Demoralized

INTRODUCTION

Gustavo Rodriguez was a prime example of an honerable human being. Nothing that made him stand out from the rest of the population, at least nothing in paper or records. He was a 28 year old 5'8" Mexican-American living a simple hard working life. He was charismatic and would always let his presence be known. He was always polite to the population he was able to interact with, but often lacked in controlling his temper whenever his buttons were pushed. However, many would've simply described him as a very humble and naive person and his flaws or slips would go unnoticed. Gustavo sadly, had a monster inside of him he'd fought for years. A monster that accidently made its way out again.

  

CHAPTER 1

As a child Gustavo was very outgoing, he gained street awareness due to his single mother spending all her day at both her jobs. He was never allowed to leave the house considering he was only 10, but always made sure to never be seen if he did even though his neighbors would spy on him to catch him in the act and call his mother. Gustavo had a best friend who he loved to play with whenever he escaped, this boy's name was Enrique Costa aging at 11 years old.
   Enrique had the life Gustavo dreamt of. A life full of love and a family that seemed inseparable. Enrique's mom was a teacher and his father was a police officer. They were one lovely christian family and treated Gustavo as any other child without discriminating his appearance. They always invited Gustavo to eat with them and even took him to church if the opportunity presented itself. They always insisted in meeting Gustavo's parents, but he knew that was not possible because his mom was not even aware of what was going on. He would always postpone their meeting and the Costa family simply gave up realizing Gustavo was not interested in that ever happening. They simply decided to respect the imaginary line Gustavo drew for them.
   One day Gustavo was caught when his mother left work early due to her getting in an altercation with her boss. Gustavo got home after a full play day with his bestfriend not knowing what was waiting for him at home. Upon Gustavo's arrival, he reached for the rusty door knob and tried twisting it as he always did, but was stopped halfway. He simply grasped the knob, looked down, and squinted his eyes realizing what was going on.
   His mother quickly stormed to the front door where Gustavo was still looking down. She pulled him inside by grabbing his hair, closed the door right behind them and started beating him with her closed fists as she held onto his sweaty hair. Gustavo tried to contain his cry in order to show no signs of weakness, but that only made the fustrated mother hit him even harder as she took out her anger out on him. Gustavo finally cried, not loudly...he simply wimped, he never questioned his mother's actions, he just did not understand why the consequences were taken to those extremes. The mother left the poor boy in the ground, as she left she told him that if he ever disrespected her again it be worse.
   The boy got into the shower as he pondered with great anger, he started tearing up, and eventually started sobbing falling to his knees as the warm water hit his body. He eventually gained enough strength to get back up promising himself he'd never let this happen again. He always slept with his mother in their one bedroom apartment, but for obvious reasons he decided to sleep on the floor this one night.
    The next morning Gustavo like any other day woke up and thought about visiting his friend first thing in the morning, he waited more than usual because he actually thought of possible consequences this time. He convinced himself to finally go because he needed the distraction more than ever. He arrived at the Costa residence, but they were gone. This made Gustavo sad and angry because he would've probably been able to catch them if he had arrived sooner. Gustavo's next encounter would change his life forever.
    Gustavo noticed Enrique's puppies had dug a small hole under the closed fence and were wandering just outside the gated home. His first instinct was to try to grab them all simultaneously which caused him to accidently step on one of the puppies. The puppy cried, and Gustavo loudly apologized as he placed the first couple of pups inside the gate. The pup understandingly became afraid of Gustavo and once he got a hold of him, it squealed in terror thinking Gustavo intended on hurting him. Gustavo cynically loved this. He proceeded to squeezing the pups belly just enough to where the pup understood that it was in danger which caused it to make another cry. Once again, Gustavo smiled. He loved the idea of power, the idea that of being in control of the pup's emotions. Gustavo wanted more of the rush, the reaction he was getting from the pup as he kept squeezing was less with the animal normalizing the action. Gustavo questioned the risk reward factor of his next action for a split second and raised the puppy above his head just to finish smashing the helpless animal to the floor. The puppy cried very loudly and ran away terrorized of the monster he had just encountered. Gustavo smiled in fulfillment not realizing everything he had just done was just witnessed by the vehicle pulling up as the pup hit the floor, it was the Costa family.
    They all looked at Gustavo in disbelief. Everybody, the mother, the father, and his bestfriend were in shock. Gustavo simply accepted his mistake and killed his smile turning it into a face of guilt. Enrique looked down sadly at his feet inside the vehicle knowing what had to be done next. His father got off the vehicle and told Gustavo, "You do know we all just saw that, right???" To which Gustavo replied saying, " ye-es, yes sir" in a very humbled manner as he gulped saliva down his throat in fear of what was about to happen next. Finally, Enrique's father said, "I don't ever want to see you near my house again, you hear me?" "I understand" Gustavo replied repenting for what he had just done "LEAVE, NOW!" Mr. Costa exclaimed. Gustavo knew there was no way of justifying his actions, he simply followed the disturbed man's orders. He looked up one last time before walking away hoping to get one last glimpse of Enrique's face, but Enrique never picked up his head remaining traumatized by what he has just seen his bestfriend do.