I never had a normal ife growing up. I was rasied by men, four men to be exact. In a normal story you would hear that the father ran away after a child was born, but this was not the case. When my youn ger brother was born, my mother left the state with another man, eaving all her children and husband behind. Later on we heard news that would crush all of us. The man my mother ran off with brutally murdered her. I remember being so confused as to why everyone was in the living room crying. Carson, my youngest brother whom never met our mom, was in the corner obivious to what was happening. I removed him from the room and started distracting him from the truth.
Everything changed after my mothers death. I was only 9 when she died, I was only 8 when hell opened up inside my home. My father began blaming himself for the murder, saying if he hadn't of let my mom leave she would stil be here. He started to drink heavy, and soon he lost his job and depended on Timothy and Nick, my two older brothers, to support us and his own drinking habits.
As school became harder, so did living where I did. I was raising Carson on my own, and trying to keep him safe from my fathers drunk hands. I always seemed to be the target when my father was drunk. He would slam through my door in the darkest hours of the night whispering how I was a disgrace of the family name and I was the reason my mother left. I became more and more distant from my friends and soon had no one but my siblings. When I turned 18 I moved out and managed to take Carson with me. I started living on my own in an apartment building down the road from a college I was attending for criminal law. I would get frequent phone calls from my father pleading for my return or asking if I could bring Carson back, I ignored every plead.
Luckily I made a few friends in college and managed to keep my skeletons of my family history in the closet.
I sat at the kitchen table studying a book on the table. I saw words, I scanned over them, but I was too exhausted to remeber what they said, or even realize that they were saying anything at all. Carson lay asleep on the bed next to the window. Car lights panned across the dark walls as people went about their nightly routine. I closed my book and rubbed my eyes. My phone buzzed from the counter in the kicthen. I sowly dragged over to where it sat and wondered who would be calling at such a late time. "Hello?" I said with a yawn. "Hey Abe." Said Roger, my older brother. Growing up in a house ful of guys, all of my brothers thought I deserved a masculan name to fit in, so I was nicknamed Abe, short for Abel.
"Hey Roger. whats up?" I asked walking back into the dining room area. "I've got a porposal for you. It involves Carson." My heart dropped to my feet. I already knew what he wanted. I wasn't ready to let Carson go live with someone else. I raised Carson from the day my mother left us to the moment I stood there.
"Yeah?"
"Well I know you're swamped with work and school and I know you want to graduate. In order to do that you have to be rested and less stressfull. Me and Sarah Bought a home just down the bock from your appartment and within walking distance of his school. I figured we could take him off your hands till you graduate this spring. It's only a couple of months away anyway. I would give you a key so you can come visit him when ever."
"I.... I would have to ask Carson" I said looking over at Carson who was now looking at me from the edge of the bed. I waved him over and covered the phone with my palm. "So Roger wants to know if you would like to come live with them till I graduate in May. He said I could come see you, so maybe after school so we can study together?"
Carson pondered the thougt for a moment, "Yeah sure. It would be a nice change." He said. I bit my lip, I wasn't expecting him to be so up for leaving me. I could feel my eyes burning from the tears. I hadn't cried since I was 11, so was this feeling in my eyes, the tears trying to scratch up to the surface? Carson saw it too because for the first time ever, he hugged me in his arms. "It's only for a couple months Abe." He said. I nodded and uncovered the phone. "Alright he said it sounds good. When will you guys be over to get him?" I asked clearing my throat. "Around 6 when get out of work. We'll bring the spare key too." He said. "Alright sounds good."
