{"submission_id":"2623362","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"107312","keyword_name":"bad parenting","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"562"},{"keyword_id":"631","keyword_name":"coyote","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"8411"},{"keyword_id":"1183","keyword_name":"dark","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"7255"},{"keyword_id":"631404","keyword_name":"deep story","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2"},{"keyword_id":"11972","keyword_name":"depressing","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"129"},{"keyword_id":"5462","keyword_name":"homeless","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"178"},{"keyword_id":"3254","keyword_name":"no sex","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"924"},{"keyword_id":"8508","keyword_name":"no yiff","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"310"},{"keyword_id":"92783","keyword_name":"ptsd","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"102"},{"keyword_id":"4686","keyword_name":"redpanda","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1461"},{"keyword_id":"36622","keyword_name":"robbery","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"105"},{"keyword_id":"1507","keyword_name":"sad","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4269"}],"hidden":"f","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"0","create_datetime":"2022-01-10 21:37:10.230135+01","create_datetime_usertime":"10 Jan 2022 21:37 CET","last_file_update_datetime":"2022-01-10 21:04:15.108382+01","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"10 Jan 2022 21:04 CET","username":"ninyall","user_id":"293357","user_icon_file_name":"214338_ninyall_character-design-prev-09.jpg","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/214/214338_ninyall_character-design-prev-09.jpg","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/214/214338_ninyall_character-design-prev-09.jpg","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/214/214338_ninyall_character-design-prev-09.jpg","file_name":"3875402_ninyall_alone.png","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.png","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.png","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.jpg","thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.jpg","thumbnail_url_large_noncustom":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone_noncustom.jpg","thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone_noncustom.jpg","thumb_medium_noncustom_x":"91","thumb_medium_noncustom_y":"120","thumb_large_noncustom_x":"152","thumb_large_noncustom_y":"200","thumb_huge_noncustom_x":"228","thumb_huge_noncustom_y":"300","files":[{"file_id":"3875402","file_name":"3875402_ninyall_alone.png","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.png","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.png","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.jpg","mimetype":"image/png","submission_id":"2623362","user_id":"293357","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":"2366","full_size_y":"3114","screen_size_x":"920","screen_size_y":"1211","preview_size_x":"228","preview_size_y":"300","initial_file_md5":"8e27a053b6e932a6e33a8e709da8ddb9","full_file_md5":"e793fc7830f73c140d5c820f811208ea","large_file_md5":"88421f36e09e7ec53459944cec28b114","small_file_md5":"678f1d44f1effb388239961775509703","thumbnail_md5":"17a6a4543ffa39ef5763cda742697e4e","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2022-01-10 21:04:15.108382+01","create_datetime_usertime":"10 Jan 2022 21:04 CET","thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone.jpg","thumbnail_url_large_noncustom":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone_noncustom.jpg","thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/3875/3875402_ninyall_alone_noncustom.jpg","thumb_medium_noncustom_x":"91","thumb_medium_noncustom_y":"120","thumb_large_noncustom_x":"152","thumb_large_noncustom_y":"200","thumb_huge_noncustom_x":"228","thumb_huge_noncustom_y":"300"}],"pools":[],"description":"3rd part of alone your in for surpises :p","description_bbcode_parsed":"3rd part of alone your in for surpises :p","writing":"About a year passed, Ember and I are doing okay. I wouldn't say we are in the best of places, Byrien brings home a new bimbo every night, one night I even found a condom in my bed, that was a surprise a disgusting surprise.\n \nNicole has been acting distant I’m not sure why but after the night at the hotel and the police escort home she’s been avoiding me at school thankfully Byrien covered an uber every morning until I ended up getting my license. So, I can drive now, Byrien even got me a car, used, of course, a 2005 Chevy Cavalier, every morning I would take Ember to daycare while I would go to school. occasionally I would find Byrien didn’t leave in the morning, so one day when he was home, I asked him what he did for a living, he told me he did data analyzing at a big tech firm. I didn’t quite know what that was, so I just nodded. He left soon after, he was a good guy even if I didn’t see him enough, I prepped for school for the day helped Ember get ready for daycare, her teachers were very impressed it seemed they said no one else her age had been able to write so well. That didn’t surprise me. We got to the daycare I dropped her off and got to school, the day seemed normal enough I saw Nicole, tried to say hello, but she turned away and walked off, everything seemed normal for the rest of the day until lunchtime, I went to the roof to find Nicole there she was sitting on a steel pipe, paws in her face crying, I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know why she was crying or what to say. We sat there for a short amount of time before she looked up at me.\n\"My dad wanted me to take over one of his hotels as soon as I turned 18, I was excited about a while but then last year a month before my 18th birthday we got pulled over by that cop that escorted us home, after he finished talking with my dad, well my dad told me I wasn’t ready to run a family business, and that I would have to wait until I’m 21 to be given such an opportunity. I didn’t mind that, it seemed like too much of an annoyance to run a hotel anyway, but what he said after that cut me deep, that you were a bad influence on me, that you were the reason I kept getting detention he blamed you for everything wrong with my life and told me I needed to cut you out of it.\" \nI looked at her a little shocked I didn’t know Nicole’s family had money, I honestly didn’t know much about Nicole outside of school, we always talked about my life and my endeavors, but now it seemed Nicole wanted to tell me about her life and I was happy to hear it. We sat there and talked about the hotels her family-owned and how she was planning on quitting weed, she didn’t want it to take her down a darker path when she did inherit one of her father’s hotels.\n\nShe didn’t blame me, she blamed her drug dealer, she blamed her dad for putting her under such pressure, and she blamed herself.\n\nI told her, \"It’s said you should never blame yourself, you'll only lose that part of you.\" She smiled a little and pushed me gently calling me a goofball, to be fair even I thought it sounded cheesy, we left the roof and went to our separate classes. During the walk to my last class of the day, Nicole stopped me, \"Do you want to come over after school out?\" \nI had never seen Nicole’s house.\n\nShe had seen Phillies's house and Byrien’s, she even visited my house when my parents were still alive, but never did she invite me to her place. I nodded and told her, \"Sure, but don’t you have detention?\" She nodded, I told her \"I’ll need to call the daycare and tell them I’ll be an hour late,” she nodded again. After school I called the daycare and told them what was going on, they were okay with it. I waited in the car until Nicole came out.\n\nWhen she got out, she came up to my car and asked where the daycare was, I told her she then walked to her car and drove past me to honk so I would follow. We got to the daycare I got my sister and took off to Nicole’s house, I thought Byrien had a big house, but Nicole’s was much bigger, I found it entertaining it was 2 blocks away from Byrien’s. I could walk here, I thought. \n\nWe walked up to the house, I was a little nervous, we stepped in, it was overwhelming there was a small fountain at the center with a glass roof overlooking two grand staircases to a hallway with three visible doors all on a marble floor. I felt like I was in a palace for royalty. Nicole lead me up to the stairs and down the hall to her room, we stepped in I made sure Ember was in toe, the bedroom was amazing, there were 2 computers every console ever released, the bed was two king-size mattresses side to side, Nicole told me to have a seat I went to sit at the bed with Ember sitting next to me as a butler brought us some small snacks and drink. \nNicole frowned a little, \"I hope this doesn’t change our relationship\". \n\"No, why would it?\" \nWe played old Mario Party for the n64 for a little bit while Ember played with Legos. Sometime during the game, her dad knocked on her bedroom door, she paused the game to answer the door and meekly said, \"H-hello Daddy.\" I never heard her act so quiet or innocent.\nHer dad pushed past her and stared at me, \"So this is the young man, the reason your grades have dropped and you’re in detention every day?\" \nI stared him down, yes I was scared, but I looked him dead in the eye, \"No, Sir.\" \nHe laughed and told me to get out. \nNicole yelled, \"No! He is my guest dad, stop blaming him for my failure it isn't his fault\". \nI stood there listening, Ember ran up to me she seemed scared as Nicole and her dad yelled at each other. \n\nHer dad yelled back \"You were the top student in your class until he showed up, what is your excuse then!?\" \nI wanted to say something, anything but I was frozen with fear.\nIt was Nicole’s turn to yell, \"Daddy, I brought him here to show you he’s not a bad guy. Why do you insist he’s the reason my grades are slipping?\"\n The large man looked at her looked at me and yelled again\" Get out! Both of you, I don’t need a daughter that doesn’t respect me!\" \nNicole was crying, her dad slammed the door and left us, one of the maids came in to help Nicole pack some clothes under direct orders to only pack clothes, nothing else was allowed to leave the house. We left as I got outside Nicole went for her keys, I waited for her when she got outside she was crying more. \n\nI hugged her, she told me her car was in her dad’s name and while she was under 18, they were going to change the title to her name this weekend but that’s not going to happen now it seems. She got into my car we left for Byrien's I tried to call him a few times I didn’t get an answer. On the 3rd try, I left a message about what happened to ask if she could stay with us in the meantime.\n \nWe got home Byrien’s dodge was sitting in the driveway so it seemed he was home at least. I stepped in yelling for him. He stepped out of his room in just his underwear and another woman wrapped in a towel right behind him. I told him what was going on holding Nicole’s hand while she held Ember in her arms.\n\nByrien nodded and said, \"She can stay here but if she’s 18 she needs to get a job. I'll give her a month of free rent after that I want 200 a month, the same goes for you when you turn 18, David.”\n\nWe both agreed, Byrien went back to his room with his girl, I tucked Ember in as it was getting late, and Nicole and I stayed up watching some old cheese sci-fi movies until we passed out.\n\nThe month passed quickly, my 18th birthday came up and school was out for the rest of the year, Nicole got a job at one of her dad’s hotels, she used my last name so her co-workers wouldn’t know who she was, but I think her manager still knew.\n\nWe were all at Byrien’s I was even starting to call it home, Byrien bought a huge cake with “Happy Birthday David” on it we had just finished singing the happy birthday song and I was getting ready to cut the cake when there was a knock on the door Byrien went to answer it, the police pushed Byrien in and handcuffed him, he was being arrested, Ember ran off to hide in our room. One of the cops walked up to me and Nicole. He asked us, \"So, Byrien he’s your … \" I told him he was my foster father, the cop explained to us that he’s being arrested for money laundering. Files were found on his work computer with 18 million dollars skimmed off the company books. We were shocked, Byrien wasn't a thief, he was a sleazeball but not a thief.\n\nWe watched as Byrien was put into the police car and driven off, I went back in for my sister, we sat there in quiet not sure what to do.\n\nNicole put the cake away, the day went by quietly. \nI held Ember in my arms rocking her gently as I told her things would get better, but I knew I was just lying to myself, things never seem to get better for me.\n\nThe next few days went by quickly, Nicole and I will be graduating next month apparently because of her slipping grades she got held back a year.\n\nOur social worker showed up, he explained to me that since I was now 18, I would be taken out of the system, I gave no complaint. He also told us he would be keeping in contact to make sure Ember was well looked after, I nodded and thanked him for his help.\n\nI started looking for jobs after my birthday, it seemed like the right thing to do Nicole was told she would make management after her graduation we were excited about that, and of course, I applied for the same position she would be leaving vacant after moving up.\n\n Things seemed well enough, but every good thing comes with a bad side, we woke one morning to a loud knocking, a week left in school before graduation, I went to answer the door to see a wolf handing me a paper, it was an eviction notice. Nicole and I knew this day would be coming without Byrien paying the bills, since we couldn't afford this place, we had already packed most of our things and had small savings saved up. Nicole had asked her boss if we could stay at the hotel until we got a place of our own. Thankfully, he agreed but Nicole’s wages were severely docked for the price of the hotel room. We got our things moved to the hotel, it was a very nice place seemed like her dad spared no expense, our room was on the top floor too, after unpacking Nicole looked at me with a sad expression on her face, \"I told you they would be taking the bill for this room from my wages, I’ll only be bringing in 120 a week.\" I walked up to her and gave her a hug telling her, \"We will make it through this somehow.\" She nodded holding me close. \n\nAfter graduating we celebrated Ember’s 4th birthday, she would be starting school next year.\n\nI was still looking for a job and things were getting expensive there was little to no food in the little fridge provided by the hotel, a $120.00 isn’t enough to keep 3 people fed, Nicole said she had applied for food stamps, and we were waiting for a response, but they were taking their sweet time in sending us a card.\n\nI had kept putting in for different jobs around town but none of them wanted to even look at my application, it seemed. I even watched as the spot I applied for at the hotel was filled by someone else. I didn’t blame Nicole she wasn’t in charge of hiring new staff.\n\nLater that week a letter came in addressed to Nicole it read, \"We regret to inform you. You do not qualify for food stamps as your yearly net gross exceeds $28,000.00.\" We read the letter over and over, Nicole pulled her check stubs to calculate her income and it reaches roughly 130,000 a year, the hotel room was expensive, yes, but this was gross extortion. We did note that the raise she got only went up to $200, we couldn’t save money with the amount we were making, and we couldn’t move out without savings, it would be okay if I could get a job myself.\n\nAfter giving it some consideration I called my social services I told them I couldn't take care of my sister and things were getting hard for me and Nicole, they were at the hotel within a few hours, it hurt watching my sister be taken away from me after all we had been through, I was told I could visit her and given an address to do so, but I had to call them first to tell them when I was coming.\n\nEven knowing I could see her it still hurt. But I didn’t know what else I could do. The $200 a week was enough for Nicole and I, but just barely we still didn’t have enough to start a savings but I held onto hope; I would get a job soon.\n\nI was out applying for jobs again I put applications in many different opportunities when Nicole called me crying. I tried asking her what was wrong she just mumbled something through tears, I left in a hurry to the hotel. When I got there, I found our things all outside, she was sitting on a box of clothes, her face covered as she held back more tears, her father was there, at that point I knew what was going on.\n He looked at me for a moment before pulling out his phone and called the cops.\nIt didn’t seem like there would be any reasoning with this man. I loaded what I could into my car as the police showed up, Nicole’s dad told them I was trespassing and needed to be removed from his property. The officers walked over to me and asked me why I was here, I told them, \" I’m getting my things and leaving I don’t want to be here for longer than I have to.\" They nodded and stayed their distance as I gathered mine and Nicole’s belonging and we left.\n\nNicole was crying as we sat in the car in front of a Burger King, we had no place to go and neither of us had any income.\n\nI started the car, there was no point sitting there in self-pity, I drove us to Phoenix Homeless Shelter, the same fox lady was at the front desk, she smiled and asked, \"Welcome to the Phoenix Shelter. How can I help you today?\" She looked up from her papers after her greeting realizing she had met me before, \"Oh hello again is there a problem? I thought Child Protective Services took care of you?\" I sighed and told her what was going on. She stopped me so she could start writing things down when I said I was over 18 now and homeless she got Nicole and my name, ages, past occupations, among a few other sensitive details.\n\nShe told us our rooms, gave us a blanket and pillow, and said lunch was in 2 hours, we got to the room we didn’t expect luxury, we didn’t expect much at all, but it seemed sad seeing four cinder block walls and 8 bunk beds making a total of 16 beds in one little room. It also had a strong smell of piss, Nicole held my arm close as we found our assigned beds, thankfully, hers was just below mine.\n\nWe got as comfortable as we could sharing the room with 8 other people that we could currently count.\n\nSome random boozer stumbled over to us, and I don’t say that lightly his breath stank of alcohol and he almost fell over as he walked to us, \"yo- you kn-*hic-ow kn - ow that w-that was ph-phil-s bunk.\" We stayed silent as he stood there and stared at us, \"yo-you’re not *hic phill,\" one of the other patrons of the shelter took the drunk man by the shoulder telling him to leave us alone. Nicole climbed up to my bunk and curled into bed with me I was taken aback and surprised she whispered in my ear, \"I’m scared. I feel like some of these people are watching me and I don’t want to sleep alone.\" I held her close until I fell asleep.\n\nThe following morning, we were given breakfast, it was cheap chili one of the other guests of the shelter said it was always cheap chili unless you had a job. The shelter gave better meals to the employed, at a price, Nicole and I sat down for our meal when another guest got out a small hand drum and started playing, I was kind of impressed and enjoyed the music while we ate. I saw some of the patrons with money throw a few bills into a small hat in front of the man playing, \"I wish I had money for an instrument that guy seems to be racking in cash,\" I said before taking a bite of chili. \nNicole giggled, \"You wouldn’t even know how to play,\" she said before doing the same. \n\"Maybe he can teach me\" she gave me a little shove and we finished our chili after everyone was finished I walked up to the man as he was putting away his hand drum, \"Can you teach a beginner?\" I asked.\nThe man who I now noticed was a mouse, who was blind in one eye, the man looked at me with his one good eye, and asked, \"Why do you want to learn music boy?\"\n\nI didn’t know what to tell him, I felt a little intimidated by this old mouse. \n\n\"I saw all those people enjoying your music and some of them even giving you money I haven’t been able to get a job even though I've applied everywhere and I was hoping I could learn a skill that would help a little.\"\n\nThe mouse chuckled, \"It might seem like it but money doesn’t make the world spin I’m not inclined to teach someone if all they see is profit.\"\n\nI lowered my head in shame, Nicole spoke up, \"It’s not about profit, we have no income at all David had to let social services take his sister because we couldn't feed her, we don’t have anything.\"\n\nThe mouse waited a bit before saying, \"If you have nothing what instrument do you expect to play?\"\n\nI told him I didn’t know, the mouse got up and told me to follow him, we did.\n\nWe were in one of the private rooms at the shelter, they were a hundred dollars a month to live in, and still unpleasant to live in, the man sat down at an old recliner, \"My name’s, Cardinal, Cardinal Russel. So, you’re interested in making music for the sheer reason of making money, you know music is supposed to come from your heart, someone that has no heart won’t make good music and making money in most people’s opinion means there is no heart. But then you say you need money because your sister was put in foster care, you willingly sent her away because you can't take care of her? That is heart son, that is heart, I do want one thing though so I can teach you,\" I asked him what. He laughed and yelled, \" your name boy how am I supposed to teach someone if I can’t address them by name!?\" I told him, Nicole offers her name too.\n\nCardinal got up from his recliner and walked over to His bed pulling out a long flat box, \"You can’t learn music without an instrument so you will be using this in the meantime,\" he handed me the box, I opened it to find an old synthesizer piano, I pushed a few keys wondering why there was no sound not thinking about the on/off switch at the top corner of it, Cardinal flipped the switch saying \"Boy you’re going to make sure I have my work cut out for me.\" Nicole chuckled, I learned and practiced the rest of the night. He showed me the keys and what each individual note was, he even had me play a little while he played his hand drum.\n\nIt’s odd sometimes even your oldest friends can surprise you, Nicole started singing, she was amazing the lyrics she came up with on the spot.\nCardinal and I both stopped playing after a bit to listen to her song, she blushed and stopped a little after we did. \"I didn’t know you could sing Nicole,\" I said.\n Nicole still blushing said, \"I didn’t know I could sing either.\"\nThe next day at lunch Cardinal was playing his drum with Nicole singing I, of course, watched not feeling confident with my own playing at the moment, a man from the shelter staff came up to me and asked \"You’re David right?\" I told him yes as he handed me a letter and walked off, I wasn’t expecting mail. Heck, I didn’t know anyone knew where I was I opened it to find a check for $210,000. There was a note saying the judge who assigned Tonnie as my legal guardian was arrested for accepting bribes, and that Tonnie was also arrested for selling the house his mother left me I was in shock I jumped up and ran to Nicole hugging and kissing her, she, of course, pushed me off, our relationship might never get that far. I was ecstatic and showed her the letter.\n\nShe gasped in shock holding it, we were so happy and couldn’t wait to cash it, we couldn’t cash it today since it was Sunday and all the banks in the area were closed but that didn’t matter, we had enough money to start a savings and support ourselves for quite some time. \n\nThe following Monday we got in my car to leave for the bank so we could deposit the check, but it wouldn’t start, I went to check but nothing was out of place, Nicole suggested we walk to the bank, it wasn’t too far three or four blocks.\n\nI agreed and we started walking, about halfway there Nicole said she felt off like someone may have been following us. I didn’t see anyone behind us, we kept walking but eventually fate caught up to us.\n\nA man yelled stop from behind us, we both stopped and turned around to see a man holding a gun at me. He yelled again, \"Give me the check and everyone walks away!\"\n\nI got a better look at him he was one of the people staying at the shelter, I think he overheard me talking to Nicole about the money.\nI was a little scared as I pulled my billfold out and the check in it, \"Just don’t shoot okay? Here’s the check,\" I put it on the ground he slowly approached picked it up, and ran.\n\nI fell to the ground as Nicole comforted me, my luck will never change, \"What if your dad’s right\" I mumbled, Nicole, pushed me a little \"My dad’s not right, you’re one of the main reasons I quit pot.\"\n\n“The only reason you're not the owner of a multimillion-dollar hotel is because of me. Everything that has happened has been at my expense, it's’ like some cruel god narrating my life only wants to watch me suffer, and he doesn’t care who is dragged along with me.\"\n\nNicole still trying to comfort me, gently caressing my back sighed softly and said, \"You still have me, you still have Ember, even if we have to call ahead to see her, you still get to see her and be her big brother, her only real family member left.\"\n\nI got up whipping the tears from my eyes and we walked back to the shelter. We told the fox lady that attended the front desk what happened, she said she would file a police report and detain the gentleman if he shows up here again.\nWe went and practiced again with Cardinal before turning in for the night\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"About a year passed, Ember and I are doing okay. I wouldn't say we are in the best of places, Byrien brings home a new bimbo every night, one night I even found a condom in my bed, that was a surprise a disgusting surprise.
Nicole has been acting distant I’m not sure why but after the night at the hotel and the police escort home she’s been avoiding me at school thankfully Byrien covered an uber every morning until I ended up getting my license. So, I can drive now, Byrien even got me a car, used, of course, a 2005 Chevy Cavalier, every morning I would take Ember to daycare while I would go to school. occasionally I would find Byrien didn’t leave in the morning, so one day when he was home, I asked him what he did for a living, he told me he did data analyzing at a big tech firm. I didn’t quite know what that was, so I just nodded. He left soon after, he was a good guy even if I didn’t see him enough, I prepped for school for the day helped Ember get ready for daycare, her teachers were very impressed it seemed they said no one else her age had been able to write so well. That didn’t surprise me. We got to the daycare I dropped her off and got to school, the day seemed normal enough I saw Nicole, tried to say hello, but she turned away and walked off, everything seemed normal for the rest of the day until lunchtime, I went to the roof to find Nicole there she was sitting on a steel pipe, paws in her face crying, I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know why she was crying or what to say. We sat there for a short amount of time before she looked up at me.
"My dad wanted me to take over one of his hotels as soon as I turned 18, I was excited about a while but then last year a month before my 18th birthday we got pulled over by that cop that escorted us home, after he finished talking with my dad, well my dad told me I wasn’t ready to run a family business, and that I would have to wait until I’m 21 to be given such an opportunity. I didn’t mind that, it seemed like too much of an annoyance to run a hotel anyway, but what he said after that cut me deep, that you were a bad influence on me, that you were the reason I kept getting detention he blamed you for everything wrong with my life and told me I needed to cut you out of it."
I looked at her a little shocked I didn’t know Nicole’s family had money, I honestly didn’t know much about Nicole outside of school, we always talked about my life and my endeavors, but now it seemed Nicole wanted to tell me about her life and I was happy to hear it. We sat there and talked about the hotels her family-owned and how she was planning on quitting weed, she didn’t want it to take her down a darker path when she did inherit one of her father’s hotels.
She didn’t blame me, she blamed her drug dealer, she blamed her dad for putting her under such pressure, and she blamed herself.
I told her, "It’s said you should never blame yourself, you'll only lose that part of you." She smiled a little and pushed me gently calling me a goofball, to be fair even I thought it sounded cheesy, we left the roof and went to our separate classes. During the walk to my last class of the day, Nicole stopped me, "Do you want to come over after school out?"
I had never seen Nicole’s house.
She had seen Phillies's house and Byrien’s, she even visited my house when my parents were still alive, but never did she invite me to her place. I nodded and told her, "Sure, but don’t you have detention?" She nodded, I told her "I’ll need to call the daycare and tell them I’ll be an hour late,” she nodded again. After school I called the daycare and told them what was going on, they were okay with it. I waited in the car until Nicole came out.
When she got out, she came up to my car and asked where the daycare was, I told her she then walked to her car and drove past me to honk so I would follow. We got to the daycare I got my sister and took off to Nicole’s house, I thought Byrien had a big house, but Nicole’s was much bigger, I found it entertaining it was 2 blocks away from Byrien’s. I could walk here, I thought.
We walked up to the house, I was a little nervous, we stepped in, it was overwhelming there was a small fountain at the center with a glass roof overlooking two grand staircases to a hallway with three visible doors all on a marble floor. I felt like I was in a palace for royalty. Nicole lead me up to the stairs and down the hall to her room, we stepped in I made sure Ember was in toe, the bedroom was amazing, there were 2 computers every console ever released, the bed was two king-size mattresses side to side, Nicole told me to have a seat I went to sit at the bed with Ember sitting next to me as a butler brought us some small snacks and drink.
Nicole frowned a little, "I hope this doesn’t change our relationship".
"No, why would it?"
We played old Mario Party for the n64 for a little bit while Ember played with Legos. Sometime during the game, her dad knocked on her bedroom door, she paused the game to answer the door and meekly said, "H-hello Daddy." I never heard her act so quiet or innocent.
Her dad pushed past her and stared at me, "So this is the young man, the reason your grades have dropped and you’re in detention every day?"
I stared him down, yes I was scared, but I looked him dead in the eye, "No, Sir."
He laughed and told me to get out.
Nicole yelled, "No! He is my guest dad, stop blaming him for my failure it isn't his fault".
I stood there listening, Ember ran up to me she seemed scared as Nicole and her dad yelled at each other.
Her dad yelled back "You were the top student in your class until he showed up, what is your excuse then!?"
I wanted to say something, anything but I was frozen with fear.
It was Nicole’s turn to yell, "Daddy, I brought him here to show you he’s not a bad guy. Why do you insist he’s the reason my grades are slipping?"
The large man looked at her looked at me and yelled again" Get out! Both of you, I don’t need a daughter that doesn’t respect me!"
Nicole was crying, her dad slammed the door and left us, one of the maids came in to help Nicole pack some clothes under direct orders to only pack clothes, nothing else was allowed to leave the house. We left as I got outside Nicole went for her keys, I waited for her when she got outside she was crying more.
I hugged her, she told me her car was in her dad’s name and while she was under 18, they were going to change the title to her name this weekend but that’s not going to happen now it seems. She got into my car we left for Byrien's I tried to call him a few times I didn’t get an answer. On the 3rd try, I left a message about what happened to ask if she could stay with us in the meantime.
We got home Byrien’s dodge was sitting in the driveway so it seemed he was home at least. I stepped in yelling for him. He stepped out of his room in just his underwear and another woman wrapped in a towel right behind him. I told him what was going on holding Nicole’s hand while she held Ember in her arms.
Byrien nodded and said, "She can stay here but if she’s 18 she needs to get a job. I'll give her a month of free rent after that I want 200 a month, the same goes for you when you turn 18, David.”
We both agreed, Byrien went back to his room with his girl, I tucked Ember in as it was getting late, and Nicole and I stayed up watching some old cheese sci-fi movies until we passed out.
The month passed quickly, my 18th birthday came up and school was out for the rest of the year, Nicole got a job at one of her dad’s hotels, she used my last name so her co-workers wouldn’t know who she was, but I think her manager still knew.
We were all at Byrien’s I was even starting to call it home, Byrien bought a huge cake with “Happy Birthday David” on it we had just finished singing the happy birthday song and I was getting ready to cut the cake when there was a knock on the door Byrien went to answer it, the police pushed Byrien in and handcuffed him, he was being arrested, Ember ran off to hide in our room. One of the cops walked up to me and Nicole. He asked us, "So, Byrien he’s your … " I told him he was my foster father, the cop explained to us that he’s being arrested for money laundering. Files were found on his work computer with 18 million dollars skimmed off the company books. We were shocked, Byrien wasn't a thief, he was a sleazeball but not a thief.
We watched as Byrien was put into the police car and driven off, I went back in for my sister, we sat there in quiet not sure what to do.
Nicole put the cake away, the day went by quietly.
I held Ember in my arms rocking her gently as I told her things would get better, but I knew I was just lying to myself, things never seem to get better for me.
The next few days went by quickly, Nicole and I will be graduating next month apparently because of her slipping grades she got held back a year.
Our social worker showed up, he explained to me that since I was now 18, I would be taken out of the system, I gave no complaint. He also told us he would be keeping in contact to make sure Ember was well looked after, I nodded and thanked him for his help.
I started looking for jobs after my birthday, it seemed like the right thing to do Nicole was told she would make management after her graduation we were excited about that, and of course, I applied for the same position she would be leaving vacant after moving up.
Things seemed well enough, but every good thing comes with a bad side, we woke one morning to a loud knocking, a week left in school before graduation, I went to answer the door to see a wolf handing me a paper, it was an eviction notice. Nicole and I knew this day would be coming without Byrien paying the bills, since we couldn't afford this place, we had already packed most of our things and had small savings saved up. Nicole had asked her boss if we could stay at the hotel until we got a place of our own. Thankfully, he agreed but Nicole’s wages were severely docked for the price of the hotel room. We got our things moved to the hotel, it was a very nice place seemed like her dad spared no expense, our room was on the top floor too, after unpacking Nicole looked at me with a sad expression on her face, "I told you they would be taking the bill for this room from my wages, I’ll only be bringing in 120 a week." I walked up to her and gave her a hug telling her, "We will make it through this somehow." She nodded holding me close.
After graduating we celebrated Ember’s 4th birthday, she would be starting school next year.
I was still looking for a job and things were getting expensive there was little to no food in the little fridge provided by the hotel, a $120.00 isn’t enough to keep 3 people fed, Nicole said she had applied for food stamps, and we were waiting for a response, but they were taking their sweet time in sending us a card.
I had kept putting in for different jobs around town but none of them wanted to even look at my application, it seemed. I even watched as the spot I applied for at the hotel was filled by someone else. I didn’t blame Nicole she wasn’t in charge of hiring new staff.
Later that week a letter came in addressed to Nicole it read, "We regret to inform you. You do not qualify for food stamps as your yearly net gross exceeds $28,000.00." We read the letter over and over, Nicole pulled her check stubs to calculate her income and it reaches roughly 130,000 a year, the hotel room was expensive, yes, but this was gross extortion. We did note that the raise she got only went up to $200, we couldn’t save money with the amount we were making, and we couldn’t move out without savings, it would be okay if I could get a job myself.
After giving it some consideration I called my social services I told them I couldn't take care of my sister and things were getting hard for me and Nicole, they were at the hotel within a few hours, it hurt watching my sister be taken away from me after all we had been through, I was told I could visit her and given an address to do so, but I had to call them first to tell them when I was coming.
Even knowing I could see her it still hurt. But I didn’t know what else I could do. The $200 a week was enough for Nicole and I, but just barely we still didn’t have enough to start a savings but I held onto hope; I would get a job soon.
I was out applying for jobs again I put applications in many different opportunities when Nicole called me crying. I tried asking her what was wrong she just mumbled something through tears, I left in a hurry to the hotel. When I got there, I found our things all outside, she was sitting on a box of clothes, her face covered as she held back more tears, her father was there, at that point I knew what was going on.
He looked at me for a moment before pulling out his phone and called the cops.
It didn’t seem like there would be any reasoning with this man. I loaded what I could into my car as the police showed up, Nicole’s dad told them I was trespassing and needed to be removed from his property. The officers walked over to me and asked me why I was here, I told them, " I’m getting my things and leaving I don’t want to be here for longer than I have to." They nodded and stayed their distance as I gathered mine and Nicole’s belonging and we left.
Nicole was crying as we sat in the car in front of a Burger King, we had no place to go and neither of us had any income.
I started the car, there was no point sitting there in self-pity, I drove us to Phoenix Homeless Shelter, the same fox lady was at the front desk, she smiled and asked, "Welcome to the Phoenix Shelter. How can I help you today?" She looked up from her papers after her greeting realizing she had met me before, "Oh hello again is there a problem? I thought Child Protective Services took care of you?" I sighed and told her what was going on. She stopped me so she could start writing things down when I said I was over 18 now and homeless she got Nicole and my name, ages, past occupations, among a few other sensitive details.
She told us our rooms, gave us a blanket and pillow, and said lunch was in 2 hours, we got to the room we didn’t expect luxury, we didn’t expect much at all, but it seemed sad seeing four cinder block walls and 8 bunk beds making a total of 16 beds in one little room. It also had a strong smell of piss, Nicole held my arm close as we found our assigned beds, thankfully, hers was just below mine.
We got as comfortable as we could sharing the room with 8 other people that we could currently count.
Some random boozer stumbled over to us, and I don’t say that lightly his breath stank of alcohol and he almost fell over as he walked to us, "yo- you kn-*hic-ow kn - ow that w-that was ph-phil-s bunk." We stayed silent as he stood there and stared at us, "yo-you’re not *hic phill," one of the other patrons of the shelter took the drunk man by the shoulder telling him to leave us alone. Nicole climbed up to my bunk and curled into bed with me I was taken aback and surprised she whispered in my ear, "I’m scared. I feel like some of these people are watching me and I don’t want to sleep alone." I held her close until I fell asleep.
The following morning, we were given breakfast, it was cheap chili one of the other guests of the shelter said it was always cheap chili unless you had a job. The shelter gave better meals to the employed, at a price, Nicole and I sat down for our meal when another guest got out a small hand drum and started playing, I was kind of impressed and enjoyed the music while we ate. I saw some of the patrons with money throw a few bills into a small hat in front of the man playing, "I wish I had money for an instrument that guy seems to be racking in cash," I said before taking a bite of chili.
Nicole giggled, "You wouldn’t even know how to play," she said before doing the same.
"Maybe he can teach me" she gave me a little shove and we finished our chili after everyone was finished I walked up to the man as he was putting away his hand drum, "Can you teach a beginner?" I asked.
The man who I now noticed was a mouse, who was blind in one eye, the man looked at me with his one good eye, and asked, "Why do you want to learn music boy?"
I didn’t know what to tell him, I felt a little intimidated by this old mouse.
"I saw all those people enjoying your music and some of them even giving you money I haven’t been able to get a job even though I've applied everywhere and I was hoping I could learn a skill that would help a little."
The mouse chuckled, "It might seem like it but money doesn’t make the world spin I’m not inclined to teach someone if all they see is profit."
I lowered my head in shame, Nicole spoke up, "It’s not about profit, we have no income at all David had to let social services take his sister because we couldn't feed her, we don’t have anything."
The mouse waited a bit before saying, "If you have nothing what instrument do you expect to play?"
I told him I didn’t know, the mouse got up and told me to follow him, we did.
We were in one of the private rooms at the shelter, they were a hundred dollars a month to live in, and still unpleasant to live in, the man sat down at an old recliner, "My name’s, Cardinal, Cardinal Russel. So, you’re interested in making music for the sheer reason of making money, you know music is supposed to come from your heart, someone that has no heart won’t make good music and making money in most people’s opinion means there is no heart. But then you say you need money because your sister was put in foster care, you willingly sent her away because you can't take care of her? That is heart son, that is heart, I do want one thing though so I can teach you," I asked him what. He laughed and yelled, " your name boy how am I supposed to teach someone if I can’t address them by name!?" I told him, Nicole offers her name too.
Cardinal got up from his recliner and walked over to His bed pulling out a long flat box, "You can’t learn music without an instrument so you will be using this in the meantime," he handed me the box, I opened it to find an old synthesizer piano, I pushed a few keys wondering why there was no sound not thinking about the on/off switch at the top corner of it, Cardinal flipped the switch saying "Boy you’re going to make sure I have my work cut out for me." Nicole chuckled, I learned and practiced the rest of the night. He showed me the keys and what each individual note was, he even had me play a little while he played his hand drum.
It’s odd sometimes even your oldest friends can surprise you, Nicole started singing, she was amazing the lyrics she came up with on the spot.
Cardinal and I both stopped playing after a bit to listen to her song, she blushed and stopped a little after we did. "I didn’t know you could sing Nicole," I said.
Nicole still blushing said, "I didn’t know I could sing either."
The next day at lunch Cardinal was playing his drum with Nicole singing I, of course, watched not feeling confident with my own playing at the moment, a man from the shelter staff came up to me and asked "You’re David right?" I told him yes as he handed me a letter and walked off, I wasn’t expecting mail. Heck, I didn’t know anyone knew where I was I opened it to find a check for $210,000. There was a note saying the judge who assigned Tonnie as my legal guardian was arrested for accepting bribes, and that Tonnie was also arrested for selling the house his mother left me I was in shock I jumped up and ran to Nicole hugging and kissing her, she, of course, pushed me off, our relationship might never get that far. I was ecstatic and showed her the letter.
She gasped in shock holding it, we were so happy and couldn’t wait to cash it, we couldn’t cash it today since it was Sunday and all the banks in the area were closed but that didn’t matter, we had enough money to start a savings and support ourselves for quite some time.
The following Monday we got in my car to leave for the bank so we could deposit the check, but it wouldn’t start, I went to check but nothing was out of place, Nicole suggested we walk to the bank, it wasn’t too far three or four blocks.
I agreed and we started walking, about halfway there Nicole said she felt off like someone may have been following us. I didn’t see anyone behind us, we kept walking but eventually fate caught up to us.
A man yelled stop from behind us, we both stopped and turned around to see a man holding a gun at me. He yelled again, "Give me the check and everyone walks away!"
I got a better look at him he was one of the people staying at the shelter, I think he overheard me talking to Nicole about the money.
I was a little scared as I pulled my billfold out and the check in it, "Just don’t shoot okay? Here’s the check," I put it on the ground he slowly approached picked it up, and ran.
I fell to the ground as Nicole comforted me, my luck will never change, "What if your dad’s right" I mumbled, Nicole, pushed me a little "My dad’s not right, you’re one of the main reasons I quit pot."
“The only reason you're not the owner of a multimillion-dollar hotel is because of me. Everything that has happened has been at my expense, it's’ like some cruel god narrating my life only wants to watch me suffer, and he doesn’t care who is dragged along with me."
Nicole still trying to comfort me, gently caressing my back sighed softly and said, "You still have me, you still have Ember, even if we have to call ahead to see her, you still get to see her and be her big brother, her only real family member left."
I got up whipping the tears from my eyes and we walked back to the shelter. We told the fox lady that attended the front desk what happened, she said she would file a police report and detain the gentleman if he shows up here again.
We went and practiced again with Cardinal before turning in for the night
","pools_count":0,"title":"Alone 3","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"image/png","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"1","rating_name":"Mature","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"3","name":"Violence","description":"Mild violence","rating_id":"1"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"f","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"53"}