Never Gonna Be Alone

Chapter 2---Always The Same

Laten sat there watching the news, trying to drown out the pain he felt when his Father left the room.

He watched as a crime was being reported. That got his attention immediately. He paused the T.V and went to go find his backpack, knowing that his Law Enforcement teacher would ask about this. His teacher always did this. Every time there was some type of violence being reported, he would make some type of extra credit for them. This is why Laten always brought his composition book home with him. He loved watching the news. It was very entertaining...although he knew what to expect.

He got his composition book from his backpack and ran to the couch. He leaped over it, opened it and put in the date. He played it and started taking notes. 

The thing was, Laten have always wanted to work in the Law Enforcement. Maybe as a cop, a detective, who knows? He wanted to join the K-nine unit. He always loved working with dogs. But the thing was that Laten had started to get annoyed with watching the news. There was always some act of violence. Whether it was a shooting, a homicide, a suicide..there was always something going on. People say there is a lot of good in this world..Laten was sure of that...but he hardly ever saw good.

Ah, good. The victim's name....No suspect's name, suspect has not been caught....

'Typical they wouldn't catch him. They hardly do anything to help. I want to help.' Laten thought. He always saw violence...every single day. It always happened to him. Every time he went to school, there would always be those 4 or 5 kids that always found him no matter what he did to try and escape. Do the teachers know about it? Nope. They might know, but nothing has been done. It has been hard to try and get evidence. But Laten is still trying.

Finally Laten did the summery in his notebook. It's not that he needed the extra credit, but the finals were coming up, and if he did not do very well (though he does not think that's going to happen.), his grade would still be good. Laten always loved to have a back up plan, one of the reasons why he was considered the top in almost all of his classes.

He did have one weakness in a class that was World Geography. He was never really good at that class. Sometimes it just seemed too confusing to him. It was hard for him to read a map correctly. He had a tutor for that class, thank the heavens for that, but that was about the only thing that got up to a B.

Laten sighed as he looked at the time. 5:45. 15 more minutes. What could he do in 15 minutes? Not much, so he continued to watch news for the rest of the time, jogging down notes every once in a while. 

He got so carried away in fact, that he did not notice that his father was out of the shower, in uniform and already getting coffee. "Well, I hope you will have a good day in school. Get good grades, and be careful."

Laten nodded, then remembered that his dad could not see him in the kitchen. "Yep, you too. I always get good grades if you looked at my Progress Report, and Report Card every once in a while." He flinched at that last sentence. He didn't mean for that to come out.

Too late now. His father was now in front of the T.V blocking him from the news. His Father's voice was very stern. "Laten, I work over time just to make sure you get food. I work to keep a roof over your head, and clothes on your body. If you think I'm not doing enough, then go find a decent job and work! Quit being so ungrateful." Then before Laten could respond, his father was already walking out of the house.

Truth was, Laten had not heard an entire word that came out of his mouth. He learned to tune out his Father when he started saying things like that. He already knew it was true that it was his fault. He didn't need someone like him saying that to him. He already knew.

Laten tuned him out little by little at first. Now, he does it without even thinking about it. It's like his subconscious already knew what his Father was going to say right before he would say it. To Laten, it was like second nature to him,.