Levi's P.O.V.
I slammed my bedroom door and sat down on my bed. I don't know what came over me to hit Bradley but I got so fed up with them always being mean to me for no reason. I don't usually bug them but they always aggravate me. I had enough of it and didn't know what else to do. I started crying a little bit because I was just overcome with emotion and was very upset.
I was upset that my mom left for no reason when I was eight, upset that my dad married someone else, upset he didn't ask me about any of it. He never asked me if I was okay with all of it. The only thing he ever asked me was if I liked the boys and Val the first time I met them. I obviously said yes not thinking he thought I would be okay with everything else after that.
I was upset and angry with how my life was. I know compared to other people, I have a pretty awesome life but it just feels so screwed up. I hate everything about my life.
I went from upset to angry again and punched the wall. I soon realized my mistake and looked down at my hand. My knuckles were starting to bleed and I went into my washroom. I washed off my hand and put a washcloth on it. I walked back over to my wall and realized I punched a hole in it. I looked in my closet for something to hide it and found a small Star Wars poster. I taped it up and sat back down on my bed. My hand stopped bleeding and I saw that only two knuckles we're scraped and I put bandaids on them. I was still crying and was laying on my bed when I heard somebody knock on my door.
"Lee, it's Rhett." He said. I didn't respond and he came into my room. I was facing the other way so he couldn't see me. He shut the door and I felt him sit on my bed.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine." I snivelled.
"No you're not. Now tell me what happened." He said.
"Ask the assholes. They'll tell you everything you need to know." I told him.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong." He replied.
I didn't say anything and he turned me to look at him. He saw the tears in my eyes and said "What's wrong?"
"Everything." I answered sitting up.
"Parker told me that him and Bradley were wrestling with you." He said.
"Yeah. Bradley forced me too. He wouldn't get off me when I asked and not only did he hurt me, but he let Parker hurt me. It doesn't make sense. One minute they're nice, the next they want to rip your face off. Sometimes I wish they'd go back to ignoring me like before. It felt so good to finally punch them and even though I know it didn't hurt them that much, I know they got a slight taste of their own medicine for once. I'm just so fed up with them." I told him.
"I'm sorry they made you do that and hurt you. They took it too far. They could have just messed with you a little bit but they legitimately hurt you. Parker could have broke your arm. They don't even realize they're hurting you that bad. They just think they're annoying you, not really hurting you. Trust me, your life would be worse if they ignored you like before. Parker still does ignore you sometimes and I've seen him do it. He's just upset about a lot of things. He never tells anybody but I can tell he is. He's not upset at you, though. He isn't upset at anybody. He just doesn't know how to deal with his emotions a lot and takes out his stress and anger on everyone else. When my dad left, I was nine and the twins were ten. It was really hard for everyone and out of the three of us, it hit Parker the hardest. We don't know why he left. He never said anything at all. We just came home from school one day and he wasn't there." Rhett told me.
"I know how he feels. I'm upset and angry too. But I bottle it up because it's the easiest way for me to deal with it. I just ignore my feelings and then the bottle eventually overflows and I explode like I did downstairs. I was eight when my mom left. She didn't leave a note or anything. I didn't understand why she left at first but now I finally know. She was fighting with my dad and left. She went to her Parent's house in Saskatchewan and lived with them for awhile. She left there house after a year and only told them she moved to Alberta. Nobody has seen her since." I said.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that. It was probably really hard." Rhett replied.
"It's fine. I'm sorry you had to go through that too." I said.
"Thanks." He replied.
We stayed silent for a minute or two and I looked down at my shoes.
"I'm sorry." Was all Rhett said.
"For what?" I asked.
"For letting them ignore you and going along with their plan. It was very immature of me. I'm sorry they hurt you. I'm sorry I let them hurt you." He answered.
"Rhett, it's not your fault. It's okay. They would have done it anyway." I said.
"No it's not okay. If they're upset they shouldn't take it out on you. You never did anything to them. You're just as upset as they are. It's not like you asked your dad to move here. You didn't ask for any of this. Nobody did. Now everybody is sad, upset or angry and feels terrible." He told me.
"Rhett, you didn't ask for any of this either. You didn't ask for Val to get married. And you definitely didn't ask for me. A wise man named Randy Pausch once said "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." So let's just try to make the best out of this situation and not worry about what has happened in the past. So let's just forget about what you did or didn't do in the past. And once Parker and Bradley are able to handle this like adults, I'll do the same with the, if they want to. But until then, I'm going to stoop to their level ignore them like they ignored me." I said.
"Thank you, Lee. I'm sorry that people treat you like you're fragile or broken. I've seen them walk on eggshells around you. I should have told them they don't have to. My Grandparents did it and so did my mom. Your dad has done it sometimes too. I even did it once or twice without realizing it. I'm sorry if you felt like that. When Tanner beat you up and bullied you, Parker and Bradley treated you like you could break at any moment. I wasn't there the first time so I couldn't do anything about it then. But I should have done it last Thursday. I know you're tough enough to take a lot of shit but I don't know how much you can take. Neither do the twins. They're used to picking on me and when you came all they thought was that you were a new target. They shouldn't have thought that though. And I shouldn't have let them." He replied.
"Rhett, it's fine. I'm okay. It's okay to be broken. The most beautiful things in life are broken. I'll tell you the truth. Everybody is a little broken inside. Everybody has their demons. Whether you defeat them or they defeat you is sometimes not your decision." I told him.
"You're right. But I promise I'll do my best to try and fix any problem you ever have." He said.
"Thank you. I appreciate it." I replied.
We sat in silence again and I asked him "You said you would fix anything right?"
"Yeah. Why?" He answered.
I got up and took the small poster off my wall.
"Do you know how to fix drywall?" I asked.
He looked at me with concerned eyes and I said "I'm fine. I just cut a few of my knuckles."
He grabbed my hand and looked at it.
"I promise you, I will fix your wall. I can get my grandpa to do it. He won't ask any questions about it. He comes over and patches holes in the wall all the time. But are you okay?" He said.
"I'm fine. I promise." I replied.
He hugged me and I hugged him back.
We pulled away and I put the poster on my wall.
"What time is your game tomorrow?" I asked.
"Seven o'clock. Why?" He answered.
"Just wondering." I replied.
"Well I'll leave you alone, now I guess. I have to go finish looking at my playbook." He told me.
"Okay. Thank you for calming me down Rhett." I said.
"No problem, bud." He replied leaving my room.
I sat back on my bed and fell asleep.
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