Connections Jan 2015 | Page 54

MOMENT OF TRUTH
By Jaysen True Blood
Copyright ©2014 Jaysen True Blood

1.
The dawn was cold and dark. Bingham sat up and blinked in fear
as Ryan crossed to where Bingham’s bed sat. Bing had the feeling
that there was something wrong, but was too frightened to ask.
Ryan never came into the room until it was time for Bing to get up
for the day, but now, it was only four in the morning and there was
still two more hours before he was supposed to rise for the day. He
came in and peered down at Bing, then, he was gone.
Ryan was Bing’s older brother and the one who’d been an adult
when their parents had died. When the court had decided, after their
parents’ deaths, to place Bing in Ryan’s care, Bing had been
overjoyed. Though he mourned the passing of their parents, Bing
still knew that he had one person who’d care for him. Ryan, Bing
thought, was always going to be there for him. Fate couldn’t be so
cruel as to take him away too.
Bingham had been born with a mental handicap and could not
function as fully as other “normal” people. He was slower to learn,
slower to adjust to changes, and more reluctant to show how he
really felt. He seemed incapable, at times, to show emotional pain
and sorrow. Most didn’t understand him.
It wasn’t that he was unable to do, it was more that he had
trouble assimilating and processing information. He wasn’t autistic.
Nor was he truly retarded-as most would consider him. He just
didn’t have the mental capacity that most people had.
After their parents died, Ryan set about teaching Bing the basic
skills needed to make it on his own in life...should the unexpected
happen and he, Ryan, should follow their parents in premature
death. Always be prepared, that’s what he believed. And Bing had to
be prepared for anything. So, Ryan began teaching him, starting