There's No Such Thing as Too Young

Tell me the story
Of how the sun
Loved the moon so much,
He died every night
To let her breathe.

*

“Kellin, wake up darling. Time to get ready.” I heard my mom say as I began regain consciousness.

“Mom.” I whined, dragging out the ‘o’. “It’s too early.”

“Well, maybe if you hadn’t been texting Vic all night, you wouldn’t be tired.” It’s too early for her sass. “What time did you fall asleep yesterday anyways?”

“I think I fell asleep like at four-ish a.m.. I don’t know.” I mumbled as I shoved my face into my pillow.

“Oh, well not my problem. Get up, shower, get dressed, we’re leaving in one hour.” I grumbled as my mom left my room. I walked over to my little bunnies and saw that they were still asleep. I changed their water and food and began to get ready.

As I was getting ready, I began wondering why some woman I didn’t even know wants to meet me. As far as I was concerned, the only family I had was my mom, Vic and his Vic’s family. They were there for me when I needed them the most and I tried to be the best for them. I don’t even know this woman, first of all. And secondly, how does she know we live here? I think she’s stalking us.

“Kellin!” I heard my mom call from the living room. “Let’s go!” I slipped on my Van’s and placed my beanie on my head.

“I’m ready, take a chill pill woman.” I said as I left my room.

“We’ll stop by Burger King or something so we can get a bite to eat. Now, let’s go because we’re late.”

*

As we drove through the countryside, I had a bag full of tater tots and some sandwiches. We weren’t going to eat all of this but it was nice to know I had options.

“Mom, there’s nothing good on the radio. They don’t have service! Who’d want to live in a place like this?”

“Plug my phone in the AUX cable and pick something to listen to.” I scrolled through my mom’s music and all she had was Katy Perry stuff and the basic, over-played songs that come on the radio.

“Don’t you have anything like All Time Low or Escape the Fate or My Chemical Romance?”

“What? No, sorry love.” I sighed as I continued to scroll through my mom’s playlist. I found a song called Aviation High by Semi Precious Weapons. I tapped the screen and was instantly greeted with good, heavy bass. It wasn’t a bad song, it was catchy and it made me feel high. The song kept repeating repeatedly, until we got to a little yellow. “Ready?”

“No. Can’t I just stay in the car till you’re done?”

“Nope, now let’s go.”

“Do I leave the food here?”

“Yeah, we won’t be eating it.” I stole a few tater tots and walked out the car. “Remember, this is also your family and I want you to act right. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” I said, rolling my eyes. My mother sighed as she shook her head. We stood in front of the door and knocked. A few seconds later, a woman with short, black, pin straight hair opened the door. She was average height with green eyes and pale skin. She looked just like me except she was a bit taller and had green eyes. Holy shit!

“Ah, Katherine, it’s been a long time. And you must be Kellin!” I smiled and nodded. “Please, please, come in. The family’s been dying to meet you.” When she turned around, I quickly looked at my mom who just shrugged. “This is my son James, my daughter Sam and … Sam where’s Zack?”

“He’s up in his room.” The girl said with a shrug.

“Well go get him. Tell him Katherine is here.” OH MY GOD! OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! I AM RELATED TO ZACK MERRICK!

“Zackery say hi.” Keep cool Kellin. Do NOT freak out!

“Hi.” I want to fangirl so bad right now.

“Why don’t you kids show Kellin the backyard and the animals.”

The three siblings led me through the one story house and out to the massive backyard.

“So Kellin,” the Sam began. “Tell us about yourself. My mom was going on about how your mom dated my uncle and then you were born but then he found his bitch of a wife and left you guys.” Wow. Ok, put my business out there.

“Um … Uh …” why do they want to know stuff about me? While I was thinking of something to say, I looked at each one of them carefully.

James was taller than my 5’4 foot self, probably 5’9 maybe six. He was slightly built and had long blonde hair that reached the middle of his bicep. He had pale skin with blue eyes. Sam was much smaller, around my height with purple hair that reached her elbows. She wasn’t skinny but she wasn’t big boned. She looked evenly proportioned. Then there was Zack, I feel weird calling him by his first name but anyways, he had short black hair and he was very built. Not as the people who do body lifting but you could see he, works out on making sure his muscles are good. He had nice brown eyes and was somewhat tanned. They were so different looking. They didn’t look related.

“I guess you don’t talk much.” Sam said. “Well that’s ok. I like taking care of the animals here on the small farm.” Small where? “I’m fifteen and so is James. We’re twins. James likes to draw and he can play the guitar. Do you listen to All Time Low?” I nodded. “Then I bet you’re internally fangirling on the inside knowing that the Zack Merrick is your cousin.” I nodded again, causing the three of them to chuckle. “We’re all adopted though. We use to live in Maryland but then things happened so we had to move here. Zack still goes down there though. Ya’know, being in a band and all, he has to record and the touring and all that jazz. Anyways, wanna meet Lulu?” I gave her a confused look. “Lulu is my horse.” I nodded and we began walking towards the stables. “You have to be very gentle with her. She gets frightened easily.”

Lulu was a beautiful grey horse with black spots scattered about. She had a blue eye and a green eye, making her look gorgeous. “She likes you.” I looked over at Sam and she smiled at me. “Lulu usually hates being around people she doesn’t know.” I placed my head against her neck and petted her back. “Move back a bit.” I gently removed my hands and body away. “Lulu, sit.” She sat and Sam gave her a treat. “There, now you don’t have to stand. Just be careful because there might be poop.” I sat down and began running my fingers through her hair. On the other hand, it could be fur. I’m not sure. “I’m gonna go inside but you’re welcome to stay here.” I smiled; a signal that I understood. After about thirty minutes, I began talking to Lulu.

“Ya’know, sometimes when I see that other kids have their dads, I wish I had mine. I don’t know where he is or if he’s thinking about me but I always think about him. When my mom told me that he left, I was about four years old, and I remember that I was crying. I used to sit by the door, waiting for him to come back and eventually, I gave up. My boyfriend, Vic, would come into my class because his class used to read to mine, but anyways, I would cry when he had to leave because I feared that he’d never come back like my dad. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom and she has become the only person whose opinion matters the most. I’m proud that she got us through those hard times though. I learned that not everyone would always be by your side except for the people that care about you.” I stopped for a few minutes so I could compose myself.

“When it’s late at night and I can’t sleep, I sometimes wonder if my dad has kids. I wonder if they’re old then me, younger or around my age. Wanna know what I’d do if I ever saw my dad again?” Lulu neighed. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’d honestly have no idea what I would do now that I think about it. Sure he abandoned me and my mother but he’s still my father and no matter how much he doesn’t deserve it, I’ll have to respect him.” Just then, my phone rang. “Hello?”

“Kellin, where are you?” my mom asked. She sounded stressed.

“I’m out back with the horses.”

“Ok, come back we need to leave. Now.”

“Kay, I’ll be there in a few seconds.”

“I gotta go Lulu but it was nice having someone listen to me.” with that being said, I got up and walked to the house. I saw another car in the driveway but shrugged it off. I walked through the front door and saw about four other people in the living room. There was a man, a woman, and two teenagers who looked older than I did. The man looked at me with a shocked expression and looked back at my mom, then at me.

“Hello Kellin.” I looked confusingly at my mom. She began making her way towards the door, where I was.

“Kellin, let’s go.”

“It’s such a shame you have to leave so soon.”

“Katherine is not leaving. Robert, I want you and this whore to get out of my house.” Why does that name sound familiar.

“I’m your older brother and don’t insult my wife.” Robert looked back at me and my mom with a sickening smile. “It’s great to see you again. Son.”