Umbrella

Chapter 2 "Speak up"

Kevin sat down on the small chair next to a tall lanky woman with rimmed glasses. She had a kind expression but grim altogether.

     "So, Kevin." she smiled. "Anything new you would like to share? Could you perhaps speak up to me?"

     He looked at his therapist. Every word on his mind set to tell her but when he opened his mouth no word came out. The words were stuck in his throat, as if he knew that if he spoke no one will care.

     Shaking his head, Kevin hands a palm to the side of his face. He felt like a broken music box. You can turn the mechanisms in it, but no sound would come out. It had been a year and a half since that incident but Kevin still couldn't speak out a word.

     It was sophomore year in highschool. The bullying started scarce but later became intolerable. Every punch, kick and slap was so vivid.

     Coming back to school felt like a living torture. Every new bruise and wound he'd gotten made his parents question them. Everytime they did, new lies and excuses came out.

     "I've joined after school clubs!" he told them one day. "It's self-defense lessons."

     His parents couldn't say anything nor did they question it much after hearing his excuses. Anything that happened under the school roof was trusted by them.

     It got worse during mid year. Kevin couldn't bear the pain anymore and went up to a teacher. Hearing the name of the students, the teacher didn't comply and gaslighted him. The more he found the others, the more they did the same.

     His anxiety went high. The students that bullied him had a powerful family that supported the school. Helpless, he trudged out of school for the next beating.

     The final weeks of highschool tore him up. Edging down after school alone, he felt anxiety creeping over. Without a word, he was viciously pushed into an alleyway outside the school.

     Three boys stood in his face, sneering down at him. Unlike him, they were well trimmed. Proper even. The first boy suddenly laughs, swinging a baseball in his hands.

     'Ah...' he winced. 'I guess they got something new to beat me up with.'

     "You know," the second boy yawned. "I hate looking at your face, Kevin. You don't show anything fun when we beat you up. So why not we do it until you crack?"

     The third boy hissed. "Very unlikely that'll happen. At least he's a good toy to beat up for fun."

     "Shut up." The first one said, swinging the baseball bat. "I got another scolding from my parents. Don't think this one ever got one, eh?"

     He pushes Kevin down on his knees, baseball bat ready.

     Three agonizing hours passed. Kevin lay still on the ground soaked in his own blood. His back was badly bruised and the side of his face was bleeding. It was a good thing his parents were out away for the week.

     Staggering, he left and quietly walked back home.

     'How many times had this happened?' he asked himself. Sometimes he could feel himself going insane over it. How was he still standing? How is he enduring it all?

     Kevin looked at his face in the bathroom mirror, dimly lit. The side of it was still caked in blood. For the first time, he started trembling.

     He got to school the next day covered with his hoodie and mask. His hands shook violently under the pockets of his trousers. Without looking his way he bumped into his three bullies.

     Throat stuck, he backed away from them. Surely not in the school hallway?

     "Sorry," he mumbled.

     The next few minutes went as a blur. He was pounced at by one of them and was choked on the ground. People gathered around the two, but no one helped.

     Strangled, Kevin could feel his breath getting more ragged. His breathing creased until blood came out.

     "I hate your voice," he hissed, hands still choking him.

     The crowd around them began to yell out for help until the seniors came to take them away from each other.

     Without remorse or regret, his bully faced him down with a smile.

     Kevin laid in the hospital bed for weeks. His voice box was damaged from the strangle. He felt the bandages around his neck.

     The boy who choked him was expelled. His parents had taken him out of school. Life was going downhill.

     Kevin dreaded that moment where his parents had looked at him, lying in the hospital bed. It wasn't long until he suffered from traumatic injuries around his body.

     A few months from then, he went through several therapy sessions after being diagnosed with PTSD. There were uncontrollable outbreaks of his response. Everything concluding to letting his fears controlling him during a flashback.

     That had been almost two years ago, but his parents kept it a secret and altered stories whenever they told people of his "condition".

     Kevin held his neck, still seated in the small chair. The doctors told him he could still speak, but the sound of his voice would change.

     Was he afraid of how he'd hear his broken voice? A remnant of something that's been broken and a reminder. Kevin closed his eyes. It was painful to try and speak.

* * *

Kevin sat outside his house. 'It's raining again' he smiled.

     From the far end of the neighborhood, he could see Rin sitting outside her house as well.

     His chest tugged. Maybe she also likes the rain as much as he did? 'It would explain why she'd go out in a thunderstorm,' he smirked at the thought.

     Rin took out a blanket and covered herself in it while watching the rain. The sound of raindrops in between as a soothing effect.

     Kevin went inside and took out a camera. Something his dad had given him a few months ago.

     He pointed the camera at Rin's direction and took a picture. A beautiful portrait of a girl sitting outside on a rainy day.

     As the rain began to pound harder, he went back in his house. Unaware of Rin watching him.

     "Instead of taking a picture of me why won't you speak up." she huffed under the blanket.

-Chapter 2 end-