The Mystery of P: A World in Peril[On Hold]

Chapter 5

It's been a week since we came to help Otto, and now we have Courage, Strength, Hope, and all positive emotions. Otto has gotten better, but he still fights strong against all of our help. Trust, my brother, he …he seems quite sad to see Otto in such poor condition. It saddens all of us. Otto has avoided Alex and Brad like the plague since the party. Jeremy has told him he is being stupid, but Otto really believes that Alex hates him. It's terrible. As Honesty I would know the truth. It sometimes sucks to know what is true and what isn’t. The past week we have witnessed the abuse of his father towards him. It is always when his mother is out of the house and the sister is away. It pains all of us to see the way Otto looks at his mother, pleading her with his eyes to stay.

            I am actually impressed with Otto. I know that sounds bad, but truly Otto is very strong, it's just that his fears and the lies he's been told are very strong and they are extremely hard to break down. We have gotten him to trust Steph fully, which is a huge improvement, but if someone just says "Hi" or "What's up?" to him, he questions why they would even bother talking to him. It is sad that he thinks that they all look down upon him. But he now has Steph, and she has been helping him get over some of it, but he sometimes reverts back to his old ways.

*                                                    *                                                          *

            I woke up and groggily got out of bed. I went to the bathroom and did my morning routine, and went into the kitchen apprehensively. Mom, sister, and Dad were at the kitchen table. I walked in, and flinched when dad passed me my bowl. I shook it off and proceeded to eat. It was quite, like always. I downed my cereal and grabbed my bag and left the house as quickly as I could. I didn’t want to be around dad. I waited outside for the school bus and when it arrived my sister just made it on. We weren’t close, so we didn’t talk much. I mean, dad loved her, and hated me. I think she was a bit afraid that if she tried to be nice to me, dad would hate her too. When we got to school I went to my locker, trying to blend in with the other kids.

            I got to my locker and shoved my books in my locker quickly, and was about to leave when Brad saw me. I was instantly hit be fear. I knew he was searching for me every day, and now he saw me. I couldn’t run now, no matter how much I wanted to. Brad walked right up to me with a smirk on his face and punched me. I stumbled back but didn’t fall. I suddenly felt like maybe I could take him…I don't know why, but I suddenly felt like I was strong enough to defend myself. He threw another punch I ducked and punched him in the stomach. He buckled over, "You're going to regret that punk!" Brad coughed. I didn’t feel threatened.

            He threw more punches, some hit, and some missed. But I didn’t back down, that was important. In the end I was the one on the ground hurt, but I had the courage to stand up, and believe that I shouldn’t be hit. It's a weird thought, I know, but I believed in myself. Jeremy was walking down the hall when he saw me on the ground and started to run to me through the crowd that had formed.

"Back away! Get out of my way!" Jeremy shouted as he made his way to me.

            I got up and I could feel the bruises that were going to form, but I was happy that Brad wasn’t as strong as my dad. I started to walk and felt the pain and winced. Jeremy grabbed my shoulder and looked me over making sure I was okay.

"I'm fine." I mumbled looking around seeing pain in their eyes, I think.

"Hey are you okay?" Steph said making her way through the students.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just stupid Brad." I said half smiling.

"Look at you! You aren’t fine." She said pulling out a tissue and pressing it to my mouth to wipe away the blood. I instantly tensed, not used to someone touching or caring for me.