A Broken Promise

Chapter 1 - Home Sweet Home

Hey Everyone!!!

This is my first attempt at writing a novel!

 Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!!

-Silvertongue

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 Chapter 1

 “Wake up!” yelled my 23-year old brother Jason as he tried to pull the blanket from me.

 “6 more minutes. Pwease!” I whined and snuggled deeper into my blanket.

 “Okay, J”, he conceded “6 more minutes” That was enough for the warning bells to go off in my brain. I groaned and opened an eye and thought of how Jason never agreed with what I said, and I was very suspicious as to how he had conceded to let me sleep.  Unless…..I could not complete that thought as I felt cold water hitting my face and drenching my hair and half my blanket.

 “JASON!!! You are soo dead” I threatened as I bolted into a sitting position. I turned to see him smirking and leaning against my door. He was dressed in a black pant and white shirt with a black tie. Jason worked as a law associate at a law firm in Springfield, Illinois and took care of me, Jane, his beloved sister.

 “You deserved it, sister-mine and stop complaining. Get up early, get ready, eat breakfast and go to school.  Is that a very difficult line of action to follow in the morning?  Teenagers!!! I tell you!!” he said, as he bent down to tie his laces.

 “Need I remind you that were also a teenager once upon a time and just because you’re 23 doesn’t mean you get to go all adult on me” I said, as I walked to my bathroom and started brushing my teeth. No point in delaying the inevitable. As he was in my room there was absolutely no point in going back to sleep.

 “Hey, be nice to your only source of income. I’m the one paying the bills, while you and go have fun with those friends of yours. I work not for myself but to support you and to give you…….. ”

 I just rolled my eyes and blocked him out, I had heard the same “I pay the bills” speech half a billion times and had almost knew it by memory.

 “Sorry to interrupt your rant, but doesn’t the ‘I want you to have all the opportunities’ thingy come after the ‘I understand it’s hard’ part” I asked..

 “That was not funny J and you know it”.

 “It was funny admit it. I have heard the same thing for almost a year now. I should know the whole rant by now.” I said as I turned and watched the sides of his mouth curve into a smile.  Yup!!  He was the same brother I knew after all.

 “I know I over do the big brother thing, it’s just that I don’t want you to feel all alone and deprived of opportunities” he explained as he held my hand and sat me on my bed “I know life has not been fair to you and I don’t want you to be wallowing in self-pity.”

 “Don’t worry, Brother dear. I’m over wallowing in whatever I’m supposed to be wallowing in.   Now, if you don’t mind I would like to dress up for school.  I’ll meet you down in 15. Love you.” I said as I pushed him through my door and started to close the door and caught him shaking his head and muttering something about teenagers and their attitudes.

  I smiled and leaned against the back of the door and agreed that life had not been fair, to both of us. Our parents decided to split after my mom found out that my dad was having an affair with his secretary.  I was 10 and Jason was 16. For a 10 year who was attached to both her parents I took the separation hard. But Jason took it in his stride and made it his duty to take care of me. The divorce settlement took two years as both my parents tried to drain each other of their wealth. But when the question came as to who would take care of us, the responsibility came to my mom.

 After the divorce, gone was the mom who made chocolate chip cookies, who took us to the park instead in her place we saw a woman whose sole mission in life was to make any reminders of my dad scarce.  She stopped doing all the things that we used to do as a family, she became an alcoholic and never took care of us.   I tried to do all the housework to make it easier for my mom and for her to notice me but all that was in vain as she took to her bottle as soon as she saw me to make her forget my presence.  Jason saw my suffering from the sidelines and when he was 18 he decided that we had enough and he rented a small place, big enough for both of us. He promised that he would never let me down and that we were the only family we had.   I finally decided to stop wanting acceptance from the woman who had borne me and I tried forgetting my father and along with Jason I tried to make a new beginning.

Now, it has been 5 years since that awful experience and everyday I forgot I little of all that my brother and I had suffered.

 Yes, life was not fair.

 But at least I had my brother and my friends to help me through it.

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 The first two or three chapters might be a little descriptive as I try to lay down the basic framework for al my characters.

 Like it? Hate it?

Tell me about it!

 -Silvertongue