Tommie

Chapter 2: Suffering

It’s been a week now and my dad has been drinking; a lot. He won’t stop. You know how I said he was an ‘amazing dad’? Think again. He is the worst dad you can come across now. For the past week I’ve had to be careful not to run into him. Because dad, he would start punching me or screaming at me; “It’s your entire fault Tommie!!” Even though it wasn’t., well, not what I know of anyways…

My alarm wakes me up, beeping the heck out of me. I press down on the button and sit up, rubbing my eyes. I needed to go back to the death hole for another day; school. Yesterday was okay because Rico wasn’t there. But I still got called names, bashed and my lunch money stolen off me.
I wish it can all stop.
I get dressed into my jeans and my plain blue top. I wear a nice coat my grandma gave me. It was one of those fancy black, button up ones. I grab everything I need for the day. Math textbook, English book and reading book, science book and last but not least, cooking book.

I hated to cook but every time I made something in cooking class, my teacher would taste it and give me an A+. I don’t know how I pass that class but I’m satisfied. I shove all the books into my bag and my door flies wide open. “What are you doing Tom?” My dad growled. I turn around as I swing my bag over my shoulder. I hated answering my dad. It always seemed like whenever he asked something and I answered it, it’s like he didn’t even want to hear it in the end. “I asked you a question.” My dad takes a step forward. I take a deep breath and slowly back up to my bedroom window.
I hated this place. I wanted to escape from this all. I hated how my dad treated me. I hated how everyone treated me. Is it all because I’m smart? Alone? Weak? If I was weak I would have left by now and I’m strong. I know I’ve tried so many times to committee suicide but; I’ve failed.

“Answer me you pathetic boy.” My dad throws his alcohol bottle at me, missing me by inches and smashing against the wall. I flinch at the smashing sound and jump out the window. I land with a loud thud sound and hear my dad screaming at me furiously to come back. I rub my leg as I start to feel it bruising.  Great. I thought. Something else for the bastards at school to point at.

I got up as I saw my dad running towards me from the back door. His facial expression would scare the living day lights out of anyone. I stumble to my feet and start running.

Thud.
Thud.

I hear my dad’s feet stomp on the ground like a herd of elephants charging towards me. My heart skips a beat as I jump onto the fence and start to climb for my life. “TOMMIE!” My dad roared and swings his slender hands at my feet. He missed by inches. I swing my feet over the top of the fence and jump down onto the other side. I look back to see my dad following me motions and gulp. Why does he want me so badly? I thought as I picked up my feet and started sprinting down the street. I heard my dad raging as I turn down a corner of a street I knew too well. I always run down this street to escape from bullies. I guess now from my dad too.

As I got further away I stop dead in my tracks as I see a girl standing by a bus stop. I’ve never seen anyone like her in my life. My eyes widen as I notice how beautiful she was. I shook my head. I have to focus on getting to school. I start walking again.

“Mum, please pick me up.” I heard the girl groaned into her phone. There was a long pause until she spoke again. “Yeah I’m bloody lost.” I can tell by her voice she sounded Irish. I walk slowly pass her.
“M-…Okay, whatever.” She hangs up on the phone and sighs. She turns around and our eyes meet. “What are you staring at?” She asked shyly. I gulped and took a step back and stopped walking. “I-I-“
The girl laughed. “No needs to be that shy. I thought boys round here were up themselves.” The girl looked at me. I was startled she was told that. Well, of course nearly all the boys but; me.

Her hair was as blonde as fair-hair with different shades of blue swirls in her hair that went perfectly together. Her eyes were a light hazel colour that matched everything about her. I could tell she wasn’t wearing make up like the girls around here do. She was all natural, apart from her hair. But, the word to define her was; beautiful.

“You right there checking me out?” The girl asked in what I thought was a cheeky tone. I snapped out of whatever I was in. “I-I- no I wasn’t. S-sorry…” I stuttered. I feel my cheeks burn and I look down at the ground. She just laughed. “No need to be sorry.” She sighed and sat down on a bench. I looked slowly back up at her. The grey hoodie and the black jeans suited her so well. She was just wearing old pair of worn out runners. She seemed not to care what she looked like.
“I umm..” I looked away from her and then down the street, to where I was heading in the first place. “I gotta get to school…” I started walking away from her. Really Tommie? I asked myself. Is that how you say goodbye to a girl? I groaned. I turned around to see that the girl was watching me the whole time. “What’s your name?” She asked me.

No one has ever asked my name. Ever. I gulped, trying to get my name out of my mouth. It was on the tip of my tongue. “My names-“ I hear laughter from down the street. I see Ty, Rico and some of their ‘girls’ walking towards me. I turn back to the girl. “I’m sorry, I have to leave now.” I hurried away and sped walked down the street. I hoped I didn’t disappoint her.

As I walked down the street I had a feeling in my gut that told me I should have blurted out my name before I ran off like a five year old. I could tell that the girl was watching me as I turned down another street that was a short cut to the school. One thing that I know of today; it’s going to be fun.

Note the sarcasm…