Now, it looked as though bad luck was following me in my new home. Else, why would I be blamed for what was happening? I had not touched Sam. I had not made any noise. I had not done anything wrong. Why all of a sudden my new mom seemed to accuse me of doing something wrong?

“Thando you need to go now!” my mom cried.

“What? Wait what do you mean?” I exclaimed. My new dad appeared in front of the door.

“Come here…” he said, hurriedly, “You’ll make the situation worse if you stay in the room!”

I rushed out of the room to stand next to my dad who switched on the corridor light calmly and made his way back into my room. A few moments later he came out of the room with a few mirrors, some metallic ornaments and other random objects. My mind was still buzzing with questions.

“What’s happened to Sam?” I cried. “I swear he just went to the ground by himself…” My new dad looked at me, sat down the objects and relaxed his shoulders. I noticed his facial expression changed.

“Blimey, I thought we’d told you already,” he announced, “Sam gets fits when he is sleep deprived or during stressful times. He has epilepsy,” he patted me on the shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Sam’s been excited at the prospect of him finally having a brother so I understand if he’s a bit knackered now,” rather inappropriately, I let out a huge sigh of relief and buried my face in my hands.

“Best thing to do when he gets one of his seizures, is to give him space and not to constrain him down…” my new dad reassured, “I’m usually the one who removes the dangerous objects from the area and leave Elena to do the rest,”

As bad as the situation was, I felt a small bit of elation deep inside my belly as I finally knew of Sam’s situation and that he was going to be okay. I really liked my foster dad. He had this soothing way of speaking that almost seemed to massage the ear. At first it seemed like my foster mother was the catch in their relationship but now I understood why she fell for him.

What I could not understand about my foster mother was the way she reprimanded me for something that was clearly not in my control. My new dad, on the other hand, seemed more understanding, and ready to tell me about Sam’s condition. I could not put my finger on it but there was something off about her. Maybe I should have asked her when I had the chance if she was feeling okay and not flaked out halfway through.

A few hours had passed since the incident and my head was still awash with all sorts of emotions which seemed to leave me in a crouched sitting position for hours outside Sam’s bedroom door. The corridor lights were still on and I had lost a sense of time while waiting for my foster mother to come out of his room.

It felt like the wait in a hospital for a doctor to deliver news about a patient he had just operated on. Finally the door slowly opened. Elena, my foster mother, tip toed through the door and closed it softly. I awkwardly brought myself to a standing position using the back wall as an aid. The back of my knees suddenly coursed with pain and electric sensation.

“Hey, is he alright?” I asked sincerely.

“Just stay away from him,” she snapped. “You might cause him to relapse or something.”

“Come on, you know it was not my fault.”

“Oh really?” she retorted. I took a breath and cleared my throat.

“Besides, I’ve been meaning to ask… Are you okay and everything?”

‘”What do you mean?”

“Well you know uhm… With the whole adoption thing,”

“Look, Thando, speak up or something, because I need have a chat with Jerry now.”

“Well it’s just…” I mumbled. “Forget it, it can wait.”

“Okay then,” she sighed, walking away as she did so.

She made her way to her room and slammed the door. A few moments later I could hear arguing from the master bedroom. A voice in my head told me to go straight back to my room – I ignored it. Being as curious as I was, I quietly made my way to the room and put my ear to the door and held a breath.

“All I’m saying is Jerry, it was a mistake,” I overheard my foster mom shout.

“Calm down, you know very well Thando had nothing to do with his fit. He just…”

“I’m not talking about the fit. It’s the whole adoption thing that’s just messing with my head and stuff.”

“Elena,” my foster dad ordered. “How many times did we try after Sam? You know what the doctor said about our situation. Adopting is and was our only option of giving Sam a sibling. I don’t know what’s got you so narked,” my foster dad’s words stunned me. I closed my eyes and continued listening to the conversation.

“I know,” Elena sighed. “You always wanted Sam to have a sibling but what about me? When did you even ask my opinion?”

“What do you mean?” my foster dad questioned.

“Thando is thirteen for goodness sakes! Nobody adopts kids that old. I wanted Sam to have a younger brother. I don’t even like the boy,” I froze in horror.

“What are you saying, Elena?” my dad demanded.

“What I’m saying is, I hate the boy you’ve adopted!”

My knees buckled as I turned my back towards the door. I was shattered. Slowly with my back against the door I slid to the ground in disbelief. Why did my foster mother despise me?

***

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