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Eddie and Kathryn King
I went to live with the King family after leaving the Harrison’s. It’s unfair to put them in the random group of people that entered my life. They were more than that. They were responsible for teaching me how to hate. I had used the word ‘hate’ before I met them, but it wasn’t until living in their house that I learned what the word truly meant. I died still carrying the physical and psychological scars cause by these people and it is with a clear head that I say I hated them.
The Kings were young. Maybe they were too young, but the great state of Florida had decided they were qualified to be foster parents and that was all that mattered to anyone. No one cared that Kathryn used me as her personal maid and punching bag, drank too much and cheated on her husband with his friend. No one cared that Eddie also drank, stole cars and used me for things that a grown man should never use a child for. It was the story of my life. No one cared, or at least, they didn’t care enough.
I had withdrawn back into myself. I thought I was safe that way. I had loved Grandma Pat and I had loved Leo and they were both gone. If I had been able to love to the Harrison’s I would have, but it was too late because Gene was gone and Mary didn’t want me anymore. That made me an easy target for the Kings.
Things weren’t bad at first. They fed me and I had my own room. I wasn’t forced to attend church anymore. The Kings didn’t worry about my lack of friends. They never asked if I had homework. They didn’t even care if I attended school. Eddie King taught me how to play poker. Kathryn King taught me how to cook. Eddie took me for rides in the cars he brought home from his shop and Kathryn would take me to the beauty salon where she worked and fix my hair.
I was young and even though I had been through more hard times than some people twice my age I was still very naïve. I had no idea what an ulterior motive was. I knew that people were capable of doing bad things, but I had no idea that they could be evil. The kind of evil that goes all the way down to their bones. The Kings were that kind of evil.
I did not see the Kings before I died because there was definitely no love shared between them and myself. I wouldn’t even tell you about them, but I can’t tell my story without them.
