Unlikely Hero's

Kendall
“Get up Kendall, you're going to be late.” I hear a man say.
“For what?” I groan, very groggy.
“What do you think?... school.”
The light goes on and I almost immediately get up. The man has disappeared so I get dressed. my blue jeans and gray shirt look very different on me. I realized that I look very different my self. I decide it’s not important and so I go down stairs to the table and grab a piece of toast, finding that I have just now missed my family leaving. I run to the school bus and caught it just in time. At school I find my friend Emerald FireHeart the first person I recognized. Emerald is beautiful also the black sheep in most groups (not ours), she is 5’5” 16, blond hair hazel eyes and a golden tan. We go looking for Lux, Lux is the least involved in herself, even for this group. We did not find her before the 1 minute bell rang and so I hurry off to my first period. I go through the motions throughout the day until I get to seventh hour, which is gym and today we were measuring how tall we are. I find out what changed overnight, I grew a few inches. and then school ends.
me and Emerald go to Lux’s house, or at least where we thought Lux lived. Em knocked on the door and a man with straight jet black hair, brown eyes so dark they could be black and sickly pale skin. I drive the couege to say,”Dose Lux live her”
the aged man says in a raspy voice,”Who wants to know”
thankfully Emerald stepped in such a sassy and confident voice said,” We do, now does she or not.”
“A Lux what’s the last name?”
“I thought it was yours”
“Nope, no Luxs here”
“thanks anyway”
today is friday that means Lux and Emerald have dinner at my house and hangout with me while my family head to the Royals game. Em and I head to my house, and when we get there we find Lux waiting to get into it. the look in her eyes scares me. Lux is 13 years old but she's a genius and so she is a junior Lux has long curly red hair down to her knees her hairs always in a high ponytail she has ice blue eyes and her collection of fetchers is strange and beautiful because of her cocoa skin color. Em aproces Lux and Lux freaks out , throwing her hands in front of herself Em is thrown away... Lux didn't touch Em.Lux looks to me then to Em and runs. Em is passed out on the grown. I struggle to get Em in side. finally I get Em in my bed and right a note
dear Emerald,
I have gone to look for Lux when you wake up there is pizza in the fridge. hope you are fine. If you are going to come help me... don’t you need to rest.
your friend Kendall.
I leave it on the counter. lock the door behind me going to the trees next to the park that’s her number one favourite place in the world. I wander aimlessly until a boy with red hair and green eyes, come up to me and with a snarky tone in his voice says, “What are you doing here.”
I respond in a strong voice, “I’m looking for someone.”
“Well I say give up if she wanted to be found she wouldn’t be hiding from you.”
“Wait… I never said I was looking for a girl. that means you’ve seen who I’m looking for”
“Yeah sure I might have seen her, what’s to say Ill tell you.”
I grab him by the callor and lift him against a tree. I blink back tears and he’s gone. I look up and see lux’s red hair and cocoa skin climbing up the tree almost gliding. I try to call after her but there is no sound coming from my mouth. I decided to climb the tree so I find a hand grip than a foot stance and pull myself slowly up to the first branch. Branch after branch I climb. I look at the ground, then I realize that I’m ten feet away. I try to call again but I hear nothing so I suck in some air and grab the branch not that far away from my head. I slowly crawl to the next branch then to the next and on and on because if I stop to long I’ll look down and die.
when I get close to the top I try agian and here, “Lux it ok Em is fine she's awake at my house. come on you can't run away from everything you're afraid of.” I look up to see her coming down just like always, gliding. she comes to me. her face is tinted with color and streaks from her eyes to her cheeks and she whispers, “you don’t know what I confront daily.”
than she continues down. I breath in and out letting my foot try to find the branch in used to get up here but can’t find the branch. I see her little straight nose and big ice blue eyes, and beautiful big lips.I find a branch then I hear, “not that one”
but it’s too late I’ve put all my body weight no it. the branch gives out from under me. there's something on my wrist I open my eyes and not that far from the branch that snapped is the boy I look down to see lux with her eyes shut . then he lowers me onto a thick branch and he is by my side slowly helping me down to the lowest branch. then I hear her say the exact words the boy is. At the last branch the boy has disappeared and lux is screaming at me to jump. she seems fine so I jump and run to deplete the energy. we walk back to my house and when I open the door I find Em eating pizza from the fridge. she smiles with a piece in her mouth. I can see the grin spread across Lux’s face ,which is no longer tinted red, then I feel the smile spread across my own. I hear Lux tell Em that I climbed a tree for her. the rest of the night is spent doing homework and watching are favorite shows on netflix. when my parents come home Em and Lux leave. then my family goes to bed and I'm locking up every thing when I hear the secret knock at my window so I rush to my window. Em is there and she seems nervous. I invite her in and she says, “mom brange someone home from work. I need a place to stay.”
“yeah you can stay here tonight but I need you not to be here when my parent check on me tomorrow morning. that ok.”
“yeah thanks.”
“ Hey Em”
“ Yes Kendall”
“ where are your siblings”
“Um… At their friend's houses”
“ good night. Em.”
“ good night Kendall”
I fall asleep without another word.
I'm in a dress sitting in a chair looking at the stand where there is a man fear has overtaken my body when I look at my hands they are cocoa colored and little. the man is black with a tux and buzzed hair. I see a pices of long red hair fall in my face and over my shoulders except this isn’t me then the court dismisses when this form hurries off to little girls room almost gliding through the crowd of people and tries to look into the too tall mirror finding and standing on the stool.
there is a little girl with a short straight nose, big lips and big ice blue eyes staring back at me she then looks around and when she has decided no one is around she starts to cry. then stops and splashes her face as a light skinned woman with green eyes and blond hair comes in. the woman says, “ It’s time to go. Are you ready?”
“ yes Ma'am I’m ready. thank you for letting me have a moment alone.”
“ It's fine let's go. Your brother is waiting.” and in a slit whisper I hear “back to foster care they go.”I wake up to Em being gone. guess she got out before my parents saw her. today I go to football practice or I can ditch and find where Lux actually lives. I decide to do what my parents want and go to football. I zone out and forget what happened but when we finish I call Em.
“ Em you ok. thanks for coming over. have a wonderful day.” all because of a voice mail. I can't do anything I’m so exhausted so I head home plop on my bed and fall asleep.
I see a strait small slightly fat noes, ice blue eyes, cocoa skin and long red hair. with streak marks running down her cheeks then the door cracks and she splashes her face. I little boy trailed by a baby girl comes in. “ hey what is wrong I told you I had to pee.”
“ you gone long time. ba need dipy chang.”
“ I’ll be right out.”
and the little kids toutle away. she dabs her face and heads out a little baby boy is on his butt crying. she goes up and carries him to a room laying him on a towel on one of the three beds in the room then changes the boy's butt. I start to feel sad when i wake up to a knock on my bedroom door.
I get on my pants and go to the door I crack it and find Em and Lux standing in front of the door. Em looks so impatient and Lux is holding herself strangely I throw on a shirt. opening the door I find Lux is sitting on the ground. Which is strange because in her mind that is a sign of weakness and she doesn't show weakness. she looks up at me and she has a terrified look in her eyes.
“ are you ok Lux?”
“ of course I am.”
“ and that’s what you say not like, ‘ oh Em how’d you find her: Oh Lux why are you on the floor that isn’t like you.’ Really none of that”
we talk for ever it seems and Lux finally let's us in and of course we both, Em and I, knew she wasn’t ever telling us what was really happening with her but it good she let us in at least a little. that’s one small step for are friendship and one large leap for Lux as a person.


After all this that we learn today, I still feel like Lux still isn’t telling everything. Then I hear Lux say, “Em are you ok? You seem on edge and sad.”
“ Im as well as you could expect. Considering what happened.”
“ What happened Em?” I ask.
“ Um…Liam, He… He died.”
Lux and I just stair. I see Lux hug her. I see Em’s face the tears rolling down her cheek. I feel sad, I can’t do anything. They are both crying and I can’t do anything. I don’t know how I knew that Lux was crying but I knew.
“Hey guys I need to talk to you about something nearly as important as this.” They both nod in unison. “ Um… Lux, I think I've been dreaming of your past… Where is your brother now?”
the next moment she is standing up near the door. Em turns to look at her, “you have a brother?”
Lux takes a deep breath, “ Not any more.” She barely gets it out. She is barely holding herself together.
“What happened Lux?”
“ One day when we were 7 our foster parents got more drunk than ever. The father tried to rape me and my brother stepped in and fought for me. He was beaten so badly he…he died.”
She looks like she was a porcelain doll ready to shatter. her long red hair falling out of the ponytail. A boy is standing in front of her. A boy that looks so similar to Lux it has to be a family member. he says in an angry voice, “Leave my Sister ALONE.”
Then he's gone after flickers of light. She falls to the floor in a ball I hear almost whisper whimpers. I go over to her and reach for her but she says, “Kendall I'm going ok, have a wonderful day.” she gets up and jumps out the window.
I run to the window, I'm on the third floor but she's ok. running so fast she's a blur. I turn to Em only to see she was crying. My instincts take over and I hug her. my mom comes in and looks shocked. She has a plater and sets on my desk only to leave like she never was here. Em and I eat some of the quesadillas and she says, “ So what do you think is happening?”
“hu… oh you mean with me seeing her pass. I think it's doors opening for us as friends. you did see Lux jump out a 30 foot building, be perfectly fine, get up and run crazy fast.”
Em contorts her face into a mad/sad look and says, “ I think it says you two have magic powers and I'm left in the dust like always.”
“ Wait why do you feel like you are always left in the dust?”
“ Well I don't know you are the jock in this friendship and Lux is the brain. Where does that leave me? Even if you take out that you obviously like Lux in a way you don't like me. So I'm the third wheel, the outcast, the one who is always left in the dust.”
I'm so stunned I can't even respond. she just looks at me. I open my mouth to say something anything but cant think of it so I close my mouth. she looks pissed, “That’s what I thought. You know what just forget it.”
She turns from me and I grab her wrist, “You want to know why I like Lux so much? Its because she speaks her mind she acts without thinking around us. You haven't, not once since I met you, But it's ok because you just did. You, Emerald have just told me everything I needed to know. You just made me love you more than ever.”
I take this opportunity to kiss Em right on the mouth. She is taken back by this and passes out landing in my arms. I get her in my bed and call her brother Kevin. he picks up.
“ hey little dude whats up?”
“ Hey Kevin Emerald Passed out. Before you freak out she got shocked by some news. She is also in my bed and I'm going to leave her there until either you come and pick her up or she wakes up.”
“ Okey my shift is almost over. Did she hit her head on anything.”
“ No I caught her before anything.”
“ Hey do you know how Lux is doing?”
“ What do you mean?”
“ I should tell you and Em this.”
“ Okay we await your arrival.”
“ K”
I hang up and get a glass of water for when Em wakes up. About thirty minutes later my mother comes stomping in. “ Honey Why is their a policeman here to see you.”
“ He's Ems brother don’t worry.”
He comes up to my room and Em is waking up by then. When she sees Kevin she is confused then gives herself a big hard face palm, “ I passed out didn't I?”
“Yeah you did sis you ok?”
“ Yeah now I am”
“ So Kevin you want to tell us why Lux wouldn’t be ok?”
“ So I got a call to a house for a bus… I mean an ambulance because a man died. Mix meds with beer. Lux came to the house while we were determining that this was an accident and I found out that she lived in this house. A foster house. she took it pretty hard.”
“ Wait, Lux’s Foster Father was bad, we saw the bruises and marks but he died… So who was the man I talked to?”
“ Look Em, I thought you would be broken if she vanished the same way she came into your life, After you know everything, so I pulled some strings and got a man who use to be a foster father but after the kids left became homeless to come be at least a temporary stand in.”
Em hugs Kevin and they leave around 3 in the afternoon. My mom offered diner if they wanted to go get charly and come back or any meal any day if they wanted they just had to call, After they turned it down for to night. We eat diner and we haven't said a word since dad got home, dinner was late and I can see the fresh bruises. Dad has a new glass of bourbon by the end of our dinner prayer. This is going to be a bad night. Jonny clears his throat, “ So… Father.”
“ Yes, Jonny”
“ Me and Levi both got an A on our Mid-Quarter Exam.” He smiles
Father looks happy. I figure I can change the subject. “ So mom is anything going on I heard you in the bathroom. I thought you were sick.”
“ Um… thanks for that Ken you gave away the surprise for dessert. but yes there is something going on, Honey, I’m pregnant. About 3 weeks now. I went to the doctor today to confirm and figure out how long.”
He almost looks pleased. When I finished cleaning the table, I went to my room. Father came in grabbed me by the collar and shoved me to the wall. I don't look him in the face, but he's so drunk I could tell by the time he opened my door. “Father, What is wrong?”
“ Skipped Football practice today and failed your Bio-Chem test.”
“ I’m sorry. I got a 99.9%. With football I wasn't feeling good so mom kept me home.”
“ You dare make excuses?”
“ I’m sorry.”
“ Stop and take your punishment like a man.”
I gulp and he socked me in the face. he dropped me as he brang up his knee into my grone. A slight moan escapes me as I stand. He pulls his hand back for another​ blow I stand as he reels his fist back, Charlie wanders in, “Hey Kendall?”
Dad backs up, “Yeah?”
“Can I borrow this book?”
“Yeah of course.”
Charlie looks at the scene before him, “Dad would you help me read this?”
“Of course, baby, just give me a minute I have to finish a conversation with Kendall.” Charlie nods and leaves, “Boy you got off easy, don't misunderstand I'm not stopping for you. You miss anything again and it's going to be twice as bad as usual.” i nod and he takes his leave. I decided that enough of a day and get some sleep.
There's something wrong, I look around and see a little boy laying next to me, staring at the ceiling I hear sounds throughout the house. I hear stomping up the stairs and the door cracked open the boy has put his arms around me, “It's okay L, I can handle this.”
The boy kisses my cheek and slipped away. The door doesn't open more than what it's at and the boy slips back in bed. The person who is trying to get in gives up, but not right away. I stay up dreading this break in all night, it never came. The light starts to peak in the room and I wake in a cold sweats. The dreams are getting worse.
At school the three of us don't meet up after yesterday I hope Kevin would keep Em home, and Lux may skip just for the way to avoid the shame, anger or anything else she would like to avoid.
After school I get a call from Em, “Hey Em you okay?”
“I'm better but Kevin keep us all home he even took off work because I had more than one spell yesterday, I'm going to get a doctor's opinion today at 5.”
“Good, you stay safe.”
“I will but, that's not why I called you, How's Lux?”
“She wasn't here. I have both your stuff for today and I'm going to drop yours off first. I'll get Lux’s address then.”
“Ok see you soon.”
“Bye.”
“Bye”
I walk to Ems apartment the little three bedroom, kitchen, dining room, two bathrooms​ house they rent. Nocking, I'm let in by Kevin, “little dude. What is up?”
“Oh I came with Ems homework and notes plus I need something from her so can I go in?” I point at their 'fourth’ room, a makeshift bedroom from the dining room. Kevin nods. So I head in, “hey Em here are your​ notes and homework, can I have the address.”
“Yeah… hey could you come back and explain this to me?”
“Of course. But I have to drop off Lux’s stuff.”
“Yeah thanks see you in an hour?”
I nod and head out. Following the directions I end up at one of two Foster houses in this part of town. Knocking I hear thundering inside. The door cracked open, “excuses me. Sr I have what Lux missed today at school.” I hand the work over to a huge man in a hawaiian shirt and jeans. On second thought, “Can I tell her?”
He eyes me, then decided to let me in, “she's through that door there.”
I walk in and she's cleaning some glass up with a cut in her foot. “Lux are you okay?”
She freezes at my voice, “Yeah, what's up.”
“I brung you what you missed.”
“Sir.”
Her voice breaks as she says this, the man comes in, “Could you take this boy to my room and have him set this paperwork on my bed?”
“Yeah… come boy”
This massive weight lands on my shoulder and I smell it burbon. He's drunk, but I go with him and set the work on the bed he points out, it happened to be an empty bed no sheets or bedding or pillow in the basement. Then I'm shown out. Heading back to Ems I help her understand the math and science but the other homework i have trouble to so we give up I leave so I'm not late to dinner.
Getting home, my mom doesn't have any new bruise, Levi is caring herself weird Jonny is bruised pretty bad and the oldest twins are here Samantha and James not to mention Samantha's boy friend though there really happy. “Do you guys know that mom's..”
I get a hand over my mouth. “K it's a dinner of announcements. These two have something I have something the other twins have something and mom has more than one thing.”
I nod as I realize James is saying this. James slowly removes his hand. Dad has started drinking again.
Mom starts the sharing, “I'm pregnant and honey” She of course got interrupted three “I'm so happy for you.” Came at once but she continues, “And Honey you got a raise.”
“Good ish hash earned it.”
“Samantha your turn.”
“Well you've all meet Henry, Dad knows what I'm about to say… Henry and I are engaged.”
I hear a high pitched squeak right next to me I turn to see Levi dancing in her seat. Mom is so happy she can't stop smiling, Jonny has a grin from ear to ear and dad is so drunk he's too dumb at this point to it be happy. I smile also. James is shaking his head, “well I guess this is the best time for my announcement , first I'm proud of you to high school sweethearts, second of all I'm umm… how do I word this… moving to… to Egypt.”
Everyone​ stairs, “is there a dig?” I here from my own mouth.
He nods and everyone else claps. Now the other twins stand, “We umm…”
“Got ummm.”
“Into ummmmmm”
“A collage.”
Everyone starts the congratulations, “ummm there's ummm.”
“A catch ummmmmm”
“It's…”
“Its in ….”
“It's in England.”
They freeze I say “good for you. You get out of this cursed house.” As I get out of my chair, sliding out before anyone​ notices my move. Samantha and Levi come following me. “Ken are you okay?”
the Happiness in the voice tells me it's Samantha, she hasn't been in the house since she left for college. “Oh yeah I get my daily beating, Levi probably got more today because mom got pregnant, when I'm not home he beats Jonny and the only one he's ever loved the same as you two oldest is Charlie and who knows how long that will last with the baby on the way. So yeah I'm just fine!?”
Both the girls take a step backwards, I realize what I just said looking shocked I hear a peep of a voice, “how do you know I got more than the normal beating?”
“The way you were holding yourself. One thing I learned from hanging with the ‘weirdos’ is I see things normal people wouldn't catch.”
“Why are you mad me and Jonny are getting out of this. Is this how you feel?”
“I'm not mad. I'm worried about Charlie and the baby. I don't care what happens to me.”
They both looked shocked. As if they didn't know, I haven't cared if dad beats me half to death for the last year. I hear the husky voice of James “You know that's how I felt when I was your age. ‘As long as everyone else was safe, it didn't matter what happened to me.’ Then I got real friends and they gave me a reason to live. Maybe you need new friends or you need to open your eyes Kendall. You have so much, you're so smart.”
I scoff at that, “you don't know me. You left the house before you truly new me so stay out.”
I go to my room and shut the door. A few minutes later my dad comes in drunkenly leaning against my pale blue walls. Hes glaring at me, I stand up. “I heard what you said in the hall. If that's true then I'll make a deal with you.”
“How do I know you would hold up your end you're drunk so often.”
“I'm sure you don't know but you​ know when you were about three to twelve?” I nod “well the boy said he'd take the beating for you. I'll make the same deal with you.” I nod once more before getting the shit knocked out of me.