“The adoption happened when I was so young…I feel so alone…”, I nodded mindlessly in sympathy as his words weaved in and out of my head, like someone was cupping my ears and then releasing them. I was in disbelief. His tousled hair and nearly sunk-in eye sockets contrasted with his attempt to mask his sleeplessness with a smile. I looked away, out of guilt, when the boy asked me what I would do if I had lost 2 of my fake parents to a car accident and I was the only one who had survived. It was wintertime and I could not bare to see the already bony-looking child leave without a coat, since he was dressed in only a long-sleeve shirt and oversized jeans. However, when I searched the back closet, I could only scrape up a few raw carrots and a scarf. There were a million questions attacking my mind, like where was Social Services? Or how come no one was helping this poor child? Or where did he come from? Right then, uncontrollable tears formed and I settled on the floor and I realized with how grateful I was to even have a family. I collected my emotions and walked back to the boy, who was happily slurping Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, and whispered, “I’ll come back tomorrow, don’t worry”.
Agatha Christie
Her icy blue eyes pierced through the small group of people, her voice, exquisitely toned, demanded, “Who killed my husband?” A 6 foot man with a distraught expression murmurs, “I have to go to the bathroom.” and noticeably slips from the huddle. “Well, someone look after him! HE seems suspicious.” Thoughts were all over the place, people were all over the place, as they were trying to figure who in the group was the murderer. “This is my family. How could one of them murder my husband? …It must be Wyatt, my older brother and war veteran suffering from PTSD who coincidentally left for the bathroom. My husband and Wyatt have never liked each other. This family gathering turned into a horror film in less than 3 hours,” She thought frantically to herself. Suddenly, the family’s waiter shuffled out of the huddle. “Put your hands up, otherwise the kid won’t make it until the end of the night.”