The Obsidian Collection Read online

  “What’s it to ya?” Shayla asked. “This brat your little sister, or something?”

  Hitting a girl, no matter how mean, wasn’t an option, but he remembered what his mom used to do. A few well-placed pinches, and she dropped the teddy bear, which Shanice promptly scooped up. When Darrien moved into Trevor’s personal space, fists raised, Trevor tagged him with a perfect right hook. Blood spewed from the boy’s nose like a geyser, and he cried harder than Shanice had just moments ago.

  With all the noise they made, they wound up in the office of the house parents, an apprentice pastor named Isaiah Bailey, and his wife, Brenda. Trevor liked them better than the last house parents, because they were fair and actually listened to what the kids had to say. Isaiah had a pro wrestler’s build, but he was a kind man. While Brenda took care of Darrien, Isaiah took them, one-by-one, out into the common area to get their stories.

  Afterward, Isaiah said, “I have two of you telling one version of events and two telling me another. It’s almost dinner time and I want to get to the bottom of this. Right now, Trevor, I can say you’re clearly the aggressor, because you pinched Shayla and punched Darrien.”

  “They were asking for it. Picking on Shanice who’s new and younger than the both of ‘em.”

  Isaiah touched Trevor’s shoulder in a calming gesture. “That may be true, son, but how do we handle conflict here?”

  “With our words, not our fists,” Trevor mumbled.

  “Now, how am I to rule on this one? Shayla and Darrien say you used violence against them for no reason. They were just playing with Shanice.”

  “What if I can prove them wrong?” Trevor said.

  “How would you do that?”

  “I left the video cam running on the PC when I asked them to stop bothering Shanice.”

  Isaiah’s eyebrows rose. “Want to play the video back for me?”

  “Sure.”

  Pastor Bailey was so impressed with Trevor’s video surveillance he began to use the makeshift security cams to help figure out who was breaking the rules and to solve disputes. Trevor was able to do things on the PC the average adult couldn’t do. This included writing programs and retrofitting the outdated systems.

  Recognizing Trevor’s skill, Pastor Bailey introduced Trevor to his friend David Kyle, a Harvard-educated computer programmer who’d also been a Marine intelligence officer. David was one of the best “white hat hackers” in the world, and he began grooming Trevor when he was able to get up to the Sanford facility. But the majority of their mentoring sessions were done by computer.

  After the incident with the bullies, two things changed. Because of David Kyle, Trevor’s computer skills improved exponentially, and Shanice was so thankful for his help, she became his lifelong fan club of one. She was never far from him when they got home from school, and she always sat next to him at dinner. They fell into a routine of doing their homework together in the common room. Shanice would try to get Trevor, who usually liked to keep to himself, to talk to her any way she could.

  “Can you write all your letters and numbers?” Shanice asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “You kinda have to know that stuff in order to do homework.”

  “My homework is writing letters and numbers…and making colors,” she said glumly. “When will I be able to write lots of stuff like you?”

  “Probably when you’re about second grade,” he said.

  “Good, because I’m bored.”

  She colored another picture, being careful to stay inside the lines, while Trevor turned back to his own math homework. She stopped coloring and sighed.

  “Trevor, do you remember your Mommy?”

  He frowned. “Yeah, probably more than I would like to. How about you?”

  “Yeah. She got sick and throwed up then went to sleep and didn’t wake back up. The lady in the blue suit brought me here, and I didn’t see her again.”

  “What about your Dad?”

  “I never had a daddy. Mommy had lots of boyfriends, though.”

  “Don’t tell that to the other kids. Darrien and Shayla will use it against you.” Trevor learned this the hard way when he naively believed all the other kids in the home were his friends.

  “Okay. It can be our secret.”

  Trevor also knew about mothers who sold their bodies for money and drugs. He didn’t like to think about how he’d never know his dad, because it hurt. Even though Shanice was half his age, he knew he could trust her. It was likely neither he nor Shanice would ever know their biological fathers.

  “I miss my Mommy. Do you miss yours?” she asked. Her brown eyes were wide with curiosity.

  “I do, and I don’t.” Trevor missed the mom he’d never known. The one before she became a meth-head.

  “I have a picture of my Mommy. You want to see it?” Shanice asked.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  She picked up the tiny locket she wore around her neck all the time and opened it. Inside was a picture of a brown-skinned African American woman who looked to be in her early twenties, and on the other side was a white baby.

  “This is my Mommy before I was born, and this is a picture of me when I was a baby.”

  Trevor pushed his blonde hair out of his eyes and studied the pictures.

  “Uh. . .nice.” He didn’t have many good family memories, so he didn’t quite know what to say.

  “You know what we should do, Trevor?”

  “What?”

  “We should adopt each other, since we don’t have a Mommy or Daddy.”

  “Okay.” He grinned. “We can be like the two musketeers.”

  Shanice looked confused. “What’s a musketeer?”

  “They were like these special soldiers who guarded the king of France a long time ago. Their special motto, uh, saying, was ‘one for all and all for one.’”

  She looked more confused. “And what does that mean?”

  “They had each other’s back. . . looked out for each other.”

  “Like we’re always going to do, right?” She said and gave him a big smile.

  “Right.”

  From that day forward, in Shanice’s eyes, Trevor could do no wrong.

  Trevor and Shanice were in the common room a few months later, when Brenda Bailey came to them. Trevor was manipulating a screen of computer code, and Shanice was sitting in a comfy chair not far from him reading a book. She smiled at them. Brenda loved how he and Shanice had bonded and had told Trevor as much, but he knew her too well. She was about to give them some news he wasn’t going to like.

  “Thought I’d find you two out here,” Brenda said.

  Trevor and Shanice gave her their undivided attention.

  “Hey, Ms. Brenda,” they said almost in unison.

  “Would you two come to the office? Isaiah and I have some news for you.”

  Trevor was sure it wasn’t to tell him he was adopted. The older he got, the less likely it was to happen. Shanice stood a greater chance, because she was adorable and still young enough to luck out. But he wasn’t sure how he would feel if that happened for her. She’d taken Natalie’s place, and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.

  When they entered Pastor Isaiah’s office, David Kyle and another woman were there.

  “Trevor, Shanice, you know David Kyle, and this is David’s wife, Elena.”

  Elena Kyle looked happy to meet them. But even though the Baileys were cool, after what his mom did, Trevor still didn’t trust adults until they’d earned it.

  Isaiah smiled and said, “In a couple of weeks, Brenda and I are leaving the home, because I’m accepting the pastorate at Trinity Baptist Church in Orlando, but we’ve begun proceedings to adopt Shanice, so she’ll be going with us.”

  Shanice ran to Brenda, who had her arms waiting to receive the new addition to their family.

  “Oh, Ms. Brenda,” Shanice said. “You’re going to be my mommy!”

  “Yes, I am,” Brenda said.

  Then she stood back and said.
“Are you and Pastor Isaiah going to be Trevor’s mommy and daddy, too?”

  The question caught them briefly off guard. Then Pastor Isaiah finished the rest of his news. “Trevor is going to be adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Kyle.”

  To say Trevor was stunned was an understatement. The Kyles seemed like decent folks, especially David, but Trevor would reserve judgment until he got a chance to know them better as his foster parents.

  “But I don’t want to leave Trevor,” Shanice said, her bottom lip trembled, as her eyes filled with tears.

  Brenda kneeled in front of Shanice so they were on eye level. “You won’t have to. Not really. The Kyles live in Orlando right down the street from where we’ll be living. You’ll see Trevor all the time.”

  Trevor tried not to smile. To stay cool. But he couldn’t. He felt his face break into a grin. The best he could do was to dial his smile a little lower than Shanice’s.

  Getting a new family was a dream come true for Trevor. All he’d ever wanted was someone to care about him, to truly care what happened to him. To love him.

  When Trevor entered the two-story Tudor house with the red brick, white trim, and red shutters, he finally felt as if he was home. When the Kyles wrapped him in their arms, he knew it was what he’d been waiting for all his life. He grabbed his duffle bag and unpacked it in what would be the first room he’d had to himself, ever. Then he went to explore the rest of the property. There was a huge backyard with a screen-covered pool and the greenest grass he’d ever seen. He couldn’t wait to play catch with David, as if he were a regular kid.

  Like any other kid in a place that was almost perpetually sunny, Trevor played sports. Oddly, he found he was good at them, despite being the biggest geek alive. Growing up in Orlando was the best. It was an orphan child’s wildest dream. Disneyworld was practically in his backyard, and there was never a lack for anything to do.

  As time went on, Trevor realized the Kyles were almost as nice as Pastor Isaiah and Brenda. Sure, they had to get through some rough parts, mostly because of his trust issues, and the Kyles had to set him straight about what they expected from him. Even though David was a former marine, he was as much a computer geek as Trevor. And Elena was kind of a pushover.

  Trevor settled into a routine that resembled family life for the first time. Just as the Baileys promised, if he wasn’t at their house, Shanice was at the Kyles. He and Shanice got to play and swim together with the other neighborhood kids, to go to Trevor’s games with the Kyles, and to Shanice’s dance recitals and other activities. The summer flew by, and he and Shanice were enrolled in a school affiliated with Pastor Isaiah’s church, rather than Orange County public schools, so this meant they were able to go to the same school for a change. Brenda and Elena took turns driving them.

  The night before the first day of school, David came into Trevor’s room to talk to him. He was already in his pajamas and about to go to sleep.

  “Ready for your big day tomorrow, son?”

  “Yes, sir.” Trevor said. He’d learned David appreciated the title of respect, because he’d been in the Corps for so long.

  David reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty. “Here’s lunch money and pocket change. Elena will set up an account once you bring home all your paperwork, so you won’t have to carry cash.”

  “Thanks.” Trevor took the twenty and put it in the nylon wallet Elena had purchased for him with all his other back-to-school stuff. Small gestures like that made him happy but still afraid he somehow didn’t deserve it. He tried never to take anything for granted.

  David fidgeted with the parts of a model car they were working on together. Trevor could tell he wanted to speak to him about something else. Finally, he turned around and straddled the desk chair facing Trevor, who yawned widely.

  “You’re tired, so I’ll say this and let you get to sleep.”

  “Okay, sir.” Trevor sat up so he could pay better attention.

  “You have unique skills in math and computer science that surpasses many men I’ve known in the field. You have a God-given talent for it, and some day you will be able to hold your own among the best in the world.” David smiled, and Trevor could see the pride in his eyes. It made him get a lump in his throat, but he tried not to show his emotion.

  “I love working on computers more than anything. Thank you so much for letting me have one in my room.”

  “You’re welcome,” David said, then he seemed to think about it. “As long as you don’t abuse the privilege.”

  “I won’t. I promise.” Trevor said, trying to sound as sincere as he could.

  “I’d like you to not call any attention to yourself by showing off at school. Elena and I are doing this to protect you, because if some academics or branches of the government learned of your abilities, they might exploit you in ways you’re not ready for. Do you understand, Trevor?”

  “You mean they might try to study me like they’d do if they ever discovered an alien on the planet?”

  “Yeah, like that and worse. They could likely label you as a threat to every computer system in the world and stop you from practicing what you love.”

  That frightened him. “I won’t be a show-off, Mr. Kyle, I promise.” He still wasn’t ready to call them “Mom” and “Dad” yet, but he wanted to someday, just like Shanice already did with the Baileys

  “Oh, I want you to do well and to get good grades, but don’t go above and beyond what they’re teaching in your grade level. We’ll do the extra-curriculars at home.”

  “Okay, I’ll remember.”

  David stood and put the chair back under the desk. Then he turned as if he remembered something. “I’m sure this goes without saying, but don’t forget to watch out for Shanice. You’re the only big brother she’s ever known and first grade can be scary.”

  “I’ll make sure no one picks on her,” Trevor said.

  “Don’t try to handle it yourself, though. Report it to a school official. I won’t have you fighting at school.”

  Trevor felt every bit like the protective big brother where Shanice was concerned, but he knew he couldn’t disappoint David. “Oh, all right.”

  David looked like he was trying to keep himself from laughing as he turned to leave. “Goodnight, Trevor.”

  “Goodnight, sir.”

  At school, Shanice would sometimes ask Trevor to do embarrassing things. Like asking him to carry her Hello Kitty backpack when her arms were full, or loaning her lunch money when she bought extra stuff and used up all the money in her account before she should have, and the worse, having him talk to her teddy like he was human sometimes. He never denied her when it was something he could do. When she got it into her head that she wanted to join in an activity at school, she came to Trevor at the end of the day and asked for his help. He was waiting in the car pickup area when she joined him later than usual with a flyer in her hand.

  “What you got there, ‘Nice?” Sometimes he shortened her name when he was lazy.

  “It’s a flyer about the Fall Festival. And guess what?”

  He laughed. When she got excited about something, she got everyone excited about it. “What?”

  “I’m going to sing in the talent show.”

  He folded his arms. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what’re you going to sing?”

  “This Little Light of Mine.” She’d been singing in the children’s choir at Pastor Isaiah’s church, and that song was by far her favorite. Then she said, “And you’re going to play the music for me, like you do at church.”

  Trevor did work the sound board on Sundays with David. Then he remembered how David said he didn’t want Trevor to call attention to himself, so he didn’t know whether he should agree.

  “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask David and Elena about it.”

  “They won’t mind,” Shanice said. She had become such a confident little person. The Baileys had done that.

  Of course, when Trevor asked David ab
out the talent show, David not only said Trevor could do it, he introduced him to the Garage Band application, and Trevor used it to accompany his surrogate sister during her singing debut at the Fall Festival. Trevor dared any of his friends to give him any grief about it.

  The Kyles and Baileys had a huge block party when their adoptions of Trevor and Shanice went through. The cul-de-sac where the Baileys resided was chock full of people, and Isaiah, being a sucker for a captive audience, took a few moments to say a few words.

  “As many of you know, the position I held prior to taking on my role at Trinity was as a house parent at a Baptist Children’s facility. During our stint there, Brenda and I had the honor and privilege of taking care of some wonderful, and some not-so-wonderful children.” The crowd laughed. “However, we loved them all and did everything we could to prepare them for whatever fate the Lord had in store for them. While there, David and I fell in love with the two most amazing children known to man: our daughter, Shanice, and the Kyles’s son, Trevor.”

  “What are Elena and I, chopped liver?” Brenda yelled.

  “I’m getting to that part, sweetheart,” Isaiah said. Then he beckoned to Trevor and Shanice, who joined hands and walked over to their adoptive parents. “Trevor was this serious little guy who always had his nose in the dilapidated old computer, and Shanice was this breath of fresh air who charmed everyone. Brenda got the ball rolling when she came to bed one night and confessed she had a favorite among the children. Shanice had wormed her way into Brenda’s heart, and she got it into her head that she was now unfit to be a house parent because she wasn’t objective anymore.” Brenda glared playfully at him, and he continued. “After I counseled my wife and talked her out of stepping down from our posts immediately, we discussed the prospect of adopting. Of course, knowing how close Shanice was to Trevor, we realized we simply couldn’t take her and leave him there. David was already mentoring Trevor, so it only took a suggestion from me to get him to take his plea to Elena. And the rest, as they say is history.”