Trying Temptations

Have you ever wondered why things turn out the way they do? I have and things aren't the way I thought they would have been. My life has been tough ever since I was eight years old. Neither of my parents cared enough to have a good family. They were the opposite of those parents that pretended to get along or the ones who decided to get a divorce. Instead they did their own things and didn't care if someone got hurt. My dad was an alcoholic who slept with any thing that moved and mom was a junky that needed her fix everyday. I don't know how things got this way but I was in the middle of it. We lived in a small two bedroom apartment. The place was ran down and old. Mold speckled the walls and the floors would creak every time you walked on them. My room had a mattress on the floor and a dresser. I had maybe two toys to my name. I wasn't allowed to have much stuff or to have people over. Since my parents were the way they were I had to learn how to fend for myself. I learned how to cook and clean for myself. I picked up little side jobs to afford food. I would walk dogs, mow lawns and even clean for people. It wasn't the best but I was able to support myself and my needs for a while. It all changed when mom passed away. Dad treated me worse after she was gone. It was harder to hide the bruises and at times I had to skip school for a couple days because I couldn't get out of bed. I was able to deal with all the beatings for a couple of years until that one night. I was hurrying to make me something to eat after getting in from walking the dogs for Mrs. Sue our neighbor when he came stumbling in. I tried to run to my room when he grabs me by the arm. " Where are..you going..?" He croaked out between his hiccups. He than kicks me in my stomach hard a couple times before he goes in to the bathroom. I try to get up but my muscles are so sore and weak from all the beatings that I can barely get in to a sitting position. A few minutes pass before he comes back out of the bathroom." I'll teach..ya a...lesson ..." He states as he stumbles over to me. I try to scramble away from him but he pounces on me pinning me with his weight. I start kicking my legs, throwing my arms and start yelling out. I was never able to yell out before because he would hold my mouth closed where I couldn't breathe. I can only lay there as he starts. Some time goes by when I hear the door to our apartment bust open and several police men comes in. My body let's go at this point and everything goes blank. The next thing I know I'm waking up in a hospital room. The room was the size of our living room and kitchen if not a little bigger. I hear a knock at the door and turn to see a nurse walk in. "Hello Eric. How are you feeling today?" She asked. I try to speak but my voice cracks a bit. "Where...is....he?" I ask. She looks at me with sad eyes " He's in jail awaiting trail right now. Your safe Eric and your healing real well. You were so beaten up that you slept for three days." My head was spinning at what I had heard. She checks my vitals, said she would be back and left. Sometimes later the doctor came in to talk to me. He had told me I would be staying at the hospital until I was physically better and to not worry about anything. It turned out that I had a lot more than bruises. I had a few cracked bones and a mild concussion. I had stayed in the hospital for about two weeks before they let me go. During that time the police came to talk to me and had asked that I give them as much detail as I could about what had happened. I told them the basics about what happened not wanting to remember all the details of what I had been through. They left after getting my statement and didn't come back until a few days before I was to be released telling me they were going to put me in a home. I had asked that no one be told about my situation so that I could forget about it and move on. They agreed to not say anything but I'm not sure if they truly did or not. When they released me from the hospital they took me to the local orphanage. It was a small three story building with a large bricked fence. The brick came to my waste than there were metal bars climbing above my head. The lady who greeted us was actually very sweet. She couldn't have been but maybe in her late thirties. She was tall with long blonde hair and brown eyes. "Hello young man, I'm Crystal and I'm sorry to see you had to come here. I'll try to get you in to a good home ok." She said. I nodded my head unsure of what to say. She took me in, let me get settled in my room and than gave me a walk through of the place. She reminds me of what a real mother should be like. The first story had the kitchen, living room and dining room. They had a study room in the far left hand corner and a hang out room in the right hand corner. The second and third stories had bedrooms and bathrooms. There were eighteen bedrooms and two bathrooms on each floor. Each bedroom could hold four people since they had two bunk beds and four dressers. The bedrooms were actually very nice and comfortable. The bathrooms could hold about eight people. They had three showers and four toilets. The bathrooms were separated by gender. One for the females and one for the males. They weren't very big showers but they were cozy. The whole place felt like it belonged to a huge family instead of homeless kids. I was able to keep going to my school and continue my little jobs. I never really hung out with any of the kids at the orphanage. I would talk with them from time to time but I never made friends there. During that time I had started showing signs of PTSD. I would have horrible nightmares or flinch at any movement. I stayed in the orphanage for about a year and a half when Mr. And Mrs. Johnson came and adopted me. I was eleven and a half when they took me home. I didn't think anyone would adopt me with my age or anything they might have heard about from my parents. They took me to their house and introduced me to their sons. The twins, Edward and James, just stared at me when they were introduced to me. After that Mr. and Mrs. Johnson took me to a room upstairs and told me that it would be my room. They than took me and the twins out to buy some things for my room. They bought me clothes, a bed, a dresser and a few personal items they told me to get. They offered to get me toys or things that I liked but I didn't feel comfortable asking for that. We brought everything back to the house and set up my room. They asked me were I wanted things to go and moved it to where I had wanted it. I had stood there unsure of what to do or how I felt at this change. Once we were done setting up my room they left and said that dinner would be ready at six and to make myself comfortable. I stood in my room for a while just looking around. I still couldn't believe that this was my room and my stuff. It felt like it didn't belong to me. I was getting jittery staying in my room so I decided to try to explore. I walked out of my room and noticed a door at the far right hand side. "(Edward and James room)". I look to my left to see another room that said library. I decided to check that out first. I walked in to the room and was shocked by what I saw. The room was big with two couches and an arm chair, with books climbing up the wall. I have always loved to read because it took me away from the pain I faced daily. I decided I would come back to the library after I checked the rest of the house. I left the library and headed downstairs. Downstairs had the kitchen, the dinning room, the living room and a small workout room. The basement held the laundry room and storage. I didn't go into the one room off the left of the kitchen because it looked like it was Mr and Mrs. Johnson's room. In all the house was pretty huge. I didn't realize what time it was until they called out for dinner. I went to the bathroom to wash up before dinner and headed to the kitchen. I stood there a bit feeling uncomfortable when Mrs Johnson told me I could sit across from Edward and James. I took my seat trying to avoid the gazes of Edward and James. Mrs. Johnson placed our plates in front of us. They bowed their heads and prayed. Once we were done we were able to dig in. The food looked and smelt delicious. It was homemade chicken fried rice served with creamy mashed potatoes and honey rolls. I couldn't remember a meal like this. Mrs. Crystal from the orphanage tried to cook good food but trying to cook for thirty or forty kids at one time was difficult. We all sat down and ate dinner. They would ask me questions and answer some of the questions I asked. Edward and James didn't talk much but that didn't bother me. I took a glance at all of them and realized the difference between us. They all had blonde hair and blue eyes were I had light brown hair and green eyes. They all seemed taller than me even Edward and James were taller than me and they were only a year older than me. We finished eating, I helped clean up and than I went to bed. I laid there in my room thinking everything over unable to go to sleep. I couldn't believe that they would be willing to adopt me. Sleep finally caught up with me and I drifted off. My life had finally got a chance to be normal and I was going to grab onto it for as long as I could.