♤DEALS♤

Chapter 23 - 'Meet your sister.'

Warning things are about to get depressing.

Going down memory lane always leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth.

-THEO.

Caleb Parks' POV

Drink.

As I made my way out of the bedroom, my path was blocked by my bullies, or as I like to call them, the people who made my stay here a living hell aka memorable.

"Where do you think you're going to, dolphin dancer?" He who I never got to know his real name said to me as he shoved me backwards, but I refused to budge.

My freedom from this place was at my fingertips. Even though a thirteen-year-old was not allowed to resort to violence, I am being held by a thin rope.

It was a staredown.

Me against them.

Me against the kids behind me that were calling me names.

Me against everyone because that was how I saw the world.

The world and I played the game of cat and mouse over the years. And if you haven't guessed it, I am the mouse.

My parents didn't want me because after I spent just half a day with them when I joined this cruel world; they dumped me here.

It seemed like time refused to move as we stared each other down, silently daring the other to back down or retaliate.

You see, all my thirteen years in this world, all I had known was to never give up on something no matter how the world may seem to want your downfall.

I got used to the hits, shoves, trips and pranks the other kids threw at me. I was mocked because I liked to sing but was shy, so I only did it in the shower. Trust me when I say that the mocking got worse because of that.

I wasn't stupid enough to keep a journal, but I was still stupid either way because whenever I would tell one of the nurses or the man that looked after us. I either got scolded or a smack on the head.

Yes, my dear friends, life isn't fair.

Seems like I would leave this place without an extra scratch or bruise on my body. The woman who would now play the role of my new mother walked in and ushered me out of the place that gave me the real deal about how life is.

Drink.

"Good riddance."

Those were the parting words I last heard from one of the nurses, but I simply shrugged it off.

A month passed, but I hadn't decided how to view them or if they would be the lesser evil in my life.

Still, Mr Peter and Mrs Carol Parks were very nice people, and they didn't seem to push me to do things that I wouldn't want to do or make it look like I had to give them a rundown on what had happened to me in my early life.

Funny how that same orphanage is among one of my valued possessions.

I felt more like a basket case than their child, but they still made me feel welcome, and Carol made sure she sang me to sleep every night.

Drink.

My first day at school was very eventful. They dropped me off at the school; that they enrolled me in. I readjusted my tie for what felt like the hundredth time this morning and walked in. I was pessimistic that this day would blow up in my face and it would be a repeat of my stay in the orphanage, but I was very wrong.