The Boy Who Couldn't Catch A Break

Introduction (this is me commiting)

At first, I wasn't going to make an introduction because I didn't think I needed one.

Then I wrote the first chapter and realized: maybe I do need one. Or it would just seem like Dillon's life had always been as crappy as it seemed.

In no way did Dillon Romano's life start out that bad. I've already faced the fact that this nonfiction novel is going to be dramatic and almost unrealistic if not already so. His life was... well it was bad.

But it wasn't always that way. Which brings us back to the introducing part of the introduction.

There's one thing Dillon only trusted me and my best friend with.

Before he was born, his parents fought about what to name him. His mother wanted to name him Dillon, while his dad wanted to name him Collin, after his father.

You know which name won.

He absolutely hated people calling him 'Dillon,' so he only trusted us two with the name.

When he was born, his parents absolutely adored him. Everything they did was for their little baby boy. He was a quiet baby and a mute until he turned six.

When Dillon was just a toddler, his parents decided they wanted another child. So they had Anna.

Dillon loved her more than anything. As soon as his dad placed little baby Anna in his arms, he vowed he would never let anybody hurt her.

As soon as Anna was able to walk, they did everything together. She was Dillon's little tag-along.

That's an important thing to remember throughout his story.

It wasn't until she started drinking that his relationship with his mom plummeted. She was meaner, she teased him more for being mute. He and Anna avoided her most days.

It was when she started doing drugs and bringing other men to the house that their dad purposely tried to keep them out and doing things away from home.

Their dad often took them to the park. It was there that Anna lost her ability to see. She fell from a high height and hit her head.

Dillon was beside himself with guilt.

He blamed himself for most everything that went wrong in his life.

School was difficult. He was bullied because of how small he was and he could never get above a C in his classes. He dreaded every day he'd have to go.

His dad was the best at comforting and making him and Anna smile. Every night, he would read to them in a corner he filled with pillows and blankets. He would sometimes take them on a drive in his old Mercedes-Benz.

Dillon loved it. That's where he developed his love for cars. He would help his dad do work on it whether it was just maintenance or a real problem fix. It was also these days that his dad would blast Pink Floyd and AC/DC on the speakers he kept in the garage. That's where his love for classic music came in.

A lot of his taste stemmed from his father's. Movies, music, cars, etc.

His dad was his best friend.

That fact makes this all the more depressing.