BOOK OF CHRISTIAN

Chapter 2

It had Been three months since I laid my mother to rest. Since I am only 16, I had to go through the legal system of finding a legal guardian. I had only about 1 1/2 years until I was 18 and on my own. My mother never trusted anyone in the family enough to name a legal guardian. She trusted in the foster care system to give me a good religious family. We had Been searching since before my mother passed away. Not a lot of adoptive parents want a 16-year-old kid around. I stayed in a group home for about five months after my mother died until they finally found a family for me. They seemed really nice, their names were Daniel and Kristen Myers. Daniel seemed to be a pretty nice guy all around just a little rough around the edges. He was about six-foot one big build and a very round beer belly. Not quite sure how much he weighed but I could almost bet his gut alone weighed as much as I did. He had Brown wavy hair and a full mustache and beard. He reminded me of some kind of mountain man like he should've been a lumberjack. His eyes were dark blue and went great with his smile. My first impression of Daniel was great Kristen also seemed like a very sweet warmhearted person. She was in her early 40’s about five foot five inches and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. She always seemed to wear a smile, but it looked more like a forced smile. They had a daughter named Breanna she was thirteen and adopted by the Myers when she was eight. She was just under 5-foot, brown hair and blue eyes. They seemed like the average warm family with a nice house huge backyard and of course the family dog. I didn't like the idea of living with another family at first, but my impression of my new family didn't seem so bad.  I started back in school. I was lucky enough to be going back to my old school with my friends. A month after I moved in with the Myers and got situated in school, I saw Cindy again walking home after school. I walked over to her and asked her how she was. “Oh my gosh your Christian right? You are the one that saved my life!” she gave me a big hug. “So how are you Christian where have you been?” “I’ve been bouncing around, I just moved in with the foster family about a month ago.” “I’m sorry about your mother, I don't think I could handle it if one of my parents died.” “Wait, how did you know about my mother?” “That guy Ben, he told me about it after we left the hospital on our way to my house. Have you talked to him at all since that day, Christian?” “No, I kind of forgot about him.” “Well, wasn't he a friend of your moms?” “I have seen him before but only in the distance. I have never met him.” “Oh, well he told me that he knew your mother. I wonder who he is.” We talked for a little longer and then she looked at her watch and told me she had to get home for dinner. So, I gave her my number and told her I'd see her in school tomorrow. As I walked home, I was happy I had talked to Cindy again but I couldn't help but wonder who Ben was. And if my mother really knew him. I know she had talked to him once but was that the only time? When I got home, I put my backpack on the chair in the living room and walked into the kitchen to find Kristen crying. I walked up to her and asked what was wrong, she looked at me through her tears and said in a soft voice, “Maybe should go up to your room and study. You don’t need to be in here right now. I will be fine.” Just Then, Daniel walked in through the back door, he gave Kristen a look and then turned to me and gave a cold hard stare. “Well look who it is. Where the hell have you been boy. You should have been home and hour and a half ago. You’ve got chores to do, now go do them.” It was then that I realized he was drunk. As I slowly walked past him, I picked up the trash can and walked towards the back door to dump it. I opened the door and looked back at Kristen, Daniel quickly walked up to me and pushed me out the door. As I fell, garbage flew everywhere. “Now look at what you did!” Daniel yelled as he stumbled around. “Well, don't just sit there, pick it up and throw it away. He walked back in the house and slammed the door. I could hear him yelling throughout the house as I picked up the trash and threw it away. I stayed outside for a while chopping wood. When I was done, I just sat outside, wishing I was with my mother and wanting out of this place. Kristen finally came outside. She sat next to me and put her arm around me. “Christian, about Daniel. He didn't mean to do that to you. It's just he gets very stressed out sometimes with work. When he drinks, he can blow up if things aren’t right around the house. Next time ask if you can do something after school so that we know you're okay.” “So, where is he now?” “He fell asleep.” “You mean he passed out, don't you?” “Well, yes, he has to work in the morning, so try and be quiet when you come in, okay? Are you hungry? There is still some dinner left if you want some. It was about 8:15 PM when the phone rang, Kristen ran inside and tried to answer it, but Daniel woke up and he answered instead. I heard him yell out the upstairs bedroom window and then he walked out the back door and told me to tell my slut girlfriend not to call after eight. Then I knew it was Cindy that had called. I could see Kristin telling Daniel to come upstairs to bed. After they left, I went inside and grabbed my backpack and headed towards my room. As I passed Daniel Kristen's room, I could still hear them arguing. I went into my room and shut the door and got my books out to study. After about 20 min, I heard a small knock on my door. It was Breanna, she looked kind of scared. “Is everything okay?” I asked. “Yeah, I just get scared when Daniel is like this.” “I can understand that. How often is he like this?” “Not too often you just have to learn not to piss him off when he drinks, I guess. Since he is a truck driver, it is kind of nice. Tomorrow he leaves and won't be back for a week and a half. I hate him, every time he leaves, I wish that he would just wreck and die. He should've been the one to die instead of his daughter.”

“Wait, what? they had a daughter?” “Yes, they never talk about it though. One night when Daniel was gone, I heard Kristen crying downstairs so I went down there I saw her holding a picture of her. She told me that she was the only child they ever had and Daniel took her on a trip in the truck one night and they got into an accident and their daughter died but that's all I know. I'm still kind of scared, is it okay if I sleep in your room tonight?” “Yeah sure, you can sleep on the bed and I can crash on the floor.” As I fell asleep, I heard Breanna praying, asking God to help her and thanking God that I was here now. I woke up at about 5 AM to someone standing in the doorway. “Christian” I heard Daniel whisper I got up and walked out of the room closing the door behind me so we didn't wake up Breanna.“ Is Breanna in there? ” “Yes, I was helping her with some homework and then we were talking and she fell asleep.” “Look Christian I wanted to apologize to you about last night. I was under a lot of stress and I had a couple too many and I blew up at you and I shouldn't have. It won’t happen again. “Okay” “You like fishing?” “Yeah I guess.” “Maybe when I get back in a couple weeks we can go fishing or something how does that sound? Well I got to go to work. Think you can hold down the fort?” “Sure” “Okay great I'll see you later then okay have fun at school.” Then he was gone.

During the next three months things seemed pretty normal I learned more about my new family I was doing good in school and every day after school I started going to Cindy's house for a couple hours we studied together and talked about our lives Daniel was not at home that much but when he was he was pretty nice and he took me fishing a couple times and would talk about his father. I had grown pretty close to my new foster family. Something still bothered me about all of them. Every time Daniel was around Kristen, she would always have the fake smile on as if she was hiding something. Then, I started to notice the same smile on Breanna face. After Cindy I started dating, Breanna would always insist on going out with us when Daniel was home. We didn’t mind, she was like the little sister I never had. When just Cindy and I were together we sometimes talked about the situation I was in and about Breanna. Well, have you ever asked her if something is wrong?  Yeah I have tried to talk to her several times, but she always tells me everything is fine or that she doesn't want to talk but there is something that has her scared. One day about two weeks before my 17th birthday I got called out of class. It was Ben... as soon as I walked into the principal's office and saw him standing there I froze, then my principal Mr. Sanchez looked at me funny and asked "you this man Christian"? Yeah,  he is an old friend of the family and I haven't seen him in a while so it took me a minute to recognize him.  Okay,  well I'll leave you two alone to talk just don't take too much time you have more classes to go to. Okay, thank you.  Ben thanked Mr. Sanchez as well.  Hello Christian,  please have a seat. How have you been? Not too bad, I have a foster family now. My foster parents are ...then been cut me off "Danielle and Kristin Myers, yes I know." I don't understand how do you  know so much about me and I know nothing about you? I told you Christian, I am a defender. I played a part in who your family would be. It was important that you became part of this family. I still don't understand did my mother really know you? Yes, we went to school together and we kept in touch every now and again. I know that you are very confused and have a lot of questions and I promise you they will all be answered but right now you should get back to class.

Whenever you are free and want to talk and are ready call me. It is also very important that you do not talk about what we talk about to anyone and you will soon learn why. What about Cindy she already knows something about you. Cindy will be a part of this as well but only when the time is right. I look forward to hearing from you and it was nice seeing you again, Christian don't be a stranger. He was once again gone. I sat there thinking about everything for a minute when Mr. Sanchez walked into the office "well Christian, back off to class". When I got home Danielle and Kristin were walking out the door going to the store. I told them I was going out Cindy soon and I'd be back later. Okay, Christian be careful Kristin said as they close the door. I walked upstairs headed to my room when I heard Breanna crying I opened the door to her room and found her curled in a ball in the far corner of her room. I squatted and asked what was wrong. It happened again last night, I can't take this anymore. I hate him I want him to die! She started getting hysterical and started swinging her arms.

I put my hand on her shoulder and she screamed DON’T TOUCH ME!!! LEAVE ME ALONE STOP PLEASE!! I gave her a hug and held her tight. After a couple seconds she put her arms around me and hugged me tight and started crying even harder. She whispered it’s not fair, it’s not right. I pulled away to look at her face what isn't fair, please tell me what is wrong Breanna, you can trust me. I know I can she softly spoke, then came a knock at the front door. That must be Cindy we're going out for a while. Why don't you come with us and we can talk if you want.

Okay, I would like that. We walked downstairs and left with Cindy. I told her that Breanna needed somebody to talk to and that she could come with us. We went out to a restaurant for soda and fries. There only a couple people in the restaurant so it was nice and quiet. We started talking about just normal everyday stuff when I came back from the bathroom I could tell Breanna had started crying a little bit again and Cindy looked at me very seriously.