Slowly as the days passed by Dave and Katherine had been going out more than usual but they barely came back with groceries or anything of interest. Apple Bloom told James that the cases that they used for the summer vacation to South Dakota were missing from the spare room. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo reported to James that in the night, they would hear Dave and Katherine talking on hushed voices and that James was mentioned each night. James had to find out what was going on and try and put a stop to the breaking apart of the family. He found his mother and father at the front door.
“Mum,” James said, “Are you off shopping, because we’re running out of food.”
“No we’re not shopping, you can do that,” Katherine said bitterly.
“I don’t have a license or a car yet,” James said.
“You have that scrappy little buggy that you weren’t supposed to get,” said Dave.
James sighed.
“Look, I know that for the past week you’ve been much more sullen and angry about telling the truth of my actual birth, but it’s okay, I don’t care,” said James.
“That’s all you’ve done for us,” Dave said, “You haven’t cared one little bit about us, it been those girls. You’ve forgotten about us and you chose those brats over me and your mother.”
“What about the past sixteen years I’ve lived with you?” James asked, “What about all the good times we had?”
“What good times?” said Katherine, “I was sick of you after the first year, you’re lucky we didn’t kill you.”
“What?” James asked, his eyes welling up with tears.
“Oh great one,” Dave said, “Now the little shit knows that we tried to off him when he was a baby.”
“You tried to kill me?” James asked.
“Tried and failed,” said Katherine, “Your Nan and Grandfather loved you so much that we couldn’t do it without them suspecting anything.”
“Why? Why do you want to kill me?!” James asked.
“Reason is that we really didn’t want a freak in the family, you weren’t even meant to be bred so successfully. It’s a shame that those people who donated their cells created something that ended up a living human,” Dave said.
“So there were four birth parents,” James said, “What then, was the point?”
“Well we wanted a child at first but we didn’t want to do anything,” Dave said, “We got a hold of your uncle, who knows a company that can make test tube babies and we told them what we wanted. We wanted a girl at first but my wife wanted a son, so we decided to have a child that was ‘special’ in the good way. The people who we met a while ago all chipped in to help us out, sadly after you were created we had a realization that a child would not improve our life. After you got into our life we couldn’t go anywhere as much as we used to. It’s sad really to go to Tuscany and never be able to go again. Yes we went to Tuscany before you were born and now because of you we can’t go again. I hope you’re happy you ruined our life.”
James was becoming more and more damaged as he took every last word his parents told him. The past sixteen years had been great for him, but James remembered several things in his life that didn’t make sense.
“Wait, so the time I helped overthrow a dictator was staged?” he asked.
“No, we were trying to get a car bomb to kill you,” said Katherine, “You somehow got on the good side of the rebels and you helped them out and you got that AK-47 for a thank you. Same goes for the time Manny tried to kill you, we paid him to snap your neck but you managed to break his arm. We also tipped off his dad and told him that we wanted you dead, shame you are good with a pistol. We though that you were finally salvageable, but no, you were not.”
“So had my entire life been controlled by you two?” James asked.
“Right down to the dog’s disappearance,” said Dave.
“Those kids were never meant to happen however,” Katherine said, “I don’t know what made me allow you to bring them back. Why I didn’t call some orphanage in the first place I’ll never know, but now I’ll never have to deal with them again.”
James was about to cry, his own mother an father have tried to have him killed for the past sixteen years, the people he had loved as his parents, had lied to him and had never tried to love him back. How did this all come to be, why did his mother and father have him born in a tube then send him to a country where there was a revolution to die? What had he done to his parents in order for them to want him dead? James didn’t want this, he didn’t deserve this, all he wanted was to become an Enforcer and impress his family. Now it seem as if he should’ve blown his head off with his Enfield in order to get a smile from them. James wanted to have a loving family himself when he was older, but now, this family didn’t love him back.
“Mum, dad, please don’t do this,” he said.
“It’s over James,” Dave said.
“Don’t leave me like this!” James shouted.
“Do I give a shit what you think?” Dave asked.
“We can work this all out,” said James, “Jut give me another three years until I join the army and you can forget about me.”
“I’m not putting up with you for another ten seconds,” said Katherine as she walked out the door.
“MUM!” James shouted, he lunged for the door but was stopped by Dave’s fist. Dave hit James right in the middle of his face sending James sprawling on the floor.
“You’re lucky I don’t have a gun on me,” Dave said.
“Yeah,” James said holding his bloody nose, “If you did I’d blow your fucking face off.”
Dave stomped on James’ chest and spat on him before leaving and slamming the door behind him, James crawled over to the door and watched his parents drive away in the SUV, which was loaded with cases. James sank down and finally broke into tears.
“God fucking dammit!” he shouted hitting the door. James sank down to the floor and wept, he did this for five minutes before he opened his eyes. When he did he saw three pairs of feet standing in front of him.
“Are you okay?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“You heard everything didn’t you?” James asked.
“Each word said,” said Scootaloo.
“You should have ran,” James said, “Ran while you had the chance. You know what? Run now, run away and find somewhere else to live. There’s nothing left for you here. Get what ever you want and go.”
“James?” Apple Bloom asked as she watched him pick himself up.
“Go…now,” James said sternly. He went upstairs an locked himself in his room, smashing two mirrors and a few family pictures along the way, the Crusaders winced at each shattering pane of glass. James sank down on his bad and cried again, he had nothing left to live for, his dream had been crushed, he had no job, Dart had vanished and his own parents had tried to kill him for the past sixteen years. James then heard knocking on his door.
“James,” Scootaloo said, “Are you okay?”
“Go away!” James shouted, “I told you to get out!”
“James, please come out,” Apple Bloom said.
“Get lost!” James said as he pulled his 1911 out from under his bed and pointed it toward the door.
“We can’t go anywhere else James,” Sweetie Bell said.
“I said fuck off!” James yelled. He fired a round into the ceiling, running was heard. James lowered the gun and looked at himself in the mirror. James fired four rounds into the mirror and then three into the TV, he threw the gun at the window and collapsed on the bed and broke down again.