A Novel by Henry Williams
CHAPTER 1 – Another Door
And there I was… standing in another stranger's house.
Another place they expected me to call home.
I had been through this too many times. New walls. New smells. New faces pretending like they cared. It was getting old.
The social worker held my hand like I was five or something. Smiling that same fake smile, talking in that same soft voice.
"Tony, it's gonna be better this time."
Yeah… aight.
I ain't even respond. I just stood there, looking around. Studying everything like I always do. The pictures on the wall. The furniture. The silence. Trying to figure out what kind of people they really were before it was too late.
Across the room, my social worker was already laughing it up with the woman who was supposed to be my new parent. Like they was old friends or something.
Fake laughs. Fake energy. Fake care.
Same routine.
Then I heard footsteps.
I looked up.
A boy came walking down the stairs slow… staring straight at me like I ain't belong there.
Like I was already a problem.
I could tell off rip — only child.
Yeah… I was definitely in the wrong house.
Dudes like him always think you there to take something from 'em. Attention. Love. Space. Whatever they think is theirs.
He stopped at the bottom step, still staring.
"What's your name?" he asked.
I ain't wanna come off rude… not yet.
"Tony," I said, reaching my hand out.
He looked at my hand…
Then started laughing.
Didn't even shake it.
He just walked past me, brushing my shoulder like I wasn't nothing.
"Big head ass boy," he muttered under his breath.
Then he leaned in just enough so only I could hear him—
"You better know how to fight."
He smiled after he said it.
Not a regular smile either…
One of them evil ones.
And just like that—
I already knew.
This was gonna be another messed up family.
CHAPTER 2 – The Hand-Off
After that awkward moment with Andre, my social worker, Ms. Kash—
Yeah… funny name.
'Cause money seemed like the only thing she really cared about.
She called me into the living room, smiling like everything was sweet.
"Tony, come here."
I walked over slow.
Fake laughs filled the room. The kind adults use when they trying to convince themselves everything is okay.
"Tony," she said, "this is Janet, your new guardian. She's very nice, and she's going to take very good care of you."
I looked at her.
Really looked.
"This is her son over there," Ms. Kash continued. "His name is Andre."
I glanced back at him for a second… then back at her.
I laughed a little—
Not out loud.
Just in my head.
I nodded, kept it respectful. I wasn't about to say too much. No point.
But something about Janet…
Didn't sit right with me.
She was light-skinned, heavyset, hazel eyes. Freckles all over her face. Her hair thinning at the top like stress had been eating at her for years.
Made me wonder…
Was it Andre?
Or just bad genes?
Either way, something felt off.
I sat down, acting like I wasn't paying attention…
But I heard everything.
They started talking like I wasn't even in the room.
Living arrangements.
Payments.
"How much she'd be getting."
"How she could get more funding."
Like I was a check… not a kid.
That uneasy feeling started creeping in my chest again.
Same feeling I got every time before things went left.
Ms. Kash stood up after a while, grabbing her purse.
"Aww, bye Henry," she said, rubbing the top of my head like I was some stray dog.
I ain't even correct her.
"Janet is going to take really good care of you," she added. "And Andre is going to be a big influence on you. He's your big foster brother now."
If only you knew…
I thought to myself.
She gave one last fake smile—
Then walked out the door.
Just like that.
Gone.
And I already knew how this part go.
I'd hear from her again in two weeks…
Like that was supposed to fix anything.