Chapter 4: New Beginning

“Hello, Hazel. I’m Darleen Hawthorne.”

“Hello.”

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

“I am okay.”

She moved closer to my bed and I could tell she was nervous, maybe a little uncomfortable.

“I am so sorry to tell you this but, none of your family members made it out of the accident.”

I heard the words but my rain could not comprehend them. It was like that moment, my whole world was flipped and turned on its head.

“I am from child protective services and we will make sure we get a family that is full of love.”

She spoke as though replacing my family was as easy as going to Target and getting a new one.

I cried and I screamed for everybody to get out. I didn’t want to see any of their faces, I didn’t want to hear their apologies as though that would bring them back. As the realisation of my new reality and the fact that I was all alone dawned on me, I sobbed uncontrollably.

AZIEL’S POV

The summer after my high school graduation, I had saved up enough money to leave. I was tired of my father’s abuse and I had been planning this moment since I got into junior high and I saved as much money as I could.

That night after my father had gone to sleep, I pretended to be asleep and waited for him to finish watching the news like he always did every night.

After he was done and I couldn’t hear the TV anymore, I got out of bed and started to pack my suitcase with the little clothes that I had. It was the same suitcase that my mother had dropped me off with all those years ago.

I was stalling, giving him time to fall asleep. I knew that when he slept, he would be knocked out till morning. After about an hour, I crept downstairs as quietly as I could and left the house.

The moment I made it out the door and into the main street, I was relieved as I found my way to the bus station. I was a bit paranoid that my father would wake up to find me gone and be out to look for me. He wasn’t too keen on having me around but he was paid a weekly allowance for having me around.

The payment would stop when I turned eighteen the next year. He still had four more months of payments to go and I was pleased that I had ruined that for him.

I got to the bus station and it was already packed with a lot of people. It seemed like I was not the only one running away from something.

I bought a ticket to New York. It was my dream city. I had always wanted to go there.

***

The trip to New York was gruesome. It was a 21-hour journey and my legs hurt when I got down from the bus. I wasn’t even able to sleep because I was paranoid. I kept thinking my Dad was following me behind but it was all in my head. I knew by now he would have already noticed that I was gone but I didn’t care, I hated him and I wanted nothing to do with him ever again. Hopefully, I will never see him again in my life.

I had a little money saved up and I was going to use it to rent a small apartment. I had done my research and I knew that Harlem was the place where I could get the cheapest houses, but at the same time, I needed a good job that paid well so I could get myself through college. I decided that I would go to Manhattan. We had arrived late at night so I stayed in a cheap motel. I could hardly get any rest because the place was mosquito-infested. The food was not good so I couldn’t even finish it.

Early the next morning, I took a cab to Manhattan. There, I was able to get a studio apartment and a job at a fancy restaurant nearby.

I worked for ten hours every day, but it was okay because the money was enough for me to feed myself and pay my rent. I never made any friends and my co-workers hardly spoke to me because they found me strange.

Having been isolated for a long time, I lacked social skills. I was okay with that. I didn’t need anybody. After I had been disappointed by the two people who were supposed to protect me, I lost faith in everybody else. I concluded that I was all alone in the world and I was okay with that.

On a certain evening at work, the day had been stressful and I was frustrated after having to throw fake smiles at people and serve them the whole day, I was ready to just go to my house and sleep for the whole day. I was exhausted.

I was going to wait at my last table for the night before my shift was over and I was ecstatic.

I got to the table and the two men seemed to be having a very heated conversation. They weren’t arguing, but their discussion was very serious. For some reason, I decided to pay attention while I poured them a glass of wine. They spoke about software that they were having a problem executing.

I knew a lot about software development and I knew how to solve the problem. I wasn’t quite sure if I should speak up without getting into trouble.

So I continued to serve them, while they kept trying to solve the problem they were having.

When the time came to give them their cheque, I decided to write the solution for it on a napkin and tuck it in. I gave them their check and watched as the napkin fell out of the chequebook.