Page 5 of The Heavier The Chains…
I had won, and I’ve been winning ever since.
I’ve raked in close to thirty grand in the past two years, and while I’ve used some of it in the past to get Edie things she really, really needed that Mom couldn’t afford, most of the cash has been set into a savings account for Edie. Now, while thirty grand is a lot of money, it’s nowhere near what Edie needs to last her throughout four years of college. However, what I’m hoping is that, once she gets past that first year, we can regroup and see where we can go from there. She’s even suggested a community college for her first couple of years, but I had suggested we put that idea on hold based on her grant and scholarship approvals.
Now, me? I had good grades, and I was on track to get my high school diploma, but college would never be in the cards for me. I knew early on that I was going to probably live in Lakeside (spoiler alert; there’s no lake in this town) for the rest of my life, working some mundane job, but I was okay with that. I was okay because I was the man of the family, and men did whatever they had to in order to take care of the women in their lives. We were the protectors and the providers, and if Mom wasn’t going to go out and get a man to take care of her…well, then I had to do it. Once Edie graduated college and got her own life, I’d be able to concentrate on getting married and, maybe, having a family. And I had to wait because my wife would never do without because I had other women in my life I needed to put before her.Never.
As for girlfriends? I’ve never had one, and I didn’t want one. Sure, I’ve fucked a couple of girls, here and there, but I’ve never dated a girl. I didn’t have the patience for whining bitches once they realized they’d never come before my mother and sister; especially my sister. I also made sure the handful of chicks I did screw around with knew the score and never laid a hand on my condoms. Nope. No ‘oops babies’ for me, thank you very much.
Lars and Hunter have often commented that I took too much on, but their parents were still together, and while they hung out in the lower-class economical level as I did, their parents shared the adult responsibilities in their household. Neither one of them had to step in and play the role of father to a younger sister, but I’d do it all over again if I had to.
All to see my sister wake up every morning with a smile on her face
∞∞∞
Kenzlee~
Tomorrow was my first day at Lakeside High and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. My father’s spectacular failure had been plastered all over the news, and so, it was highly unlikely that I could get through tomorrow without anyone knowing who I was.
Luckily, I had Alexandria for first period, and that went a long way to settling the butterflies in my stomach. It also helped that I would know, at least, one person there. I wasn’t going to be that new girl sitting alone at lunch. I also had Alex for sixth period, so that was something.
God, what I wouldn’t give to have my brother here with me.
My father, Donovan Mitchell, had made his money in stocks. He was a money manager, and, oh, the irony. He was brilliant at managing other people’s money, but when it came to managing his own…well, we see how that worked out for him.
My mother had fallen into the socialite lifestyle as if she had been born into it. She was the cliché trophy wife, and she spent my father’s money as if it came from never-ending magic. She also insisted that her social networking was just as important as the hours my father put in at the office, so like him, she was never home.
They. Were. Never. Home.
Kaden and I were left to our own devices, and while I spent my free time seeking love and attention from the staff, Kaden had spent his free time drinking, whoring, and drugging it up. It hadn’t started that way though. Kaden hadn’t always been…irresponsible, and I can recall with precise clarity when things had changed for him.
We were fourteen and Kaden had just won MVP of the basketball season. It had been a big deal, and the ceremony was going to be broadcasted on television because Madison Prep had gone undefeated, beating out the district’s favorite. I remember us getting ready to attend the ceremony; Kaden in a three-piece suit, me in a matching dress. The only thing that had made Kaden and I fraternal twins was that, he was born a boy and I was born a girl. Other than that, we looked exactly alike, just a feminine and male version. We both had the same dark, inky black hair, the same light brown eyes, the same shade of skin. We both looked like Dad.
However, I was only 5’1”, where Kaden was already six-foot at the age of fourteen. He had gotten his height from Uncle Allen, because Dad was only 5’11”. Kaden was beautiful, and commanding, and had a larger-than-life personality.
We had ridden to the ceremonies together with the promise from Mom and Dad that they’d meet us there because they didn’t want to chance a delay at the airport. They had both been in New York at the time and a flight to California would be cutting it close even with their own private jet.
I remember arriving at the ceremony. I remember Kaden taking his spot with his team. I remember the pictures, the interviews, the fans, the excitement…all of it. I remember all of it.
I also remember my parents not showing and us getting simultaneous text messages saying they had to cancel because Dad had snagged a business dinner with a very high-profile investor and they couldn’t turn town that once in a lifetime opportunity. They had texted us that they ‘had to cancel’.
They had canceled on their children.
After that, Kaden changed. He started taking our freedom to an entirely different level. He started partying like he was auditioning for an 80’s rock band, but it had all been in vain. Our parents weren’t around to see him self-destruct even though that’s why he was doing it. He was trying to punish them, but how do you punish people who don’t care?
It had gone on for a couple of years before I had gotten a call from Kaden’s girlfriend, Patrice, one night that Kaden wasn’t responding to her. I had rushed to her house and found my brother wide-eyed and not responsive with a tray of cocaine lying next to him.
Have you ever felt a piece of your soul dying? If not, I hope you never do.
And, to make matters worse, Patrice had offed herself a couple of weeks later because she wasn’t able to handle the guilt. Kaden had always been charismatic, and no matter how many times Patrice tried to right him, one sly wink, one dimpled smile and she caved.
And what did my parents do?
They buried my brother in a quiet, hushed-up ceremony and then smeared Patrice’s good name after she hung herself. They blamed her publicly, painting my brother as a victim to her feminine wiles.
I spent the following year trying to piece my life back together, and I’m still unsuccessful with that. I had lost the only person who loved me unconditionally. I had lost the only person who I could count on and who protected me against the world. Even during his darkest times, Kaden had always made sure I had been taken care of.
But, more than that, I had lost my twin. I had lost, literally, the other half of me. It’s a crippling feeling, that. I imagine that’s how parents feel when they’ve lost a child. It feels as if your soul has been ripped from your body, but because you need your soul to exist, a piece of it is given back to you, only it’s a tattered and torn mess. You’re always going to feel like a tattered and torn mess for the rest of your life because your soul isn’t meant to exist in pieces; it’s supposed to be whole.
And, lucky me, my parents went back to neglecting me, and that’s when I started spending more time with our household staff. The void haunting the house because of Kaden’s absence had been slowly driving me crazy, and I had to do something. I had always gotten along well with the staff, but it was then that I had actually started spending time with them; learning from them.
