Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Hiding chapter 5: A Blessing, a Secret, a Heartbreak

I walked into my geography class and sat at my desk. The teacher was not present yet. I looked around as people began to file in. I opened my desk to gets my pencil and gasped: There was a snake in my desk. When I looked closer, however, I realized that the snake was only a toy. I turned around and saw Daniel Frank snickering. I scowled at him. Daniel Frank was a boy in my class who was always playing mean tricks. It started a month ago when he replaced the gummy worms in my lunch with real worms. Thankfully, I saw right away that the worms were real, but it was still disgusting. I was about to say something to him, but our teacher walked in at that very moment, so I kept quiet. I would’ve told the teacher, but it just so happens that our geography teacher is Mr. Frank, Daniel’s father, so it would just be too awkward. Noel told me that Daniel probably has a crush on me, but I told her that the very idea is ridiculous. I then took my pencil and tried to forget all about it.
            Brooke and I went into our house after school and began our homework. A few minutes later, my mom and dad came into the living room and told us that they needed to talk to us about something. Brooke and I both looked up and listened to what they had to say. They both looked at each other and smiled. “Well,” began mom. “Yesterday we found out that… I’m going to have a baby!” Brooke and I were so shocked at first that we didn’t say anything. Then, started cheering. I couldn’t believe it; I was going to have another brother or sister. Then, Brooke asked when the baby was coming. “The due date is in November.” Said dad. “That’s such a long time away!” I thought. Mom said that we could help get things ready for the baby’s arrival. I couldn’t wait to get started.
            That night, I couldn’t sleep. I was so excited. Brooke must’ve felt the same way, because she came into my room and we started talking. “I can’t believe that were going to have a brother or sister!” I said. “I know! I can’t wait until it gets here.” Said Brooke. I told her that we should help think of names for the baby. “If it’s a boy, I think they’ll name him Miles.” “Why?” I asked. “Oh, uh, no reason; I just think they like the name.” I thought the way she reacted was a little strange but I didn’t say anything. We discussed names a little longer and then went to sleep.
            The next day, we all went to the store to buy baby things. As Brooke and I wandered through the aisles of Babies R Us, we spotted several things that the baby might need. We bought a crib that was solid oak and painted white. When we searched for baby mobiles, we found a princess one, trucks, rainbow, baseball, and finally we saw the one that we wanted. It was a fish mobile with all kinds of sea creatures on it. As soon as we saw it, we knew that it was perfect. After buying a few more things, we went to the hardware store to buy paint for the baby’s room.
            Back at home; we started painting the room with dark blue paint. It seemed to take forever, but we finally painted the whole, entire room. I then called Katie, Wendy, and Noel on the phone and asked them to come over. Once they arrived, they all grabbed paintbrushes and began to paint fish on the wall at first, the fish were simple, but then, once we got the hang of it, we painted all kinds of fish with bright colors. Eventually, it was dinnertime, so mom ordered pizza and we talked about the great day everyone had preparing for the newest Till family member.
            At school, I told my class that my mom was having a baby. The girls in my class all squealed with delight, while the boys told me congratulations, but they honestly didn’t see what the big deal was. Daniel said that when his cousin’s mom had a baby, the whole family started talking like babies. He then mimicked how I would supposedly sound when the baby arrived. It took a lot of strength and self-control to ignore him, but I managed. I think he just needs a friend.
            A week later, my mom and dad went to the doctor to get an ultrasound done. It was the day that we would find out weather the baby was a boy or a girl. On the way home from school, we met up with Katie. We started to talk about names for the baby. We came up with many good names: Polly, Rachel, Hannah, Tanya, and Isabel for the girl names. Richard, Charles, Mitch, David, and Miles were the boy names that we thought of. We said good-bye to Katie, and went inside. We knew that our parents were still at the doctor’s. I needed to talk to Brooke about something urgent.
            I asked Brooke why she got nervous when I asked her why she thought mom and dad would the baby Miles if it was a boy. Brooke thought for a minute, and then looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Well, I guess I’ll have to tell you the reason why we are in the witness protection program.” Said Brooke. “Oh Brooke, you don’t have to…” I began, but Brooke stopped me. “No,” she said. “It’s something that I have to do.” Brooke told me about how when she was six, her family was put in the witness protection program after her father went on a business trip in Washington D.C. and uncovered a plot to assassinate the president. When he contacted the authorities, they put them into the WPP for a short amount of time while they arrested the criminals. The Till family went back to their normal lives. Their adventure became nothing more than an interesting story to tell, until three years ago, when the men escaped from jail and kidnapped Miles. They were immediately sent back into the witness protection program, but they never saw Miles again.
            I stared at Brooke with tears in my own eyes. “Brooke, I am so sorry that happened to you and your family.” I said. “Well, we were still grieving over Miles when you came, so I think that God sent you to us to help us heal, and so that you could have a family.” Said Brooke. We both hugged each other, and wiped our tears. A few minutes later mom and dad walked in with looks on their faces that told both me and Brooke that something was very VERY wrong.
            Mom and dad sat down on the couch and told us to come sit with them. “We have some bad news.” They said. Brooke and I sat down and looked at them. Dad spoke first. “We went to get the ultrasound done.” He started. “And they found something wrong with the baby.” “What is it?” asked Brooke. “Well,” said mom. “The doctor didn’t find a heartbeat” I sat there, staring at them. “What did they mean?” I thought. “You mean, the baby’s dead?” asked Brooke, with tears in her eyes. “Yes honey, the baby didn’t make it, but, she’s in heaven now.” After that, Me, Brooke, mom, and dad started to cry. We hugged each other and cried for what seemed like forever. Finally, mom got up and heated up leftovers for dinner. We ate in silence. Then we all went to bed. I think today was one of the saddest day of my life.
            The next few days went by in a blur. Brooke and I got up, went to school, came home, did our homework, ate dinner, and went to bed. On Sunday, Our verse was the one about giving thanks in all circumstances, so we all took turns saying what we were thankful for. I said I couldn’t think of anything. After church, my Sunday school teacher asked if something was wrong. I told her about how my mom was going to have a baby, but then how the baby died. He told me how sorry he was about what happened, and then told me something I’ll never forget: “God created everyone for a reason, even those who never make it into this world, and when you feel that you are swallowed up in sadness, trust fully in God, and he will pull you to the safety of his loving arms.” I decided that it was not God’s fault that the baby died, and that our brother or sister is with him. And if I never get see the baby on this side of heaven, then I can thank God that I know that the baby is being cradled in the safest arms possible.