Hidden Fangs

My name is Amelia Jane Rose. I’m your average everyday 17 year old. My day consists of school and work to provide for my younger siblings. My mom is an addict, she’s never home unless she needs something to pawn or steal. I don’t know who my father is, but I am the only one out of my four siblings who doesn’t know their father. I have a feeling when I find out it’ll be catastrophic, life altering if you will. I’m the oldest and only daughter of my mother. My younger brothers range from age 13 to age 6. I wake up at 5:00 am every morning to cook breakfast and send them and myself off to school. At 3:00 pm I leave school and head straight to Joe’s place. Joe’s is one of the diner’s in town that I waitress at. Joe hired me when I was 15, I’ve been working since the first time my mom left us. My brothers all have a hatred for her but I choose to believe something traumatic happened and she just couldn’t handle it. I didn’t want to come with the terms that she probably just didn’t want to be a mother anymore. My brother's fathers will come around every now and then. Though they offer no help in raising them, the boys enjoy seeing their dads. I turn 18 in a few days, I’ve already started the process for me to legally adopt them. I don’t date or hangout with friends, I feel I never have the time. Hell I’m almost 18 and have never even had a first kiss. My brothers will always come first no matter what. This morning I overslept and awoke to the sound of screaming boys. I jumped to my feet in a panic. Usually I wouldn’t be able to hear them fighting downstairs but for some reason my hearing has seemed to be enhanced. I rush down the stairs to get to them and assess the situation. James is kicking and screaming while Liam is dragging him down the hall. “What the hell is going on” I scream at Liam just in time to see Asher with soap in his hands. “He refuses to take a bath and we have to leave for school in 30 minutes.” complains Evan. “I’ll handle it. Come here James” I say to my crying 6 year old brother. He runs to me still red in the face. I hold him in my arms until he’s able to calm down and talk coherently. “You want to tell me why you are refusing to take a bath?” I ask James as I look into his bright green eyes. He shakes his head no and begins to pout. “You have to talk to me or it’s not going to get any better. We don’t run from our problems, remember?” He looks up at me with a look of sadness before he says “I don’t like school, they make fun of me for both of my parents leaving. I’m unwanted”. We all gasp at what our little brother is saying. “WHO SAID THIS TO YOU.” We yell in unison. Before he could answer I had decided it was time to pay a visit to his class. I’ll be damned if anyone dares to bully my brother. I finally got him to agree to get ready for school, he came out in clean clothes ready to go. We all grab our bags and head to my suv. Once everyone is in and buckled we make our way to the school. It’s one school that houses Kindergarten thru High School, so visiting his class will be easy. We make our way inside, Evan, Liam and Asher all head to their classrooms. While holding James’s hand we push through the crowds and follow the zigs and zags of the hallways until we reach his class. His teacher looks up in surprise as I enter the room. “Why was I not informed of James being bullied or were you unaware?!” I ask before she can even question why I’m there. Her face twists to confusion as she says “I was unaware, but sometimes kids can say mean things unintentionally. I’m sure they didn’t mean the things they had said to James.” “BULLSHIT!” I scream as I overhear some kids snickering and saying they meant what was said. His teacher is trying her best to calm the situation down but to no avail. I’m angered beyond words.The best thing for me is to walk away. The look in James' eyes tells me that he’s going to cry soon. So I grab his hand and we leave the class. We make our way back outside to my vehicle and he climbs in. “We’re going to have a skip day. Where would you like to go?” “Can we go to the arcade in the mall?” James asks in a quiet voice assuming I’ll say no. We drive in silence as I head for the mall. I work 3 jobs, 2 diners in town and a bookstore on the weekends. I make enough to cover all the bills and expenses and still have a lot saved. We aren’t rich but we aren’t as poor as we would be. I pull into the parking lot and open his door. With a grin that reaches his eyes he jumps up and down excitedly. We walk to the entrance and a scent catches my attention. The smell of toasted marshmallows and coconut fills my nose and instantly makes my mouth water. I turn in circles to try and find where the delicious scent is coming from. James is confused and just stares at me like I’m insane. He loses his patience and grabs my hand and drags me into the mall. The scent is still clouding my scenes. We make it to the center of the mall and enter the Arcade in no time. It’s barely 10 am and the arcade isn't as packed as it would be on the weekend. James runs up and down from game to game trying to decide what to play. While he plays a racing game I venture over to the basketball games. I’m almost beating the highest score when that scent hits me again. I miss my shot and turn rapidly to try and find it. Instead I lock eyes with an older guy. He looks to be about 6’7 and has black curly hair. He’s tan and his arms seem to be covered in tattoos, but his eyes are what seem to stand out the most. They’re a bright blue, so bright they look unreal. I stare at him for what feels like forever and he never breaks eye contact. Before I can react James comes running up to me. “Mia, Mia, Mia.” He yells trying to get my attention. I break eye contact and look at him. He’s got so many tickets he can barely hold them. We go to the counter and he picks his prizes and it’s almost time to go pick up our brothers. As we go to leave the arcade I find myself looking for the stranger I had just encountered. I could still faintly smell the toasted marshmallows and coconuts but couldn’t pinpoint the location of the scent. With one last look around we went to the food court and got a quick lunch. James got chicken nuggets and french fries while I opted for some fried rice and bourbon chicken. We ate happily as he showed me his prizes. Once our plates were gone and thrown away we made our way to the vehicle. Halfway to the school I had a sense of dread wash over me. Something bad was going to happen.