The Chronicles of L.J. Stevans Part 4

                                                                            Part 4. Getting to Know L.J.


                                                                    by David VanCura

Hello again world,

So far I must say recalling the past has been.....interesting to say the least. Most fears I may have had, just a few years ago about going public with my story, have diminished as I advance in years. Stories that people may hear about me are one thing but I truly feel as this is the right time to share my past with you all, for those of you interested anyways.

Through these Chronicles I can set the record straight about certain things in my life, as well as (hopefully) provide you all with a bit of entertainment. Being able to reconnect with people from my past can be a wonderful but dangerous thing. Not everyone I have encountered in my travels hold me in high regards, like Alexandra. I have been a lot of places, helped as many as I have been able to along with helping myself along the way of course.

After my Mothers murder before my eyes, I knew I had to make the difference in the world, that I could not in that moment. Fear froze me for the first time that day, when I needed to act most I could not and it haunts me to this very day. I knew from that day on that my life would be a lonely road, but one I was more than willing to walk. The biggest problem with helping people in perilous situations is that in most cases, though you may have helped the person you were intending, you also have made another enemy with the people you stopped. The one thing I certainly did not need was more enemies but if I were to be ready for the road ahead I needed to right the wrongs that were within my reach. But that comes later, to understand the things to come we must return to where it all began.

Even by the age of 14, I was someone who had a tendency to discover things, people talked to me openly, even though I was just a boy. Not being able to say anything but the truth was nothing but problems for me during adolescence. Even more so when others started to figure it out. It didn't take long for my family to exploit this. They would all ask me questions about one another, which was my first inclination that something was.....off about them. A family with that level of mistrust even for one another is never a good one. As a boy it was more difficult to pick up on the things going on outside the house with them. I learned the older I got the more I would become aware to such things, and as the only male child, grooming for my future was supposed to begin soon.

That all changed when I began hearing rumors from school and from around town that my Mother got around behind my Fathers back. Things I wish would not have passed through my ears. Once I learned about my Mothers perceived infidelity I knew it was just a matter of time before I was asked about it, and once that happened I knew my life would shatter like a mirror. When my Uncle Thomas asked me about my Mother, for the first time I struggled against my nature, I wanted to lie, but there was nothing I could do. If a question is asked I must answer it with 100% truth, no exceptions. It's like a reflex, that's the best way to describe it, like a rubber mallet to the nerve in your knee. So like a mirror my life would indeed shatter. Though I tried to pick up the broken pieces of my proverbial mirror, every shard I grabbed would have a different reflection in it. Reflections of all the people I would find involved in her Murder.

After I was cast out by my 1st Family, I, in a way started to collect others. Officer Jack Hundley the man who arrested my Father for the slaying of my Mother was not only my first real father like connection, but would also become my first teacher about the ways of the world. Aside from becoming a second Father to me he also had a love for my Mother and knew her in a way I never could. I knew her as the quiet person she was in our house, even with my knowledge of her perceived unfaithful tendencies, she appeared as almost a picture perfect counter part to my Father. It wasn't till after her death that I learned it was all smoke and mirrors. My Mother was not like the rest of my Family. All they wanted from life was power and control, two things they would do anything to achieve. They didn't care who they hurt as long as they got what they wanted. All my mother wanted, however was out. That's where Jack came in. He and my Mother fell in love while working together to take the family down, they were growing too powerful and turning too sinister for our region. Jack opened my eyes to this, and it was from the knowledge he gave me that I would base the rest of my life on.

To think, that it all would begin because I came home early from school.

A crime of passion is what my Father claimed after his attempt to cover her death as a suicide failed. It turns out this was not how my mother was supposed to die. The family, I would soon discover had a plan for her, one that would exclude them from suspicion, the exact details I still to this day am not clear on. What I do know, however is that my Father, at the mercy of his emotions jumped the gun. All he needed was for me to corroborate his story and when I did not do so, a crime of passion became his excuse.

This is where the power of my Family started to become apparent. Even with all the things my Mother and Jack had on my Father, and even with the murder of my mother, he still was only given 20 years of confinement in an almost resort of a prison. As angry as Jack and I were over this, at least we had a time frame. We had 20 years, just 240 months. A mere 7,304 short days to prepare me for the war we both knew was coming. In the meantime I was going to be a thorn in the side of my 1st family at every turn.

A war indeed would come, one that in many ways still rage on. Just because of my existence today, you may think you have the ending figure out but let me assure you friends, everything is not as cut and dry as it appears to be. For you to have all the answers many more tales still must be and will be told. I may have decided to fill you in on some of my beginnings but the end is not even close to commencing. I hope some of your question you no doubt have are now answered, but for you to understand the entire story, more answers still must see the light of day. In the end the darkness will always be lifted...... Till next time.

                              L.J. Stevans