The Useless Boy Who Lived In The Basement.

I made this book a long time ago, and I thought it was pretty well done, but rushed, and I guess kinda cringe.

Chrysanthos: Origin: Greek, Meaning: golden flower

TW: Gore, Abuse, Drugs, Self-Harm, House Fire, Past Trauma, Thoughts of Suicide, Attempted Suicide, Overdose, Shooting, Could make people feel like uneasy maybe? I can't explain it.

"Get out of my house, Mark!" Mark, or my dad, held me close to his chest. "You will not hurt my son." My mother laughed. "It was only a little punishment, that's all." My father stood up, looking over at me. "Go pack some stuff, bubba." I ran off to my room. I was only around 4 at the time, but I remember this day better than all. I can still hear the distant yelling in the back of my head when I think of this day, they were yelling at one another as my dad packed. When we left, I was happy for about 3 weeks with my dad, that didn't last long, though. I was awoken by a loud bang in the house, I quickly sat up. We were staying at my Grandma's house, she loved me and my dad. My dad came bursting into my room, coughing as smoke arose in my room, so did I. He carried me outside before he went back in. He looked down at me, hugging me. "Chrysanthos, never give up hope, never stop doing what you feel is right, okay? I love you Bubba. I'll be right back, okay?" He ran back in, I burst out in sobs, my Grandma was still coughing, she didn't wake up when the doctors and fire-fighers arrived, I was the only one left, my dad went in to try to save my older cousin, his name was Riche, I never liked him, he always bit me, witch was fair because I did it back, neirther of them made it out alive.

I was back where I started, my moms house, when I got there, she acted like she do anything for me until, when she shut the door, she dragged me around the house yelling in my ear before showing me where I would stay, the basement, and if she was feeling "kind" she let me sleep somewhere warmer on the cold nights, but it was rare, and I slept on the floor. "You little brat! Didn't I tell you to clean the floors today!?" In fact, she did not. She always found a way to get me in trouble; she gaslit me all the time. "Yes, ma'am." I knew to just go with it now. "This is why I always have to get mad at you." That was also not true; she always was mad. "You always do dumb s**t like this! You're so ungrateful! You can thank your w***e of a father for that." I look up at her with my eyes, I couldn't feel anything but rage. This was the first and last time I ever hit my mom. I lunged at her, punching her repeatedly. As soon as I stopped, she grabbed my arm and pinned it to the floor. She didn't seem fazed at all by it at all. "You think you are just going to get away with that? You will learn." After that, she threw me to the wall and smashed my head on the floor until I passed out.

My life was s**t. I wanted to give up, I thought if I were dead, that world would be better off, it's not like anyone would care anyway, I had no friends, no real family who cared about me. I did something to them, I'll never figure out what I did, so maybe if I die, I'll learn. Over the years I grew up, I had so many nights were I was left on the cold basement floor, left to rot. Until I got tired of it. I tried to kill myself, I remember it very well. It was late June, I was just cleaning up around the house, when I passed my mother's room, and I saw a ripped photo of my dad. I remember being so upset at myself, I don't know why I was upset at myself; I just was. I remember not being able to take it anymore, I took my mother's pills from her room, I counted them, it was enough to kill myself with. I remember taking them, one by one, I felt myself getting dizzy, and the last thing I knew, I was in a bed, not just any bed, a hospital bed. "S**t." I saw Mother standing there. When she saw me awake, she approached me and grabbed my hair, jerking my head up. "Now why the f**k would you do that!" I remember asking myself, why it didn't work and where it went wrong. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She threw my head back when she heard someone walking down the hallway. She quickly coughed up tears and opened the door. "Oh my goodness, my son is awake!" A few doctors rushed in, one shined a light in my eyes, which hurt. I wasn't very used to bright light like that, since I lived in my basement and Mother never paid our bills, the lights were off most of the time, I only saw light from out the closed windows, I didn't go to school, the last time I saw another person was about 11 years ago when that officer brought me to the house after Father died. After the doctor pulled away, she looked over at another doctor, babbling. "Let's get this boy some vitamin D in him, please." The doctor nodded, walking off. "You need to get him outside more. He looks very pale and weak." My mother nodded slightly, acting very worried; she sure is selling it on thick. "I have told him that, but you teens these days are always in there rooms." She laughed like it was nothing. "Yeah." The doctor looked back at me, then back at her. "I must do a little check-up on your son, so if you don't mind, I must ask you to wait in the waiting room." She smiled, truning around to walk out. Before she left, she looked back and gave me her warning look. "So, Chrysanthos, what happened?" I tensed up, and my breath was caught in my throat. "N-Nothing. I didn't mean to take them, I just ya know, took them..?" I spoke quietly, I was so scared I might overshare and get in trouble by mother. "Chrysanthos... She isn't here."

"Chrysanthos... She isn't here."

She isn't here... Thats so easy to say, but not easy to believe. She is always there, always watching me. She always knows. "I know." I down at my hands down. I wish I really did know. "May I..?" She said softly, looking at my shirt. I pulled it up slightly, it showed black and blue marks all over. "Now, how'd you get those? I saw them while my team and I were talking. I can't force anything on you, if you say it's nothing, then it's nothing, but I wanna let you know you're safe." I froze slightly, I wanted to give in. I wanted to start over. But I know I couldn't; that was never an answer for me. "I skateboard." She nodded slightly, backing off.

Back home, I had finally walked into the house, I knew what was about to happen. She slammed the door shut and pulled my hair to the kitchen. She turned on the stove and made me put my hand on it. I screamed out in pain, trying to pull away. "You little s**t! You think you can just do that and get away with it! This is what being dead feels like, where you're going, that is!" She held my hand down tighter as the stove turned red once again. It hurt, it hurt like hell. I couldn't think right now, bearly breathe. She finally pulled away and threw me to the floor, she pulled out a knife... "Wh...Don't! I'm sorry! Please!" She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Awww, is the baby boy begging for my forgiveness, thats cute." All I could do was sob, I couldn't see right. She put it down and pulled me by the hair to the basement. She slammed the door behind her and locked it. I lay there, too scared to move.

The next morning, I still lay there, my body hurt, I had to drag myself upstairs. I quickly started cooking up some food for Mother, otherwise she would be mad. I am so hungry, but I ate yesterday, and I'm not allowed to eat for another whole week. I set the food across the table and put a beer by her chair. When I heard her loud footsteps walking down the stairs, I started to do the dishes faster out of nerves. As soon as she walked into the kitchen, she slammed her hand on the table and sat down. "What is this s**t." She said, picking up her fork. "J-Just some eggs... Thats all we h-have right now.." I tried not to trip over my words too much. I hear a shatter and turn around to see that see slammed the plate on the floor. "Learn to cook! You and your father both, so ungrateful! You're so lucky you have a mother who is kind enough to teach you everything you need to know in life!" I grabbed the broom and started sweeping it up so no one would step on the broken glass. "I'm going to the bar to hang out with some friends. You better clean this house up before I get back." I nodded a bit while throwing away the trash. It's only 8 in the morning and she's already going to out drinking?

I had cleaned up the house all day, basically until I heard a knock at the door. I go over to it and look out the tiny hole in the door, I see this strange man standing there. "Hello? May I help you, sir?" He smiles kindly. "Yes, I am here with social services! Is your Mother home?" I shook my head. "No, sir, she's at work." He nodded slightly, taking a look at my dirty appearance. "Aren't you meant to be at school?" I quickly came up with a lie. "I felt ill this morning, I feel fine now, though." He smiled once again. "Mind if I come in?" I nodded. "Yes, in fact, I do mind. My mother said to never let in anyone In that I don't know without her here." That was a lie, I just tell myself that so I don't let this man in to see all the broken tables and stuff lying around the house. "She is very smart to say that. I'll come back later to talk to your mother." I shut the door as soon as the guy walked off. I sigh, I think I may have just doged a bullet, if Mother finds out that man was here today and I talked to him, I'm in some deep s**t. Later that day, Mother had finally come home, and she seemed pretty upset... "This house isn't cleaned." I froze. I cleaned it and I tried my hardest to clean it, but nothing will ever be good enough for her. "I'm sorry." She slapped me in the back of the head. "Sorry isn't good enough, you lazy b***h!" She threw me to the floor and started kicking me repeatedly, I lay there, I couldn't move, no tears came out of my eyes, blood running down my face. Then, a loud knock came at the door, and red and blue lights flashed into the windows. She dragged me up by the ear and pushed me down the stairs, locking the door. I couldn't make a sound. My whole body felt numb, there wasn't any pain in my body anymore. I was so used to this by now. But then, the door opened, light hit my face, causing me to close my eyes tightly.

All I heard was rushing footsteps coming down the stairs, flashlights in my face as my head was lifted and put into someone's lap. "Chrysanthos, my beautiful boy, my flower, you're safe now... You gotta open your eyes, I can't save you if your eyes are closed." I couldn't see anything, I didn't know who this person was, but I couldn't get my hopes up. I opened my eyes, I saw my father sitting next to me, his eyes were gold, his wings were tucked behind his back. He smiled lightly down at me, kissing my forehead and disappearing. I heard a faint voice as my eyes fluttered open and shut. "Chrysanthos, can you hear me?" A light shined in my eyes once again. I sat up slightly, the man pushed me back down gently. "There you are." There was a smile in the man's voice. He looked over to a screen hanging on the wall, where was I...? I looked around a bit, I think I may be in a hospital, I can't really tell. My burned hand had been cleaned up and wrapped nicely, my face no longer had blood on it, and my bruises didn't hurt as badly as they did. "You've been asleep for 4 days already, we didn't know if you would make it." The guy said, not looking up from his chart, I'm guessing he's a doctor. "Your case worker is going to be here any second now." He added before he left the room. Case worker..? What happened? How did she get caught? She's going to be so mad at me... I can't say anything. There was a knock at the door not to long after, it opened to show the man who came over the other day, he was a tall man, he looked kinda scary, but didn't look like he hurt anyone. "Hello Chrysanthos.. My name is Theodore Miller, I'm going to be your case worker." I look up at him slightly. He was smiling and had a clipboard in his hand. "I was going to go back over to your house because you had no school records or anything, but, then when I got there, your mom was being arrested for robbery, they didn't know you were even in there, so, when I pulled in I asked if you were alright, and they had no clue who I was talking about, that made me worry, so I quickly ran in and we all started looking for you, when we found you, you were at the bottom of the steps with blood coming from out of your head, bursies all over and nearly dead. You've been through hell kid. You're as delicate as a flower, but as strong as a rock at the same time, you're like a puzzle kid." I stare at him for a few more seconds before looking away. They had already seen everything they needed to, and more. "So, Chrysanthos, let's try this again. What's happening?" I shifted uncomfbley, my hands started shaking... She knows, she sees everything.. She will find out. He smiles lightly, putting a hand on my own. "It's alright, take your time." I sat there, not sure what to say, scared for my life. "She.. I fell down the stairs... She tried to help, but then the door had a knock on it.. It's my fault." He sat down in a chair next to me. "Chrysanthos... It's alright. She can't see you here, she can't get you here, she can't even touch you." I look over at him, looking for any kind of tickery, but I don't see any. "I didn't clean the house the way she wanted me to.." I paused, looking away from him. "I do a lot, she doesn't like. So she just, you know, does what normal people do." He tilts his head to the side slightly. "And what's that?" I force myself to look into his eyes. "Punish me." I shrugged slightly. "How?" I freeze. How..? I don't think he really wants to know... "Um... She uh, she you know, pushes me down the stairs sometimes... She hits me, beats me, all that good stuff.." He nods while writing stuff down. I look down at his notepad,he's going to tell her. She always knows, always. I can't ever get away from her. She's going to be so mad! His hand went up to my face, causing me to flinch. He wiped tears from my eyes that I didn't even know had fallen. "Hey, it's alright..." I pull his hand away from my face, wiping my eyes. "I'm sorry!- Don't tell her, please! I won't do it again!" I say my voice is barely audible through all my sobs. "Now, where'd you get an idea like that?" He backed away from me, giving me space. I pointed to his notepad, he handed it to me, backing away once more. "I wouldn't do that, alright? You're safe right now, she can't get you, not here... You can have it if you want, and you can look through it." I took a look at the notes he had written. I kept the notepad close to me.

He talked to me about how we would go on and what my Mother would be held for until court. The more I think of it, the more it feels unreal to me. I didn't wanna start over, I wanna go back home, back to my mom. But is that a bad thing to feel? Was she really all that bad? I mean, I did give her reasons to get mad at me... Didn't I? I can't remember anymore. But that's okay, I don't care anymore. I was in Mr. Miller's car, he was driving me to a foster home that offered to take me in. I heard they had no children, but really wished for one of their own.

As we pulled up to this huge house, I mean it looked huge, I wouldn't know, I lived in an old house.- Mr. Miller opened the door for me, letting me out of the car. "Hello there, Mr. Miller!" This man, who looked about 30- 35ish, said cheerfully. Then, 2 dogs came running out of the house, barking at me and Mr. Miller. I jumped slightly as the dog jumped up, licking my face. This woman, who who about the same age as the man, grabbed the dog off of me. "Zeus! Get off of him, you silly puppy." Her blonde hair was tied up, but it was pretty long. She wore this shirt that was pink, pretty plain, and she wore some jeans. The man hair was pretty short, it was brown and wavy, he wore a random band shirt, I haven't heard of and some jeans. "Hello, you must be Chrysanthos! I'm Calliope!" Calliope, sounds so Greek. My dad was Greek, and I was born on a small island called Ithaca, until we moved because of my mother, she lived here in Texas. "And I'm Henry." I look over at Mr. Miller, who had put his hands on my shoulder. "Thank you Henry and Calliope, I know you will be good to this kid. I'll be back soon to check in on you, Chrysanthos." He smiled down at me before heading back to his car.

"Chrysanthos, I'll show you to your new room. Henry is kinda busy working out here, so it'll just be you and me." As we walked inside, the 2 dogs followed. "So, Chrysanthos, where are you from?" I looked up. "Huh?" She smiles. "What part of Greece do you come from? Your name, it's Greek, right?" I nod. "Ithaca," I mutter out. She smiles. "Wow, Ithaca! I've been there before, I'm from Ikaria." I don't look up at her, I heard about Ikaria from my Father; his very own Mother lived there, before coming down to live with us. She showed me around the house, I learned the two dogs' names, Zeus and Ares, and they have a cat, he's really cute, his name is Hermes, they named them all after Greek gods, which I liked, it wasn't hard to forget their names.

I was sitting in "my" room, Hermes laid at the end of the bed, he was very chill and didn't do much but sleep. I liked him. It was a nice little room, it wasn't too brightly coloured and I liked that, it had a small desk and chair, it had a bed, and a bookshelf that held books of all kinds. I was drawing in this notebook I found on the desk. I heard a soft knock at the door. "Chrysanthos, can I come in?" I look up from my drawing and get up to open the door. "Sorry, I wasn't around much today. I had to go do some yard work. Calliope asked me to come talk about some things to you. I know you know what rules are, and what chores are. We have tons to do around this house, and I just wanted to talk about them. Now, in this house, we don't hit, kick, or any kind of violent behaviour. We also listen to one another before acting. Chores are not to hard, just don't make a mess, and don't worry kiddo, you don't have to help with yard work." He laughed lightly. Kiddo. My dad used to call me that, along with all his other little names he called me. He opened the door once again about to exit. "Oh, and before I forget, Calliope said you didn't look to comfortable around her, and we wanna let you know, that's okay. If you don't feel safe around her or me, you can always lock your door, alright?" I nodded. After he had left, I laid down, Hermes came right up next to me, struggling close, into my side.

The next few weeks came and went, my caseworker is setting me up for a school, I didn't really wanna go, but I guess I had to. Calliope isn't that bad, I guess. She hasn't hit me, that's a plus; she's very kind. Hermes and I get along well, Zeus jumps on me every time I see him, and Ares just sits there whinning for pets. I didn't ever make a mess, I felt like it was rude, and I learned I like drawing, that's new. I hang out in "my" room a lot, they don't seem to mind. It's that or I clean up a clean house, that's all I seem to know how to do. I am trying to read one of the books Calliope said I might like, but the words always seem to move when I open the book.

It was the day... The day I would see her again. The day I have been waiting for.

I sat on the other side of the room, from her... I felt her eyes on me, I kept my head down, not daring to look up at her, my therapist said this would be a normal feeling to have and I would talk to him about this after the case, since it was Saturday, this shouldn't run into my session anyway.

"Ms. Malis, you have been accused of child endangerment and theft. How do you plead?" Her lawyer stepped up. "Not guilty for child endangerment, your honour, but guilty for theft." The judge sat there going through papers. My eyes were wide as I sat there, my leg shaking slightly. What did they mean by not guilty... She's going to get me again.. She knows.. She always knows. She always finds her way back to me.. I felt a hand go on my leg, grounding me. I looked up to see Mr. Miller, who gave me a slight nod before looking back up. "Your honour, I have witnesses and files for you to look at and hear, showing you that this young man right here was in fact endangered by Ms. Malis." The judge went through all the files, Mr. Miller gave him. We also heard some people go up and speak, people I didn't know, but did? They were my neighbours, well, they used to be. Until my mother finally got her chance to get up there and speak her heart out.

"I never hurt that kid, he's overreacting like he always does." My lawyer stepped up. "Then why was he on the floor, almost DEAD I should say, at the bottom of the stairs." She rolled her eyes, sitting back. "He wasn't almost dead. And if he was, he did that to himself. I don't know what I did for him to hate me so much." I sat there, not being able to move. I wanted to leave, wanted to yell at her. "How about he tells you, son, what did I do to you!? Why are you like this?" Son.... I'm no son of hers. I open my mouth to talk but Mr. Miller stops me. "Your honour, I'm sure you told this woman she can't talk to him." He nods slightly, turning to her. "He's right." She shuts up. She answered all their questions, she didn't answer them well until one... One wasn't expecting. "So that fire you mentioned, how'd it start?" Mr. Miller added casually. "I started it duh, It was-" She stopped herself. I stood up, tears in my eyes. "You killed my father...!" I shook slightly. I stepped forward, about to go to her until I was being held back by Mr. Miller. "You b***h! You made my life hell! I am glad I killed him! I am glad you almost died! I am upset you didn't die, though!" She yelled back at me. Mr. Miller smiled. "Got ya." I froze... She confessed that had to have been a confession... The jury talked for the longest of time or that's what it felt like, before a lady stood up. "We find the defendant guilty of all charges." I let out a breath I didn't know I held.

She was gone and I wouldn't have to see her again. I was finally free from it... Free from it all.

I used to have nothing, I used to be alone, I used to not have any friends, I used to not have a loving parent, I used to only have one parent. Not anymore.

Henry and Calliope took me in, as their own. They accepted me as me, it took a while for me to understand I was there to stay, but I love my family. I said goodbye to my old life, and I moved into my new one. I haven't seen my mother since that trial, I don't think I will ever see her again, but that's okay, I didn't want to, I have a new mom now. My father will never change, I love him and miss him everyday. Henry is my other dad, I love them both the same. Calliope started to help me read, it's not as hard as it was before.

I guess I'm not longer the useless boy who lived in the basement huh?

© 2025 SkyLight_Jayden

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Reviews

Alice Mayes

agh this was such a good story (I remember it from Hermit) and ITS SO AMAZING DAWG
really sad but it had me hooked for hours
LOVE IT

and we love Chrysanthos