Chapter One: Introducing the Family.
982 Words
With a practiced flip of her flaming red hair, Emily, a vision in a figure-hugging outfit that belied her circumstances as a single mother, studied her mirror.
At thirty-five, she still had the kind of beauty that attracted attention, a reflection of her tenacity and a glimmer of rebellion against the life that had dealt her curveballs.
A beautiful pang in her chest was the recollection of her husband, Dave. He had been taken away in a horrific vehicle accident just after their son, Jack, was born.
Her unresolved rage against Dave's family was entwined with the loss. A thorn in her side during their marriage, their rejection of their union had turned into a full-blown conflict following his death.
Emily had to start over alone after being forced to leave the house with her two small children.
At seventeen, Sarah was the oldest and a daughter formed in the furnace of adversity. Having seen her mother suffer had made her much older than her years.
With streetwise guile that frequently shocked even Emily, Sarah negotiated the perilous terrain of puberty in the shaky high school hallways.
Sarah's tenacity and the knowledge gained from life's hard lessons are evident in the manner in which she maintained her innocence in the face of ongoing criticism and subtly mocking from her classmates.
With his charm of fifteen years old and a smile that was almost exactly like Dave's, Jack served as Emily's continual reminder of the love she had lost.
He had a cheeky, mischievous look in his eyes that reflected his late father's. Beneath that lighthearted exterior, though, Jack was quietly grieving the father he hardly knew.
Tightly bonded by love, loss, and an unflinching will to establish a new normal were Emily, Sarah, and Jack.
To put a roof over their heads and food on the table, Emily juggled a multitude of lowly jobs. Though Emily battled like a lioness defending her babies, every day was a war.
They faced the difficulties as a family, a little island in a storm. But this tough foursome had a desire for something greater. In the future, Emily hoped, laughter lines would appear on her face from true delight as much as from adversity.
Sarah longed for a life in which her concerns were picking the best college and following her aspirations rather than rent and bills.
And the youngest, Jack, was a contradiction of innocence and a developing sense of their difficult circumstances. His effortless charisma and cheeky smile were like a lighthouse in their sometimes dark world.
But beyond the lighthearted surface was a gloom. He missed the father he hardly knew; affection from Emily and Sarah could never quite fill the hole.
He so much wanted a male role model, someone to show him the complexities of being a young man and provide an alternative viewpoint on life.
The relationship between Emily and her kids held up well in the face of adversity. When they could afford it, dinner was a holy rite of whispered secrets and laughter.
Sarah would divulge bits of her day despite her misgivings, her voice full of barely veiled disobedience. With a pearl of hard-earned wisdom, Emily listened calmly and provided advice.
Usually the center of attention, Jack would enthrall them with stories of teenage mishaps and playground victories, his contagious laughter bringing warmth to the room.
Though bare, their small flat reverberated with the whispers of innumerable dreams and stories shared throughout the night.
After a particularly demanding day, Emily would tell Sarah stories from her early years, creating an image of a past that seemed far away. In return, Sarah would share her future dreams and fears, longing for an opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty that appeared to be binding them.
Tucked up between them, Jack would go to sleep, his fantasies full of images of a day when his family wouldn't have to fight for every meal.
A knock on the door one evening disrupted the quiet as they sat around a table heaped with a scant dinner. Emily's heart leaped at the unexpected guests; in their world, that was not often.
When she spotted Miss Johnson, Sarah's sympathetic English teacher, her anxiety subsided.
Miss Johnson, a compassionate woman with eyes that contained a lifetime of stories, had become Sarah's lifeline. Seeing Sarah's potential and the weight she bore, Miss Johnson gave her encouragement and support, turning her into a ray of optimism in a world that frequently seemed hopeless.
She'd brought news tonight. Sarah had received a scholarship nomination for her witty and engrossing writing. There was startled quiet when word leaked out.
A scholarship felt like a pipe dream, a ray of light in the middle of the shadows. Relieved and proud at the same time, Emily started crying.
Overwhelmed with a range of feelings, Sarah sensed hope beginning to spark.
Perhaps here was her ticket to a different life, a means of ending the poverty cycle and giving her mother and brother the life they so richly deserved.
Emily and her kids struggled mightily in life. But their steadfast love for one another stayed the mooring buoy that kept them afloat through it all.
Once more, their fortitude, developed in the furnace of adversity, would be put to the test.
But with Sarah's fresh start and her unwavering will to change their story, one chapter at a time, they faced the unknown with a ray of optimism and a renewed desire to write a better future.
A quiet promise of change, the scholarship hung thick in the air, a possible key to a better future.
The affection that surrounded Emily's kids as she embraced them was evidence of the unbreakable relationship that had always been their strongest suit.
Together, they would battle for their ideal since they understood that someday the harshest seas might give way to calmer ones.
- Writer
