The wind was blowing, making the creaky window, cry with freedom, as Andre was escaping this nightmare of a home. He took his last breath in the building before he was set to leave. As Andrea crawled out , he heard a distinct sigh coming inside his old room. A room he would never return to. The sigh didn’t resemble stress or fear, but had resembled relief.
Mrs. Lauren took his only hand sitting on the windowsill and gave it a sweet tender kiss. She knew where Andre was headed. There was only one explanation, but to see the only child that she worked with who wasn’t a delinquent, leave her sight was depressing. Mrs. Lauren smiled at him, giving him her last goodbye. With that smile Andre knew that she wanted him to go find his missing item. To go find his dad.
It was the dead of the night and the only thing that seemed to be awake was the street-lights and the crickets. The moon helped light up his path. As Andre walked he held his head high with confidence, but the more steps he took he grew worried. “What if i never find him? Will he still love me the same?” The thoughts just sat in his mind, waiting to be proved wrong.
He continued to walk, silently approaching each house with extreme eagerness to find his own. One by one the houses pass by. They repeatedly taunted him, pretending that they were his dad’s house. Andre remembered what it was like to have a real home. It was somewhere to go when you were feeling down. Not a phony “foster home” you live in for three years and don’t feel any love when you stay there. He brushes the thought of the foster care off his mind, not wanting to bring up Mrs. Lauren and all she has done for him. She was the one and only thing that he liked about the foster care.
Andre’s pace slowed down and his thoughts drift off. He had grown tired but kept up his determination. Then something triggered in his brain. He had been here before. This exact place. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to see the house number. ”2463.” Without hesitating he sprinted up the sidewalk and on the stepping stones, being careful not to destroy the flowers. Andre didn’t even think twice about knocking on the door. He waited several second, but couldn’t hold in his excitement. He busted through the door with all his might.
Tears formed in his eyes as he kissed the floor. Never in his life had he been so astonished by this home. His home. He stood up. His joyful tears turned cold and terrified. He couldn’t believe what he was watching. A woman, with a bottle in one hand, while the other came down to smack a boy not much younger than him.
Andre wanted to scream, to run and save that little boy, but instead he found himself running towards the door. He hesitated, pondering whether or not to go back and rescue the child, but that had only lead him to realize it was too late. She released the grasp of the child and was coming towards him. He was frozen, unable to move out of her way. She grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn and look into her eyes. Forcing him to realize that she hadn’t been an ordinary woman, but his own mother. Forcing him to see a side of her, he could never imagine.
He was disgusted at what his mother had turned into. He didn’t even want her to touch him anymore. Andre pushed her hand off him and sprinted towards the child. Abiliene picked up an empty bottle of whiskey that she chugged down earlier. She hurled it towards them. Ander tried to block it, but pieces still cut the younger boy’s face. She searched for another empty bottle.
“I’m Tyrone.” the child spoke. His name ran threw his own mind. That name seemed awfully familiar to Andre. His train of thought was interrupted with a crash and glass shattering everywhere. Abiliene was spread out on the floor, laying in a bed of glass and alcohol. Was she dead? No, she was still breathing so that must mean she just passed out. Andre didn’t know how long she would be there, paralyzed, so he wanted to hurry. He spoke to Tyrone is soft words, telling him they had to leave, but Tyrone didn’t understand why. Why would he want to leave his mom like that? Unconscious, and unable to control her actions.
That’s when it hit him. Tyrone didn’t want to leave her there because that was his mom to. They were brothers. They had to get out of there together. Andre grabbed his brother’s hand and ran towards the door. He didn’t open it though. He felt like he was forgetting something, something important. Suddenly, he remembered the reason he came. To find his father. He picked up Tyrone and walked towards the stairs hoping that what he was looking for was up there. He sprinted up the stairs, being careful not to trip, and began to search every room. Up and down, left and right, letting out a cry for dad every now and then.
Tyrone looked puzzled. He wondered why Andre was looking for his dad here, out of all places. Nobody else had lived here for three years, when his dad died.
Andre came back empty handed. All he found was a newspaper with a picture of his dad on the front cover. If what he read was right, his dad committed suicide three years ago. The same time Andre was put into foster care. With no dad and no perfect life he imagined.
For all he knew, he could be stuck here with an abusive mother and a brother who doesn’t even know they’re related. He was better off living with Mrs. Lauren in his foster home.
Tyrone came over to sit next to Andre and smiled at him. Tyrone gave him a warm, soft hug. “I love you, brother.” Andre was shocked, but instead of questioning him, he just returned the favor and hugged him back. Andre could have the life he imagined. It might not have involved his father, but it didn’t involve another boy just as important to him.
Andre swung Tyrone into his arms and carried him back down the stairs. Their mother was still lying there, unconscious and barely breathing. He stared at her with disgust. He didn’t even love her one bit. How could you abuse your children like that, let alone yourself, and feel no remorse? He continued to walk past her, but Tyrone insisted to be let down.
Tyrone ran to his mom and gave her a kiss as sweet as the one he received from Mrs. Lauren earlier that night. Andre was surprised and confused. Why does he still treat her as if she’s an angel, when she treated him like a pile of dirt?
Tyrone had been the missing item in his life. He was a kind-hearted angel sent from his father. Tyrone had been a message sent from heaven, letting him know that he was loved and put on Earth for a reason.
Andre held Tyrone’s soft, tender hand as they walked through the doorway, of his old home, together. He shut the door and locked up his old memories and life with it. Together, brother and brother, they walked away. Step by step, Andre grew more confident that his life would be just like he imagined.