Curious Dave
Dave was a young boy, around the age of seven. He lived with his older brother, never got to learn anything about his parents, and somehow, he was fine with it. He was happy where he was. He admired his big brother, looked up to him, and told himself he was going to be just like him when he grew up.
Three years later, Dave had started noticing things about his older brother. He noticed that he never seemed to leave the apartment, and decided to try and find out what he did that earned money. The answer was nothing like what he had expected. He had skipped a day of school and found that his brother managed a website and made/sold sex toys. Those toys had never before seemed like such a thing to him until now. He was horrified and had no idea what to do. His image of his brother has been damaged.
Another three years later, Dave’s emotions towards his brother had changed and warped and gone through a few too many cycles. Dave ended up confronting Bro about his work, and Bro defended himself by saying that he only had the job because they needed the money. Dave didn’t like that answer and ended up calling Child Protective Services. Dave was taken away from his brother.
Two years later, Dave is fifteen now and in a foster home. His foster family clearly couldn’t care less about him, and if he wants to eat, he has to buy his own food. The result of that was that he was forced to get a job, meaning no time for friends or extracurricular activities. One day, he discovered his older foster sister had been stealing some of his paycheck every month. When it was brought up with his foster parents, Dave was kicked out of their house and told to go live elsewhere.
Almost three years later, Dave was getting close to his eighteenth birthday, meaning he would age out of the foster care system and be thrown out into the world with nothing but his high school diploma. He had lost the job he’d had when living with his first foster family, and was now jobless, meaning he had no money coming in. Now faced with many hard decisions, Dave went to try finding the one person he knew would be able to help....
Dave’s eighteenth birthday. On this day, Dave had finally managed to make his way back to his and Bros apartment. He knocked and waited there for an answer. Hope built up inside him as he waited... and waited.... There was nobody there. A neighbor was walking by and Dave asked about where the previous tenant had gone. The neighbors response was to check the cemetery.
Dave arrived at the cemetery in record time and frantically searched the gravestones, hoping to god that he doesn’t find the name of his older brother on one of them. But, after a moment, he saw something.... He saw his mothers name carved in stone.... Dave was confused. The death date is right, the name spelling was right, it was all right... but where was his father? As Dave was pondering this, he heard footsteps approaching and turned to see a familiar face, and that face seemed surprised to see the other. Dave smiled and hugged Bro tightly, crying silently into his shoulder and apologizing profusely. He knew he had messed up, he knows now just how stupid and ignorant he was and he hopes that Bro will forgive him. Bro simply put his arms around his little brother and spoke with a calm, gentle tone, “It’s alright... I was never upset with you... I’m just happy to have you back....”
They went home after Bro left flowers at the gravesite and caught up with each other. After Dave had been taken away, Bro was more motivated than ever to get a better job so he could get Dave back. He got his degree in robotics and is now an engineer and making good money. Dave was happy for Bro getting his dream job, but one thing still bothered him. He asked about the fact that there was only one grave and not two. Bro sighed and told Dave that after his mother died, his father had no idea what to do. Being a single teen parent was not easy, but he managed, just barely. As the story continued, Dave realized exactly what Bro was trying to say. The two of them continued to talk until the day was over and they bother needed sleep. It was on that day that Dave made sure to write down to never try and make big changes without knowing the full story. And the two striders lived happily ever after.
