Spoon Boy

The Wheels On The Bus To Hell Go Round And Round

I knew deep down in my heart I was.

The weeks in the hospital were uneventful, Aiden would visit when she could and tell me about the base that we would be at together. In my third week at the hospital, I was able to start physical therapy for my legs. In my fourth week I was able to walk without aid, the fifth week I received a tan uniform like Aidens. After six weeks confined to the white building of boredom, I was let go only to be sent to Fort Etheridge Military Base that resides in the countryside of Etheridge City.

I would be disappointed to say that in those six weeks not one family member besides Aiden visited me or even texted me, but I had come to terms with my disownment by the second week. No, what really disappointed me was the fact that the rebel group hadn't come to try to get me out. But I guess they realized how weak I would be on the field with a spoon. During one of Aiden's visits she brought me an sunglasses case, she told me I could hold my spoon in it so it wouldn't get lost. So that's where it sat, in the glasses case put in the bottom of a military duffle bag underneath my uniform which was neatly folded the way it came. It's not like I cared for the rusty old spoon, I just couldn't stand to look at it.

In a hospital, you have a lot of time to think. My thoughts eventually concluded that this whole thing was beyond stupid. We were sixteen-year-olds for Christ's sake, in my studies of pre-uprising times, sixteen-year-olds were learning how to drive cars and getting jobs. They weren't expected to fit in a box of money and class, they were free to be who they were. Most of all they weren't expected to be trained as soldiers should another war or uprising start again, surely combat and training would stunt our brains development in some way shape or form. But if science has shown it then the government didn't listen, I call treason for putting citizens in harm's way.

The day I got discharged it was rainy, really it matched my mood. I held my duffel bag to my chest as I got loaded up on a bus with multiple sixteen-year-olds who were in the hospital. It was a lie to say that people were oblivious of the teens who decided death was better than the military, of course, no one cared and they were loaded up anyway. Of course, there were many reasons for teens to be in the hospital, being trampled in large crowds when weapons were received is another problem. The feelings fear and sadness was suffocating me as more and more people got on the bus, teens crying while some shook with fear. The last person to get on the yellow school/military bus was a young man, I had seen him before. He wore a baggy red t-shirt that had 'Boss' in white coloring encased in a white square. Along with that, he wore skinny jeans with holes from wear. On his feet were simple white tennis shoes that had been freshly cleaned. He sat down next to me and then he looked at me, our eyes met and recognition bloomed in his forest green eyes.

"Hey, aren't you that spoon boy everyone is talking about?" he questioned

I buried my face in my hands with embarrassment "Of all the things I could be known for, people choose that."

He laughed "Hey it's okay I'm not judging."

At this moment I realized his voice was slightly familiar, all in all, he was a familiar figure.

"What's your name?" I asked

"I'm Easton Day, It's nice to meet you, Jake Davies." to my surprise he knew my name

"How..." was all I could say

"Did I know your name? Like I said, everyone is talking about you. Don't worry I'm not gonna laugh at you or anything, I've been on the receiving end of that kind of treatment all my life up until recently."

And then it clicked, Easton Day was that scruffy looking teen from the poor who got middle class. He looked nicer than at the ceremony, but that makes sense seeing how when you get a class higher than what you were born into the government gives you money to raise you up to that status. Upon closer inspection, his hair was less scruffy than it was curly, he was more skinny than he was tall, and dark bags plagued his eyes.