Chapter Two: Christmas Day
“Devin! Devin! Wake up!” Gabe shouted while jumping on the edge of my bed. “Santa came!”
“What…?” I pushed myself up and threw on a shirt that was lying next to my bed.
“Santa! Came!” Gabe repeated, but slower and louder so even I could understand.
He grabbed my hand and practically pulled me down the creaky staircase of our mom’s house. Once we got to the bottom, I peeked into the living room where our short, bare pine tree was. Around it was a few presents that I recognized as the one’s I bought Gabe.
“Let’s open them up!” He shouted excitedly while trying to drag me from the spot where I was standing.
“Okay, okay.” I smiled and began to give in to his weak tugs and pulls.
Gabe had the biggest smile on his face and his eyes glistened with joy. Christmas usually was the best day for any little kid, but it was different with Gabe. The way he would look at those presents was something that I couldn’t get out of my mind. Since we were practically dirt poor, Gabe never really got anything new to play with. Even then, when I bought him stuff, it wasn’t much with my poor ‘job’ skills. But he never complained, never whined. It was like he understood that our situation wasn’t the best, and that I was trying my hardest to give him a semi-decent life.
“This one says, ‘To Gabe, From Santa’!” He squealed, plopping down right in front of the biggest red box. “I wonder what it is!” He began tearing at the wrapping paper and sent it flying in every direction as he ripped chunk after chunk off.
I sat down next to him and pretended to be surprised when he pulled out the new baseball set. “It has a bat, a glove, and a baseball in it! Oh boy!”
“Now you can play with me and Jamal when it’s nice out.” I smiled, rubbing his head with my hand. He looked up at me with an even bigger smile before turning his attention to the next gift that was near him.
This type of thing went on for about an hour or so. Gabe was in heaven pretty much, but when the gifts’ numbers dwindled down to only two left, he started to look troubled.
“Santa forgot about Devin…” He muttered after checking the gift tags. His lip puffed out into a pout as he looked up at me with sad eyes.
“It’s fine. Santa doesn’t like bad seeds, Gabe, so don’t grow up to be one like me.” I chuckled even though I was serious. I never wanted Gabe to grow up like me. I never wanted him to go through the stuff I had to go through.
“But, I wanna be like you. You’re so cool.” He looked me right in the eye and I turned away from his gaze. It was hard to try and argue with him, especially about things he really believed in.
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Shades of Gray ~A Delinquent's Story~
Teen FictionDevin, a seventeen year old delinquent, never had the easy life most people take for granted. He didn’t have parents who cared enough to ask where he was when he stumbled back home at three in the morning. He didn’t have a solid, stable household...
