Sarah: Alrighty

(Prepare yourself for a loooong post. I have a feeling this is going to be a lot to read).

Hi! I haven't posted in a while, I know. Well, maybe it hasn't been that long, but it feels like forever. I've been pretty busy as of late. School, finding a job, parents, siblings, nieces, friends, parties... Needless to say, it's been quite a ride.

First, I want to talk about the road trip. I would LOVE to go, but I'm not sure I would be able to convince my parents. They're kind of protective about things like this. Plus, I've never met any of you before, so they would probably freak a little about that. And, I don't know if I could get off work for the entire summer. How are you guys convincing your parents? And what about your jobs?

Next, what I've been writing as of late. It's not the Time Keeper, I just posted that on OSAAWAKMS because I felt I needed something there. What I'm working on is called Hex and it's a paranormal drama/love story/action flick. I don't have a blurb written yet, even though I have quite a bit done on it, but here is a cover for your viewing pleasure.




I hope you like it. ;)

Jobs--the bane of every teenager's existence. However, I do have to look for one. So far, my choices are Sears Appliance (because they're hiring), Panera Bread (I love the smell of the place!), Cato (a clothing store), Kohls (another clothing store), and a few other places. I don't really want to work, but I know that I need to.

School--is actually going okay this year. I have excellent classes, most of which are easy credits. And I tutor an 8th grade class. The only problem with that is that a certain 8th grade boy keeps trying to convince me he would make a good husband.

Now, the next part is very emotional for me and you'll understand why after reading it. I just hope I'm not crying by the time I'm done writing it.

All of the events are 100% completely true.

I thought my brother was perfect. He was so good at everything. Whether it was sports, school work, or just making people proud, it didn’t matter. Sometimes I thought if he tried, he could walk on water.

In the summer, we would sit outside, just the two of us, watching the stars and talking. We spoke of everything, using our hands for emphasis. There was no one I trusted more than Travis.

Every once in a while I could see it. There were cracks in his flawless exterior. With everything I told him, Travis confided in me too.

He wouldn’t have had to say anything at all. I knew he wanted to fit in with everybody and be perfect. More than anything, he wanted a girl to love him.

I don’t know why, but Travis always chose the girls that were like cancer—slowly killing him from the inside out. He just wanted someone to love him.

Travis was accepted to Lindenwold University, a small but wonderful school. It looked like he was doing great, transferring his job down that way. After my first day of high-school, he e-mailed me, wanting to know everything. All seemed well, perfect even. Again, he was walking on water.

One day, Travis was waiting to pick me and my younger sister Jenny up from school. Once we got home, he said he wanted to speak with me. We went back to my bedroom, where he started to tell me how he met a girl. They had been together, and then she went back to her old boyfriend.

I knew then she was bad news. Who would give up a guy like Travis to go back to a dead beat who worked third shift at White Castle?

He said he loved her so much it hurt. He told me how they talked about everything. She loved Harry Potter. She worked in the same store as him. She was still a senior though she was nineteen.

Things got worse and worse, spiraling out of control. Travis didn’t want to be around us anymore. It was all about Heather and her family.

After her aunt kicked her out, my parents offered to let Heather come and live with us as long as there were some ground rules (My whole family is Christian). She said she needed to think about it.

One night, Travis didn’t come home until four in the morning. He had never had a curfew, but that was just unacceptable.

It all blew up then. My parents were furious, which they had a right to be. Travis yelled right back at them, even threatened to move out.

He did move out. A few weeks later he left, leaving my family broken, uncompleted, and empty. Since July third, we haven’t spoken to him.

I don’t understand how men will let women control them like that. Heather monitors everything—email, his Facebook, even his phone.

Last we heard, from a letter to my grandparents and from other sources, he was living in HUD housing in another town and Heather was pregnant. He was no longer in college, losing fifteen thousand dollars worth of scholarships.

Then Heather’s mother called us. She said that Heather wanted us to be in her child’s life and that she would talk to Travis and convince him to come see us.

She did. With a lot of coaxing and persuading, my parents convinced Travis to move back in, with Heather, of course. This tore up my parents, both of which don’t believe in sex before marriage.

Everything was going…not well, but okay. There were a lot of awkward times, but we got through it. Once a week, Heather and Travis would come up and eat dinner with us. They didn’t pay rent or any bills.

In May, Heather gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Abigail Hope. The most perfect little baby you could imagine.

A couple weeks afterward, about ten cars pull into our driveway. The drivers all go downstairs. When Travis came up to ask to use a frying pan, my parents questioned him. He blew up at them. Then Heather got involved. She screamed at my mom and told her she needed to “grow the f**k up”.

My dad told her she would never talk to his wife that way and that Travis should be ashamed she said those things to his mother. Then he told Heather to get out of his house.

Travis left with her.

He was my best friend. We could talk for hours about everything and nothing. He called me every day he was at college.

I learned from my brother that the people you look up to are not made of steel like we want to believe. They bend and break until there is nothing left.

Sorry for the last part, it is pretty depressing, but I figured I should let you guys know what was going on with me. :)