Modern Day Santa Claus

MDSC [14]

Chapter 14

His next words poured over her like a bucket of water. "Forget I said anything, alright."

But Jae was still pondering over the words, trying to make sense of it, trying to visualize what would happen if anybody knew of it. But instead of asking her questions out loud, she told him the words that he needed to hear, "Your secret's safe with me."

Sam wasn't really quiet when he was a kid. He was the opposite. He was loud and obnoxious. He used to say really mean things to other people. He liked to play with other kids, except he has his different version of playing. It was a little mix of physical bullying and verbal bullying altogether. Mean kids like him tend to flock to him until he formed his own little group of bullies, where he was the leader.

It was not until years did he only change. He wasn't the kindest child towards his mother. When he was a kid, he used to always insult her cooking, how it tasted so horrible and disgusting, and always asked if she was planning to poison them with her food. She used to laugh his insults away and assumed it was only because he didn't like the kind of food she made.

Three years after that, he did something he would regret for the rest of his life.

It was the day before a big test. That same day, he was supposed to pass a Solar System project that he worked on for weeks. Even if he was considered a bully, Sam was a smart kid. One of the smartest in his class. He took it to his advantage and was always rude to those who can't keep up with the lessons. He called them idiots and stupid when referring to them at school. Sometimes, he'd joke about them dropping out because their brain is too small to function properly.

Sam has friends, of course, he has. He's the smart kid in class. Someone was bound to be stupid enough to follow him everywhere. And there was this one guy who was foolishly loyal to him even if constantly insulted him. His name was Jerry. Sam almost always made fun of him in front of his other friends. But Jerry never left, no matter what he did.

And he lost him that same day.

His mother was supposed to deliver his project at 12 o'clock sharp. She wakes up later than him and she drives in her car, so Sam had entrusted her to bring his project in her car and transport it at noon. It was too big to fit in the bus and he was sure he'd bother other passengers.

At 12 noon, her mom managed to bring the project. But she made one mistake. She had left his project in the trunk of the car. And when she opened the trunk, the planets were knocked off its original place. Some of the sticks he used had broken in half. Panicking, her mom tried to think of something to stick them all together.

That's when Jerry passed by and decided to help her. He was carrying around this superglue in his pocket for the same reason that he just finished working on his project right now. When Jerry found out it was Sam's project, he was too eager and had somehow squeezed too much superglue. Two of the planets stuck together and it was already too late to try to pull them away.

His mother apologized to Jerry because she had to leave soon for a meeting. And Jerry told her he'll put them back together. Sam managed to see the scene where his mother left Jerry his project. Already in a bad mood, he stomped towards where Jerry set up his project. His mother had already left the parking lot.

"Oh, hey Sam. Your mother dropped this off. Unfortunately, it was—" Jerry didn't finish his sentence when Sam gripped the front of his shirt and yanked him off his seat.

He stared wide-eyed at his ruined project, the project where he spent weeks trying to perfect until he was satisfied enough. His Solar System was ruined. And he was filled with so much rage that his fist began to shake.