I sat down at the dinner table munching my toast bread, Natalie came in her eyes red. She looked like she had just gotten out of bed.

"Good morning Chad," she yawned at me.

"Morning," I reply.

Natalie sat beside me and mom dropped three slices of toast on her plate. Her eyes grew wide. "Three slices of toast? What of the usual six?"

"Money's short," Mom replied. "You know how hard things are now."

"Yeah," Derek appeared from nowhere. "Work at my garage isn't going on like before."

He sat down opposite me and sent me a small smile, I give him a fake smile and munch on my toast.

"So Dad," said Natalie. "Have you gotten my guinea pigs?"

Derek sighed and slapped his forehead."Oh my God, I forgot!"

"How many guinea pigs again?"

"Six."

Derek's face fell. "Six guinea pigs?" Natalie nodded. "We have to get them ready for our project."

"And when's that?" Derek asked.

I didn't hear Natalie's response because I was busy scanning the morning newspaper.

"Chad?" Mom said. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I say. "Do I look as if I'm not okay?"

Mom didn't reply.

Derek stood up and slapped me on my shoulder. "Hurry up kid, I'm gonna go get the truck ready."

"I can walk to school myself."

"No you can't," Mom said before Derek could even open his mouth.

I sigh and throw the last bit of toast into my mouth.

"You're disgusting," said Natalie.

"So are you," I say.

She opened her mouth revealing chewed up toast. I groaned and felt like putting a bullet in her head.

I stood outside, my bag on my shoulders and staring at Derek hunched over the bonnet of his truck and working on the engine.

The Oethcox was still inside my bag, I was having second thoughts on bringing it to school. I don't have the balls to kill Frederick or anyone. But still, I left the box in my bag.

Derek got into the truck and turned on the ignition and the truck roared to life. "Yes!!" He cried. "Come in kid, get inside!"

I enter the truck and sit beside Derek. "You know, you have to stop calling me a kid."

Derek looked at me. "What?"

"I'm sixteen," I say. "I'm not a kid."

Derek shook his head and pulled the truck out of the driveway. "But you still behave like one."

The truck zoomed past the dull streets of our town, I saw Sheriff Brent at the police station, he looked up and waved at Derek who waved back.

"I don't have a son," Derek was saying. "But I know one thing for sure-- they're darn hard to bring up.

"And that's where I come in, your mother would never be able to raise you alone. I'm just here to help her."

I run my hands through my hair. "I understand. But we were doing just fine."

Derek scoffed. "Are you sure about that? Your mother was losing her mind, she was going into serious depression."

"Yeah," I say. "But now that you're here do you think things are better?"

"Huh?"

"Your garage isn't fetching enough money for the family," I say. "Dude you came into our lives and fucked things up!"

Derek calmly made a right turn. "Look, I've heard a lot of stories about wicked stepparents and shit. But I don't want that to be the case between you and me."

I adjusted my glasses and open my mouth to talk.

"Put on your seatbelt," Derek interrupted.

I ignore him. "You are not my stepfather!"

Derek chuckled. "I married your mom, and your name is Chad Jackman."

"I'm not a Jackman," I spat. "I'm a fucking Unger! And I don't want to live with you or your annoying little bitches!"

Derek stopped the truck and pointed a warning finger at me. "Don't talk about my daughters like that."

I stare at him for a while. "Fuck you," I open the truck door and walk away.

"Chad!" Derek called to me. "You come back here!!" But I ignore him and walk to school.

Fuck Derek. Fuck Natalie. Fuck little Patricia. Fuck The Devil's Order!!

Why was my life like this? Had I done something wrong?

I decided to head to the church to clear my head for a second. I still had time for school anyway.

The town's church stood tall in the centre of the town. It was one of the oldest and tallest buildings in the town. It was built by Stanley Anchor himself.

Six birch trees surrounded the building, its leaves yellowed and falling to the ground. My feet crunched over the dead leaves as I walked up to the door.

I push open the doors and walk into the church. The building was empty and quiet. It was a great time for me to be alone.

I sighed and dropped my bag on one of the chairs and sat down.

"God, what am I doing?" I say.

"You're the Jackman kid right?" A voice asked.

I look up and see Pastor Willis, the town's pastor and he's also Sheriff Brent's younger brother. He looked exactly like his brother except he was shorter and fat.

"It's Unger actually," I tell him.

"Right." He nods his head and sits down beside me. "Well Unger, aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to relax a second here."

Willis nodded slowly. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I don't like my life," I say.

"Are you contemplating suicide?" Willis asks.

"God No!" I cry. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"Well," Willis smiled. "I've dealt with youths going through things like these. Suicide is a thing that comes to anyone's mind when they are going through unbearable times.

"But listen to me Chad, whatever you're going through just pray to the Almighty God and he will deliver you  from it."

"Yeah," I nod my head staring at the altar.

Pastor Willis sighed. "You know when I was your age, I was bullied too."

I look at the man. "How did you know that I'm being bullied?"

"My brother knows everything about you," he replied. "He says your the nicest teenager in town and you don't deserve anything bad."

I shook my head. "Well bad things just keep coming my way."

Pastor Willis turned to look at the altar. "Do you wanna know what saved me from those bullies?"

"What?"

"I prayed to God," said Pastor Willis. "And suddenly they stopped."

"That's great and all but, bullies are the least of my worries," I say.

I could end the bullying today, but if I do that I'm selling my soul to an occultic group.

Who am I kidding? My soul has already been sold since I was born.

"Don't kill yourself, Unger," Pastor Willis said. "Just pray to God. If you kill yourself you're not ending your suffering, you're just gonna jump from one world to another one of everlasting suffering!"

I nod and stood up. "Thanks, Pastor Willis, I gotta go to school now."

"It's alright kid," said Pastor Willis. "Don't forget to pray."

"I won't," I say and exit the church. Outside the church, my face fell. Pastor Willis doesn't have an idea of what I'm going through.

If he did, he would know that prayer can never deliver me from it!