Page 43 of The Lies I've Told
Iawoke the morning of my big road trip with Millie to the sound of my phone vibrating on the nightstand next to the bed.
With bleary eyes and a weary outlook for the hours that followed, I grabbed the phone and tapped the home screen to read the incoming text message. It was from James.
Aiden, please call me. Don’t shut me out like you do with everyone else. I can help.
Another one came in almost immediately afterward.
Also, where the fuck are you? You remember what the date is?
I sat back in bed, my head resting on the borrowed pillow that wasn’t my own, as I contemplated what to write back.
Or if I should even write back to begin with.
I’d ignored a dozen other calls and texts already. But no, this time, I had to reply, and he knew it.
Because, this time, he’d brought up the date.
Yes, I know what date it is. I’ll be back for Ben.
I hit Send and headed for the shower as memories of a past life flooded my mind.
“It’s going to be all right,” the brown-haired woman with the pink coat said.
She’d told me her name last night when she came to take me away from my foster house, but I didn’t remember.
She was nicer than the last one though.
And the one before that.
“This family has two other boys around your age. You’ll have brothers.”
I gulped loudly. “Brothers?” I managed to say.
She nodded happily in the driver’s seat next to me as I slouched down, trying to become invisible.
I’d had a brother once. His name was Rufus, and just like the lady with the pink coat, the person who’d placed us together was so delighted to make a happy little family of orphans.
But then she’d left.
And that was when Rufus had laid down the law.
“Listen, kid,” he’d said even though we were less than two years apart, “I don’t want anything to do with a brother, and don’t think for a second, I’m sharing anything with you.”
And he hadn’t. He’d eaten all the food and blamed me for everything, and when he saw kids beating on me in the schoolyard, he’d turn his head and pretend he didn’t know me. I’d never been so happy to get out of a place.
And, now, the lady in the pink coat wanted me to do it all over again?
If I had the guts, I’d pop open this car door and jump right out.
“Ah, here we are,” she said, looking more optimistic than I’d ever seen anyone look in my life. Maybe it was her first week.Hadn’t she seen the place she pulled me out of?
We got out of the car and I followed her, my feet dragging behind me. We stepped up to the front door. As usual, we were greeted by smiles, and I found myself rolling my eyes. Those smiles would turn into frowns soon enough.
They always did.
I was nothing more than a paycheck to these people.
Even the lady in the pink coat.
