Chapter 2: It's safer just to give the little monster a brownie

Renata

My life is beyond hell swimming in the pits of unwanted responsibility and broken family. I make the best of it even though I may come out as a real bitch sometimes, but people can deal with it. I walk in the pouring rain on my way home from the whore heaven called school. It's not so bad though. I mean besides the fact that my wavy, brown hair is getting wet even though I'm wearing my only sweater with my hoodie up, but that's not what really matters. What actually matters is that I get to go home and read my favorite novel called Divergent for the twenty-seventh time. I walk up to the side door of my beat-down home in the more ghetto area of town and open the unlocked door. "I'm home everybody!" I yell out to the empty kitchen. Within seconds there are my seven little siblings chanting my name as they race to hug me.

"Renata," the littlest one, Zander smiles at me. He is missing a tooth. "Do you have any food?" His eyes are hopeful and shinning with years of starvation. I kneel down and all the little ones look at me with hungry eyes. I'm hungry too.

"I actually do have some snacks," I swing my backpack in front of me hearing all the little ones cheer out of relief. When I unzip my backpack, I notice that all of my snacking food is gone. "Damon," I mutter under my breath thinking of that kid that stole my backpack during last period. He's going to get a mouth full of it tomorrow. I look up at all the little ones. I sigh. I can't tell them that I don't have anything. Growling I get my lunch bag from my backpack and pull out the cafeteria food that I was planning to eat for dinner. I give out the food as I call their names going from oldest to smallest. "Here's some salad for Cindy, a small chicken wing for Aaron, some apple sauce for Ryan, another chicken wing for Kayden, a bottle of milk for France, some more salad for Nina, and a half eaten chicken wing for Zander!" I tried to make the food sound good to eat, but Zander could see past that.

"Renata," he said sweetly. "I saw a brownie in there. Can I have it?"

"Zander, you need something healthy so you won't be as hungry."

"But, I need energy and brownies give me energy!"

I frown. "You can have the brownie when you're a big boy."

I get up and head toward my room, but Zander is on my heels. "I'm almost seven years old! That's a big boy Rena!"

I closed the door behind me calling out, "A big boy is eight years old Zander."

Finally, piece and quiet. Damn, why does this have to be so hard? Why can't I have a parent who is actually here taking care of the children instead of having me do all the heavy lifting? Gosh, I have to skip last period just to be here in time for when the children come home. I take the book out of my black backpack and turn the pages. It's wet from the rain. Well, I shouldn't expect less. When I found the backpack on the street, it was full of holes and was all worn down to the stitching on the zipper.

I sit down on my bed with the book in front of me looking out the window. The storm is getting worse, there is lightning flashing and the wind is picking up. I might be inside the house, but this crappy window can't block out water or wind. Fuck, why does this life have to suck so much? My door suddenly flings open and Zander runs into my room taking the book off my bed then running out. "Zander!" I yell at him. I get up off my bed and walk down the hall not bothering to chase him. He better find a good hiding place if he plans on getting away from me after he takes my only book. The storm outside releases a loud clap of thunder that turns off the lights and everyone screams my name. I instinctively run into to Zander's room when I heard something break. When I get into the room, the first thing I see is a man in the middle of the room surrounded by shattered glass.

"Rena," I hear Zander whisper my name. I look at him and he is sitting against the wall with his knees curled up against his body. He crawls over to me. "Who is that?"

"Zander get up," I growl at him. He obeys me. I don't really care about the man's body in this room. I have something more important to find out. "Where's my book?" He pointed to the man. "I know about the boy on the floor Zander. What I need is to know where my book is!" Zander points to the man again. "Are you serious?" He can't really mean-

"I came into your room, took the book, came here and there was a lightning bolt thingie that broke the window. The next thing I know is that you're here and so is that man." He chuckles nervously.

"Zander, you're not going to tell anyone about this man. Not your bothers or sisters. Okay?"

He smirks. "I would, but I need some motivation." He rubs his stomach. I know what he wants. "I promise that I won't tell if you pay up." I take the plastic covered brownie out from my pocket and hand it to him.

"I can't believe I'm listening to a six year old. Adults are supposed to tell kids what to do."

"I told you that I'm a big boy." He leaves closing the door behind him.

I go over to the man. "Dude, get the fuck up. You're bending the cover!" I cry not caring about his well being, just my book. He doesn't respond. I kick him on the arm, but he hardly moves. I grab his feet and try to drag him off of my book, but I fail and only get one of his shoes off. That muscular jackass. A lightbulb goes off and I grab his shirt and try to tug him off my book. If this doesn't work then I'll have to wait for him to get up so I can get my book. It doesn't work. Argh! What the fuck man? Just give me my damn book back! His shirt slides up as I fall flat onto my butt. He has a...dauntless tattoo? No, he doesn't only have a dauntless tattoo, he also has an Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, and Amity symbols tattoo running down his spine. What in the fucking world is this?
"Rena, are we going to have dinner today?" Cindy calls from the kitchen.
"Give me a second," I think fast. I manage to roll him under Zander's bed so he is out of sight. Yay! I have my book back! I look over at the man again as I go back to the kitchen.

Is that Tobias?