My Life With You

I'm Sophie, and I used to live in Honolulu, Hawaii. My mom is an alcoholic, and my father left me when I was four, so I live with my gay uncles, Dan and Burt. They were the only ones out of my whole family that loved me enough to take me in after my grandma died. She was taking care of me after my mom went to rehab, but she died when I was five, two weeks after my birthday. I've had a hard life, but I've also had so many blessings given to me by God. Because of this I'm a strong believer in the quote: "The Lord will provide in all those who trust in Him." This is the story of my life.

It all started in May of 2009. I was walking back from Church, alone again. My uncles were gay, but they were both very religious, and they came to Church to me whenever they were in town. At the moment they were both somewhere in Europe for a business trip. They were always gone because of our family business. I'm not supposed to know what our family business is though, and the suspense has been killing me since I was little. I used to stay up and listen to them talking to see if they would drop any hints. They never did.

Supposedly they're going to tell me on my 16 birthday, which is in 6 days, and I couldn't wait to find out. I was really hoping that it wasn't something super boring like selling technology or something, I was actually hoping that it would have something to do with music or acting, but who knows.

When I was halfway home from Church I felt someone's eyes on my back, and I turned around to see whom it was. Nobody was there, and I got super scared. I started walking faster, and then I turned around again to see who it was. As I faced back towards my house I saw a huge person standing right in front of me. I looked up to see my Uncle Dan (he was 6'6", and I'm only 5' 5") standing in front of me smiling.

"We decided to come back early, princess," he said. "We wanted to be able to spend your birth week with you. We also brought some special guests."

My heart dropped. Please, Lord, don't let it be my mother. My uncle could see the anguish on my face.

"Don't worry, Soph, it's not her. I wouldn't let her anywhere near you after your fourteenth birthday."

I sighed in relief when he said that, and my uncle wrapped me in a hug.

On my fourteenth birthday my Uncle Burt decided that it would be a fun surprise for me if my mother came to visit and have dinner. She was supposedly sober, so he didn't think that she would go crazy, but she did. She started out all sweet, but by the end of the night she had drugged both of my uncles so they were asleep. She then went around to beating the crap out of me for the rest of the night. The only reason I didn't die was because the neighbors heard my screams. The neighbor's son also happens to be my best friend, partially because he has been forced to go through everything with me because of where he lives. My uncles never forgave themselves for that night, and they vowed to get total custody of me and never let my mother see me again. Last I heard, she was in jail, and I sincerely hoped that it stayed that way.

My uncle released me from his tight grip and threw his arm around my neck. It was hard to believe sometimes that he was my uncle and not one of my friends, partially because of how he acted. He was my thirty-five, but he acted like he was only twenty-six. My dad was only thirty-seven; because he had had me at twenty-six, and my mom was only thirty-four. I think that’s one of the many reasons they are so messed up. They had me too young. So, yet again, it is partially my fault for the bad things that have happened.

As my uncle and I walked up the steps I could hear voices inside of our house. We lived in a fairly large house for Hawaii, with five bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, but it sounded like there was a lot of people in there. I could also here music and something cooking in the kitchen. Whatever it was sure smelled good. I turned to my uncle.

"So what's up with all the people in the house?" I asked. "You do realize I'm not deaf so it would be hard to hide all of the stomping and yelling from me."

His face was challenging me, "You'll just have to wait and see," he said, and my face fell. "C'mon, we're like halfway up the steps anyway. Did you really think I was gonna tell you before we got in the house?"

"No," I muttered. "But I was hoping."

"Well we're at the front door all ready, so you don't have to worry any longer," he said turning the door knob. "She's here, everyone!"

I stepped carefully in the door and the room was empty. There was no music, and no people. At all. I whipped around and face my uncle.

"You do realize that was a very dirty trick to play, Dan," I said. I only called him Dan when I was mad. Usually I called him unc. "You raised my hopes, and just smashed them. I really thought that this would be a different birthday. You guys always find ways to make it special, but I thought that this year I would actually get to hang out with you guys and some of our other family."

"Well, it's not your birthday yet," a female voice joked in my ear. "You've gotten so demanding since I've last seen you!"

I spun around quickly and jumped Mari. She was my favorite cousin ever, mostly because she was the same age as me. We were born exactly two days apart, both and two in the morning. I was born on May 7th and she was born on May 9th , so we both has the same birth week, and we were going to celebrate it together this year. We looked a lot alike, besides the fact that our hair and eyes were different colors, but we had the same skin tone, same features, same exact height, same show size, same hand size, same hair length, same hair style, etc. I had blonde hair and hazel eyes, while she had dark brown hair with electric blue eyes, but it made no big difference. We also both had spazzish personalities, and we loved to have fun. Her brother, Davey, on the other hand, was the exact opposite from us. He was super driven, and he was a spot maniac. Mari and I were into volleyball, and we were both pretty good even though we were kind of short for the sport, but our real love was in the arts. My love was music, and Mari loved to paint and draw. We were the little artsy fartsy girls.

Mari hit the ground after I jumped her with a loud "Umph!" and then rolled me off of her. This was a usual occurrence when she saw me. We hung out almost every day, and she was used to me giving her jump hugs. Davey just laughed and then came up to give me a kiss on the forehead. He was also huge, just like my uncle, and he was a super gorgeous senior. When I say he was gorgeous I'm a little biased, though. I mostly loved him because he was like a male version of me, but like 6'5"-6'6". At the moment he was being offered scholarships for basketball, volleyball, and football.

After he gave me a kiss on my forehead, my neighbor, Jack, came and gave me a bear hug. He wasn't that tall, he was only like 5'10", and he always complained about feeling like a shorty around my family, but I loved him anyway. He was my best guy friend, and Mars was my best girl friend. Together we created havoc, and we got into tons of trouble. I remember when Mari and I were six and he was seven we almost smashed the house while we were playing the backyard. We were trying to play tag, when Jack picked up a chainsaw and started running around after Mari and I. He then ran into a tree, and the chainsaw got stuck in there while it was still running. When Uncle Burt got home the tree was cut half of the way through, and if it had gotten cut anymore it would have fallen from the backyard onto the house and smashed the whole thing. Luckily, during that incident nobody got hurt, but we had created many scars and memories over the years.

When Jack finally let got of me, my aunty Jenn and Uncle David, (Davey and Mari's parents) came and gave me a hug. Finally was Uncle Burt. When I saw him I smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek. He was only 6', which was short for my family, because he wasn't actually related to me; he was just Uncle Dan's partner. I loved him so much, though, because he had taken care of me since I was a baby, and I was actually one of the reasons him and Uncle Dan met. When I was born Uncle Dan had come to the hospital to check on my mom and I, but on the way there his car broke down. Uncle Burt was kind enough to stop and give him a lift to the hospital, and from there they hit it off. When I think about that it reminds me that my birth did cause some good things to happen, even if it did cause some heartbreak.

The entire night my family and I just had a great time. Mari and I ate cheesecake DDR'ed (Dance Dance Revolution) it out until we were convinced we were going to puke. Luckily, we didn't. My uncles would have been pissed. Jack and Davey played football in the front yard with some of the other guys that lived in the neighborhood, and they ended up winning while Mari and I cheered like maniacs. My uncles and Mari and Davey's parents did their own "adult" thing, but Aunty Jenn joined Mari and I for a few round of DDR. At the end of the night, Mari, Davey, and Jack ended up sleeping over. Aunty Jenn and Uncle David left, but it was fine because school was over. When we finally all went to bed in one of the bigger bedrooms all together, it was almost three in the morning. We had already mooned the neighborhood, sung to the moon, and acted like crazy monkeys in the backyard for Truth or Dare. I was so glad that my uncles had a soundproof bedroom. I could already tell that this was going to be one of the best birth weeks Mari and I had ever head. I was so right.