Family Reunion

My eyes quickly opened when I heard keys jiggling down the hall. "Good Morning!" Joey shouts loudly. I stood up to my feet, rubbed my eyes, and yawned. "How did you sleep?" Joey carefully unlocks my and Juju's door. "I slept okay..." I folded up my blanket and laid it on top of the bed. "Am I finally free from this hell hole?" Juju says sarcastically. Joey sighs, "Let's go, the president wants to see both of you." Joey locks the door behind me and leads us outside. 

The sunlight burned my eyes as I looked into the sun. the town was tranquil and windy as we walked through town. "I guess everybody is asleep," I thought to myself. We walk past a park with a huge water fountain and a giant bouncy house with balloons attached to a table. We continued down the path with bubbles flying everywhere, I looked around to see kids having fun blowing bubbles. "Hey! Juju! Do you want to blow bubbles with us?" A little kid with ponytails says. "Sorry little ones, but I got into some trouble I'll play later," Juju smirked then continued walking. 

We finally reached a house with a flower garden covering the whole front yard. We walk up to the door with a teenage girl guarding the door with a bat. "We got an appointment." She looks at us one by one. "Okay." She opens the door and we walk inside. Inside, it looks like a courtroom with a main stand for the judge, a witness box, and seats for the public. "Wait here, I'm going to go get the president." I stood there too astonished to speak. Minutes later he comes out with a teenage boy with black hair wearing a suit and tie. "So, what do we have with us today?" Joey clears his throat, "We have Juju and David. David is the new kid we found yesterday." The president quickly glances up. "David? Like in David Miller?" 

He looks at me directly into my eyes. "Woah! This is some voodoo shit," Juju yells. Speechless he slowly walks up to me. "Danny?" Tears slowly rolled down his face, "It's really you!" Danny picks me up from the ground and hugs me tightly. I softly cry, "I thought I'd never find you...." Danny tries to form words but nothing comes out. Danny turns to look at Juju, "You're free to go, just don't do that again some of us want kids one day." Juju salutes and then leaves out the front door. In the distance I see Joey tearing up from our brotherly love. "Can you give us a second, Joey?" Joey nods and then exits the room. 

"My little brother... I can't believe it's you!" Danny hugs me once again. He glances at my face and he could see the faded bruised eye. He gave me a doubtful look, "What happened to your eye?" I sigh thinking back to the brutal fight that landed me in the hospital. "I got into a fight...But I'm okay now." Danny sits down in one of the chairs. "I'm glad you're okay little bro...Um...How's Mom and Dad?" I take a deep breath, and then I let it out slowly. "Mom is good and Dad is, of course, his regular self." He smiles, "At least your voice is deeper than Dad's now." We both chuckle.

We hear a little knock on the door and Joey comes in. "Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we got a problem." Danny stands up, "Of course, can you please show my brother around and the cabin where he's going to sleep, and make sure to take him to breakfast, it's breakfast time." Danny swiftly exits the room. "Come on, I'll take you to breakfast first." 

I walk alongside Joey not saying a word. "How are you liking it so far?" I turned my head to look at Joey while we walked. "This place is fascinating..." We walk up to a vast building, with a banner that says "Cafeteria" in big black letters. Joey unlocks the door and we walk in. When I walked in I saw a cafeteria filled with teenagers enjoying breakfast and talking amongst themselves. I follow Joey into the cafeteria line, "We need a plate for David." They handed me a plate with pancakes, eggs, and a blueberry muffin. "You can find somewhere to sit and I'll meet you outside when you're done."

I nod and turn around to look where to sit. In the corner of the room, I see Juju waving her hand. "Over here, David!" I walked over to her table and sat down. "Guys, this is David, the President's little brother." A girl started choking on her food and others gasped with shock. "I didn't know he had a brother," one guy said. "He's kind of cute," the girl across from me said. "Look, I know he's hot but let's be respectful to the newcomer," Juju says proudly. I quietly eat my breakfast while they stare at me. "Did you run away?" I stop chewing and look up, "Yes..." Thoughts of my mom pop up in my head. "So... Danny is a runaway too?" I started to feel frustrated by all the questions. "I guess you could say that." Before anybody could ask another question a school bell rings. "Breakfast is over! Everybody return to your cabin and prepare for the day!"

We all get up from our seats, dump our trash, and head out the door. I see Joey in the distance waiting for me. "I'll see you soon, David." I nod at Juju as she catches up with her friends. "How was breakfast, did you make any friends yet?" Joey and I started walking while kids rushed past us. "Breakfast was good and the only friend I have is probably you and Juju." Joey smiles, "Don't worry you'll make friends soon. Now, it's time for a tour of this place."

Joey first takes me to a cabin filled with bunk beds. "This is where the 13-15-year-olds sleep, and since this is cabin 1 your leader is Juju, so that would be fun." I took a look around the room and took a second to look at the many pictures on the wall. "Where is the bathroom?" Joey points outside, "We all use the porta potty outside." My face quickly squints up in disgust. Joey walks out and I follow behind. Right when we leave the kids arrive and start pilling in the cabin. 

We then walk to a building that looks like a school. "This is where you'll be attending school, but of course, it's summertime so in the next few months." I wanted to ask so many questions but I kept the questions to myself. Next to the school, I see old benches, monkey bars, and an old swing set. "What's that over there?" Joey looks over at the abandoned park, "Oh! That's where the teenagers hang out, mostly on the weekends." Joey smiles and then continues the tour. We walk towards a garden filled with tomatoes. "This is our tomato garden, we're trying to grow other vegetables but we just have tomatoes for now." Across from the garden was a barn filled with cows, chickens, and pigs. I walk over there to take a closer look as Joey follows behind. 

I gently pet one of the cows as it chews on grass. "Her name is Lucy, one of our older cows." I smile, "She's beautiful." I look over to see a dog napping in the grass. I point over to the dog, "Does the dog herd sheep." Joey looks over to the dog, "No, not really. Mostly just nap all day, his name is Zip." I finish petting the cow then turn to look at Joey. "We're done for today, I'm going to take you to Juju before lunch." I nod my head and we continue back on the path. 

We make it back to the cabins to see Juju outside smoking a cigarette. "Juju! What did we say about smoking!" Juju glances at Joey and then continues to smoke. "Last time I checked you weren't my Dad." Joey loudly exhales, "I still have to write you up for that." Juju rolls her eyes, drops the cigarette on the ground, and then steps on it. "David will be in your group after lunch." Juju smiles, "You're going to love it over here, David." Before I could answer a loud bell rang over the town.