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Most recently published stories in Families.
My Dad, Benjamin
My Dad, Benjamin It was a sunny and crisp Saturday morning nearing my moving home day. I was not looking forward to having to move and the task ahead of me this weekend. My renovations were almost done and I was determined, or more determined than when I had to empty my house, to not move items in that I no longer need to carry with me.
By Sara Christine3 years ago in Families
The Unspoken Gift
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Layla, Happy birthday too you. And many more!!!!” Everyone Layla knew gathered around the table singing “Happy Birthday” to you. She had the biggest smile on her face as she watched all her friends and family.
By Kirsten Whittaker3 years ago in Families
The Book Of Fortune
"License and registration”, stated the police officer. “H-here you go”, Joel muttered as he handed over his license and registration, in a car that smelled like a skunk that had done its best to protect its self. Despite the stereotype to dislike and show no support towards police officers in my community, you know the people that they arrest, I was quite encapsulated by this police officer's good looks and gentle aura. He was quite the scene to see and his energy was so intriguing, but he still was a cop and we still had illegal substances inside the car, I was both nervous and infatuated. The police officer then takes Joel's driver's license and registration and takes it back to his car. “I told you not to race that Evo!” I shouted. “What did you expect? He was teasing me!” “Yeah, teasing you because you drive a stock WRX and wanted to let you have fun by doing some pulls with you, did you not notice he didn’t even bother to keep going after you hit 90 miles?” ”Yeah whatever, what you should be worried about is that acid that you have in your bag and the stench of weed coming out of the car!” “Shut up! Let’s just tell him that we hit a skunk and it flew inside the car or something” “Oh yeah and I might as well tell him that the Evo was the one who threw the skunk at us too huh? You think that’s gonna do something then you might as we-“ “Ahem, you know why I pulled you guys over”, interrupted the police officer. “Because you saw us hit the skunk, saw it fly into the car and wanted to know if it was okay”? I said, “That’s a good one”, the police officer said while laughing. “You guys were going 120 in a 75, I mean I understand you have a fast car but doing such speeds on the freeway imposes a danger not only to yourself but the other people driving alongside you guys as well and, as a police officer it’s my job to protect the community.” “I understand, sir”, said Joel. “But you guys feel like some good folks just trying to have some fun, I have a Mark 4 Supra myself so I know how it is, next time I do ask if you guys can please take other people safety into consideration and go somewhere less populated with vulnerable citizens just trying to get from point A to point B, can you do that for me? “Yeah, of course!” Joel said with excitement. “Yes sir,” I said. “I’m going to give you guys a warning this time just don’t let me catch you putting others lives in danger in any other way you got it, I guarantee if you run into another officer again they’re most likely going to give you a fat ticket and probably search your guy’s car for that skunk you ran over. “Yes sir,” Joel and I said simultaneously. “Alright well you two have a nice night, you take good care and get this lady home safe tonight you heard?” “Got it”, said Joel. “Wow, he’s so sweet!” I thought to myself. As the police officer was walking back to his car, I knew it would be a miracle for me to cross paths with such a handsome and caring person in the same body ever again so I called out to him before he got to his car door. “Hey, officer!” I yelled while waving my hands and speed walking. He looks at me. “I was wondering if I could get your number, I know this is probably not allowed or something, but you’ve just really caught my eye and I would love to get a chance to get to know you a bit more because I already admire what I feel so far”. He smiles, gives me a hug, and pulls out his phone, is it okay if I get your Snapchat instead?” “Oh yeah, that’s fine!” I said as I pulled out my phone. It felt as if we had an immediate bond like I already felt so comfortable around him even though I just met him. “What’s your name anyway?” “You can call me Jay,” he said as I scanned his Snapchat code and added him on Snapchat. “Alright, I’m Dasia nice to meet you, Jay!” “Nice to meet you too, well I gotta get on out of here, hit me up on Snap for sure I’m off duty at 12”. “Sounds good, thanks for your service, you be safe out there”. He nodded, as he got in his car and drove off. It’s 11:59 PM I’ve been playing Call of Duty for 3 consecutive hours and look at my phone for the first time since I added Jay on Snapchat. “Oh shit!” I yelled as I search for my phone hesitantly through my blankets and unlock it after swinging my blanket and flinging my phone into the wall. It’s midnight, I think about messaging Jay, but I stop myself. ‘No I don’t wanna look too desperate… ugh who am I kidding, if he thinks I’m desperate for being myself, then he doesn’t deserve to be with me. I’m just excited to talk to him, that’s all. “What’s up!!” I message him excitingly. 4 hours pass without a response, “I knew it was too good to be true, maybe he’s just busy, maybe he gave me his work Snapchat and now I’m being tracked and watched. I get messages from other guys who see that I’m online and try to talk to me, they don’t want to talk to me, I know why they’re messaging me... I think to myself. I ignore those messages and play Call of Duty until the sun comes up. I look at my message on Snapchat, embarrassed because I messaged him so enthusiastically and right at 12 when he told me he gets off. I then see that we have mutual friends in common, we know a few people in common. He must be a cool person based on the mutual friends we know. I must be overthinking, I should just get some sleep.. “Hey. I’m off early around 12, wanna go grab some lunch? Stay out of trouble !” Reads Jays Snapchat to me around 5 AM. I wake up around 11 AM and notice I received a Snapchat from Jay. I immediately read the Snapchat and see that he invited me to go eat lunch with him. “Yeooooooooow!!!! Wahoo ahhhhhhhhh” I scream as I dance around my room. “Yeah I’m down for some lunch, thanks for the invitation. Let’s meet at Dennys on 47th?” I messaged back. “Sounds good”, he immediately replied. I didn’t respond to him after that, we just met up at Dennys, had some lunch. Went out for lunch another time, and again, and again, until lunch finally moved to my house, and eventually we became a couple. One year after being together Jay ask’s me to watch his little brother while he works, he say’s something important came up and that his parents are unable to watch his little brother today. Not being a problem, after all me not having a job, no family and having a fairly good relationship with Jays little brother I didn’t mind. After a couple hours of watching Jay’s little brother by myself, I hear a loud crashing noise come from outside the house. I tell Jays little brother to stay in his room as I go check to see what the noise was. I look outside the front window and see that the brick fence in the front yard appeared to be broken, it obviously wasn’t a car. I rushed back to Jays little brothers room, I knew I had to get him out of the house. I call Jay and tell him what had happened, Jay tells me to go into his parents room and grab a little black book that is under their bed, confused but trusting that my boyfriend knows what he’s saying, I rush to grab the little black book. “Okay I got it! Now what?!” He tells me to get myself and his little brother out of the house as soon as possible. Assuming that whoever broke the front fence was looking for the black book Jay was telling me about, I hurry Jays little brother out the back door and have him climb the back yard fence first so I can help him up. Dasia there’s somebody behind you! I look back and see a masked being running in our direction. I then start climbing the fence myself despite Jays little brother still climbing down from the fence, the shaking of the fence from me climbing so fast causes him to fall onto the floor. I jump down from the top of the fence, pick up Jays little brother and start sprinting towards the school across the street. I notice the relocatable’s as soon as I enter the school grounds and run towards them as a first instinct to lose the person chasing us. I run into the maze-like relocatable’s on the side of the school, taking the second left turn, another left, then a right. Finding myself with Jays little brother in the middle of the relocatable’s. I then get an idea to further our hiding by crawling under a set of stairs nearby. We wait… a couple minutes later we hear footsteps running around the area we are hiding in, Jays little brother scared for his life he lets out a little whimper. The masked being then makes their way closer to us, I couldn’t let him make another noise so I cover his mouth and nose with my hands as I hold his arms and legs down with mine to restrict him from making noise with his arms or legs. I hear footsteps making their way further and further away from us. I then let go of Jays little brothers mouth. We then make our way to a nearby neighbors house and ask them to help us, covered in dirt and tears running down our faces the neighbors let us in. I immediately call Jay. “Where are you guys at?! He exclaims, I’m at the house”. “We’re at the neighbors house, the blue one to the left of the school right across the street. “Alright, I’m on my way”. Jay then shows up to the house and rushes to hug the both of us, asking us if we’re okay. “What the hell was that all about?!” I yell. “Dasia, my parents were getting chased right before you called me and told me to hide the black book under their bed before they hung up… I’m just glad you two are okay.” “Are your parents okay?” I ask. “To be honest I’m not sure. “What the hell even is this book? What’s inside of it?” Jay sighs, “Dasia our parents work together in secrecy, worked their whole life mining and finally discovered a gold mine out in Arizona, they made these maps to pass down to their children. “Us…” ‘I knew the book looked familiar, I always just wrote my dreams, or wises, you know things I want to do in there, I never even got past the second page because I fulfill all my dreams by being by your side, Jay. Jay hugs me and his little brother, “everything is going to be okay”. Jay’s backup that he called while he was on his way to the house show up to the neighbors house and investigate Jay’s parent’s house. The next day I bring my black book and I flip it to the end, there’s half of a map on the back side of the book. Jay then opens his parents book, flips through the seemingly empty notebook until he finds the other half of a map on the back and then puts it next to mine, perfectly forming a completed map of where to dig to find the gold mine that our parents discovered. You know all those dreams and wishes you wrote when you were a kid? Let’s make those come true. We then head to the gold mine led to us by the completed map, and find the mine. “Our parents were really here…” I said. “Yeah… Let’s just make the best of it, I know its what they would have wanted”. Said Jay. “20 pounds is enough for us, don’t you think? We can save the rest for our kid”. I said. “What are you saying?” Said Jay. “I’m pregnant”! We received $400,000 from the 20 pounds of gold we harvested from the mine, and raised our child comfortably in our new house in Costa Rica with Jays little brother.
By HelloTrippy Gaming3 years ago in Families
The Den
He died alone. No one to hold his hand, did he reach? Would he had reached? 32 hours ago I wanted nothing to do with him. I could't of cared less about his well-being, now my heart aches for my poor father. Sitting on his old leather couch has brought back vivid memories of my childhood trauma. Screams between him and my mother silently fill my ears. The sound of shattering glass the time my mom picked up his little black book. The infamous book that he carried everywhere he went. She went to move it for the sake of dusting underneath it and boy did he get upset. He yelled nasty things then concluded with tossing one of her favorite china dolls across the room boasting about how he created something else for her to clean. I now hold this book in my hands just hours after identifying his frail lifeless body. This book caused so much friction in his and my mothers marriage, I once desperately wanted to burn it. Instead I now sit here tempted to read it. Feeling a little nervous as if were going to come through the door of his den, where I sat, and tell me how is isn't feeling like himself after a tongue lashing I would receive thanks to my cartoons being too loud or the beating mama would get because his supper wasn't hot enough, or hell too hot depending on the season.It was a good thing they never got around to having more children after I was born. Mama would never get the chance to relax in between two jobs because daddy's temperament kept him from holding down a decent 9 to 5. Mama had to work two jobs, still to have to rob Paul to pay Peter, she would always say. Nevertheless I now controlled the one possession that seemingly controlled him. A glass of gin with sprite and I sit together, just as he sat with his whiskey and coke. Tears riding the rims of my eyes and my drink at my side as I clutched the book. Now thinking back, I'm more like him than I care to admit. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself as I slowly turned the first page being careful not to rip them. "I NEED HELP." The sentence on the second page read. I didn't understand, why did he need help? my heart sinks into the pit of my stomach. The next page, "GOD PLEASE FIX ME." Fix what? why is he calling on God? Skipping several pages I run into, "WILL THEY LOVE ME? WILL THEY UNDERSTAND." This got to me far more than the first page. I can't stop the tears from flowing. The book was filled with one and two sentence pages that didn't get any easier to read. It was as though he pondered about these sentences because on every page there was doodling that filled the rest of the pages. In hopes of finding something positive to read I stumbled across the most heart-wrenching sentences, "SHE NEVER GOT TO FORGIVE ME. RIP 08/24/2020." The date my mother's life ended after contracting COVID-19 from either her job as a cook at the convalescent home or maybe at the warehouse where she worked the line assembling first-aid kits. irregardless she didn't make it and he cared. He didn't show any emotion at her funeral. I was certain he was relieved she was gone, and now I know he did in fact care. "CHI THIS IS FOR YOU." He gave me that nickname when I was in grade-school. What was for me? more and more questions. Just as I turned another page the home phone rings. I watched it for a second. Then I realized they weren't giving up. I answered with the most annoyed tone to see to it that the person on the other end knew first hand that I wanted nothing to do with their conversation. "Yeah?" that ought of make them hang up, I thought. "Chi?" the voice exclaimed. "Yes," I responded. "My name is Erik Nelson. I am your father's attorney and conservator. do you have a moment?" I sat quietly in confusion. He continued. "When your mother passed she had a fifty-thousand dollar insurance policy so that in the event anything happened to her you and your father would be taken care of. Well shortly after she passed your father hired me to help him set it aside for you." "Why me? I don't understand. Why did he need you?" I asked softly. "Chi, your father was diagnosed with Schizophrenia right before your mother passed and he thought it would cloud his better judgment with the funds from your mother and hired me to help. He place the money in a savings account for you and also signed the deed to the house over to you if anything were to happen to him." I couldn't believe it. Daddy not only died alone but lived alone. He never shared anything with us and suffered in silence. The conversation that seemed like forever ended as quickly as it began and Mr. Nelson hung up with the intent to meet with me the following day to go over more detail. I turned the last page of the book and there it was. A photo of my mother and father in the hospital the day I was born. Mama holding me while daddy grinned a grin I can't say I had seen very often. The caption read, "I never knew how much I loved you until I would wake up someone else and not even recognize who you were, but I'm myself today and I know I love you both more than I love myself. "
By Mimi0hMy693 years ago in Families
Unruined Dreams
Sometimes I have to try very hard to think back to what life was like before I was placed with my foster family. I mostly blocked out allot of the unnecessary trauma. I spent most days and nights alone. My mom left me and my dad when I was just a toddler. I don’t remember her at all. I have one picture of her and me. Her smiling at my dad who was the photographer and me looking at the grass with my thumb in my mouth. The picture was taken outside of a trailer we lived in. I never thought twice about not having a mother when I was growing up. On some Days dad was enough, and on other days he was nonexistent. It was just he and I in that little trailer so when he wasn’t there it was me myself and I. Sometimes I would go days at a time without speaking to anyone. I made up the most elaborate stories and fantasized about being one of the characters.
By Maryam Abdullah3 years ago in Families
Little Black Book
Little Black Book.docx (17 KB) Sade and Joe Grant were your average middle-income family were enjoying their new life. It was slow and easygoing quite unlike their previous home in New York City. Their four acres were lined with pine and oak trees, and nestled in the middle of their rural community. The oak trees hovered over the main highway as if they were forming a safe haven for travel through the area; it was the perfect stop for travelers passing through to take pictures and take samples of the beautiful gray moss hanging from the trees. It didn’t matter that there was a cemetery across the road. Occasionally, the travelers would actually walk over and admire some of the headstones.
By Roberta Watson3 years ago in Families
Hijra Dreams
Ratnagiri, India, 1967 Hands are spaces of relation, undeterminable from the present reality. Fingers are digits of imagination, capable of creating realities of possibility. What happens when I tell my story of forsaken worlds that were a breath away from being?
By Rishi Guné3 years ago in Families
When Seeking Adventure
Loraine Bonny’s physical pain had finally pulled at the threads of her emotional procrastination, as she sat outside of the chiropractor’s office with her head in her hands. The weight of her grandfather Edwin’s recent death, until today, was the most enveloping feeling she could ever remember experiencing. Loraine made her way through the foreign Sierra Vista chiropractor’s office still trying to wrap her head around the encounter she had just experienced at the Food Co-Op, which she was certain had changed her life for forever. She wondered how much longer she would have gone on living complacently if the office in her home town hadn’t closed permanently due to Covid-19 restrictions. For the first time in a week, she allowed herself to relax as the heating pads weighed heavily on her back, sending floods of pain and anguish throughout her body and psyche. She was scared of her aging body, she was upset with her granddad for dying, but mostly, she was mad at him for allowing her to live so plentiful, in ignorant bliss, while so many were starved, impoverished and without basic needs.
By Kamo Youngblood3 years ago in Families