It was 6:14. I sat up in bed with bulged eyes and sweat dripping down my neck. It had been two weeks and I still had the same nightmare every night. A young couple and child silhouette were dancing along an empty wall. They were holding hands and laughing when a horrific beast suddenly comes and separates them apart. I tranced over why the same image appeared again and again when my heart jumped from the unexpected vibration on the right side of my room. I turned and look at the clock. It was 6:15.
I quickly pushed those thoughts out of the way and headed down the stairs. I rushed to the table, gobbling down two pieces of toast and some bacon. I looked up to see my dad, looking at me like I had just swallowed a cow.
“In a rush?” Dad asked.
“Just excited,” I said as I quickly continued to shove even more food into my mouth.
Usually I would take my time, closely cutting it to school. But today was different. Today on that crisp October morning was career day. An opportunity where the freshman class would brag about how amazing their parents’ lives were but I never had to boast to know that my parents meant everything to me. Technically, they were my adopted parents, but we were just as much as a family as anyone else. Who knew that thought was about to change in just a few short hours. I finished my breakfast and hopped off the chair to grab my Red Sox backpack.
“Good morning Dean!” Mom exclaimed as she came down the stairs.
She gave me a kiss on the forehead as she reached for her fancy briefcase perched along the wall.
“Hey Mom,” I replied with a smile. I was happy to see her. I loved both of my parents, but my connection with my mom was much stronger.
The three of us grabbed our things and hopped in the car. Soon enough, we arrived at Brook Lane High. The old Massachusetts school was constructed of deep crimson bricks. Thick vines crawled along the sides, practically swallowing the building whole. In perfect unison, we all slammed the car doors and headed up the extravagant staircase. Once we arrived at the entrance, I quickly waved goodbye to my parents as they headed towards the auditorium. We separated, and I walked to my locker to toss away some books. I was just about to place my English textbook on the shelf when I see a boy stroll down the hallway.
“Hey mama’s boy!” Red shouted from across the hall. “Let me guess, did she read you a bedtime story last night?”
“Shut up!” I whined as Red continued to taunt me like he always did.
Ronald Wilson had every right to joke with me. We were best friends since the first grade. He earned his legendary nickname from his shaggy red hair that drooped in front of his face. In fact, people were lucky if they could even catch a glimpse of his piercing brown eyes.
“Ready for this stupid assembly?” He asked.
“Yeah totally,” I responded sarcastically.
The truth was, I actually was excited about the whole thing. Most kids despise their parents, but I loved them unconditionally. They were everything I had and this was my chance to present them to everyone.
I slammed my locker door and headed towards the auditorium with Red. We sat down in the plush velvety seats and applauded as all of our parents gathered on stage.
I waited with anticipation, but it seemed like an eternity before it was my turn. I yawned with boredom as Jim Larson’s dad monotonously expressed the importance of cleaning your molars. Finally, I sat up as our principal clutched on to the microphone.
“And now I would like to introduce you to the parents of Dean Johnson!”
First, my dad walked across the stage wearing his prestigious firefighter uniform. I couldn’t help but beam as he stood there. Then my mom strutted into the bright stage lights and shared her daily life as an accountant. When she concluded her speech, all of the class members met with their families on stage. I briefly talked to my parents, expressing what a great job they did when I began to look around the room. There was one girl standing there with her parents. She looked like their mini clone.
“There’s no denying she’s theirs,” I chuckled to myself.
But then, I gradually started to feel that way with everyone.
“There goes another one and another one…”
I self-consciously began to run my fingers through my curly blond locks and rub my pale blue eyes. I felt as if the walls were closing in on me. I quickly uttered that it was time to go and we walked off stage. I trailed behind, just enough to see my parent’s dark straight hair. And it made my stomach turn.
“Stop it!” I thought to myself, “You can’t go through this again!”
Every step I took away from the school felt like someone added a rock to my foot. The pride that just built up my soul slowly turned into a heavy feeling. But I just couldn’t figure out what that feeling was…We all hopped into the car and slowly drove back home.
“INCOMPLETENESS!” I shouted in my head.
It must have been so loud that the words reached my lips.
“What was that son?” my father asked as he stared at me though the driver’s mirror.
“Oh nothing,” I said casually. “I just thought of something.”
The rest of the car ride was quiet and so was the start of dinner, but my mind was shouting so loud that I thought my ears were going to bleed.
“Ask them! Ask them! Ask them!” said the booming voice as I tried to pretend that the beads of sweat weren’t there on my upper lip.
I have been on this path many times before when I start to question things that I shouldn’t be questioning. I shouldn’t have felt so incomplete. I had everything! Great parents, a good quality education, stable household, and there was always baseball that cheered me up. Usually I would conceal my thoughts by thinking of another dinner topic, but this time the words came out of me like an overflowing cascade.
“Who are my biological parents?” I blurted.
Mom and Dad both looked up at me like two deer in the headlights.
“Umm… we don’t about this honey. We’ve been through this before,” my Mom uttered. “We’ll discuss it when you’re older.”
I tried to hold back, but I just couldn’t.
“What!” I screamed, “Are you serious? I am fourteen years old! You have been telling me this for eight years! Do you know how hard it is to wake up every day, not knowing a piece of you? Just walking around seeing picture perfect families while I feel alienated every time I stand next to you. Do you?”
“Enough,” Dad chocked out.
I looked up into his eyes. They were filled with tears. He stood up, ashamed to be seen and walked outside.
Mom, pale as a ghost said something that I never thought she would say.
“I think it’s time…”
She readjusted herself in the chair, as if she was set into her story mode.
“I never met your parents, but your father did. And it was in the most tragic way. He was on the job when he heard that a local apartment building was caught on fire. He and his crew rushed into the building to rescue the endangered people. There was one floor left. Your father, the brave man he was, dodged in just in time to rescue a tiny baby boy…and that was you”
Mom paused, trying to hold back her tears. She was always so strong, and I respected her for that.
“He tried so hard to grasp on to your parents, but it was too late. He was devastated, but what saddened him even more was the idea of you being orphaned. So we took you in as our own…and it was the best thing that we EVER did.”
Before I could respond, she quickly exited the kitchen and met my dad outside. Tears began to stream down my florid cheeks. All that time my father saved me from the fiery beast that I’ve been dreaming of. And I thought of him as nothing but an adult who lived in the same house as I did. So there I was, sitting alone at the table, with bulged eyes and sweat that continued to drop down my neck.