Danielle is my character; she is Matt's twin sister.
We had a joint funeral for my mom and my brother. My dad flew out his wife and my brother and sisters. Seeing them brought back so many memories I had struggled my whole life to forget.
Flashback
December 24, 1990: It had been a normal Christmas Eve, and our whole family had come to our house. Matt was 16, Danielle was 16, Mary was 15, Lucy was 14, my brother was 12 and I was 4. I went to bed early expecting to see presents under the tree and stockings filled up when I woke up.
That wasn't how it happened. I woke up in the middle of the night because I could hear my mother crying. I called out for someone and Mary came into my room and picked me up. She sat down in the rocker in my room. She hugged me tight and told me she would always love me. I was so confused. She kissed my forehead and sat me down in the rocker. Then, she turned and walked out of my room. I turned and looked out my window. I saw them all getting into the car. Then, the car backed out of the driveway and drove off into the darkness. I sat in the rocker all night staring out the window into the darkness waiting for the headlights to pull back into the driveway.
I sat in that chair every night for almost a month waiting for my daddy to come home, but he never did and we had to move to a new house.
End of flashback
They brought back the memories I had tried to forget. They made me remember the years we had spent in he projects because my dad had left us without any way of supporting ourselves. We had learned though. My brother dropped out of school and got a GED before he joined the military. He had just gotten back from his second tour of the Middle East when the accident happened. He had been my protector as a child, my best friend. Now I had to figure out where I fit into a family that had never wanted me.
My dad drove me to our apartment so I could get my things. I could see the disgust in his face when we pulled into my neighborhood. There were beaten up cars on the sides of the road, people sleeping in boxes in the alley and street walkers on every other corner. I directed him up to the complex and walked up to the door I had lived behind for so many years. I slid the key in the lock and started to open the door. I said," You can wait in the car if you want. It won't take long." He said," It's okay; I'll wait for you inside." I opened the door and he followed me in. There was an old beat up couch we had gotten from the second hand shop and a crate for a table. We didn't have a TV. I walked back to the room I had shared with my mom. My things were in cardboard boxes on the side of the room where my mattress lay on the floor. We didn't have much, but the place was clean. I quickly gathered my things and slipped a few of my mom's and brother's belonging into my boxes and then began to carry my life out of the place that would always be my home.