“O-only she can call me that”.

His eyes gave a flash of pain before he looked away from me with a frown. “It’s okay”, he said, looking at his hands. My breathing started to steady and I stopped shaking completely. “Are you sure Mike? You seem a title startled there”, Mrs. Johnson did as she looked at me through the rear-view mirror. “Only she can call me that”, I say roughly. She looked confused before realization struck her face. “Are you okay Michael?”,she said and I just nodded. “Just a little nightmare”, I say. My gaze shifts to Josh who still looks a bit worried but brushed it off.

We drove in pure and eerie silence till we made it to a beautiful, decent sized, suburban home. She gingerly parked the car before looking back at us. “Welcome home”, she said with a small smile. She quickly got out of the car to unlock the door, leaving us to get our bags.

“I’m home”, she yells as she places her purse down and takes off her shoes. Josh and I stood there awkwardly as she greeted her husband and kids in the living room with kisses and hugs. “Oh, you must be Josh and Michael. Welcome”, Mr. Johnson greeted us with a big smile. We both awkwardly waved at him and smiled. “Why are you just standing there? Bring it in”, he said, extending his arms.

Both of us shuffled our way to him, dropping our bags by the door and hugging him. “It feels nice having new faces around here”, he said, squeezing the living daylights out of us. I give him an awkward laugh as he smiles, content.

“Now, now, Alan, let them be. Don’t you see how uncomfortable my babies are? Come on, we still have a lot to talk about”, she said in her silky voice. He gently let us go and we all sat on the couches in the living room.

“So, you know me and my husband but you haven’t met Shawn or Chantell”, Mrs. Johnson stayed with a smile as she pointed to her kin.

The girl, Chantell, greeted us with a large toothy smile that displayed her gap between her two front teeth. She looked to be about my age, her skin was pretty clear, chocolaty brown like Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, with just a mole sitting right next to her left eye. Her eyes were almond shaped and they too were a pretty deep brown. Her hair was dreaded and laid nicely along her shoulders. It was adorned with a bandana tied like a headband and some small clips in her dreads.

“Hey, I’m Chantell but you guys can call me Chan and this is my twin brother Shawn”, she said, still flashing her smile as she gestured towards her brother. Twins, huh?

They looked vaguely similar, their skin, eyes, and lips being almost identical but they looked completely different. Their demeanors are the polar opposite seeing as he just held a scowl on his face, looking at me and Josh.

While his sister expressed our happiness and joy with us being here just with her facial expressions and body language, he seemed like he was forced. His eyes were cold and intimidating and his arms sat stiffly in his lap, his fingers weaved together in a menacing way.

He stared at us for a few painfully awkward seconds before strangely smiling at us. “Hey, sorry for spacing out there, it’s been a strange week”, he said with his pulled-out-of-his-ass smile. I laughed awkwardly as I stared at him. His hair was longer at the top compared to the sides which were shaved closely to his scalp. It was fairly curly but more on the kinky side. His nose was a bit wider than his sisters but still complemented his features. He seemed to be athletic like me but with a bit more muscle.

We all sat in the living room staring at each other in awful silence. Mrs. Johnson cleared her throat and looked at Josh and I. “So, sleeping arrangements. We already have a guest bedroom for one of you to take and we also have, it sounds horrid, but the attic is another room we have. So I’ll show you around and you’ll decide amongst yourselves”, she said as she got up and led us to the stairs.

Once we reached the second floor, she walked to the right and there she opened the door to a nice guest bedroom with a large bay window and queen sized bed. It was very pretty with a nice blue-grey, powder blue and periwinkle color scheme. “So, either of you like it?” She said with a smile. “Very, bright”, commented Josh as he took a good look at the room, walking in slowly. “Bigger than anything we’ve had before”, he says, looking out of the bay window.

“Come on, I’ll show you the rest”, she said before walking out of the room, towards the hallway. “The house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms”, she said, opening the bathroom door to show a decent sized full bathroom. We just smiled at her and she walked off.

She suddenly stopped before pulling up a stool, that was conveniently already there, to help open the attic. She grabbed hold of the rope before pulling it down, revealing the stairs leading up to the dark abyss.

“Don’t worry, it has light, air conditioning, and sturdy floorboards. We remodeled it once we moved in sixteen years ago”, she said with a smile as she climbed up the stairs. We slowly followed suit, being extra careful.

Once she fully made it to the top, she switched in the lights to show a nice small room with another large window. It was very plain with just a small bed, a dresser, and a side table in it. It wasn’t too small but not spacious either.

“We’ll fill it up with your stuff soon enough but for now, it’s going to be basic”, she said as she walked around the room. “I want this one”, I say out of nowhere. Mrs. Johnson looked at me quietically before giving me a smile. “I think Josh will be fine with that but, just in case, talk between you two”, she said before ruffling my hair and walking down. “Oh, and there are bed sheets in that cabinet. Go ahead and talk, I’ll be downstairs making dinner”, she said with a smile as she ascended all the way down from the stairs. Both of us stayed silent for a bit before Josh spoke up.

“You can take this one. I think it’s kind of creepy in here”, he said with a small laugh. “I think it's nice”, I say simply without even sparing him a glance and walking down to get my things.

I made it to the living room before I was stopped. “Hey, your Mike, right?” Shawn said in a monotone voice. “Michael”, I say roughly. “Yeah, Mike, whatever. Listen up because I'm only going to say this once. I don’t want you here, but they do. So don't talk to me, don't look at me and when we are at school don’t you even think about telling anyone you're associated with me, got that?” He said menacingly.

I just gave him a cold glare and bit my lip. “Do you think I want to be here? Because I sure as hell don’t. So excuse me, I have to take my shit to the attic”, I say before walking off to get my bags.

I knew there was something sketchy about his pulled-out-of-ass smile.

I haul my things to the attic and lay them all on the floor. I close the hatch before looking around my room. I stood there in silence with tears threatening to fall down. I really wish I could be happy here. All I feel now is just mush.

I’m not angry like I was a few hours ago but fury was boiling inside me that could overflow at any minute. It was like all of my emotions were kept in glass bottles and my anger is in the most fragile. With one bump from the world, it could shatter and let everything get the best of me. The shards of glass could pierce my insides but I wouldn’t feel anything. I would have been so blinded by utter rage and fury that nothing mattered.

I’m just waiting for this ticking time-bomb to blow.

The floorboards creak profusely as I walked to my new dainty bed. At least you have a bed you dipshit. I sigh before patting off all of the dust and getting the bed sheets from the cabinet Mrs. Johnson gestured at.

I messily put on the sheet and unpacked all of my things. It didn’t take me long, seeing as I don’t have many things to call my own.

Without anything to do, I plop myself on the floor in the middle of the room and stare out the window. It was foggy and covered with dust. One side of the window was cracked and the wood looked old and crusty. I haven’t really seen anything too interesting outside, but what’s the point of having a window you can’t see through?

I get up off my ass and grab a random rag and try to clean off as much of the dust as I could from the window. It was quite satisfying to watch as the dust glides off of the glass and onto the rag. The light slowly seeped into the room with warm rays of sunlight. I slowly backed away and took in the beautiful view of a large elder tree next to the house in front of this one.

The branches looked strong and sturdy. It looked elegant and rugged at the same time with its large size and width. I’m pretty sure it took up a whole house lot but it was too pretty to cut down.

I stared at the tree for a little longer but was startled when I heard someone knock the hatch. “Can I come in?” I heard from the outside. “Ugh, sure”, I say back.

Chantell slowly ascended from the stairs, her large smile still prominent. “Was I interrupting something?”, she said gesturing to the rag in my hands. “N-no, just cleaning…”, I say quietly.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” She whispered. “What is?” I rasp. She slowly walked up to the window and held her gaze at the Elder tree. “The tree. It’s so large and majestic. It’s like it doesn’t belong in this lame world”, she said as she admired it. “Totally, it seems like it’s too precious to even get cut down. I’m sure it's been there for years”, I whisper. She giggles and smiles at me. “Exactly. You know it's been there for sixteen years. It just kept growing and growing until it was too big to cut down. Just look at it! It would cause an earthquake when it falls!”, she said enthusiastically. We both laughed for a bit, getting more comfortable in each other’s presence.

“I heard what Shawn said to you, by the way. Don’t worry too much about him, he’s just not fond of the idea of white people living in our house”, she said calmly. “Why? Do I look intimidating to you?” I laugh. “A little, I mean, you do have a resting bitch face”, she said before laughing. “That’s not the first time someone’s pointed it out”, I say as she teases me. “Either way, it wasn’t really that you and your bitch face were intimidating it was really just this thing”, she said before her smile faltered a bit.

“What happened?” I ask slowly. “Shawn is the type of person who meets one bad person and blames their whole race for it. It’s not his fault, it’s just how he grew up. Both of us were always surrounded by white peoples and wanted to fit in, you know? So, we started picking up some of their beliefs and ideas. One day this kid, Ryan, started to call me names and make fun of me for being black. He said things to me that I didn’t even understand but Shawn did. After that day more people started to pick on me and Shawn had enough. He yelled at anyone that could hear about the situation. Now, he doesn’t let anyone near him accept people who will help him in the future like the son of the football coach or a rich lady’s daughter”, she said.

“So, why did he pick on me?”, I ask timidly. “He just told you to back off because you weren’t necessary to him. It’s not that he doesn’t like you, he doesn’t need you”, she explained with a small smile.

“Have people stopped picking on you?” I ask. “Michael, ever since that day I’ve noticed that it will never stop. It may not be explicit but I know that I will always see a dirty look directed at me or someone blaming me for something I didn’t do because of my race. It’s going to always be a part of my life if I like it or not because that’s just how our society is”, she said with a sigh.

“Chan. I know we just met and I know this sounds pretty stupid but, as long as I’m here, I can try to help. Maybe not as much I would want but just know that I’m her for you. I have my own baggage but I can carry a little more for you. You seem like a good person and you don’t deserve any of that. You deserve the best”, I say.

She gives me a large smile before pulling me into a hug. “You have no idea how much that means to me”, she said as I hugged her back. We stayed hugging for a while before she pulled away.

“So, what about you. What’s your sob story”, she said with a giggle. I laugh nervously before pulling my thoughts together. “When I was little, my grandpa died from Lung cancer. He and my grandma used to live alone so my family had to move in with her. It was sort of hectic for a few years before everything started to die down. T-then one day, my parents had to go. I don’t know where but they said goodbye to me and Josh and we never saw them ever again. It’s been years and they still can’t find a trace. After that I lived with my grandma. Josh started to work three jobs to support all of us so I usually spent most of my time with her. We were best friends and they took her away from me! Now I can’t even bear to look in a mirror in terror that I’ll see her face staring at me telling me it was my fault! It’s my fault they are all gone!” I cried.

Chan came and warped her arms around my crying form and held me tight, cooing soft words. “It wasn’t your fault Mike.i know it’s hard going through all of this and it’s important to hurt right now because soon you’ll feel better”, she whispered.

“Please don’t call me Mike”, I whisper, wiping my tears. “Why?” She asked, patting my back. “S-she used to call me that… until I heal… I want to be called something else”, I say. “Sure. Anything you need”, she said, flashing her big toothy smile.

We sat there, brainstorming some sort of nickname.“What about Mikey”, she said. “No”, I sigh. “Do you have a middle name or something?” She sighed as well. “No, my parents didn’t believe in middle names”, I joked. She giggled before her eyes went wide. “Technically, your surname is Johnson now. So why not call you Scott. It would be like an homage to your family”, she explained. A small smile grew on my face and I nodded.

“I like Scott”.

Author’s Note: sorry for the lateness