Chapter 1

A Chapter by Crazy Redd

Vance discovers he is adopted and his adoptive father gives his biological father's journal.

Chapter 1

Eleven years later, a small boy awoke to the sun shining through his small window in the corner, near his soft bed. The room was only large enough to contain a small bed and small dresser both nearly touching each other. Above the foot of the bed, a small circular window seemed to be painted, though as the sun rose, the scene changed lighting. The green grass slowly brightened after hours of the sunless night, and the few trees surrounding the mansion like house, seemed to grow as the sun rose in the blue sky. The orange hue slowly disappeared as the sun peeked over the horizon in the distance.

The boy had dark sapphire eyes, and jet-black hair that reached the ends of his ears. His face had few freckles due to the lack of sunlight, and his skin was a pale white that seemed almost transparent at times, but when he stepped into the sun, it seemed to gain pigment and turn to a tan white, as if he had been lying in the sun for hours. His legs were long and skinny, as the rest of him was. Though he ate plenty, even given extras, he was still a very small boy in size. It could’ve been because he was locked in the room for so long, or just because he grew that way naturally. The boy’s name was Vance Martin.

Vance sat up on his small bed, yawned, and stretched after the second sleepless night, since his excitement over today had been built up and made him unable to sleep. He looked out the window as he kneeled on his bed, dreaming of going outside, and sighed. His parents had never let him out, except a few times in which he felt like he was part of the family. Eleven years he had spent in that room, and today was finally one of those rare days to spend time with his father. It was always around this time he was able to get out of the room, as his birthday was growing closer and closer.

His father and mother were not the worst parents in the world, and the boy loved them very much, always forgiving them for keeping him away from the outside world. Though he had not really been out and talked with many people, he seemed to get along act right around his brother. That was probably due to the fact he had been taught all he needed to know by his mother, before she died. Vance loved his mother very much, and always believed he got his looks from her. His father did not look a thing like Vance; even his father’s black hair looked duller than his did.

A knock came from the door, near the head of Vance’s bed. Knowing what it meant he hurried to open the door, finally unlocked after days of being shut up in his own little room. On the other side of the door, a tall man with black hair stood with his glasses resting upon his long nose. His face was virtually unblemished and his grey eyes seemed dull in the small amount of sunlight coming from the window. With a caramel complexion, the man looked much different from Vance

“Vance, my boy!” The man said in a strong British accent, “How’s my champ doing today?” Vance smiled at the man.

“Great, Father! What are you planning for us today? Video games? Football?” Vance asked in an excited voice, much different from his father’s accent, almost as if he did not have any accent at all.

“Ah,” his father said, “I’m afraid dear Vance, I’m going to have to bail on you today. There was some sort of huge virus infection in the software, if I don’t go in and fix it, I will be fired. I’m sorry, son.” Vance’s excitement seemed to drain from his face as quickly as it had come.

“But Father!” Vance whined, but his father cut him off.

“No buts Vance,” his father said with a bit of a stressed tone, “You can get out the room and play with Felix, but I cannot stay, unless you want me fired.”

“I don’t want you-” Vance said.

“Then I must go, make sure you don’t fight with your brother, I can’t come pull you two apart if you fight, and make sure to stay inside!” his father called as he headed down large black stairs at the end of the hallway.

Vance was heartbroken for a second, but then embraced the freedom he had, which he had been so deprived of in the last ten years. He ran down the hall opening each door, until he reached one at the far end, far from his room, which intrigued him. As he opened the door excitedly like he had the other doors, he found a large bedroom that was bigger than he ever dreamed of anything being; even the huge living room downstairs was nothing in comparison.

On the far side was a regal white bed, with a large white canopy over the top. The empty space in the room was large than even his room, or many of the other rooms down the hall. White crown molding framed the black walls, carpet and roof. A large door seemed to stick out on one of the walls of the huge room. Before Vance could venture any farther, he heard footsteps coming down the hall.

Panicking, Vance ran in circles around the room, trying to find a place to hide as he was sure that he wasn’t supposed to be in such a magnificent room. He dived under the bed, just as the footsteps rounded into the room. He saw white sneakers and the caramel skin of the leg just above the shoe; the person obviously wasn’t wearing socks. Vance was breathing hard, and hoped he wouldn’t be caught by whoever it was. Suddenly a face appeared from nowhere, right next to Vance’s face.

The familiar face looked a lot like his fathers’; the grey eyes, the black hair, glasses and the unmistakable caramel complexion. A wide smile spread across the young face, like some wild animal catching its prey, looking satisfied.

“Found yah,” the face said in the accent much different than his father’s, more of a mixture of a few accents, “Watch doin’ here anyways? Father said you could patrol the house, didn’t he? Better get out soon, ‘cause if Dad finds you, you’d be in some big jujumcgumbo; trouble yeah? Come on little bro, let’s get you outta here.” Vance smiled after being surprised by the slightly older boy. He slid out from under the bed and stood up, dusting himself off with his hands.

“Hiya Felix!” Vance said as he continued to dust off the dirt off his jeans, “I-I was just looking. Don’t really get much time to explore, you know? And why would Father be mad; is there something special about this room?” Vance asked in response. All Felix did was usher him out. Vance followed him and started to head down the long black stairs.

“Yeah, that was Mom and his before what happened,” Felix rejoined as they started down the stairs, “He don’t like people in there, says they shouldn’t mess with her stuff. Moved into a new room himself even. Poor Mom and Roxy. They were great people, yah know?”

“Yeah, but I don’t completely understand, what happened to them, Father said they were never coming back, bro, is that true?” Vance wondered knowing that they were dead, but he never was enlightened on the way they died.

“Yeah, Dad likes to protect you from lots of things. Well, pretty much, what happened was they were killed by some thugs on the streets. After that, he’s gone into complete protection mode. Threatened to make me quit school. He said, ‘It’s too dangerous, and what would you get from continuing?’ I said to him that I wanted to stay, for football, and I’d stay outta trouble. Said I wanted to be a professional football player, and I’d run away, if he made me quit, and join another school far away. He finally consented to lettin’ me stay. You got the raw end of the deal, Vancie. He thought that if he couldn’t protect me, he’d keep you away from all the dangers. Sorry bro, he was about to let you go to school, but I think I made him decide not to,” Felix explained factually.

Vance looked up at Felix, whom was much taller than he was, and said, “It’s ok, you wanted to do what you want to. You have a future, with a career, and all, but I’m too old to start school again. Being 12 makes it hard to start school and dreams. It’s all right, bro, I understand.” Felix smiled slightly after his smile had faded as he talked.

“Thanks Vance,” Felix said plainly, “Wanna play some Madden?” Vance nodded with a wide grin. Playing video games was a rare occasion for him, and loved to play with family. After Roxy and his mother died, Felix was always at school and his father at work, but since it was in the weekend, Felix was home, and had a lot of free time, especially since it was a few days after school started this year.

Vance thought about what his mother had told him the last time she was alive around him. ‘Ask your father, he needs to tell you the truth about everything.’ She seemed almost regretful when she said it too. It was just a matter of what everything meant. Vance had been confused about it for some time, and had a feeling it had to do with something between his parents. A few logical conclusions had come to his mind. “Am I your brother, Felix?” Vance asked curiously, as they walked down the steps, “You know by genetics?”

“’Course you’re my brother, but,” Felix hesitated, but eventually sighed, finally deciding, continued factually and nervously, “Not by genetics no. Don’t know much, but you definitely don’t look like Dad and me. Though Mom looked a lot like you from what I remember. I say you were in an orphanage when you were ‘bout two, and Mom and Dad took you home soon after that. Probably saw you and thought that you looked a lot like Mom and it would be able to hide it… I remember when you first came home, mind you; I was only like four so the details are fuzzy. They came home one day, and out of nowhere, I had a brother. I thought it was downright amazing.”

Vance just stopped walking and froze in place. Color drained from his face, making him almost transparent again. He had suspected, and he hoped it was just his imagination but no, it wasn’t just his imagination. Felix confirmed these thoughts and Vance, now knowing what he hoped was wrong was true, didn’t know how to handle the information.

“You ok Vance?” Felix said walking back to where Vance had frozen, “Vance?” It felt like a dagger piecing his heart with each word Felix said, whom he always thought a real brother, but not anymore. Vance felt as though he was going to vomit, but managed to hold the feeling in.

“So you’re not my real brother?” Vance managed to choke out.

“’Course I am, just not by blood,” Felix said worried, “Sure you fine?”

“But you’re not my brother and Father’s not my father?” Vance said choking on each word.

“Yeah we are,” Felix said with growing concern for his brother and intensity in his voice.

“I don’t think I want to play today,” Vance spit out and he ran up the stairs and shut his door behind him. A knock came at his door, Felix.

“Go away!” Vance growled. Footsteps could be heard slowly walking away from the small door. Involuntarily tears began to spread and head down his soft cheeks, now tanning in the sun coming from the window. He wanted to know the truth; who his parents were, if they were alive, but alas, his father probably wouldn’t know, nobody would, unless he could escape the confines of this house. Knowing his father would not let him out, especially after this, he couldn’t do anything but think. It felt like he was there for minutes, but he was up there for a few hours at least.

“Vance,” a voice said from the other side of the door; it was his father, or what he thought was his father the past eleven years.

“Leave me alone,” Vance cried, but the man ignored him and slowly cracked open the door.

“Vance, please let me explain,” his father said trying to mend what Felix unintentionally did.

“I said leave me alone!” Vance roared and turned to look at his so-called father, “I trusted you! And you never said anything about it. Why are you so protective over me? I’m not your real son anyways! You keep so much from me you… you…” Vance stopped not knowing what to say, but tears continued to streak down his cheeks.

“Please understand, Roxy and your Mother’s death was tragic and I couldn’t stand to speak of them, or even think about how they died. I was heartbroken. I had lost two of the most important women in my life forever,” his father said calmly, trying to force the sorrow in his voice to not show, but it was in vain, “And you, Vance… I had to keep the truth about your parents a secret, or I could lose you and have you hate me forever for not telling you sooner, and now I’m regretting the decision. You have always been in a fragile condition, until just recently, and I couldn’t stand you getting hurt more than you were already. Every day it seemed you had the stomach flu or chicken pox, and I could do nothing to stop it, but to keep you in a clean environment, where you could be sickness free; this room. Any sort of open space would make you sick, remember?” Vance stared at his father, trying to compute what he had said. After a few minutes of silence, his father turned to walk, but Vance spoke.

“But you never asked what I wanted,” Vance spoke up softly at first but gradually returning to his normal tone, “You never asked if I wanted to be free of this room, even though I was sick all the time. I always have wanted to escape this room, this house, and see the unknown world beyond it. See all the places the news reports about, see a real football game, I wanted to see it all, but I couldn’t. I always forgave you because I knew that you loved me, because I was your son.”

“You are my son. Just because we don’t share the same blood doesn’t make it where I don’t consider you my son or make me not love you,” his father said rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses. Vance remained silent, so his father continued, “I didn’t take your feelings into consideration. I never did, and I’m sorry for that, I’m sorry Vance, but I did what I thought was necessary for you to live a healthy life. I wanted to save this for tomorrow, for your birthday, but… here follow me.” His father looked at Vance and signaled him to follow. Vance slowly rose from his bed and walked behind his father down the hallway. He stopped in front of a door, which Vance had visited earlier. He slowly opened the door, revealing the regal room, which he had hidden in earlier. His father walked over to a nightstand near the white bed, and picked up a book.

“This is a journal of you father in his final days, there’s even a picture,” his father said offering Vance the book, “I want you to take this room, as a gift from me to you. You don’t even have to call me Father anymore; you can call me Jeff if you really want to.” Vance peered at the book and grabbed it. Before he opened the book, he looked back up at Jeff, his father. He quickly hugged him and didn’t need to speak for the hug had said it all for him.

“Thank you Father,” Vance said having not fully taken in the gift yet, “Thank you so much!” Vance looked around the room, now it was his room, huge and regal just for him.

“I’ll find you a school,” Jeff said heading to the door to leave Vance alone.

“No Father, don’t worry about, I-I can find one I want,” Vance said excitedly, completely opposite than he was a few minutes ago.

“Of course Vance, I’ll let you choose,” Jeff said closing the door as he spoke. Vance looked around excitedly; he finally had somewhere to relax, where every problem seemed small. He flopped on the large soft bed, and looked at the journal Jeff had given him. It was a small black journal, with the words Julius Xavier Blake written in white ink in the corner of the cover. Vance flipped it to the first page excitedly and began reading.

January 23, 1979

I’ve decided to write a journal because Johnny made a good point the other day that one day I’ll grow old and forget some of my life. Maybe someday I can look back and remember all of the good times. Probably just going to be short entries, as I am quite busy right now. And hey, later I might have a girl to take care, knock on wood.

Until Next Time,

Julius Xavier Blake

Vance read the short entry looking at his father’s handwriting. Vance slowly flipped to about the center of the journal to where a specific entry caught his eye.

August 21, 1998

Lianna just gave birth today. He’s such a beautiful boy. Lia says he looks like me, but I see more of her in him. We’ve decided to follow the tradition and name him Vance, as my mother’s maiden name was Vance, and well it’s the family tradition to do so with the first son. I don’t know if I’m going to be a good father, but I will try my best, for Lia and Vance. I love them both so much, if one was to leave, I do not know how I’d survive.

Until Next Time,

Julius Xavier Blake

Finally, Vance flipped to the very last page, wondering what had happened to his parents at the end of it all. From the sound of it, death was the furthest thing from his blood parents’ mind. The writing on the last page was hard to figure out, as the penmanship was much worse than the two other entries he had read. Unlike the others, there was no date, only the scribbles of words, which Vance slowly made sense of it.

I really hope someone is reading this. I don’t have much time I have. Please, whoever is reading this know that the stories are not true. The only reason Lianna and I are going through this is because we can’t win, and if we fight more, then too many lives will be lost and too much hurt will occur. Tell our son, if you can, that we love him, and wish that it didn’t come to this. Maybe someday he’ll understand why we did what we did.

That was the end of the entry, and it looked like Julius had written it in a hurry and with little to no light. Vance stared at the entry, making sure that he had read it correctly, but it was correct. So many questions came to mind. What happened to his parents? What did they do? He didn’t understand.

Vance flipped through the pages, looking for a picture, which Jeff had said was somewhere in there. Finally, at the very back of the journal a lone picture was taped to the last page.

A man and a woman looked towards Vance, smiling happily. The man’s arm was wrapped around the woman’s shoulders, and his bright blue sapphire eyes seemed to pierce Vance’s with warmth. The man had black hair, just like Vance. As Vance stared at the picture, his parents looked a lot like him. He finally could see his real parents, not just his adoptive parents, Jeffry and Juliet Martin.