Blaine had always known this day was coming. He was only 11 years old but he knew that one day his dad would just go too far, and today happened to be that day, the day he knew the path of his life had just detoured down another trail.
Blaine sat still, afraid to move from the top of the stairs as he watched 2 police officers handcuffing and taking his dad out the door. Blaine felt a sense of deja vu from a couple of years prior when he sat at the top the stairs, watching, as two men wheeled his mother from the house on a stretcher, with a white cloth drapped over her entire body. He remembered being terrible upset and paralysied with fear, shock and anger but today he felt numb. He felt nothing for the man he called dad, nothing for the man who abused him and his mother, all their lives.
After most people had left, one person,a woman was came to talk to him. She explained what was going to happen but Blaine had already known he was going into a home. The woman had been surprised, when she told him to go and pack up a few of his things and he had responded by telling her, that he had already packed what was most important to him and that he'd be back in a second, he just had to grab his bags from under his bed.
Sure enough, Blaine was back in a minute with a small red suitcase and his school bag in which he stuffed the rest of his things, things he hadn't packed because he needed them until the very last minute; like his baby blanket, his teddy bear and the picture of him and his mother on his beside table in a frame made from pasta and glitter, something his mother had helped him make. All of this made the socail worker wonder, just how long had this been going on? How long has this innocent young boy been so afraid for? How long in advance had he been packed? Had he been prepared to runaway if his dad hit him again?
A couple of weeks had passed and Blaine had not heard much about his father and had not made any attempt to talk to or play with the other kids in the home. He had not seen the woman who brought him here a couple of weeks ago and he just wanted to go home and play on his piano, in his living room and he wanted to play the sheet music his mother always played for him when he was upset and he just wanted his mammy.
It was at this time another little boy from the home came over and sat beside him at the bay window, in the upstairs playroom. Blaine couldn't remeber his name and he didn't bother to ask. He was so rude to the little boy, the only other kid in the home who had actually made an effort to talk to him.
Blaine didn't even acknowledge him. The little boy just looked at him and said "I know this is all strange and upsetting for you right now, but it will get better, I promise, and I never break my promises." Blaine looked at the boy in shock. Such wise words from a kid, who didn't seem much older than himself, if anything he looked younger than him. The little boy stared back at Blaines expression, shocked but blank at the same time. Suddenly the little boy jumped up and in the highest pitched voice, told him, "Well I'm off, my new mommy, daddy and brother are here to bring me home with them, see, things always get better." The boy jumped on him and gave him a hug. Blaine flinched, and as the boy pulled away again, Blaine caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were the plaest blue eyes he had ever seen and with that the little boy skipped out of the room to find his new family and suddenly Blaine felt more alone now, than he ever had since he got to the home.
In 6 months he had met loads of people who talked with him but, no one had ever offered to bring him home like that little boy, a couple of months ago.
His day had started off normally. He got up, had breakfast and went to back to sit in the bay window, with his portable CD player, a gift from his mother for his 6th birthday. The last birthday she ever celebrated with him. He remebered it like it was yesterday, he was woken up by the smell of fresh pancakes cooking downstairs. He jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs to be greeted by his mother. "Happy Birthday!" she sang to him and put a plate of pancakes down on front of him as he sat down at the table. When he was finished, she handed him a small red box with a large blue bow on it. He remebered opening it and thanking her for it and giving her a big, warm, comforting hug, before his father had come down the stairs shouting abuse as he always did. It was clear he had only gotten in from the bar a few hours ago and was probally still drunk. The last memory he had of that morning was his mother giving him a look, which told him to make himself scarce and thats what he did. He went to his room locked the door and listened to his portable CD player.
He was snapped out of his day dream, when a little girl came running into the room. He had never seen her before but, maybe she was new. She was fallowed by two men running after her, telling her, not to run off like that again and then the two men left the room again with the woman of the house, but not before telling her to behave herself. Blaine sat by the window, queitly singing along to his cd palyer. The little girl approached him and sat beside him. He paused his cd player and took out one of his earphones. Her smile was one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen. " You have an amazing voice" she said."My name is Rachel, What's your name?" she asked excitedly. "My name is Blaine" he reluctantly told her, "And thank you, I do like to sing."
"Me too!" she shrieked back. "Im going to be a Broadway star one day! Do you like musicals?" she asked with anticipation. Blaine nodded his head. It was the first time anyone had ever talked to him about what he liked. All the other boys were into football and wrestling and the girls just played dollies and tea parties. "Yes, I love Broadway shows, my favourite is Westside Story, what about you?" Before he could even take a breath she was up on her feet, "Oh my god! me too, I'm going to be Maire when I'm older, Come on you have to meet my daddies, they love Westside Story too!" Before he could object the litl...Rachel was pulling him by his hand out of the room and down the stairs, to the kitchen where her dads and the woman of the house were sitting.
She ran into the kitchen dragging Blaine along with her. " Daddies, daddies, this is Blaine I really like him and he likes Westside Story too and he can sing and he can be my new duet partner" She would have kept babling on, but one of her dad's stopped her and told her to calm down. Then he bent down to talk to me. "Hi Blaine, I'm Hiram and this is my husband Leroy " motioning towards the other man coming over to them now. "We're Rachels dads" they said in unison.
Blaine laughed at this and the woman of the house was in shock, because in the last 6 months he had been here and all the potential families he met, he never even smiled. Their was something about this family though. She could tell.
Rachel who had been by her dad's side came oer and put her hand around Blaines shoulder and looked at her dads "So can we bring him home. I like him, I really do."
Both of her dads laughed and looked at both of us.
"Well its not that simple baby, Blaine might not want to come home with us." Then he addressed me "What do you think, buddy?" Blaine felt over come with something he didn't quiet understand. He hadn't been called a nickname since before his mother had died. She used to always call him sweety. A small taer fell from his eye, but he wiped it away very quickly.
"Don't cry buddy, you don't have to come home with us, our Rachel just gets over excited sometimes", whispered the man, he remebered to be leroy.
"No,no its not that, it's just , just , I'm scared" he breath out. "I'm scared and not just now, I'm scared about everything, bu but i really like Rachel and the way you called me buddy" and as he got the last words out, his face just exploded in tears and he started to sob.
He felt his feet move forward on the ground as, the man he remebered as Hiram, pulled him into a tight embrace and hugged him tightly.
The woman of the house looked on at this scene and could see the small boy, holding onto Hiram for dear life and the tears in the other man's eyes and also, how could she not see the little girl's bright eyes and huge smile. She left to go and get the officail papers and when she returned, the four of them where sitting at the table all luaghing and smiling.
She had never felt so sure that a child was going to a better home.