The tale starts out with not much more than the smallest pin drop upon millions and millions of intricacies in the space time continuum. A young man and a young woman were courted by their own parents in a high class society, born and bred for each other. Aristocracy never gave too much thought to the true meaning of life if one ever decided to find what that was. William and Allison were purely of the pampered type, luxury consisting of materialistic lifestyles and mind-numbingly dull confessions of undying love. Marriage was as happy as their money could make it. Beyond physicality much was left to be desired. Apparently nothing was ever needed, they were each other’s decorations and this was fine. Two children were conceived under the pretense of this undying love, fooling young William and Allison into thinking their perfect nest was all that it was meant to be in a world that meant hardly anything to them at all…
As long as they were able to get along every day believing they were born and bred to live like this.
Shiloh experienced luxuries that weren’t all too common in a blue collar world. Both he and his brother were taken care of with a fine tooth comb, prepped and refined by a nanny or two while their parents took the time out working nonstop in their chosen careers. Their clothes were immaculate, their faces never smudged, but Shiloh always found a way to make himself a little more human. As private schooling launched him into his later elementary grades he began to befriend kids from all walks of life: boys and girls who didn’t agree with the way they were raised, boys and girls who were funded by special scholarships for the ‘less fortunate’ in the area, even the boys and girls who were spoiled with no regret to show for it. It was the ‘less fortunate’ that proved most important to him because it made him feel like maybe he’d have a chance to escape the pampering that surrounded him. Not that he was one to dive into what he knew he wasn’t but it gave him a sense of realism, taking the highly glossed polish off of life that his parents and subsequent helpers had lacquered thickly around him.
Slowly but surely the young man was coming into his own skin. There was a wide spectrum in life, he realized, and it no longer mattered if it didn’t suit his parents. They had succumbed to the lifestyle force-fed to them, buying into the image that money equaled happiness. Shiloh would be damned if he’d take the heavy dose as easily as they did. His shy demeanor (thanks to the endless amount of time spent alone while younger) was nothing more than another trait contributing to the bigger picture, still allowing him to make and cherish his newfound friends when high school began. Now that his brother had been deployed to Iraq at the start of 2004, it seemed futile to pretend that this perfect façade his parents had built up around them was holding strong. Fights came, William and Allison constantly arguing about anything and everything, most importantly the state of the family now that Shiloh’s older brother was out in a less-than-perfect world.
The tension was high in the home, fueling the young boy’s need to further himself away from it all. The quiet Shiloh began hanging more with the rough crowd, the ‘less fortunate’ that had given him the taste of cheap things, dirty habits, and unequivocal love for the simplicity of every day life. Lies were woven as he insisted to his feuding parents that he was at the library, at some young impressionable girl’s home studying, building his own name to bounce on once college began. The truth was he was doing anything but, keeping to himself while he allowed his friends to take him out to parties, to the park. If he wasn’t with the parentally approved friends at Starbucks sipping on lattes, he was with them. Shiloh never did anything wrong beside the occasional joint here and there, so it was disheartening to be part of that one fateful night. It was a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had blown off dinner with his parents in favor of these badly influenced acquaintances of his. At least they wouldn’t fight about money, friends, wars, and the rights owed to them. They had picked Shiloh up a block away from his home, pats on the back and words of encouragement raining on the boy as he crawled over several laps into the back seat. All was well and this was normal, the driver speeding off with a squeal of his tires. This recklessness continued as Shiloh laughed quietly to all the jokes and conversations flying left and right in front of his face. It wasn’t until the driver let out a loud expletive that he realized they had been tailed by a cop. What ensued was about everything Shiloh knew nothing about.
“Dude, we’re busted. We’re fucking busted!!” the front seat passenger yelled.
”Calm down we’re not busted. Act cool, just be cool.”
Shiloh searched every face in that car for a sign of what was going on, but each told the same thing: they were about to fall into a tall stack of shit. One thing led to another and before he had the chance to sink his teeth into the situation, Shiloh was handcuffed and escorted with his friends back to the police station. If only he had given in to his parents and stayed home for a 500 calorie five course meal. His young mind told himself as he waited for his parents that all things happened for a reason. The beer was in the trunk for a reason; the marijuana tucked underneath the front passenger seat was there for a reason; the stolen car stereo and several game systems were…there for a reason. These things were weighing him down as his eyes grew heavier from the waiting. Finally his parents showed up and it was all that he thought it would be.
More than his fair share of lectures followed. His parents threatened everything from minute (taking his cell phone away) to the extreme (boarding school overseas). Shiloh had no words during this time, his demeanor sticking strong while his eyes studied the floor intently. Nothing he could do or say would change minds so he saved his breath for when it’d really matter. William never intended on sending their last son across a sea to a world he couldn’t see for himself, it was only natural that he pulled his strings and found a most prudent solution to the problem at hand. His few lawyer friends were gathered, consulted, and thanked all in the course of a single week. While his friends were ground into the messy system, Shiloh walked out with a slap on the hand instead of jail time, a fine that only a pretty penny would pay, and a hefty lump of hours for community service.
All of this happened the summer before his senior year, a few weeks before the boy found his 18th birthday. A whirlwind seemed to follow that washed away the pretense William and Allison had grown to love. Their lives were no longer as perfect as they were led to believe. What would their own parents think? Their son could have fallen into the cracks, so close to becoming a felon. Of course this was all silly overreactions on their part, but it frightened them that this dirt had infiltrated their home. Why now when Shiloh had been so good? Why now when their older son was out there risking his life? The whirlwind brought in more of that ever present malicious front with it. The fights got louder and longer, Shiloh having no escape this time. He wasn’t allowed out, wasn’t allowed to call anybody unless these friends were willing to be shut in his home with him. It got to be so much that his parents finally gave up. It was time to leave and start anew. They’d take their dignity with them and Shiloh would take his bag of debt. It was time to leave Florida and make a life in New Jersey. With careers put on the move and possessions relocated, the Sellers family was well on their way to rebuilding their perfect life in the little town of Longport.
Now a few months into their new home state, Shiloh is working on home studies to finish off his high school education. Despite his parents wishing for him to rebuild his own social calendar, the boy tries in vain to hide any and everything having to do with what he’s grown up in. He’s true to himself in that he follows what he believes, but always fears that someone will find something about him and shun him as quick as they would dare. It fuels his desire to keep quiet, but even more so his desperate need to fit in and find his niche in this world that his parents can’t see for themselves.
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