To love you | Malum

Ch. 1 - Watermelon + Friends

- Michael + Mini Introduction -

Hi! I'm Michael Gordon Clifford.

I'm seventeen, nearly eighteen, going onto my senior year (year 12) in the upcoming fall. It sounds exciting to some people, because it's the final chapter of my journey before I graduate and attend college.

But it's hard work, it's hell, it's a difficulty and a variety of emotions because I'm not like your average teenager. I spend most of my days strolling around in a wheelchair, and it's because I was a clumsy idiot sophomore year (year 10) and decided to jump off a thirty foot wall because I wanted to look cool. Turns out, I ended up breaking my tibia, and I've been stuck in this damn thing since then.

And due to not having the ability to walk, I've become a mockery. I've become a crippled boy that nobody wants to love, simply because of my restricted movements. And it's made my life an absolute, living hell.

- Chapter 1 - Watermelon + Friends -

I always wanted to be on the football (american football) team. My father, Daryl, spent twelve years of his life training me to become a professional player. He was always proud of me whenever I made my own personal touchdown by outrunning him, and my prizes were usually a nicely cut slice of watermelon, which just so happens to be one of my favorites. We'd spend hours on end training, and one day, he took me to an actual football field at the age of fourteen during closing hours and we trained there until around two in the morning. Of course, we had to jump the fence to get inside, and the security guards ended up catching us by the time we finished our session, but we were athletes. Running just wasn't a big deal, and we never ended up getting arrested because the security guards were too busy holding powdered donuts in their hands to care about the fact that we broke in.

At age fifteen, I started sophomore year. Daryl was proud of me for making it past freshman year, since he struggled during that time when he was around my age. He'd send me off with packed lunches every single day, since Karen was never around anymore. She's still my mother, and I love her to bits and pieces, but she just doesn't have time for the two of us anymore. And I completely understand, since she's off doing what she loves and has found somebody who could fit her standards better than my dad ever could.

Due to her leaving when I was eight, Daryl promised he'd try to give me the best life he could possibly give and that's why he spent so much of his time training me to be the best football player in the future, despite working morning and night shifts to cover our apartment bills. And because of the confidence and potential I had within me, I auditioned for the team once tryouts started mid-fall.

The coach was surprised at the amount of touchdowns I scored, and made the assumption that I could bring the team to state, or perhaps one of the biggest championships of the season. He put me on the team immediately, and after school ended that day, I rushed home to tell my father the news and he was proud of me. But there was always a catch about finally having something good happen to you, and mine just happened to be the fact that all of my teammates hated me. They couldn't stand the fact that I was a guy who dyed his hair whenever he felt the need to, that I was a guy who had the last name Clifford, because it apparently resembled that I was a child and never grew up, and they couldn't stand the fact that I smiled every single day, no matter how much they brought me down.

They envied me so much, that I grew to believe at one point, they actually liked me. It all happened one night in October when three of the players handed me an invitation to attend their celebratory party. I didn't have any friends at the time, and my father warned me that maybe it wasn't the best idea to go to an event with people I hardly knew, but I ignored him and ended up going that night. Turns out, it was the biggest mistake of my life.