I knew there was something different about my two adoptive young children, who never belonged in our family to begin with. I wanted them to feel like they were wanted into the Changeling family. Who wanted the best from them. They always seemed to be out of control and never wanted to do anything their overly protective parents wanted to do.
I wanted to tell my husband, Russell Changeling the difference between having children of our own. And accepting children into our family who were different, and nothing like us. I wanted everything to be normal and happy in our family. Russell and I don't come from a big family. So, it was important we keep our two children, Mark and Valentino, and make them part of our independent family. To accept them for being different and nothing like us.
Even though we tried to get our two kids to get along in our family, they never wanted anything to do with me or Russell. They always seemed bored and uninterested in anything we had to make our life better. Even though Mark and Valentino never complained about living together in the same room, they never fought. Mostly kept to themselves.
If something bothered them, they would just ignore whatever it was bothering them. I tried to get my kids to accept themselves for their unique differences. Being something different can make a person change how they feel about what it means to be normal.
I wanted to make our lives interesting. Most importantly, I wanted to keep our kids happy. I knew they had a birthday coming up in October. They were both going to be turning thirteen. I wanted to give them a surprise birthday party with their two best friends from middle school, Nathan Chronicles and Kaleb Hope. They were all in the same class, Nathan and Kaleb were in a grade year ahead of my children. But they have been tight friends since third grade.
I often worry about change. I knew it was going to happen to both of my kids on Halloween this year. I didn't want to tell them they weren't like normal kids in this town. But once they go through puberty, they will need to know they are different.
Was I going to do anything to keep my two kids, Mark and Valentino, from changing? I didn't have a plan. I knew it would be uncomfortable when they start to feel strange. But it's part of going through puberty. Everybody goes through at some point in their lives. Some, later than others. But I knew their birthday on Halloween this year was going to change their lives for the worst.
I wanted to do my best to protect my two children from getting exposed to the darkness plaguing their imagination. They needed to know the truth about what they know about the world around them. Why should they be afraid of even their own shadows? It wasn't going to be easy going through these scary new changes on their birthday. But I believe they will get used to them, after they finish changing into something not human.
My husband, Russell, doesn't know anything about where our children come from, exactly. He doesn't believe in Halloween curses. Or just because they are nothing like us, they have nothing to worry about. I wanted children who were not like us. To be accepted for their differences. And come into our lives, to make us a happy, family, every day. Nobody wants to die alone. So, that's why I agreed to my husband to adopt two new children to come into our lives.
"No matter what happens, to love our children, unconditionally, okay love?" I asked my husband, Russell, at breakfast in our warmly lit kitchen, one morning. I held a cup of hot chocolate in my hands. I blew on the surface of the coffee mug and took a little sip.
I don't think my husband was paying attention to me. He was staring lost deep in thought. Looking out the kitchen window. I think he was mad because he didn't want us to celebrate our children's birthday this year. He knew it was going to be different this time. Russell wasn't going to be ready for our two boys to go through dramatic changes to make it more difficult for them to be accepted into today's society.
I took a seat at the kitchen table and then put my coffee mug on the table. "I know you must be concerned about our children, Russell," I said, slowly. "But you know, they will no longer need us to be their parents," I said, trying to calm my husband. "Once they grow up, we'll just be us together, like before we even had children of our own," I said. Russell just scoffed and shook his head, unable to believe anything I was telling him.
"What do you think will happen to our two children who don't want to become themselves on their birthday?" Russell asked, turning away from the window. "How can we tell them they are not going to be normal kids forever?" he asked me, frowning and folded in his arms in disgust.
I didn't know what to do to keep my husband from worrying about our kids. Suddenly, we heard screams coming from down the hall in our children's bedroom. Russell and I both got out of our seats. As we saw our two kids, Mark and Valentino barrel out of their bedroom. Valentino had his arms wrung around Mark's neck, choking him. I didn't know what to do to break up their fight. I couldn't tell if they were just playing around. Or really getting on each other's nerves?