Free Jayden's Revenge: The Tale of an American Family by Dirk Knight Page A

that she was utterly alone . T he only sign of Philip was a picture of him and the rest of the team , in their uniforms , next to last year’s Wildcats’ State Baseball trophy.
    Sometimes she would sit at home and just hold his practice bat – a hardwood Louisville Slugger – next to her side , usually while wearing his hoodie . When she thinks about how pathetic she must look, knowing that Philip would have been the first one to poke fun at her for it, she lets out a little chuckle that barely has enough force to escape the weight of her sorr ow and weepiness.
    She feels as if she is trespassing through his life now , and that he isn’t here to introduce her as his sister , so she ha s no identity. Everyone already knew who she was anyway. No one spoke to her; her family name had been in the papers and all over the local news… people just stared and gave her a wider berth than the school halls demanded for her slender body . This was supposed to be different, but thanks to her, Philip is gone and all that’s left is this hoodie and that useless Louisville Slugger.

2.
    Derrick Weller is uneasy as he arrives home with a brown paper sack in his ample fist , looking over his shoulders for nosey neighbors . The paper is soaked through and offers no support for the weight of the bottle inside; instead, it provides the illusion that onlookers wouldn’t know it held whisk e y . A gain . It is rainy and cold and the clouds are blocking most of the sun ’ s glory. Derrick feels as if the weather has been like this forever. The cold front is bringing on a cough as well as the possibility of freezing rain ; he hacks up a big chunk of phlegm while fumbling through his key ring , but luckily, he has some of grandpa’s cough syrup in his bag . As he walks over the threshold, he has a sinking feeling that something is not right. The hairs on his neck are standing , but he can’t quite put his finger on what is amiss.
    “ Hello , is anyone here?” he shouts.
    I am an idiot and I’m afraid of my own shadow is what sounds in the space between his ears .
    A tour of the house gives him some peace of mind, but he still feels uneasy. He finds nothing out of place as he searches his one - level condo room by room . I can’t ever relax – he thinks – How can I after dealing with the torment I have endured this year – as he begins looking un der the beds and in the closets, making a second, more thorough, sweep through the house. He pauses when he enters the first room on the left. The room hasn’t been opened in some time and the air tastes older . H e doesn’t want to look under this bed but forces himself to.
    He came home with eve ry intention of relaxing today – this is the first night he has the house to himself since Brenda – but instead he is scouring the house as if he is involved in a high – - stakes game of hide and seek. He is afraid to be alone, without Jayden, his fourteen - year - old (according to his memory) daughter. She is at a sleepover birthday party with her classmates. He ha d insisted that she relax and that he would do the same .
    Just chill out – he says to himself as he pulls his weight up from the floor in the first bedroom, abandoning his search. This room still makes him uncomfortable; he doesn’t want to spend any more time in here.
    He saw the birthday girl ’ s parents looking at him with sad eyes as he dropped Jayden off and said goodbye. The Weller family ’s “ situation ” has been, and continues to be, the topic of conversation among families in the Hamilton School District . Der ric k kn ows this, but he refuse s to speak with the other parents about the events . After being forced to share his misery during the innumerable visits with t he court - appointed counselor , he has grown disgusted with having to relive that night.
    The conditions that caused his wife and him to finally separate were brutal. Derrick, like many others in his situation , was reluctant to come to the