It was raining late in the afternoon; the air was filled with the sickly scent of iron and petroleum. The noises of the world were drowned out by the unrelenting banging of the rain against a thin bent metal roof and the constant thrumming beep of a modern car horn competing with the distant blares of sirens. Red and Blue lights flashed against the metal wreck as the sun slowly set from the sky as people hurriedly scrambled to set up floodlights in preparation for the dark. Amidst the scene was a young boy no older than five years old sat there in a daze locked to his seat clutching a baseball glove like his life depended on it, his breathing was erratic, and his eyes were closed. In the driver’s seat was an older man roughly in his thirties slumped over the wheel, blood trailing down with the woman next to him in much the same state. There was a crash…that much was clear to see. A humble family van ran clear into a large oak tree on the side of the highway, a few feet behind the scene was a blackened scorch mark burned into the asphalt in a web like pattern, it seemed like the driver swerved right into it after narrowly avoiding a lightning strike in the storm. It was looked over by a few men as rescue workers scurried around the area slowly trying to figure out how to do their jobs. The engine block was on fire and at risk of detonating the fuel tank but that didn’t deter them. As they scanned the area one came to find the boy almost passed out from the event, but miraculously they were almost unscathed. The child could just barely make out a man in an orange uniform shout something out “Hey there’s a kid in here! Someone is still alive” before his vision faded to black.
The rescue was swift but that wasn’t the issue at hand, after a week and a half of recovery in a local hospital the boy’s life soon became a blur. The next thing he could remember after his stay was one foreign ceiling after another, his parents didn’t make it out of the crash…so the boy was forced to hop around family for a time. For a while he stayed with his grandparents, but loving as they were it couldn’t last forever, the elderly couple was in no state physically or financially to handle the upbringing of a child. Another two weeks passed before the funeral was finally held, the sight of a mere child barely developed quietly crying his eyes out over the two caskets was enough to make most of the family look away, they couldn’t bear to watch. It was a full minute of near silence before his grandpa set down a bouquet of white roses over the caskets and uttered a small prayer. The man had a stocky build, large and proud in stature despite his age and silver whiskers. The event shook the old man more they he let on, his son and daughter-in-law was gone but even still he couldn’t take it all lying down…there was a kid left behind and it pained him he couldn’t care for them enough. Instead he did what he could, all he could do was try to comfort the boy but his eyes were devoid of light. The child was always quiet even back then but even still there was always a spark of life in their eyes, the man now robbed of his child could only wrap his aging arms around the child in response. “It’s alright son…it’s alright. Hey, do you remember the elephants from that zoo we would go to? Come on…lets go get you something to eat and you can tell me all about them again” He thought perhaps some memories of better times would calm them down, and he was right. Lightly the boy took his weathered hands and followed him to the tables of food set to the side of the function hall, they set aside some of his favorites in some hope of further comfort.
It served as a fine enough distraction as while the boy ate the family had the chance to convene. Someone had to take custody but nobody else was willing to volunteer for the role. Some gazed at the youth thinking only of the benefits they could bring, others were full of apathetic pity thinking nothing more than useless well wishes for a lost child. Yet the boy wasn’t completely forsaken, some truly wished to help but were stopped by their own living situation same as his grandparents. All save one. One of the women stepped up, she had long red hair reaching to her shoulders, her features were similar to the boy’s father albeit red hair instead of black. She looked at the rest with a sneer. “What can’t I take care of my brothers’ kid?!” she was outraged by the display. How could she not be? It was a gathering of double-faced fools in her eyes. Her actions were only met with hushed whispers and terrible gossip, the woman was the black sheep of the family. They spoke about how she was a snake seducing men and women alike for her own benefit, about how the poor little boy would be used and mistreated. But she was the only one able to take him so eventually the whispers had begrudgingly settled.
In the middle of it all the boy couldn’t help but look up to his grandfather. They were just chatting about elephants and his favorite juice but then grandpa looked up to the rest of his family, his face was all squeezed up as he looked at someone. Grandpa looked upset he thought…but not angry upset…more sad upset like he wanted to apologize about something. It didn’t take long for the old man to eventually notice the little one’s gaze and he quickly hid away his forlorn look with another smile. Patting the boys head, he kneeled down to eye level with him to speak gently. “Hey champ…you see your auntie over there…? That’s your aunt Vivian. She is the one that will be taking care of you from now on alright?” the boy only nodded in response, quietly accepting whatever would be happening. The old man could only suppress a grimace at the reaction but he had to keep going. “Let’s go greet her shall we? Come on auntie is very nice I promise.” Once again the boy took his grandfathers hand with no complaint.
The funeral passed with no incident, condolences given to the bereaved and the sight of his grandmother weeping by the doorframe unable to bring herself to look into the opened caskets. The boy eventually left holding his aunties arm, the entire time he couldn’t help but cling to it tightly. He was scared again, every step he took it felt like the stares he got from his relatives grew worse and worse, he didn’t understand or hear what they were whispering but they didn’t sound like anything good. To his surprise the woman picked him up into their arms and made her exit with him swift. She had a bad look on her face, like she wanted to scream or throw something. But as they slipped into her car the grimace quickly faded into a warm smile. She pat them over the head again, her hand was warm and soft and the strokes she made against his hair was gentle and comforting, it all betrayed her intimidating demeanor. “heya there sport. What would your name be? That silly brother of mine never told me he had a kid hahah…” she tried speaking to him of course but she was nervous. The kid went through so much so quickly she doubted they would really warm up to her. They were almost proven right too but slowly the child spoke up with a meekly tone. “c-c-Cyrus m-ma’am.” He worked through with a nervous stutter and she smiled again in turn, it was more progress sooner then she expected. “Hey, you’re stronger than you let on Cyrus. That’s quite the name you got too! I think it’s a great name. I’m sure grandpa already told you but I am your Aunt Vivian kay? you can just call me auntie alright kiddo?” her attempts were only met with a slow nod in turn. She could only quietly nod back and start the car. As she drove off the woman tried to shake off her disdain for all the terrible things they said about her behind her back. Vivian the black sheep of the family. The smart, manipulative and cunning type, she could charm men and women alike and leveraged all that to her benefit. They said she was horrible, a snake of a woman.
They weren’t completely wrong
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