Identity

chapter five

ok, y'all I'll be honest; I myself am getting slightly bored with these chapters but they're necessary to the plot. BUT stick with it!! Obviously, this isn't split into parts, but if it were, chapter 6 would be the end of part 1 and it'll get WAY more interesting.

Anyway, enjoy :)

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The next day was just like every other had been so far at the orphanage. Peter got up and ready, made everyone breakfast, and went to school.

The morning had gone pretty smoothly, despite a few nasty comments thrown at him from Mr. Miller. Peter tried not to let them affect him, but he wasn't used to the harsh words. Sure, Caleb said mean things to him, but it was different coming from an adult–from someone who was supposed to care for him.

Mr. Miller wasn't usually up early. Peter didn't usually see him until after school, but he caught something about a business trip. It was suspicious, to say the least–what was he going on a business trip for if his only job was running the orphanage?

School, and detention, went by pretty slowly, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Mrs. Miller seemed to be in a bad mood when he got home though. She was always in somewhat of a bad mood, but it seemed worse today. No doubt, it had something to do with Mr. Miller's "business trip".

She was very obviously drunk. It was easy to smell in her breath, and if that wasn't enough, the empty bottles lining the kitchen counter were.

Peter didn't know what he did wrong, but it didn't matter. Him even being there was enough of a reason for Mrs. Miller to hit him.

May never got drunk. May never really got too mad at him and never hit him.

Why'd she have to leave him? He was hurting too. He missed Ben too! But he would never have left May. Even if she had cancer, he would've been okay trying to help her. At least she would've had a chance.

Now, he has to go through both of their deaths alone. Because May left him, he's been sentenced to a terrible life by himself, if the last few days have proved anything.

He couldn't be mad at May, no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn't blame her. Right now, he understood her decision. He'd only wished that he'd realized sooner before it was too late. Really, it was his own fault that he was here right now.

The next day was just like the past few, and it was starting to get boring, but he had no room to complain when it could be a lot worse. Although it did sting a bit when he came to the realization that today marked a week since she died.

After detention, he had to go to work. The library had said he could take as much time off as he wanted, but he'd decided only to take a week off. Now that he had to take care of the kids and pay for food, he figured it would be better to get back sooner rather than later.

It was pretty hard to focus on anything when his thoughts were now constantly drifting, but he was glad to be back at work. It offered some stability–when May died, his whole life changed, but at least this hadn't.

His boss seemed glad to have him back but had assured Peter multiple times that it would be fine if he wanted to wait longer to come back. Peter just brushed her off though.

When he got back to the orphanage, Mrs. Miller was mad. He had come in much past curfew, and it didn't help when he tried to defend himself.

Needless to say, he got hit a few times, but at least she let him keep his job and pushed his curfew back.

He went to the bathroom, wincing at the sudden light as he flicked the light switch, and was met with the broken sight of him in the mirror. One week since everything had happened. But it looked like a lifetime.