The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

3. Files

7.19.20

"Take as long as you need, Benjamin. Nothing is too much, and we want you to have enough time to get closure from your home." It's only been 30 minutes since the papers were signed on my adoption, and I still felt this strange calm all throughout my body. Connor's parents– and I guess my parents now– were still treading lightly around me, and I wish that they would just stop. It isn't helping at all.

"Alright, thank you." I climbed out of the car, and I took my time walking up the path to the front door. My mom's garden still stood strong in the front yard, but I knew it wouldn't for long. She told me we would make a totally homemade salad, and she had been really proud of the items slowly growing. Now I would never get to see that small dream of hers come to a reality.

As my eyes traced up the side of the house, I remembered hitting a baseball through the upstairs window. I thought it was funny, but my dad had made me pay for a replacement. It was a life lesson to not break things on purpose, I suppose. Pretending like the day was normal, I walked into the foyer and took my shoes off. The house was dark and silent, so I began to shiver at the cold atmosphere. As I stared at family portraits, I felt my knees begin to wobble slightly. My family used to be so perfect, but now they were gone. They left me to pick up the pieces by myself!

Suddenly, the numb feeling from before wore off, and I felt the pain of their death manifest in my mind. I'll never get to see mama smile or Sam laugh every again. I'm all alone. I felt a presence around me, and I looked up to see a dark figure in the doorway near the kitchen. "Mama?" I breathed naively while leaning against the couch, but that shit was not my mother. The figure sprinted at me with no warning, and I tried to move away before the creepy thing grabbed my shoulders. I stared into its soulless, black eyes, and I was frozen to my spot with fear.

When the monster opened its mouth, I saw so many teeth inside that I wanted to vomit. Welp, this is it folks. It was nice knowing you! However, before the figure could make the kill, a bright light tore from my chest. I screamed in pain as the figure evaporated, and it felt like my entire body was burning. I could visualize the light travelling through my veins reaching from the tip of my hair to my toes, and it made my knees feel like Jell-O.

It took a while for the light to die, and I was finally able to tumble onto my knees. The carpet seemed like a good place to rest my head, but I didn't get to enjoy that before the door was kicked open. "Benjamin, is everything alright? We heard a scream."

"I'm fine. I tried to turn on the TV, and it shocked me."

When Conner's papa sprinted around the corner, he smiled down at me with warm eyes. Back to treading lightly, I see. "Are you ready to head back to the car?"

"I think so. I need to take a long sleep." The man helped me stand up, and I found that I was already able to stand steadily. However, the support felt nice as we walked back to the car, so I didn't have the heart to push him away.

"Time to go home." I slid into the back seat, and I was shocked by a sudden discomfort deep in my chest. I rubbed the offending spot while the car started, yet the pain spread a bit more. This cycle continued all the way to my new home, and I was so distracted that I barely noticed being there. "Come on, I'll show you your new room."

As I followed him up the stairs, I looked around at the old looking home. There were a lot of people running around doing tasks, and I had to wonder how many servants these people had... At least I assume they're servants. We ascended to the third floor of the huge mansion, and he lead me to a bedroom at the end of the hallway. "This is it. I know it isn't much, but I want you to feel comfortable, okay? Just tell me if you need anything, and I'll let you get used to this life." The man turned back down the corridor, and I walked into the room. In a way, I was glad that it wasn't super immaculate since it made me feel more normal.

As soon as the door closed behind me, the burning in my chest increased once more, and I fell onto the full sized bed. There was something unsettling in the air around me, and I looked up to see electricity circling around me. It flickered in bright red bolts, and I felt the alarm in my chest grow. The noise was deafening, and I had to cover my ears.

The aura exploded into sparks all around me, and the resounding boom it made shook my bones. Hey, at least the burning in my chest was gone. My bedroom door slammed open, and I looked up to see Connor standing in the doorway. "Are you okay? I heard a loud noise!"

"Conny I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" The boy walked into my new room, and he made himself right at home on my desk.

"Sure, invite yourself in!"

"Okay you are fine, you've still got the sarcasm problem."

"Hey, you love my sarcastic comments!"

"Hell yeah I do. Now, let's get down to business. I happen to know where Papa keeps all of his files. I say we go in there and swap them around."

"Sounds fun." We snuck downstairs looking like we were on a mission, and I poked my head around a wall to see no one. "Clear." We made it all of the way to an office, and Conner nodded once before picking the lock to let us in. As soon as we entered the cozy room, he gestured towards the files, and we ninja rolled over to the cabinet. My partner in crime winked at me once before pulling out a box full of different, unfamiliar words. Some of them were Spanish, others a weird version of English, but one thing was for sure... We mixed them up.

It only took us five minutes to get them in a state a disarray, and we both ran out of the room before we could get caught. Conner made sure to relock the office before we ran, and we barely made it around the corner before we erupted into a fit of laugher. Con put his head around the corner, and I put mine around as well as we saw his papa walking into the office. It took nearly five minutes of waiting before we heard a screech. "CONNER NIKOLAS PIERCE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Run, run!" We both sprinted away laughing with an angry man on our heels, and we did a high five mid sprint. Yeah, this is going to be fun.