Prologue

Prologue:

I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something wasn't right. I felt like I was in a strange Déjà Vú. I froze up when I heard the steel toed boots scuffing on the porch. Even though I knew I had to hide I just couldn't. I felt someone tug my hand. I let my sister pull me to the furthest bedroom door. She pulled it open, "Kacey, don't be stupid. Come on!" She looked five. Her blonde hair and green eyes matched mine perfectly. For fraternal twins we looked almost identical except she was a girl while I am not.

I shut the door behind me as the front door burst open. His laughter filled my head. I knew that laugh; he just got done with teaching my brothers. Next lesson was probably how to torture little kids. We tipped toed quickly to the bed and slid under. Elizabeth grabbed my hand again. I watched as she cried. She squeaked so I put my hand over her mouth, letting my own tears spill over. For some reason I already knew what happened next. I kept my eyes on Elizabeth as door after door was kicked in. I squeezed her mouth tighter as they kicked in our door. I felt her try to squeal but no sound was made. All the sudden hands were under the bed. Kaden pulled Elizabeth out first and I followed. He threw Elizabeth to Gabe and turned to me. I only caught a glimpse of my dad watching in the door way as the whole scene changed. I was in a school hallway by myself. Kaden came around a corner. He pulled the gun and started teasing me around with it. I never flinched.

He decided to take a chance and get closer. I threw a hard elbow to his kidney area and grabbed the gun. Three shots rang out and he hit the ground. I checked myself for holes but all I found was his blood, all over me. I closed my eyes as my environment whirled around again. I was in a suit and handcuffs. Since I was only eight I could easily slip out. I flinched as the judge slammed down his gavel and said, "Guilty for manslaughter. Ten years in a juvenile detention facility. Do you understand Kacanyal? You are a bright young boy. I just don't understand why you did it."

I looked up at the judge for the first time. He looked tired. I was let go to walk out of the court with dignity. As I walked by my brothers and father, my dad, Ralph, grabbed my shoulder, "You better believe I'm going to get you back for this. Your life, from now on, is my toy. You are going to wish you were dead by the time I'm done with you."

Of course he said this so no one could hear it over the commotion of the courtroom. I actually smiled, "We'll see."

I sort of jumped at my brothers and both Gabe and Gavin flinched. I lost the smile as Mom ran up to me. I ran to meet her but instead of meeting her I met a fence. I was thirteen. I pulled the fence away from the high voltage wire. I could feel the electricity through the gloves at first. Four other guys climbed the fence. I was over and about to run off when Benny screeched in pure terror. I turned and saw him stuck on the fence. His shirt was wedged in the links. Even though he was three years older, I was way better at these situations. I could see he was getting shocked by the fence. Vicious barks echoed and all the other boys were gone. Without missing a beat I turned back to help him. I grabbed his shirt and ripped it. The dogs were let loose from their leashes and we scrambled to get back up the fence. I watched horrified as a dog leaped up and yanked him down. He hit the ground with a hard thud and was an instant rag doll in the dogs’ teeth. It was a struggle, being careful not to touch bare skin to the fence. I balanced on top of the fence. It was about ten or eleven feet high. I was trapped either way I went. One way there were the dogs and wardens but freedom. The other way was just wardens but a better chance of living. I didn't have time to decide because a dog jumped on the fence. I grabbed the fence as I lost my balanced and sort of slid down onto the side with just wardens. I was trapped forever. As soon as my feet hit the ground one grabbed me and shoved me against the fence. My bare skin touched the wire.

I opened my eyes. The sun was trying to peak up over the horizon. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Nightmares of the past were nothing new to me. I was plagued with them for as long as I could remember. Now I finally got to go home. For the past eight years, I had been living with cold blooded killers and other children with major marks on their records. After the media caught wind of what the wardens were really doing to us, caught on camera by yours truly, they released us all or really sent us to what we called HWH, Halfway to Heaven or Hell, depending on to whom you were talking to. They pretty much sent us through intense counseling, anger management classes, and for kids who were beat to hell, like I was, a few ice baths. I had been in my HWH for two weeks. After punching the second kid on my second day they told me if I didn’t behave I was going to stay longer. Even when the other guys ran their mouth, threatened to rip my piercings out or beat the pretty off me, I just rolled my eyes and walked away.  I talked just enough during the counseling sessions that I could get the hell out of there. I hadn’t talked to mom face to face in eight years, hadn’t talked on the phone for five years, or received a letter in one year. In her last letter all she did was apologize and told me that she had completely changed her life around.

I got dressed.

“Jones, Kacanyal.”

            “Yeah,” I stood up and took a step back.

This counselor was a big guy. He smiled widely, “Your mom is here.”
            I nodded but stayed where I was.

“Don’t be scared,” He kept smiling.

            I picked up my bag, “I’m not scared,” I wasn’t smiling back.

As soon as I hit the lobby, I saw my mom. I dropped my bags and she ran up and wrapped me in a hug so tight I thought I might pass out from lack of oxygen. I felt petrified. I hadn’t been hugged in so long I thought I’d forget how but I managed to hug her back. It was weird. I was a head taller than her but she looked exactly the same as I remembered accept happier.

            “Kacanyal,” I missed her always using my full name, “I want you to meet someone. He is really important to me and nothing like Ralph.” She was holding my hand. I let go.

            The counselor touched Mom’s shoulder, “I don’t know if-”

“I can handle it,” I cut him off. Issues with authority might have been written in my records.

            “Are you sure?”
I shot him a look that wiped his stupid smile off his face.

            Mom called over her shoulder, “Syler, this is Kacanyal. Baby, this is Syler Blake, my husband.”
We were close to the same size. He had orange hair and freckles. His eyes were a brown and his hand was out, “Nice to meet you, sir.”

            I looked at his hand then at Mom. She pretended to shake someone’s hand as if I didn’t know how. I grabbed his hand and shook twice putting on my award winning smile, “Kacey, you too.”

            I heard everyone gasp. No one moved. Syler just starred, a bit mesmerized, “Uh, yeah, okay. Jo Anne, you didn’t say he was so-”

            “Handsome,” My mom finished.

We finished signing all the papers. They told my mom that a parole officer was a little excessive in my situation but over the summer they would send a guy to check up on us to make sure I was staying out of trouble.

            When we were in the car for some reason my hands were in white knuckled fists. Syler was holding Mom’s hand on the center console and I was glad she was happy but I was actually a bit scared. I felt overwhelmed and tired already.

            “How about next week, we go car shopping and get you your license. You have your learner’s permit right?” Syler looked at me through the rearview mirror.

            I nodded.

Mom turned around in her seat, “Honey,” I hated what she was about to say already, “We are only two minutes from the house. I want you to know that you do have a little brother. His name is Sy and he can be a little rambunctious.”

            Mom stopped and looked at Syler, “How should I tell him?”

My heart thrummed a little bit, “Is he okay? Is something wrong with him?”

            Mom reached back and touched my knee, “Kacanyal, Sy is fine. He is healthy as can be.”

Syler put his hand on Mom’s knee, “Just let him see him.”

            She nodded and that was all the warning they gave me. When we were at the house, Syler went in first. The house was small, “You can go ahead and put your bag in the bedroom.”
            I nodded and only glanced around as I went. But it struck me as odd that there were three beds in such a small bedroom. When I made my way back to the living room, Syler had his hands on the shoulders of a young red head that looked just like him. The kid looked terrified of me.

            “Sy, this is Kacey. He is your big brother,” I didn’t see anything that I would need a warning for.
“You have Mom’s green eyes,” His eyes were big.

            “You have your dad’s uh, everything.”
They both laughed and I kind of smiled.

            “Kacey, don’t freak out. Seth.”

“Seth?” I looked at Syler and Sy. They were both looking at my mom then me. I faced my Mom and studied her. Then I saw it. The little hands wrapped on her pants leg. Blonde hair and a big green eye peeked at me from behind her leg.

            I took a step back. This was wrong. I struggled to keep calm, “Who is that?”
Mom pried the little boy away from her and left him standing there alone. His eyes shot from me to Mom and then back to me. He held eye contact, “I’m Seth.”

            “Kacey, you might want to sit down.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the kid. He looked so much like I did when I was his age. All I had to do was look at the pictures on the entertainment center to confirm it.

            “We know about you and Shana.”

I covered my mouth. I shook my head, “No. No. It’s not possible. I haven’t seen her in almost three years.”

            “Seth is two and a half. We are going to do a paternity test this week but baby, can you honestly say he isn’t yours?”

            I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t say he wasn’t mine. The dates added up I can even remember the few times with Shana when I was too stupid to stay safe. I shook my head no.

            “Kacey, you are his father.”
When Syler actually said it, my knees buckled. I caught myself on the side of the chair so I mostly sat down on the ground. My eyes were still glued to this beautiful green eyed, blonde haired kid. He looked scared but not of me, for me, “Are you okay?”

            I opened my mouth and nothing came out.

“It’s alright. Shana left him alone for eight hours. He has blood sugar problems and asthma. He passed out. Shana’s mom had heard her bring up your name a few times and she was positive he was yours. Her mom somehow got a hold of me and after talking and visiting we decided he’d be better living here with you, his father.”

            I shook my head, “I can’t. I’m not good enough.”
Seth’s eyes began to water, “Okay.”

            I turned to Mom. I hadn’t the slightest idea what to do. She gave me a look that told me I knew exactly what to do.

            I grabbed his little hand and pulled him a little closer to me, “If you want me to, I can try but I can’t promise I’ll make a good dad. I don’t even know what a good father looks like.”

            Suddenly his arms were wrapped around my neck and he was curled up in my arms. For the first time in my whole life I knew what perfection felt like.

Author's Note

Everything helps!

Reviews

[gabgal]

The character has a very interesting yet appealing personality. There are a lot of characters in the introduction to remember though. That may not be a bad thing but can be hard to keep up with for an introduction. I prefer what I read to be a little bit easier to follow without having to remember all the names at once at the start. Just so that I can get a basic idea of the storyline. Sometimes keeping it simple can be effective. I like how unpredictable this story seems to be. At first I thought it might be about a boy who's father is in a gang or something and then it took a turn to him being in jail and trying to escape which didn't surprise me so much. But the last bit was completely unexpected well done! Great descriptions. They gave a very clear picture of the scene without making me feel lost.

I'm basing my score on grammar, descriptions, character development, flow and how easy it is to follow comprehensively.Hope this was helpful. I only give honest reviews. Keep up the good work! :)

[K.E. Henderson]

Yeah, there are a lot of characters but the story re explains later. Thank you for this review! It helps!

[Christen Owen]

This sounds amazing! I can't wait to read more :D

[K.E. Henderson]

Thank you!