I'm Fine

Chapter two

Re-edited

"So have you've ever flown before?"
Cam asked while I just shook my head and response.

After arriving at the airport and going to security, the two of us are now seated on the plane getting ready to take off. This is going to be my first time flying. I never went on family trips with my mom and stepdad unless you count the time we drove for 6 hours to visit Marks family.

"So Charlie, tell me a little bit about yourself." Cam said trying to distract me while the plane was taking off.

"Not much to say." I replied back quietly.

He seemed stuck on how to respond back but he didn't push it, probably thinking I was just scared of heights or something.

"Well how about I tell you about your new family, would that be okay?" He asked while I nodded my head again in response.

"So as I mentioned earlier, I have a new wife, she's very kind and I think you would like her a lot. Her name is Isabelle and she works as an accountant. She's always wanted a daughter but she wasn't able to have kids."

"As for kids, you have Four older brothers. Their names are, Adam, Mason, James, and Carson."

"Adam is 19 and attends university only half an hour away from home so he commutes back and forth. His very athletic like all of your brothers, but he is busy studying most of the time. Mason is 17 so he is a senior in high school. He plays soccer on the school's soccer team along with James and Carson. James and Carson are twins but they're not identical."

I could already picture them in my head. Popular boys with many friends and a picture perfect family.

"Did you have any sibling Charlotte?" Cam asked.

"I had 2 step sibling but they were much older than me so I never really say them." I began. "They were Joseph's kids from his first marriage." I said.

Cam just nodded his head in response. We fell into an awkward silence, the kind where you both want to say something, but have no clue on what to say, and the longer you try and figure out a topic it just keeps getting more awkward.

After awhile Cam spoke up again,

"If I would've known I had a daughter I would've taken you in right away." He said with a solemn look on his face. I could tell he was on edge by how I would respond from the way he was biting the inside of his check.

When I finally had the courage to say something back I said, "Thank you, but it wasn't all that bad."

Lies. It was bad but I didn't need him to know that. Anthony was a horrible person that corrupted my mom into making her equally as bad. I had nice memories with me mom, like whenever she would braid my hair and bake cinnamon rolls for me, or make me her homemade pumpkin soup whenever I was sick. That all stopped happening ever since Joseph started having a drinking problem. Of course, she also got sick, but by the time her days were numbered, I already lost her years ago.

Th day Anthony got arrested, I thought it was a life saver. I'm finally freed, I thought to myself.

What a lie.

Foster care was even worst than imagined it to be. Kids were ruthless, and they would prey off the weaker kids. And unfortunately I was one of those kids.

Over time I had to teach myself to block it all out. Of course,I was terrified, but I never showed it. I kept telling myself that everything would be okay. After all, the foster home was bad, but it was better then staying at home with Anthony.

"Charlotte did you hear me?"

Being interrupted from my thoughts, I didn't even notice Cam trying to talk to me.

"I'm sorry, what we you saying?" I said back sheepishly.

He chuckled, while replying back, "it's alright, you like to think a lot do you?"

"Yes, I guess you could say that."

He smiled kindly at me before continuing on,
" I was just asking if you we're nervous about meeting your new family?"

"Not really" I said with a shrug. "They must be nice." Not like I'm going to talk to them anyway.

"I promise they are nice, they better be at least" You'll love them. And Isabelle is really excited to have a daughter."

I could tell that he had a close relationship with his sons by the way he talked about them. He spoke with so much enthusiasm and pride just by mentioning their names. I could tell that he loved all of them very much.

"Charlie you do understand that if I would've known that I had a daughter earlier, I would've taken you in. I never wanted you to go 13 years without knowing you have family outside of your mom and Anthony. You have Isabelle, your brothers, and me. And I really wished I would've known about you sooner so you would've never been in foster care.

Looking at him, I could see tears in his eyes that were just threatening to fall out. His face was struck with remorse and guilt.

Not wanting to make him feel any worse, I spoke up. "It's not your fault. It's mom's fault for leaving you and my brothers" I said.

"Okay.." he said, but I could still hear the disappointment in his voice. "Did I tell you how beautiful you are, and how stunning your eyes are?" Cam said.

Blushing I replied back wearily, "thank you."

I'm not used to receiving complements so this feels weird. But it does feel nice, I thought to myself.

Feeling a bit more comfortable towards each other, we started to converse into a more carefree conversation. He began telling me a little more about my new family throughout the whole plan ride while I listened. Getting distracted by his stories that I throughly enjoyed, I didn't even realize that we've landed and it was almost time to meet my new family.

~~
Chapters will gradually get longer further along the book, and please check out my new book "Hidden Secrets" if you haven't already yet :)

That's all I have to say for now, I hope you all are having a great day and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!

-S