by T. M. Meek
Alex's eyes opened as she woke with a smile to the sound of one of her favorite songs starting to play. She hated the sounds most alarm clocks annoyingly blared into the sleeping ears of those who bought them and used them. So she was glad to use her new mp3 music alarm. The alarm was a gift she had just received for her thirteenth birthday a few days earlier on August 31st. This was an appropriate gift as it was the first week of a new semester at school and the first week of her finally becoming a teen.
As the music played, her two backup alarm systems, Twinkles and Bubbles jumped up onto her bed to also help wake her. Her pets were two tiny Yorkshire terriers that were also recent birthday presents that Alex loved almost more than life itself. After a few moments of giggling by Alex, she knew she needed to let the two dogs out of her bedroom so they could go downstairs and out the doggy door to use the bathroom as they needed.
She paused her music, knelt and said a brief prayer of thanks to God for keeping her safe as she slept. She thanked him for other blessings and asked for some specific help to have a good day. Then she unpaused the song and got ready for school.
Having quickly brushed her teeth and changed her clothes, Alex picked up her black and white checkered backpack from off the floor, unzipped it, stuffed in her cell phone, charger, laptop and the most recent issues of three well known financial magazines she liked to read for fun. She turned off her alarm music and raced out her bedroom door.
As she thundered down the curving stairs to the first floor, she nearly ran over her second older brother, Glade, who was quickly coming up.
"Whoa! Watch out, kiddo!"Glade said playfully as he tried to keep from running into Alex.
"Sorry," she smiled with some embarrassment as she stopped and moved around him. She then quickly moved down the rest of the long set of stairs. Being on time to catch the bus for school was a part of her self-assigned responsibility to avoid any trouble with Dex.
"Are you going to leave me without a hug before school?" Glade asked Alex with a chastising smile. Glade was Alex's favorite older brother. Even though he was two years older than Alex, they looked like they could be twins with the only exception being that he was taller and he obviously had a shorter and more masculine hairstyle. They both had sandy brown hair and Alex’s hair resembled a modern but classy twist to a pageboy style. Not one to wear long hair, Alex felt that the chin-length style was just right for her.
Glade and Alex were the best of friends as brother and sister. Every Christmas holiday they would stay up late and play board games and card games by the Christmas tree lights. Glade would make his famous homemade cheese ball and they would eat it together as they played and listened to their favorite music. They made sure to keep the music low enough so they wouldn't wake anyone up. She liked how he would invite her to join him to hang out in the backyard in summer time and sun tan while listening to pop music hits on the radio. She loved that anytime they got into a backyard water fight that he always played gently with her and never broke the rules of whatever game they played.
One of her favorite things he would do in their family pool was to launch Alex off into the deep end when she was old enough and proved to be a good swimmer. He would launch her by having her climb up on his back. He would then squat down under the water where she would quickly put her feet on his shoulders. Then he would lift her up out of the water as he stood up fairly fast which would semi-catapult her into the deep end of the pool. They both liked much of the same music, books, movies, fashion designs and most importantly they both had the same motivation to avoid Dex.
Alex turned around and raced back up the stairs with a smile, she gave Glade a big hug and he kissed her on her cheek. She then raced back down the stairs as he said, "Have a good day at school."
"You too!"
"I love you!" he smiled, yelling loud enough for her to hear as she raced away.
"I love you too!" she yelled back. He then turned and hurried up the stairs to finish getting ready for school. He would catch a ride with a friend to get to their high school but Alex needed to take the bus to get to her middle school.
Alex raced into the kitchen past her Dad and then through the living room. Twinkles and Bubbles were laying on one of the living room couches and they watched as Alex raced by. As she ran towards her dad's bedroom, her dad saw her and yelled from the kitchen to her, "What do you need in my room? Don't go in there! Your mom is still sleeping!"
Alex nor anyone else in the family ever knew when their dad might be home as he was usually gone to work early in the morning before anyone else woke. He often didn't arrive home until sometime after dinner. Such was the life of a famous surgeon.
Most American kids didn't have a dad who was one of the best heart surgeons in the world – even when they come from a white family as Alex did. Alex's dad, Francis Ribould Opalstone III had invented several medical and technologically advanced breakthroughs that were used in hospitals and by patients around the world.
The millions of dollars he'd earned from various income streams related to his specialty in cardiovascular surgery easily afforded him the seven thousand square foot mansion that Alex and the rest of her family called home. His good business acumen helped him to negotiate the final purchase price for the mansion at a bargain of $2.6 million dollars as it sat on a fairly large lot as compared with other homes in their upper-class neighborhood.
"I'm getting money for school," she yelled back as she passed through the living room before arriving at her parent’s bedroom door.
As soon as she arrived at her parent’s bedroom door she became as quiet as a mouse as she turned the knob to open the door. She figured her mom wouldn't wake as long as Alex was fast and quiet. Her dad always kept extra cash in his top clothes drawer. It was usually only two to three thousand dollars and she'd need at least a hundred to get through the week. She grabbed two fifty dollar bills and crept out just as quietly as she crept in.
She then ran back into the kitchen to grab some food to go. She always hoped her dad wouldn't ask any questions about if she might be taking money for anything other than for her lunch. Sometimes he didn't ask. Sometimes he did. This time he didn't and she was relieved as she was having a hard time trying to think of ways to respond in case he asked.
She thought of this while she tried to decide what food to bring with her for breakfast and lunch. He wouldn't like it if he knew she still made friends with some of the poor kids at school – even though she was helping them out. Her dad had argued with her over it before and it was a subject she preferred to avoid. Time was passing fast and she needed to be gone to catch the bus for school as soon as possible.
She grabbed a few things to eat and her dad opened the fridge, grabbed some individually wrapped snack cheeses and said, "Here. These are healthy snacks you can add." He then placed a few snack cheeses into her lunch bag.
"Thanks, Dad," she replied. She then zipped up her lunch bag and hurried out of the kitchen and out the door.
"Have a good day at school. Stay safe. Don't talk to strangers," he said as she ran out.
"Okay. Bye Dad!"
Alex would be about ten minutes early to her bus stop but that was fine with her. She was out of the house and had successfully avoided any trouble with Dex. She would wait until she was safely on the bus to read any of her financial magazines. She pulled out her phone and put some ear buds in her ears to listen to music but she kept her music volume low enough to hear anything nearby. She wanted to be aware of her surroundings as she was alone at the bus stop.
Just like her dad warned, she needed to remain cautious of the dangers of strangers. But why wouldn't her dad protect her from the most common danger she faced almost everyday? Alex had learned that the most common danger for most kids was the dangers of the people they knew and lived with. Too often, members of one’s own family are even more dangerous than the bullies at school. She once read of a charitable organization that made its sole purpose to increase awareness of abuse kids experie
nce at home since they then go to school and try and hide that they are being abused.
As she got on the bus her thoughts continued. She knew that although not every kid is abused, so many were. Many were being abused by one (or sometimes both) of their parents either physically, sexually or emotionally by insults, neglect or an overwhelming pressure to achieve. And if one of their parents wasn't abusing them, then possibly one of their siblings was.
She thought of how common it was for guys to bully guys that are chaste by accusing them of being gay instead of applauding them with the complimentary label of one who is virtuous for being a virgin. She wondered also at how ironic it was that her father, a doctor who was supposed to care about the well-being of others, didn't seem to care enough about the hearts of those in his own home. She then thought of Glade and said a silent prayer in her heart of gratitude for her safety and success in avoiding Dex and prayed that Glade would have the same success that morning and every morning for the rest of the school year.
Little did Alex know just how quickly and dramatically that prayer was about to be answered.
Chapter 2: Invisible Protection