The Coldest Winter.

1.

     Hell is a teenage boy. Somehow, I knew I was in hell the minute my daddy told me this is where my cousin and I would be staying for a bit while he got himself together. About 3 years had passed, and I hadn't seen or heard a word from him. I didn't know what to think of it, why would he leave me here and never come back? He said before he left, that I was in good hands. I soon found out that what he perceived as good wasn't good at all.
     Our "family friend" was the wretched Ms. Beatrice Louise Patterson herself. I had the displeasure of meeting her in my younger years, and from what I've seen then, she was still as evil as she was now. Beatrice bore no children, as if the devil himself could reproduce. Somehow the love of her nephews kept her sane, in a very small way. I always wondered why she was the way she was. She had this evil look about her, she barely had anything nice to say and always seemed to have the world on her shoulders. I tried my best to stay out of her way, but we always seemed to bump into each other.
    Though I never really cared for her, my cousin took a strong liking into the rambunctious witch. And as time grew, I saw she took to him a little bit too much too. They did everything together, watched movies, played outside, cooked together, anything you can think of that took a total of 2 people to do, they did it. I always asked to join but I was never accepted in. I felt like an outcast, I felt worthless. I wished my daddy would walk through that gate and tell me pack my bags and that it was time to go. But it never happened.
    Most days I just went to school, did my homework and remained quiet until spoken to. It was almost like the sound of my voice threw her into a frenzy. I don't know what about me she disliked, I tried my best to be nice to her. But even my best wasn't good enough.
I sought to my cousin for answers, since their relationship seemed to flourish I thought he could tell me what to do. Instead, all the advice I received was, "Maybe she just doesn't like you." Hearing the words escape his lips sent me deeper into my already depressed atmosphere. We've never so much as had an argument, how can she dislike me the way she does? My thoughts over took my mind as I went days, sometimes weeks without muttering a word to anybody. For a while it seemed like nobody really cared if I was there or not.
     When the clock stroked 10 PM that meant lights out, for me not my cousin. He could stay up all night long and watch tv. I had to go to bed. My bed wasn't a bed at all. I plopped down on the flimsy pallet of semi thick covers that were given to me my first day here and laid my head on my jacket that I had made into a make shift pillow. I looked up at my cousin who was laying on the pullout couch eating popcorn and watching Good Times. This can't be the life God destined for me.