Friend Request (One Shot)

Adam carefully twisted the knob after he connected the key to its hole so he can enter the noiseless house. The depth of silence that settled in the house was undisputed that he could clearly hear his light footsteps as he made his way up to his room. 

As always he was greeted by a note plastered on his room’s door that read that his parents would not make it for dinner. The short teenager snatched the note which to him was a cliché. At that point, it was embedded profoundly in his mind that even if his parents would forget or would not bother to leave a note anymore, he would know that he would have to make his dinner and make his way to bed without company.

His room was neat. Stacks of books were found on his table. He also had pictures of animals posted on his wall. He liked them. If he could be an animal he would surely choose to become a bird. He thought that birds were the luckiest creatures because of their ability to fly that gives them freedom and the power to stay overhead. 

He went to the bathroom to face his weakness. His weakness was not a fear of something, but it was a fear of someone. He feared seeing his image being reflected by the mirror. His face looked really gentle; but it hid an irony. Behind the meekness, calmness and peacefulness were struggles and cry for help that nobody seemed to see and understand.

He gulped several times, he hated seeing himself. He slowly unbuttoned his crumpled uniform and his vulnerable torso appeared.  Bruises and fiery red marks seemed to find paradise as they occupied every space all over his torso. They took time to fade. But what never faded was the feeling of misery and helplessness that were slowly claiming his insides like roots of trees. Tears escaped from his eyes and he let them stream down his face. Sometimes, he wished to be numb. At least in that way, he thought that he would not have to feel everything or anything.

After some time of examining his torso, he took one last glance of it before stepping out of the bathroom. He buttoned his uniform back. He sat on his bed, running his hand on one of his wrist. He got on his feet and went to his table. He turned on his laptop and logged in to Facebok; the social network that promised socialization should be easy. He thought and considered that it might be true. He could use any help.

His account had been activated for awhile but it had not made any progress at all. He had no friends. It was not like he did not do anything either, he tried sending friend requests but it ended up with him being insulted and rejected. Everyone at school seemed to think he is a loser and dodged him as if like he’s deadly. Nobody dared talk to him or getting close to him atleast. Not only they felt that he should be avoided, they made him feel that he deserved to be avoided.

He sighed and closed his laptop. He grabbed his book bag and fished a clean sheet of paper out of it. He wrote something on it, and when he was done, he posted it on the room’s door. The same spot where his parents would post their notes as well. He grabbed something under his bed and slipped it inside a bag. He walked out of his room and trudged downstairs. He exited the house. He started walking away from it. He knew where he was going. He knew what he was going to do.

His feet took him to the secluded part of the town park. His paces were slow; it looked like he was just up for a stroll. He halted and breathed in the fresh air. He admired the surroundings and he was glad and grateful that nobody was around to see him. But all of a sudden, his slight happiness was grabbed out of his hand immediately as he felt something hit his back. 

Then he heard heavy foot steps behind him, approaching him rapidly. He remained still, knowing that running away was useless. He had an idea who could it be. Not long after, the heavy foot-steps came to a stop. He knew that the person was right behind him. He could smell the sweaty scent coming from the person. He thought that the person must have just come from practice.