Writer's Notes:
Everyone in this story is 18 years old or older. Enjoy. If you're willing, please comment your likes and dislikes about the story. And vote!!!
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A young Dave is waiting in front of the school for his mom & dad to pick him up on a Friday afternoon, expecting to go on a camping trip that dreadful day, but an accident kills his parents instantly and changes his life forever. He is six years old, an only child, and he's looking forward to the camping trip. It's one of many things he loves to do with his mom & dad.
He sits on a bench in front of the school for a long time, waiting for them, when the school principal and school nurse sit down on either side of him. Slowly, they make him realize his parents will not be picking him up. Even at six years old, he is devastated. That day, Dave lost his will to live.
As he sits on the bench, he cries his eyes out and can't stop. Even though the nurse is holding him tight, he feels nothing. The numbness in his body causes life to stop before his eyes and he doesn't know if he is dead or alive, nor does he care. His life is over. His parents are the life in his blood and he loves them dearly. He can't imagine life without them.
After a long wait at the school, the state comes and takes him away. He cries for days at the loss of his parents, but it doesn't help. A week later, he attends the funeral and sits with no awareness as to what is happening. He's a space cadet, not focusing on anything.
The family court where they live put him up for adoption and he becomes a ward of the state. He has no idea what is happening to him, nor does he care. He just goes along with everything, feeling lifeless at the loss of the two people that made his world come alive. He had the best parents in the world and loved them dearly.
For the next two years he feels lethargic. He has no sense he belongs to life. The state moves him from foster parent to foster parent in its attempt to find him a new home and after more moves than he can count, the state finally finds a family he might like. In his state of unconcern, he didn't really give a damn, but he's glad somebody did.
Dave is introduced to a family that has a child a year younger than himself and as he gets used to being in their house, Kelly and her parents make him feel different, better actually. After only a week there, he can feel life and love return to his blood. He didn't want that to stop so he faces his future and leaves his stupor to fend for itself.
Finally, at the ripe and sassy age of eight, he has a more positive outlook about his future. Feeling he has lost two years of his life, his new foster parents make him feel like he belongs with them and gives him hugs, something he hasn't felt in a couple years. Kelly also does the same and he begins to enjoy life again. Even at a young age, he remembers Kelly having beautiful blue eyes and a great smile.
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About eight months later, the state and his foster family sit him down in the livingroom to sort out his future. Dave wants to stay with them and he tells them so in the most modest way he can, being as evasive as possible. All of them agree, but he never tells them the real reason why he wants to stay, and they let it slide.
To claim his place in his new family, he pads to his new dad, leans over to him and gives him a hug and dad meets him half way. Then he does the same to his new mom, who sits next to dad, but when he gets to Kelly, she stands up and embraces him tight so he does the same to her.
"Welcome home, David," she says.
Her words hit home and he gets teary eyed as a result. Then she releases him and he moves on to the state representative, ever so happy Kelly has given him a hug. Six weeks later, the adoption becomes legal, but he keeps his name because he feels he owes that to his birth parents, whom he still misses and loves dearly.
As the years pass by, he weasels his way into his new family, but still has the sorrow of his birth parents in the back of his mind. As a family, they get along well and when Dave & Kelly become teenagers, she starts pranking him and he fell for it too many times to count. Every time she does it to him, she gives him a hug, realizing he feels uncomfortable in the situation. He smiles, getting more affection from his sister, which is exactly what he wants.
At times, he feels like he gets more hugs from his sister than he did from his birth parents, but he knows that's not true. Kelly loves to gives hugs and it seems to be part of her personality. He really feels at home and his decision to stick it out is well deserved, and worth it. Dave is happy for a change, but he won't forget how he got to this moment.
By the time Dave & Kelly make it to senior high, he is Kelly's self-appointed protector, his job as her brother. He works out, getting stronger and stronger as he gets older, knowing he will appoint himself to the job. He gets in more scuffles over her than he cares to count because she's a natural beauty, which catches the eye of every boy. Kelly is proud of her brother, which makes him happy. He can hold his own with the guys and after a while, they quit messing with them. She goes out on several dates and so does he, but not as many as his sister, and they always remain close as brother and sister.
Dave & Kelly often double date and infrequently hang out together, but when they don't have a date lined up, they go to the movies together, in public. Their friends know they are brother and sister, even if they don't have the same last name. Nobody cares. They always have friends and always have a good time and it never matters to her or anybody else that Dave is not her blood brother, always treating him like he is. He can't describe how close to home he feels, and Kelly is a big part of that.
The day Dave graduates from high school is a party day. He has so much fun with friends and family. Mom, Dad and Kelly make sure the day is nothing but fun for him, and they succeed.
When the fun part of the day ends, he walks with them to the garage while dad tells him they want to take him for ice cream. As the garage door opens, his graduation present sends him to tears and he drops to his knees. There it is, a brand new, overhauled 1968 GTO he has always wanted, with a huge blue ribbon wrapped around it.
He has to admit, it was a total surprise. Mom, Dad and Kelly drop to their knees with him, group hug him and for a longest time, he has trouble keeping himself together. After a while, they pile into the car with Dave behind the wheel and go for ice cream. What a happy day it is for his family, especially for himself, but he can't believe they have done that for him.
That night, Dave lays alone in bed and his brain wanders to his birth parents, thinking they should have been here, celebrating his high school graduation with him. As their memory comes to the forefront of his mind, he starts to weep. Walking by his room, Kelly hears him.
She knocks and asks, "Can I come in?"
He tries to cover up his tears, but she knows they are there.
"Not really," he replies, knowing well enough she will.
She comes in anyway, pads to his bed and sits down, rubbing his back as he gets his emotions under control.
"You are thinking about your birth parents, aren't you?" she asks.
Dave only nods.
"You'll be okay, David. I know you pretty well and you have a good life ahead of you."
"Thanks, Sis. I appreciate that," he tells her with sorrow in his voice.
Then she surprises him by saying, "Now suck it up, Bro. Tomorrow is another day!"
She smiles at him, leans in and gives him a kiss on his cheek, pads to the door and closes it behind her. Leaving him alone in his sorrow, he smiles inside and wonders what he means to his sister.
They spend a nice summer together as a family and have so much fun, especially with Kelly. They do so many things together. He has looked at her parents as his parents for many years now, and sometimes he cries at night, thinking about how lucky he is to have loving parents to replace the loving parents he lost.
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It's tough for Dave to pack his bags and go off to college in the fall. Leaving his sister behind is tough on both of them. They miss each other so much, but they reunite on college breaks and have a great time together. He deals with his first year in college and does well, but he misses his sister's pranks, wit and most of all, her presence.
His sister is so pretty and slender it makes it that much harder on him and many times, they have intimate conversations about the boys and girls they dated. He is so happy they can talk to each other on that level.
Dave comes home from college two weeks before Kelly graduates from high school and mom & dad have already bought her the car she wants and they make a slightly different plan to present her graduation gift. Dave drives it into the driveway as she watches and she cries just like he did the year before. Surviving that event, Kelly drives them to get some ice cream. Over the years, she's been the best sister for him, always treating him like her blood brother.
The summer recess seems short and the next thing he knows, both of them are off to college, and not the same one, as much as he doesn't want it to be that way.
Kelly goes in the opposite direction he does to college, but things change between them toward the end of the first year. He didn't hear from her and she never answers his phone calls or text messages. He is worried and gets mom & dad involved and they end up dragging her out of college the day before her finals begin. She wouldn't have passed them anyway, not in her condition.
Dave doesn't ask about Kelly until he finishes his finals, and four days later, he's done. On his way out of his last exam, he calls home to find out the damage and based on what they tell him, he races home to get the full story, and it's not pretty.
Kelly got involved in the drug crowd and she went downhill from there, and did so quickly. It gets to the point where there isn't a drug she didn't want to try.
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