It’s amazing how ones life can change in the course of a day. I guess I should start out by introducing myself. My name is David Ian Miller, but I was normally referred to as “Toby” . I’m 35 now but this story takes place back when I was about 10. I was always small for my age. I think this comes from all the drugs and drinking my mom did when she was pregnant with me. I was the “baby” of the family. I had a couple of half brothers that were four and five years older than me. To say that I was treated like dirt by my family would have been a serious understatement. You see, I was the end result of an affair that my dad had with one of the people in his office. My dad wanted to act like I didn’t exist and for the first couple of years wouldn’t even acknowledge that I was his son. That was until shortly before his grandfather passed away.
My Great Grandfather learned of my existence when a friend of his told him how my father had been contacted by the courts to inform him that my mother had died and that as my only other living parent they were needing to get things arranged for me to come live with him. I guess this wasn’t what my father had in mind since I soon found myself being placed in foster care. I spent the next two years being shuffled from one family to the next. I was never with a family for more than a few weeks to a month, due to a problem I had with wetting the bed. Anyway, once my Great-grandfather found out about all this he told my father in no uncertain terms that if my father didn’t accept full responsibility for me that he would be cut off from his will and everything that my dad would have gotten would be left to me. I found out later that he did this anyway, but that is a different story.
I came to live with my father and his family just after my Sixth birthday. When I saw what kind of house they lived in I figured my life was finally changing for the better. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Some of the foster homes I had been in were paradise compared to the house of horrors I soon found myself in. I was told that I was always to refer to my father and brothers as Sir and his wife was to be called Ma’am. The beating I got the first time I slipped and called my father “dad” quickly cured me of this.
On the outside, my parents and brothers seemed to be outstanding pillars of the community In private though, it was a totally different story. In my father’s and his wife’s eye their sons could do no wrong. If anything bad happened I was the one that got the blame for it. And let me tell you, my brothers made sure a lot of things happened that I would catch the blame for. Soon after I arrived I found out how my parents were going to handle my nightly wetting problem. They were bound and determined to beat it out of me. The worst part of all this was that fact that since my dad was a pediatrician and his wife was a teacher meant that they were able to skirt the system and keep people from finding out the abuse they were putting me through.
All this changed shortly after my Twelfth birthday. I remember that it was during Spring Break since my “Guardians” had taken their sons to Disney World for the week. They, of course, left me behind with one of their friends.
Chapter One
A New Beginning
“Mrs. Wu?” I heard a male voice ask from the front door.
“Yes?” I heard my mom’s friend reply
“Do you have a David Miller staying with you?”
“Yes, we do. Why?”
“May we speak with him for a moment?” the voice asked.
“I’m sorry, he wasn’t feeling well so he’s already in bed.”
“I see. We really need to talk to him. It’s concerning his parents.” The voice replied
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to wake him. Tell me what this concerning and I’ll be sure to tell him when he wakes up.” All I remember after this was hearing Mrs. Wu burst out crying. I found out the next morning that my parents, and the older of my brothers had been killed in a car crash on the way to the airport to catch their flight home. My surviving brother was quickly taken in by his mom’s sister.
The next couple of weeks went by in a blur for me. I had all these people telling me how sorry they were for my loss, but I didn’t feel any loss at all. The Wu’s were given temporary custody of me, due to a clause in my parents will, until it could be determined whether or not I had other relatives that would be willing to take me in. While my life did get a bit better during my brief stay with the Wu’s it was still no bed of roses.
“Get your things packed. Somebody will be here in a few minutes to pick you up.” I was told bluntly one morning about two months after I came to live with the Wu’s . With a nod of my head I acknowledged what I was told and quietly started packing the two small bags that had been tossed into my lap. Just as I finished packing Mr. Wu came back into the room and searched my bag to make sure I was only taking the clothes that I had brought with me over Spring Break, and the dress clothes I had picked up from home.
“Remember boy, if I find out that you have told anyone about your father’s and my treatment of you ,I’ll make sure you simply disappear and are never found. Do you understand me?” I was told bluntly while uncomfortable pressure was placed on my neck.
“Yes, sir.” I gasped while trying to keep from wetting my pants in fear. About that time the door bell rang and I was led from the room.
“David?” the lady at the door asked.
“Yes ma’am?” I responded politely.
“I’m Mrs. Sullivan. I’ll be escorting you to your new home.” I was told by the kind looking lady.
“Yes, ma’am.” I replied again in monotone. Mrs. Sullivan gave me a quizzical look at this. I just stood by the door and Mr. Wu signed some final papers and I was soon on my way to my new family.
“Well, let’s get your bags and be on our way.” I was told. I got another shocked look when I just picked up the small duffle and suit bag I had with me. Mrs. Wu saw the look I was being given and quickly lied saying that my other things had been shipped ahead of me. I guess Mrs. Sullivan believed this since nothing else was said. Of course, I already new this was a lie. I knew the Wu’s had sold off what few belongings I had to pay for my room and board
I was more than a little shocked when I realized that we were heading towards the airport. I had assumed that I was going to another foster family in the same state.
“Aren’t you hot in that long shirt and pants?” Mrs. Sullivan asked me trying to make conversation .
“No ma’am.” I replied in the same monotone. What she didn’t know was the reason why I had always worn long shirts and pants no matter how hot it got.
“So are you excited to be going to meet your new family? Came the next attempt to get more than two words from me.
“I guess so, ma’am.” this was the last attempt at casual conversation that was made till we got to the airport.
I kept wondering what my life was going to be like now that my parents were dead. I knew I should have felt something over their passing , but I kept just drawing a blank As we drew nearer to the airport, I started to get even more apprehensive about going to my new family. More to the fact, I was wondering how they were going to react once they found out about my past. I made my decision then that nothing was going to change. I would keep acting the way I was brought up. I just hoped the beatings wouldn’t be as bad this time around as they had been in the past, especially when it came to my nightly wettings.
“David we’re here.” I heard from a distance in my mind.
“I’m sorry?” I responded snapping back to reality.
“I said we’re here. We need to hustle a bit since we’re a bit behind” Mrs. Sullivan said as she got out of the car. I just nodded at this On seeing her pull a couple of bags from the trunk of her car I started acting on the training that had been beaten into me over the years and took the bags from her. This earned me a very shocked look from my escort. I guess she wasn’t used to seeing twelve year olds acting like this.
As we walked towards the terminal, I fell into a pace just to the right and a few steps behind Mrs. Sullivan. I could tell we were getting a few strange looks from this. I guess people weren’t to used to seeing a young boy dressed up and acting more like a servant than a normal kid. As much as I tried to, I wasn’t able to break from the training that I had been forced to endure for so long. I soon found myself lost in my thoughts again as Mrs. Sullivan checked our bags in.
“Well, it turns out that our flight has been delayed a bit so how about we go get a bite to eat. I have to say that from the looks of you, you could stand a little fattening up.” Mrs. Sullivan said with a smile to let me know that I shouldn’t take her comment to seriously. I just nodded with a small grin of my own as we headed off to one of restaurants.
“Are you folks ready to order?” our waitress asked after about five minutes after we sat down.
“You go ahead. I still need a few moments.” I was told.
“I’d like the small side salad with ranch dressing and the small cup of soup, please” I announced after a quick glance at my menu.
“Are you sure that’s all you want, David? I did say you could order anything” I was told in a surprised tone of voice. I just nodded that this was all that I wanted. What Mrs. Sullivan didn’t know was that while she thought of what I ordered would be considered a light meal, to me it was a major meal and was secretly hoping I didn’t make myself sick from eating all of it.
“So why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself while we wait for our meals?” I was told once our waitress left.
“I’m not really sure what you mean.” I told her. Surprised that anyone would be interested in knowing anything about me.
“I mean what kind of things do you like to do in your spare time. What games you like to play? The type of music you like to listen to? School? That sort of stuff”
“Oh. Well, I was home schooled by Mrs. Miller. I guess I did pretty well since she kept advancing me after each term.” I answered her vaguely. I made sure not to tell her that my parents had forced me to spend most of my time learning other languages, and was now fluent in seven of them, when I wasn’t tending to their, or my brother’s whims. Or making sure the house was kept clean on the days that the maids had the day off.
“Well, that’s nice to hear, but what about the other things. I mean I haven’t heard you mention one thing about missing any of your friends.” I noticed at this time the Mrs. Sullivan was starting to get a major frown on her face.
“I never was allowed to have any friends.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Miller never allowed me to have any friends because I sort of have a problem with wetting the bed.” I replied softly unable to look her in the eye as I said this.
“Are you telling me that your parents never allowed you to make any friends because you happen to wet the bed.” Came the shocked reply. Though it a bit louder than I would have liked. I just nodded yes to this statement not trusting my voice to answer verbally.
“And what about the other things I had asked about?” I guess the look I gave her in reply answered the question for me.
“My god what kind of people would do that to a child.” Came the whispered prayer. I just thought that it was a good thing that she didn’t know the half of it. I’m she would have probably stroked out because of it. Luckily, our meals came out a few seconds later.
About thirty minutes later, we finished our meals. Though I did have to firmly decline having any dessert, Since it was all I could do to keep what I had already eaten down.
“Sir, could you step over here please?” The security guarded asked me, after I set off the metal detector. I complied with the request while reaching for the card I had in my wallet.
“OK, thank you.” the guard said after reading the card and handing back to me.
“What was that all about?” I was asked when I rejoined Mrs. Sullivan.
“I have some metal plates in my back.” I told her bluntly. Hoping she would get the hint. The look I received told me that she was going to humor me on this, but knew that there was something I wasn’t telling her.
“What are the people like that are taking me in” I asked about Twenty minutes before our plane landed in Phoenix.
“I’m sorry?” Came the shocked reply.
“Well, I mean are they nice?”
“You mean the Wu’s never told you who you were going to live with?”
“No. The one time I asked they told me it was none of my business and that I would find out in time.” I replied plainly, wishing that I now had never asked the question in the first place.
“Your dad’s brother was located. He and his family are the ones taking you in.” It was all I could do to keep from wetting myself on hearing this I had been hoping that I would have been able to put all this behind me and now I felt that I was reentering the pits of hell.
“Don’t worry about anything. They are very nice people.” Mrs. Sullivan told me calmly with a reassuring pat on my arm. I guess my reaction scared her a bit since she kept a close eye on me the rest of the flight and on the drive out to meet my new family.