by Reana Malori
Flawless
F’d Up Fairy Tales
Reana Malori
FLAWLESS
Copyright 2017 by Reana Malori
Cover Design: Dynasty's Visionary Designs - Angel Bearfield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Due to copyright laws, you cannot trade, sell or give any ebooks away.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
CHAPTER ONE
Jaidon trailed behind his caseworker as they walked up to another house. Another home that would not be his own. He’d been through this so many times that he’d given up on finding a place where he’d be comfortable. Kids like him didn’t get good parents who loved them and made them feel safe. The looks of disdain and horror on the faces of the adults who were supposed to protect him made his blood boil. If he were only stronger, he would make them pay for how they treated him.
The house they approached was beautiful. It even had a white picket fence, albeit a little faded. The walkway was clean, but he could see little nicks in the concrete of what looked to be initials. As he took in the area around him, he noticed that he could hear laughter and music playing around him. It wasn’t loud, but there were sounds of life all around him.
Turning back to the two-story home in front of him, he almost smiled when he noticed the wraparound porch. He’d always wanted to live in a house like that, but it had never happened. Good things never happened to him, so he wouldn’t get his hopes up.
As they walked slowly toward the big home in front of them, he began to slow down, dragging his feet. He’d been through so much in his short life—it was difficult to be excited about another thing that would only cause him pain and hurt.
Looking over at the woman walking with him, he thought she looked just as nervous. Ms. Parker, his longtime caseworker, had always been especially nice to him. She’d been with him since he was just a small kid and that was as far back as he could remember.
Years ago, some kid had been teasing him and told him that he’d been found abandoned on the side of the road in front of a fire station. The kid said that all Jaidon had on him was a dirty blanket and a note that said, “I can’t.”
He’d been three years old.
He’d gone to the one person who he felt comfortable talking to and asked if the story was true. When he’d asked Ms. Parker about it, she’d seemed shocked that he’d asked about his past. Eventually she admitted it was the truth. Apparently, the kid had heard her and another agency employee talking about him and they’d mentioned how he’d come to be in the foster care system.
She’d told him more of the story. At least what she knew.
His face and body had been badly burned in a fire, but no one knew where the fire occurred or where he’d come from. A portion of the left side of his face, the side of his neck, his left arm and the left side of his torso had been scarred with burnt skin. He’d seemed to heal very quickly though, as there were no lingering open sores and the skin was not raw to the touch.
For years, the doctors and hospitals could not explain where the scars had come from or how he’d been able to function so well. They’d tried skin grafts, false skin, whatever they could. Nothing seemed to fix it. His body would reject each new treatment. At times, he’d felt like a medical experiment. They’d wanted to use him as a guinea pig for all types of new approaches to repairing burned skin. At some point, they’d given up trying since nothing seemed to work.
After a few years of being poked and prodded by the hospitals and doctors, he’d broken down. He’d pleaded with Ms. Parker over and over again to not take him to another home. To not let his foster parents allow the doctors to do any more tests on him. That he wanted to go home with her.
At the time, it had been the only thing that mattered in the world to him. That he be with someone who cared about him. Who protected him and wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. Who wouldn’t look at him with distaste and revulsion on their face.
She’d broken down one day and tears appeared in her eyes. She’d admitted that she’d tried to be his foster parent, but they wouldn’t let her. That she would be crossing the line—whatever that meant—if she were to get too close to one of the kids under her care. So, the state had denied her request.
Jaidon didn’t know what any of that meant. Well, other than here he was, going to the home of people who would probably get rid of him as soon as they realized he wasn’t worth the trouble.
Maybe he would just run away again. The last few times he’d done it, they’d warned him that no one wanted a troublemaker kid. That he would be stuck in the foster home with all the other bad kids if he didn’t stop acting up. He didn’t care. Anything would be better than living in the homes with some of the people they’d placed him with. Whenever Ms. Parker would ask him why he ran, why he didn’t stay, he simply said he wasn’t comfortable and didn’t want to be with them. And then his pleas would begin again to go home with her.
But now he’d decided. He was twelve, practically a man himself. No longer a child, it was time for him to stop crying for something that would never happen.
Those people who ran the foster care system had no idea what he went through, what any of the kids went through. The constant name-calling. Nights of going to bed without a dinner. Given every chore in the house from cleaning, to doing the laundry, to any and everything the adults didn’t want to do. And when he would say something, finally find the strength to stand up for himself, that’s when the hitting began. The starving and lack of food. The sleeping in a small closet with no blankets.
There’d been times when he’d wanted to pull out one of the knives in the kitchen and kill them all. Every single one of them. Those evil people who’d promised to help him, but didn’t. None of them deserved to live. Adults were supposed to protect children. At least that’s what he heard all the time.
But never him. No one had ever protected him. He’d always protected himself. If these new people turned out like the old ones, he wasn’t going to stay here. He’d run away and live on the streets if he needed to.
But before he ran away, he would kill them. He would remove their vileness from this earth, because evil did not deserve to live. He might be a child, but he knew when things were wrong. He could feel it. His stomach would cramp and his vision would turn hazy. He could see something like waves of heat coming from the person. He could always tell when a person was good or bad, and he acted accordingly.
Standing next to his caseworker, she grabbed his hand and smiled down at him. Now, Ms. Parker? She was one of the good ones. There weren’t waves of heat coming off her body. She had a brightness and light that made him want to smile. But smiling was something he hardly ever did. Not with his face. One time, he’d laughed at something on the television and one of the kids in the foster home had called him an ugly monster. Said his mother should have drowned him rather than given him up, because no one would ever want a child as hideous as him.
He’d never forget that day. Although the kid had been much older and bigger than him, by the time the foster parents had come into the room, Jaidon had beaten him to a bloody pulp. The other three kids in the home had stood back in shock.
No one had ever seen him react this way to anyone before. That was the first time he’d really lost it. In that moment, his only thought was to make the kid suffer. If he’d had the strength, he knew he would have killed him.
He’d been eight years old at the tim
e.
“Jaidon,” Ms. Parker called down to him. “I have a good feeling about this one.”
Looking at her in surprise, he was caught off guard by her comment. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I just do.” Her aura got brighter as she talked to him. Squeezing his hand, Ms. Parker turned to him. “Can you do me a favor Jaidon?”
“I’ll try,” he responded.
“Give them a chance. I’m not saying it will be perfect, but let them try. I know it hasn’t been easy for you and I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You said you tried to have me live with you.” His tone was flat.
“I did, Jaidon, and I still would,” she responded quickly. “Because of that, I want to make sure that this next home is your last one. That you find foster parents that will be good to you.”
“Don’t worry about me, Ms. Parker. I can take care of myself.” Standing a little taller, he puffed his tiny chest out. He didn’t want her to worry about him.
Looking down at him, she smiled again, “I know you can. Okay, are you ready?”
“Sure,” he said, with false bravado. He wasn’t ready. Never would be. Sometimes, the rejection was too much. Over the years, he’d learned to deal with it in his own way. Steeling himself against the stares and whispered comments had become part of what he had to do to get through it.
Ms. Parker rang the doorbell and they both heard footsteps on the other side of the door. As soon as the door opened, he looked up and his eyes landed on the woman standing in front of him. As soon as she saw him, a smile lit up her face. There were slight crinkles at the corner of her eyes and her front teeth were slightly crooked. Her eyes were gray, just like his, and her skin was almost an unhealthy-looking shade of white. The longer he looked at her, the more he realized that she was kinda funny looking herself. Her head almost reached the door frame, which was odd. He’d never seen a woman that tall before. He wondered if she were a giant.
“Good morning, Mrs. Swanson. My name is Matilda Parker, and this here is Jaidon.”
Mrs. Swanson looked at Ms. Parker for a quick second before bending over at the waist, bringing her face down to look at Jaidon head-on. He was shocked. No one had ever done that before. People didn’t look at him. If anything, they avoided him as if he had cooties or something.
“Hi Jaidon. I’m Mrs. Swanson. You can call me Mrs. S or Ms. Peggy. You pick.”
Not sure what to say, he nodded.
“No, sweetie, I need you to decide. Before you come inside, I need to know how we’re going to start.”
Looking up at Ms. Parker, his eyes widened. He didn’t know what to say. What if he said the wrong thing? She shrugged her shoulders and nodded at him, as if saying, “Go ahead, it’s okay.”
“Um…how about Ms. Peggy?”
“You got it. Come on in and meet Mr. Swanson. Now, be prepared. He’ll give you the same options, so you better think about it quickly. His name is Dennis and let me tell you, he’s much cooler than I am.” Opening the door wider, she stepped back to let Jaidon and Ms. Parker in the house.
Turning her head, she called out, “Dennis! Come on out here, little Jaidon is here.”
Jaidon looked around at the house. He was almost afraid of the feeling bubbling up inside of him. There were pictures of Ms. Peggy and a tall, redheaded man with a large beard. In a lot of the pictures, there were tons of kids. Black, white, Latino, teenagers, small kids, and even some with disabilities.
Who were these people?
“I’m coming.” He heard a big voice boom out from the back room. As soon as Mr. Swanson walked into the room, Jaidon reared back, almost in fear. If he thought Ms. Peggy was tall, this guy was massive.
Turning back to Jaidon, Ms. Peggy must have seen his movement and gave him a smile. “Now, he may look like a giant, but I tell you, he’s a big old teddy bear. Dennis, you’re scaring Jaidon. Why don’t you go sit down over there on the couch so that he can see you without breaking his neck.”
Her husband gave a big booming laugh and Jaidon almost smiled. Almost.
At that moment, Ms. Parker interjected, “Would you mind if we talked a bit about the situation?”
The tall lady quirked her eyebrow at Ms. Parker, then turned to her husband. After a moment, he shrugged his shoulders and gestured for everyone to sit down. Ms. Peggy sat on the arm of the chair where her husband sat, her hand immediately going to his shoulder.
He couldn’t help it, Jaidon openly stared at them. In all the previous homes, not once had the foster parents been this open and friendly.
As he continued to look at them, he noticed their aura, but it was odd. The wife, Ms. Peggy, had a bright blue aura, but when she looked in Jaidon’s direction, it would mute just a tad. He’d never seen that before and wondered what it meant. Her husband on the other hand, was a totally different story. His aura had heat waves, but when he looked at his wife, the waves stopped and he seemed to shimmer. However, when he looked at Jaidon, there was nothing. No heatwave, no glowing bright light. Just blank.
Now Jaidon was very curious. As he began paying attention to the conversation again, he realized they were talking about him and his behavior issues. He knew he wasn’t a behavior problem, but he understood why Ms. Parker had to share with them what happened.
“Well, we don’t think that will be a problem.” Smiling over at Jaidon, she winked conspiratorially. “Jaidon will find that we want him to be happy here.”
“True, and although you may only be here for a short time, we do have rules,” the big man said, with a heavy nod.
“Rules?” Jaidon asked, but quickly clamped his mouth shut. He’d found that adults didn’t really like, or appreciate, when a child interrupted them.
“Homework has to be done as soon as you get home from school. We eat dinner as a family. Bedtime is at nine o’clock and no games once the lights go out.” Ms. Peggy said these things as if he would balk. He didn’t. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but knew that wouldn’t happen until Ms. Parker left.
“I work from home, so I’m always here if you need me. Dennis owns a shop downtown and has to be in early most mornings.”
“I have to tell you, Mr. and Mrs. Swanson, Jaidon has ran away a few times. He’s not a problem child, but there have been…issues at some of the other homes,” Ms. Parker finished. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem here, but I do need to let you know.”
The Swansons looked at each other for a long second and then they both turned back to him. “Son, can you tell me why you left the other homes?”
Now Jaidon could see Mr. Swanson’s aura had begun to color around him. It wasn’t bright, but it was a soft purple.
Hmmm, interesting.
“It’s okay, Jaidon. We want this to work, right? Remember what I said outside. I need you to trust me on this,” Ms. Parker said with a smile.
Looking between the three adults, he swallowed deeply and forced the words out of this mouth. “Because there was something wrong with them people.”
“What do you mean? Something wrong?”
“They were mean to me. To the other kids at their home. They would call me ugly and a monster. Sometimes they would lock me away and I wouldn’t get to eat for days.”
Mrs. Swanson gasped, her hand going to her throat. “Oh my…”
“Well, ain’t that some shit,” Mr. Swanson whispered, but everyone still heard him.
“Dennis,” Ms. Peggy called out, “Don’t you curse in front of Jaidon and Ms. Parker.”
“Well, what else would you expect me to say when this little boy has just told us how poorly he was treated?” He harrumphed at his wife, but Jaidon could tell he wasn’t angry.
After a long sigh, Ms. Peggy turned to Jaidon. “Well, he’s a little rough around the edges. You’ll have to forgive him, Jaidon. After all the kids we’ve had in our home, you would think he’d softened a bit. And Ms. Parker, we hope you’re not offended. You brought him here to us for a reason. I think we’re going
to be just fine.”
“Mrs. Swanson, I’ve heard about how much you care for the children placed with you, no matter where they come from or how long they stay with you. Jaidon…well, he needs that, and I think you could give that to him.” Looking down at him, she gave Jaidon a smile and a slight nod, as if to reassure him.
“Jaidon?” Mr. Swanson called out to him. “We’re here for you and I believe you’ll enjoy living here with us. If you ever get to the point that you don’t want to be here, you can call Ms. Parker and have her come pick you up. We won’t stop you. Our job is to give you a home, if you’ll accept it, and for as long as the state will allow.”
“Do you have your own kids?”
“Jaidon,” Ms. Parker admonished, but he needed to know.
“No,” Ms. Peggy answered. “We weren’t blessed enough to have children of our own. We tried several times,” her voice seemed strained and she paused. Mr. Swanson reached out his hand to hers and she grabbed it. The feeling in the room changed, it became sad and their auras combined into something that looked orange and brown. “But it just wasn’t meant to be. So, we decided that our purpose in life was different. If we couldn’t have a biological child, we would give everything we had to helping the children who needed us the most.”
“Do you hate that you can’t have kids?” Jaidon asked. He was curious about these two and their answers were telling him more than he expected to hear.
“Excuse him, Mr. and Mrs. Swanson. You have to understand, it hasn’t been easy for Jaidon.”
Waving her hand as if to dismiss Ms. Parker’s concerns, Ms. Peggy smiled as she answered the question.
“Absolutely not. We figured out that every child who comes to us needs something. A warm bed, a roof over their head, acceptance, love.” At this, she looked at Jaidon for a few seconds and said nothing. “Don’t ever feel uncomfortable asking us a question. We have no secrets.” At this, her aura darkened and it made his eyes widen.