I Will Be

Chapter Two - This Is Now

August 23rd, 2012

Drew, now 14 years of age , has not left the house since his father had abandoned him. He's not even touched a thing of his father's since his leaving. Living alone, you'd think a caring neighbor or a passing stranger would notice the little boy living in a house alone, taking care of himself and well being of the house, cleaning and cooking. Wrong. Those happy-go-lucky neighbors that you see in movies? The one's who wave at you every time you leave the house? Or remember your birthday enough to say 'Happy Birthday!'? Well, Drew's area was the total opposite. In fact, his neighbors had no idea a soul actually lived in that house.

The windows were starting to tint with an antique haze, and the wood and paint that encased the house's construction was rotting away by the second. Even from the obvious need of repair and dangerous hazards, Drew never dared to leave. No matter how much he thought of it, simply to leave all the bad memories and lies inside the structure, he's grown up in it. he certainly didn't have the money to buy himself a new house, that's proved. He thought of it more as being held captive. But instead of a crazed serial killer, or hostage. He was held inside by himself. Torturing himself out of his mind til his own breaking point.

Drew awoke the time he usually did. But since he'd only had the education of a third grader, since he'd home schooled himself on his own time using his father's textbooks, he'd not learned to tell time yet. He thought of it as 'the time the little hand was on the 8 and the big hand was on the 12'. He got out of bed, which was slowly growing out of his size, and stretched out uncomfortably. Standing up, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and spread his windows open.

"Good morning, fucked up world." He mumbled to himself. Considering the neighborhood he's lived in. Cursing was now a major part of his vocabulary. Walking downstairs, he poured himself a bowl of cereal, which was all he could afford from his dad's bank account. But with what was left, he would only have so much left to hold him up. Sitting on the bar counter of his kitchen, he ate in silence.Alone. Normally, he would think of the mornings his family would have. Happy mornings. The mornings he once dreaded were now the mornings he wished would happen. Finishing his breakfast, he got up and walked to the door, pulling over a jacket and shoes, only in his basketball shorts and white tank. Good enough, he thought to himself, walking out the front door.

-Drew-

I locked my front door and pulled by hood over my head. The cold morning air hit me as soon as I turned around. Shoving my hands in the pockets of my jacket, I bit my lip, walking down the grey streets. I was going over to Chris' house. He's been my best friend since I could remember, and yesterday he said he'd be taking me somewhere. A school? I think that's what it was called again. I know I've been to one once, but every memory of that is a bit of a dream to me, everything then was hazy. 

A saw Chris wave over at me from his front porch. Smiling, I jogged over, hugging him.

"Hey Drew!" Chris was always the kind of kid that always had a stupid grin on his face, even if it was the worst day on Earth. Like, that idiot in those zombie movies that manages to stay alive by doing the stupidest fucking things.

"Hey, man. So, where were you gonna take me, again?"

"I know you haven't been to one in a long time, but it;s called Fords Saint Junior High. It's a middle school ,which is the place you should be right now, school wise, I mean. Like, 6th grade, in other words."

"Their's higher grades?" I asked, truly shocked. I mean, I knew that the grade level things went higher, but 6?!?! How many grades were there?

"How many grades are their? Like, 7? 8?"

"There's 12."

Wow...I must be dumb. Seriously? 12 grades? I just taught myself how to divide stuff and now there's more? Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to get back into a classroom. How bad could junior hugh be, right? I mean, back in elementary school, everything was great. I mean, besides my entire family leaving me, but school was pretty damn good.