Asher
Family. Most people are usually born with it or receive it at a young age when they’re first family wasn’t there for them. You can have this family your whole life, but in the blink of an eye they can be taking from your grasp forever. And when you’re a seventeen year old like I am and your family is taken away from you, you don’t know where to find a new place to call your home. New people that you can call your loved ones. A new life that can actually feel somewhat normal!
So at the moment I find myself lacking all of these beautiful things that I once had. To be honest, I have no idea where to find them again.
I had one pillow over my left ear had a pillow pressed up against it and my right one was forced down onto my mattress. I was trying to block out all of the noise that was coming from downstairs. Loud yelling from an argument created by Mr. and Mrs. Morrison was filling my ears as I tried to sleep. I truly didn’t understand how Avery was sleeping at a time like this. It almost sounded as if his parents were yelling right next to us it was so loud. It was pretty scary.
The fight had started once Ronnie left and Avery and I had decided to get some rest. It had started off but small, but kept getting bigger and bigger and quite louder and louder. It hurt my eardrums it was so loud.
I rolled onto my back, frustrated that I couldn’t sleep. I knew for a fact about myself that there was only one way for me to fall back asleep once I wake up or can’t go to sleep, and that’s by drinking a glass of water. However, seems like I wouldn’t be getting that glass of water tonight. To be honest, I was a little scared to have to face Avery’s parents while they were fighting.
I rolled over once again and thoughts filled my head. It’s just a glass of water, I thought to myself. I can just run down to their kitchen, fill it with water from the tap and bam! Everything will be fine. It’s not like they would be able to get mad at me if they spotted me, right?
I sighed and realized that I was just wasting my time negotiating if I should go or not because I knew myself that I would end up going in the end anyways. I threw my sheets off of me and tiptoed out of Avery’s room. I padded down the stairs, and with every step I took the yelling got louder and louder.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs and eyed the long hallway in front of me, I narrowed my eyes in concentration. I just had to take a few steps and I would be there, in the kitchen, capable of getting my wonderful glass of H2O. I then noticed a problem: the kitchen was directly in front of the living room where Mr. and Mrs. Morrison were fighting. Oh great… another way to make this situation harder.
“Just be quick,” I whispered to myself so silently that even I hardly heard it. “Be sneaky… sneaky like a fox!”
I slid down the hall on my socks, ninja style of course, I ran into the kitchen silently. Luckily, where the sink and cups were in the kitchen was a spot that wasn’t visible when you were in the living room. I scurried there, grabbed a cup and began filling my cup. I was hoping that through the yelling that was coming from the family room they wouldn’t be able to hear the water running.
I didn’t mean to, but as I waited for my cup to fill up, I heard a little bit of Avery’s parents’ conversation. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop; it’s just that when people are being so loud, it’s hard not to pay attention to them.
“I don’t understand why you’re reacting so ridiculously to this!” I heard Mrs. Morrison yell to her husband.
“Don’t understand?!” Mr. Morrison replied, his voice equally as loud as his wife’s. “This isn’t just something that you can just do out of the blue!”
“But it’s what we both want!” She cried.
“Yes, and we got it five years ago!” He responded to her, not seeming to lower his voice at all. “It was dangerous Jane!”
The cup was over-filling, but I hardly cared. To tell the truth, I wanted to know what was going on with this family. From what Avery had told Ronnie and me, it’s not exactly the most normal one on this planet. According to him, family problems started after he found out about his adoption. I didn’t know that by family dramas he meant that they were this serious.
The fight kept going on and on and I didn’t even make a step towards the stairs. I had my cup of water that was really overflowing now, but I couldn’t move. Listening to their fight was like watching Pearl Harbor or whatever. You wanna go get something upstairs, but you can’t find yourself leaving the movie because you just want to know what happens in the movie!
However, the fight was starting to die down, and before I knew it, Mr. Morrison had left the room out of anger. I heard Mrs. Morrison sigh, get up and start walking towards the kitchen. I immediately closed the tap, grabbed my glass of water and looked around the kitchen so I could find a place to hide. This was not good… not good, not good, not good.
I went behind the island in the middle of the kitchen because it was the only hiding spot I could think of. I thought that I had the best place in the kitchen to hide, however, that idea completely backfired when Mrs. Morrison walked right next to me and looked down at my crouched body.
“Asher?” She said, sounding quite surprised to see me here. “What are you doing out of bed.”
I got off the ground and looked around, trying to find anything to look at besides her. My eyes settled on a big red pot and I then realized that my next worry was to find something to say.
It took me five seconds or whatnot before I blurted out, “What are you doing out of bed?”
She chuckled a little bit. “I actually haven’t gone to bed yet. I was a little preoccupied with… well; I was having an argument with my husband if you must know.”
My eyes snapped back to hers and I was quite shocked to see some tears in her eyes. I set my glass of water down on the island and asked her, “Do you want to talk about it? I’m pretty good at giving advice to be honest.”
She gave me a little smile and told me, “Thank you Asher, that’d be wonderful.”
We both sat down at the island together, both with water now since she had gotten herself a glass. To most people, a teenage boy talking with a mother would be quite awkward and well… lame. However, to me it was perfectly normal. You see, when my mom was still around, every Sunday morning we’d go out to breakfast and talk about our problems of the week. I’d help her and she’d help me.
This week would be the first Sunday where I didn’t go to the local breakfast diner and talk with my mother. I just know that I would feel so empty not doing so, so I might as well just try and fill in the hole in my heart that was bound to appear.
“So, what’s going on?” I asked her.
“Well Asher,” She began, seeming a little hesitant. “As you can see, I’m not the youngest woman in the world.”
I didn’t know how to react, so I just nodded my head for her to go on. I doubt that that was the end of her story.
“To cut a long story short, I want to have another child before I become too old. However, when I was carrying Hartlyn, I was in grave danger and my husband doesn’t want me to go through that again.” She now seemed much more comfortable with talking to me now that she got her words out. “However, I just love children so much that I just don’t feel two is enough! I want a house filled with little smiling faces!”
“Children are fun to be around,” I commented.
She shot me a smile and went on. “Nevertheless, I do know that my health could be in danger if I do have that house full of kids, so I offered adoption to my husband. I guess it’s not just my health that he’s worried about, but finances as well. He says that we may not have enough money to send each to college and that just to keep all of their mouths fed may be a little bit of a challenge.” She sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Or maybe it’s not just finances… he may possibly just want to have Avery and Hartlyn and that’s it.”
I knew this was my cue, so I put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Well, it’s not like you can sneak a new child, but maybe if you talk to your husband about having more children in a calmer manner. He may have a better reaction if you guy don’t raise your voices. Trust me, just the tone of your voice can change a ton of things.”
She nodded her head in consideration. “I think I may actually try that. Thanks Asher!”
She looked at the clock hanging over the stove and she shook her head a little bit. “Well, it’s past midnight young man! I think it’s time you get some rest.”
I smiled at her and got up with my glass of water, which I was finally able to drink. However, as I went to leave the kitchen, Mrs. Morrison called out to me, “Asher?”
I turned around and responded with, “Yeah?”
“I’m happy Avery has a best friend like you. He really seems to like you.” She gave me a jolly wink. “You’re a good role model for him. I couldn’t pick a better friend myself.”
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I FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!
Sorry, I just couldn't find insperation to write this chapter! Hard week for me too so I didn't have that much time either. But here it is!
Well, I hope you enjoyed it! Plus I hope you enjoy this story's new cover :D
And the song for the chapter is Long Distance Call by Phoenix! CATCHIEST SONG EVER!!! I love it!
Well, I hope you guys liked the chapter! Please comment and vote and thanks so much for reading!
-830freckles