Silent Hearts

Chapter 4.

.
.
.

  In Summer of 2022, my family and I had planned a vacation to Miami. It was summertime, both me and my family were in mood for a good vacation.

  It was the best vacation I could've asked for. We had hell lot of fun.

   My family was the kind of family that would provide their children with every materialistic thing they could ask for, but not love. On the outside, we were the perfect family. Everyone thought I had the best parents because my shoes were never torn, my clothes were always pressed. And don't get me wrong, they are the best parents when it comes to being resourceful enough to fulfill their daughter's wishes.
But they didn't fill my heart with love.

   I remember seeing other kids hug their parents at the school gate when they were being dropped off or picked up, i remember other kids joking round with their parents.

   Whenever Maverick was in trouble for picking up a fight at school or something, his dad used to always get called to the Principal's office. Once both of them were out of the office, his dad used to sit him down at the canteen and ask him the reason for the fight. Mav was the kind of guy who bottled up all his emotions and out on the 'class clown' role to hide his emotions, our classmates weren't unmindful of that fact. It's often such type of students who tend to lose their cool when someone's trying to criticize them.

   I think it's because, people like us, who bottle up their emotions and put on a fake smile for the world are trying so hard to forget their real pains. Thus, when some mean bugs try to criticize us or try to highlight our weaknesses, we don't hold back. It's like, the isn't appreciating all the efforts we're putting in to hide the pains. As if, it's mocking at our weakness and inability to stay happy, mentally as well as emotionally.

   So, Mav's fights were, in a way valid. He was also the type of guy that used to realize his mistake after a good one hour after the fight. It's just that, at the heat of the moment, his emotions mess his ability to think properly.
His father was aware of this. He was aware of how much effort he was putting in the matters of academics and still trying to smile off all the criticism he got. His dad used to give him a long hug and say the same sentence every time he was called to the school, "Mav, I'm proud of you. Please don't pressurize yourself. You're enough". That was enough for Mav to calm down and apologize to everyone Mav may have hurt.

   Looking at such relationships between my friends and their families always made me envious.

   My parents weren't aware of my friendship with Anna, Hannah and Vivienne. My mother never really like any of them and hence, she never let me hang out with them. Maybe that was the major reason for the friendship to falter away. It was always Anna, Hannah and Vivienne hanging out, not me with them. They eventually got to know my parents didn't like them, and they started to hate me for that.

   Despite all the scolding I used to receive from my parents, I used to go against their words to hang out with them. Maybe I shouldn't have. Because, after all the efforts j put in for them, after all the times I got hit by my mother and father for hanging out with them, they still had the audacity to bad mouth about my relationship with my parents. This was the major reason why I became distant to them.

   I loved Anna, Hannah and Vivienne from the bottom of my heart. They were my first real friends at school. And the friendship breakup, all three of them leaving me at once, was too much to take in. I was going through the toughest stages of my life. I used to cry nights together, i shut myself from everybody at school.

   This was in 9th grade, same time at which, Kayden and I were also not on speaking terms. So, it was real hard for me to just wake up each day. I sued to dread the thought of going to school.