Billy's fault. He would forever be depressed and down, all because Billy wouldn't mind his own business.

Billy's heart raced with the doubts and the what if's invading his mind. He tried to control his breathing. "Aw, man," he whispered to himself. It has to work. It just has to. Billy's eyes began to burn at the thought that he destroyed his brother. "Please, let it work."

Billy closed the notebook as if it just gave him the worst news in history. He put it under the pillow, not wanting to see it again until the morning. He laid his head on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling, at the Man upstairs and prayed that all would go well tomorrow. He didn't care if it went his way or not. He just wanted Freddy to be happy and healed from this once and for all.

The bedroom door opened and Freddy came into the room. If Billy didn't know any better, he would say that Freddy looked exhausted. His movement was slow and there were bags under his eyes. It looked like he'd been crying. Billy got even more worried.

"Hey, Freddy," he said. "How's it going?"

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason, but I was thinking. You know how we haven't been spending much time with each other lately?"

"Mmhm."

"I wanna make it up to you. How about we spend the entire day together tomorrow? There's a really cool place I think you'd like."

Although Billy couldn't see, Freddy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"Come on, it's awesome. I know someone there who's a Batman fanatic. It's your kind of place. You can tell me all that you know about him."

"I don't know, Billy. I don't think I'm up for it. Superheroes are losing their touch in my place."

No, no, no, no! Billy panicked in his mind. His heart raced. It was hard to swallow. "Freddy..."

"Billy, it's just too painful right now, okay. Everything about superheroes remind me of the things I no longer have."

"You have us."

"I know that. It's just..." A lump formed in Freddy's throat and his eyes stung of tears. "They were my best friends, Billy. We had a relationship that's kind of rare nowadays. We were inseparable. Just to think I'm never gonna see them again, to know that I'm never gonna hug them or hang out with them again, it's...hard. It hurts and I'm sick of it."

Not if you come with us tomorrow, Billy wanted to say so badly. He was running out of options. He needed to think of something now or everything that they've done would be for nothing.

Billy sighed, hoping that this last effort would do the trick. "Freddy, I know it hurts, and it sucks that you won't see them again, but you can't let that stop you from being with the family you have now. Your parents would want you to. They wouldn't want you to be so depressed. Trust me, I know. My dwelling in the past prevented me from seeing that I stumbled upon an amazing foster home that will be with me in whatever problem I face. Don't let that happen to you. Don't be blind to the amazing people you have in your life right now. Don't push us away.