Problems of an Invisible Girl

Chapter 40

Focusing his eyes on the road ahead gave Nat a great excuse not to look at the reactions of the others as he told them the story of his life.
It wasn't the one of happiness, none of their stories were, but his story was a bit more difficult for the adults to understand.

"When I was seven years old, I ran away from home because I didn't feel safe with my own parents.
My mother was scatterbrained and absent while my father was a violent drunk.
Even as young as I was I could understand that it wasn't the way parents should behave, but still, I endured. What else could I do?
I suffered the bruises and hunger in silence thinking I had no other choice.

Then one day my father got really drunk and beat my mother so badly that there was blood pouring down her face, and she did nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
She just sat there for some time drinking coffee after he left the house to go to the nearby bar.
After she finished her coffee, the bloody mess that was my mother, went to the neighbors' small house to get fixed up.

What I didn't immediately realize was that she forgot to turn off the stove and before I got the chance to figure out what was happening the whole kitchen was on fire.

I knew I had to get away from the house, but once I did I just kept on going. Leaving behind my abusive father and my uncaring mother. They probably think I died in the fire. Maybe it's better that way.
I had no idea where I was going, I just knew for sure that I had to get out. The fire her carelessness started was the last drop for me.

Yes, she was hurt, but she was calm enough to have a cup of coffee, but not calm enough to make sure she turned off the stove. Not calm enough to check on her only son, to take him with her.
I couldn't understand that, so I let my past burn down behind me and moved towards the future that I hoped would be better.
All I found was coldness and hunger.

After days of wandering the streets, someone noticed me, and I was taken to the police station and when I pretended I didn't know where or who my parents were I was taken into the foster care." Nat said.

For the others who were intently looking at him, it felt like they were seeing a whole new side to Nat that he was hiding so well from the world.
Rina felt ashamed that she didn't really have such a positive opinion about him since the very start, but still, she was worried about his criminal past and what it meant for all of them.

Serena gently squeezed his hand in support knowing the story well enough and how difficult it was for him to share such a personal thing about himself, about his life.

"Once in foster care I bounced around from one family to another never truly fitting in.
After a few years, I ended up with a family that was worse than all the others before it.
They took up more children than any other family, but they didn't provide the necessary food and clothing for us.
All we did have was a TV that they would sit us in front of in the hopes of us forgetting about our hunger and other problems.

Since I was the oldest one of them all, I felt that it was my duty to help others, to feed them, but I was too young to get a real job.
Instead, I started working some smaller jobs mowing people's lawns and delivering newspapers, but there were too many of us and not enough money.
That was why one day I started working in a shady bar that allowed underage children to work as long as they did their job well enough.

Even that wasn't enough, so when I heard of a guy looking for someone to mentor into stealing cars I volunteered.
I was surprised when they picked me, a scrawny kid, to do the job.

They did threaten me and my foster family if I ever gave them away so maybe that was all the assurance they needed." Nat said as his hands gripped the wheel so firmly that his knuckles turned white.

The dead silence of his passengers was an expected reaction so it didn't deter him from going on with his story.

"I was a quick study and soon enough I was better than most of the kids they had in that particular gang of car thieves.
That helped me start earning more money, enough to support all the other foster kids in that house of hell, but it also made not getting caught more difficult since I was sent on most of the risky jobs.

The only person who knew about this was Serena.
Even though she didn't agree with my choices and loathed my bosses, she stayed by my side.

At the time we had been good friends for a long time although we had often been separated by distance, by being put in different foster families and all that, in spirit, we were always as close as siblings and I could never lie to her, and she never did abandon me." Nat said.

He looked at Serena with such an immense amount of brotherly love that even Jack couldn't find the words to protest their close friendship.

"Once I had gathered a small nest egg, I wanted to quit, but that was easier said than done.
They were able to find me even after I was moved to another foster family for being 'too much to handle' and I had no choice but to keep doing what I did best, stealing cars.

One day, something went wrong. I am pretty sure that one of the guys was jealous of my skills and that he called the cops on me.
Anyways, the moment I started up the car the police was on my tail and that could have happened only if they knew I was going to be there.
Having developed my driving skills over the time I worked with the gang, I managed to evade the police, barely.

It turned out that the guy did me a favor because the gang left me alone from that they on since they were sure I was caught and was working as a snitch for the police.
That was how I finally managed to escape their clutches and went back to being a law-abiding citizen again." Nat finished his story.

He tried to sound nonchalant about it, but it was obvious that having to steal to survive and breaking the law were heavy burdens on his conscious since he was such a smart and honest guy.

Rina felt that even after everything she had been through she had never been through something as awful as what Nat had been telling them about.
She felt sorry for him since in her mind the amount of pain she had been through was nothing in comparison with what had happened to Nat.

Surprisingly enough, she admired him that even after everything that he had been through he had the strength to be such an awesome person.
He was smart and caring as well as an amazing friend to Serena so Rina couldn't really take his past against him.

Even Caroline and Jack didn't seem as appalled by his revelation as he expected.

"I am sorry for everything you have been through. No one deserves so much pain. Thank you for looking after our daughter." Caroline said.

"Yeah, I guess you are not so bad after all," Jack muttered.
It was obvious that expressing emotions wasn't something Jack was good at so that was all he could muster still it was enough for Nat to understand what he meant.

Nat was accepted by Serena's family even after everything they learned about who he was, and he couldn't be happier about it.

The atmosphere in the car was much more comfortable once doubt left the inside of the car, and they sped on to hopefully find the road to grandma's house.