Stop The Cameras

Brighter Horizons

Pete wiped down the bar counter, his mind wandering as he worked. It had been a few weeks since his grandmother passed away, leaving him with a heavy heart and a sense of emptiness he couldn't shake.

His grandmother was the only living person who cared and loved Pete. And now she was gone too.

Since he was little the man felt little to no love from people around him. His parents weren't good people or adequate parents. When his mother first started drinking heavily Pete could still feel some of her care but when it all became too much he was nothing but a gum stuck in her hair. One she couldn't get rid of—only a nuisance.

The man Pete would refer to as a father was more honest at showing his hatred towards their offspring, as they called him. When he wasn't yelling and hitting him, the man would bring him to street fights, only to watch his child lose. Then he would get beaten up more when they got back home both by his mother and father.

He would always blame himself for not being better and for creating such a burden for his parents. It wasn't until he was in the third grade that he understood that it was not normal behavior of parents towards their children. When his classmates talked about how much they loved spending time with their families Pete knew that there was something wrong. Nang's mother would often take her to the park and they would enjoy picnics, and Ley's father and grandfather took him to arcades and auto shows. Only his parents beat Pete up. He found out about that the hard way.

One day during lunch while everyone had something packed from home, Pete would be sitting at his desk as usual doing leftover schoolwork ignoring the growling sound of his belly. The other kids would sometimes share some food with him and on the days when he won the fights his father would give him some money to get something to eat. But not that day. It was once again a day when he hoped that his mother would pass out when he got home so he could raid the small quantity of provisions they had in their fridge. Usually, it was fully stocked with beer and nothing more. But if he was lucky his mother got paid and didn't spend it all on the racing track.

His friend Angel called him over so he would join in their game of Jam Jee. Thinking it would be a good distraction from his hunger he offered them his iconic dimpled smile and joined them for a round or two. It was a simple game. They would sit in a circle show their hands and then count fingers during the song till the end when someone would have to move a finger since the song stopped on it. Pete didn't think that a single game of Jam Jee would cost him so much.

While they were playing the other children noticed the bruises on Pete's fingers and hands. Some of them happened during the fights but sometimes if his mother was angry enough she would take out an old, wooden meat tenderizer and demand for the boy to present his fingers so she could punish him for his bad behavior. He told as much to his friends who all looked at him like it was news to them. Angel said that if her parents wanted to punish her for something she did badly she got a week with no TV or no candy that day. Lem said that his parents only scolded him and even Yara was weirded out by what Pete explained to them because her parents never raised a hand at her or her older siblings.

After that kids didn't ask more about Pete's wounds and he didn't talk about them either. But when he got home that day he got the worst beating of his life. His teacher called his parents and even sent social services to their apartment. Pete's friends were apparently concerned for him and told their teacher, who then told the principal and the system.

But that only made things worse for the young boy. He was forced to stay with his parents because they somehow managed to trick social services and the school by saying that Pete loved to imagine things and that he was the one to hurt himself while playing. Which couldn't be true, since the boy only played when he was in school with his friends.