The Flood
    "They say floods like this only happen once a lifetime," Neal said.
    "Neal, don't be so hard on yourself, it's not your fault," Neal’s father tried to explain him.
    "Everything is gone, we have... nothing," Neal sighed.
            The Caffery family lives in New York City. Neal was an orphan who was adopted when he was 10 and is now 18. He had a rough childhood before the Caffery’s adopted him. It took him a long time to get used to normal life. At the orphanage he didn’t have any friends therefore he lacked social skills. However, he had started to get used to being a Caffery and he began to be more and more social. The flood that day was the worst flood in the history of the New York. It destroyed all of New England and got New York and New Jersey the worst.
            “This is just like at Mr Jeffry’s orphanage,” Neal thought, “I have noting but the clothes on my back,” and at that moment, the fire man came out of the house dragging a stretcher behind him.
            “She didn’t make it,” said the fireman. Neal looked down his suffocated mother, she looked as if she had been choked by part of the collapsed house. Neal passed out and fell down so hard he got a concussion from landing on the concrete.
            Although Neal is not very stable he is one of the smartest kids in New York. Not having any friends growing up, Neal had too much time on his hands. So he picked up a hobby, reading. One thing that makes him less social is how sophisticated his language is. None of the ‘cool’ high school kids talk the way he does, because he talks like the language of the books he reads.
            Leading up to the flood, as Neal became more and more social, he made new friends. Including his girlfriend Sarah. His long dark hair and his blue eyes make him very attractive, but his social awkwardness ruins it. For a kid growing up with no real parents and then being adopted when he was old enough to realize he had no biological family, friends are very important. But the toll this flood took on him took away every last bit of his social ability. Knowing there was nothing, brought back memories of his childhood, which gave him mental breakdowns from time to time. The only things that can help him in these situations are his parents. They are the only people who ever really gave him the love and affection a child needs. Well, except Mr Jeffery, but there were too many kids to keep track of back at the orphanage. Neal’s new parents still aren’t always there when he needs them. They both work full time. His father special agent Peter Caffery of the FBI white collar crime division works all day and sometimes all night depending on the case. His mother is a bakery owner.
            Neal woke to find him self with several cords coming out of him. When he realized he was at he hospital, he pulled the cords off and said, “I’m going to find Sarah, see how she’s doing.”
            “Neal please stay here and-“ the nurse was cut off by Neal slamming the door of the room they were in.
            Neal pulled up to Sarah’s house to see the house totally wrecked. Sarah was sitting in the front yard looking sadder than Neal had ever seen her. On any normal day Neal would’ve been able to help her, but he hadn’t been this emotionally unstable in years.
            “Neal I’m so glad you came,” Sarah said and ran up and hugged him.
Neal sort of shied away from the hug. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to just run. So that’s what he did. He ran away from Sarah. Away from Sarah’s house. Away from his car. Away from his family. He didn’t know where he was running but he didn’t stop. He took his phone and threw it as far into the lake as he could. But then Neal felt something. It was weird, it started in his stomach, and then it was up in his chest. Neal stopped running and sat on a rock by the river. Someone began to approach him and he stood up and started to walk back slowly. As he inched away, the man said, “There’s no need to run Neal. Please take a seat.” Neal sat down at a picnic table. Neal said, “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know why you’re here. I don’t know why I’m here. I want it to be over. I want my real family and this flood, this flood destroyed all that was left. My mother was killed in that flood, well she was the closest thing I had to a mother.”
            “Neal, I never meant for you to be in this situation,” The man said.
            Neal stood up forcefully, “Who are-“ Neal was cut off.
            “Your father.”
            Neal sat back down. He had never thought he would meet his father. Nor did he ever want to. No this couldn’t be, his father had never been there for him why now.
            “Why? Why now… where were you when I was in the orphanage?”
            “I know I have allot of explaining to do.”
            “Talk. What happened to our family?”
            “Before you were born, I was a cop. I loved the job, and I was one of the best cops in the city, but you can’t support a family off a cop’s salary. Your biological mother was killed in a car accident. But it wasn’t an accident. When your mother found out that we were having you I realized we were going to need allot more money if we wanted to stay out of poverty. Later that month I made a major drug bust, and what we found were crates of money. One crate had more money than I’d ever make being a cop. Then there was a choice, I was taking the biggest chance of my life and I took it. I was shoving a 3rd stack in my coat pocket when my supervisor came in. When your supervisor catches you stealing thousand of dollars of contraband from a crime scene it should be the end of your police career. But he made me a deal. His brother was one of the drug dealers in the case and he said if we blow the case he would let me keep as much money as I could carry. Seeing no other option I made a deal. But this was the turning point in my career and I couldn’t blow the case. After I closed the case, they started to come after us. First he killed your mother, then he said he was coming for you.
            “Who is the man that killed my mother?”
            “I don’t know, but he kidnapped me and made me watch your mother die. He said he’d do the same to you if I didn’t get my supervisors brother our of jail brother out of jail, which I no longer had the power to do. I got you to witness protection and I did the only thing I could think to do. I fled the country to Peru and went by the name Nick Holden. I heard about the flood in New York and came here to tell you what I’ve wanted to tell you since the day you were born.”
            “How’d you know I was in New York?”
            “My old partner is still in the NYPD and she keeps me updated on where you are.”
            “So my dad who left me at birth stalked me yet wouldn’t approach me for my whole life.” Neal stood up and began to walk away, “If you wanted to be a part of my life why didn’t you come sooner?”
            “I… I couldn’t. They’re still after me and if I knew if I came back here they will know they would know. They are probably watching us right now.”
            “Then why’d you drag me in to this? If you didn’t want me enough to take me to hide with you why did you bring me in to this all now?” Neal continued to walk away when he was startled by a gunshot. He turned around to see his father on the ground, lifeless. He stopped where he was and stood there. He didn’t run away, he didn’t call the police, he stood there almost as lifeless as his father. At that moment Neal realized something. His mother and his father are dead, but neither of them were ever there for him when he needed a parent. Neal thought long and hard about what he still had. The only family he had left was his adoption father, and he was a good dad when he was home but the FBI was his life. But he still had a little family in his life. Mr Jeffery. Neal thought about his childhood, the days at the orphanage when the other kids played ball, Neal wasn’t into that stuff. He had no one to talk to but Mr Jeffery. Mr Jeffery was the only one there for Neal when he was hurt. Neal remembered almost all the times Mr Jeffery was there for him, but one really stood out. Neal was 7. Most of the boys were older than he was, and they enjoyed picking on Neal. They were physically dominant over Neal and if they wanted to hurt Neal they could. One day the kids came up to Neal when he was reading and took the book right out of his hands. When Neal tried to get it back, one of the boys punched him right in the nose. Neal continued to try to get the book back but he wasn’t successful. Then one of the kids threw him on the ground and started to threaten him with a stick so sharp it could cut Neal open. At the perfect time, Mr Jeffery came out and grabbed the kid off Neal and got him moved to a different orphanage. Neal always remembered that day and he couldn’t thank Mr Jeffery enough for saving him.

            Neal took his last glance at his real father and then he left and tried to forget about that moment forever. But who could forget about the one and only time they saw their father he was shot and killed. Neal went to the one place he can really call home, Mr Jeffery’s orphanage. He went to see Mr Jeffery, but more importantly knew there was other kids like him and he wanted to help them. When Neal arrived, he told Mr Jeffrey everything that had happened to him today. Then Mr Jeffery said, “I’ll be right back.” And he walked upstairs
            When Mr Jeffery returned, he said, “Here Neal,” and handed Neal a stuffed bear, “You always held on to this when you were sad or scared about anything, especially your parents.”
            “Mozart, is what I called him right?”
            “Mozart was his name, but until you were 8, you could never quite say it right, you were trying to say Mozart but you always ended up saying Mozzie.”
            “Why didn’t I keep him?” Neal asked.

            “You said you wanted me to keep it as a way to say thank you for my hospitality.”

            “Now I have a better way,” Neal said, “I can stay here and help you run the orphanage.”

            “You don’t need to do that Neal.”

            “But I want to, and you deserve it, this is my real home, this is where I want to live my life.”