1992

chapter five

graham

months were passing by real quick and it was finally our last week of school.
that meant winter break was about to come and christmas and new years were close.

i had no idea on what i was gonna do.
i mean, it wasn't like i was planning on doing something, even though i wished i had some plans.
i just knew that i was probably gonna spend the time with my parents.

it was gonna be the same old shit: my mom would prepare the same dinner, grape-smoked turkey with some pasta.
and for dessert, frost lemon pie.
i didn't complain about it though, it was delicious.
i just wished my mom would make something different at least for once.
i had recommended her other type of recipes before, but she would always come up with the excuse by saying that the ingredients were hard to find and way too expensive.

~

it was monday and i arrived school earlier than i usually did. last night i barely had some sleep and i didn't know why.
i was rolling in the bed over and over until i finally could fall asleep.

my mom had noticed my eyebags when i woke up and asked me if i had enough sleep.
i said no, but she didn't bother to ask me why and i also didn't bother to tell her why.

it's not that she didn't care about me or something. it's just that we didn't really have that stable mother-son relationship.
same thing with my dad.

i rarely would get the chance to talk to them, because they also didn't have a lot of time for me since they were very occupied with their jobs. actually really good jobs.
so that's why i didn't bother to tell them about my problems or the issues i sometimes i had with them.

i wouldn't say they don't love me, because i do think they do, and of course, i love them back.
i appreciated what they had done for me for the past seventeen years.

i just wished they'd take me more seriously and had more time for me.

~

since i had arrived earlier to school and there weren't a lot of people yet, i decided to give myself a little tour and walk down the hallway that leads to the school pool for those who had lessons in the afternoons after school.

i wasn't sure if i already had visited here before, but i had one thing for sure.
i never learned how to properly swim and the feeling of me being on a pool scared me.
however, i never bothered to learn either.

when i was younger, i had a traumatic experience that almost costed me my life and to this day, it still frightened me just thinking about it.

i am distracted by my own deep thoughts that i didn't notice someone entering the same room as me.

but not only was one person who had entered the room, there were two other who had entered as well.

oh no i thought to myself.

it was macquoid and his group of idiots.

'hey poof, glad to see you again.' he said, with that stupid fake smile he always carried on his nauseous face.

i need to get out of here as fast as i can or i'll be dead today.

when i attemped to run, his two friends stopped me, grabbed me by both arms and had lifted me in the air a little bit so i couldn't be able to foot the floor.

i began to squirm and twist, desperately seeking a way out of the tight hold the two idiots had on each arm. i knew this wasn't gonna end well.

macquoid and his friends started to laugh at my stupid attempt on trying to get rid of them. i felt embarassed.

'are you expecting for your lover to show up and save you from this? possibly, not today.
he probably doesn't even have a clue you're here.'

they began dragging me to the pool, making my heart pound faster and faster and my body fight harder.
i was getting short of breath and soon i started to have a panic attack.

'hey weirdo, quit moving would you?'

then, i felt them shoving me into the pool.
i felt my arms flailing as they released me.
my back making contact with the water and me beginning to struggle to mantain myself on the surface of the big and deep pool.

it basically felt like that time when i was in 5th grade, and these boys who used to call themselves my friends, had the brilliant idea to throw me to a pool to prove if it was true that i could dive into the water without breathing for a minute.

of course, i had lied and i began to struggle for like 5 eternal minutes, until someone rescued me.

i had to be hospitalized since i had fallen into a comma due to my lungs being full of water and me losing conciousness right after being rescued.

the things i did just to impress other people.

i suddenly started to feel how the oxygen wasn't reaching my brain and i felt like passing out.

'WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO?!' i hear someone screaming.

was that damon?

'LOOK WHAT YOU JUST HAVE DONE. HE CAN'T FUCKING SWIM!'

yeah, that was definitely him.

that's the last thing i heard before seeing all black.
my eyes slowly closing.
i think i finally had just passed out.

~

i wake up and my vision is all blurred out.

the last thing i remembered is me waking up in a the nurse room bed and damon taking me to his house.

after blinking too many times, i slowly start to regain my sight and see things clearly.
i find myself in a bed and i'm wearing clothes that he had given me before taking a shower.

my chest was hurting a bit and i still had struggle to breathe.

i turn to the other side of the bed and i look at the alarm clock. it's 9:27am.
i get up with a bit of struggle and sit on the edge of the bed.

then i see someone entering the room. it was damon.

'hey.' he sighed. he looked worried.

he crouched down in front of where i was, he let his hand fall, plopping it to his knee and the other arm resting with his elbow on top of the other knee, his fist against his jaw.

i didn't wanna look at him anymore and just kept my head down, but i could feel him scanning my face. i could see the concern in his look.

there was a large silence between us.
we didn't know what to say or do.

what had just happened was humiliating. i
i deserved to be called a namby-pamby.

i felt like crying.

'you okay coxon?' he asked with a soft and quiet voice.

that's when i couldn't hold it anymore.
the combination of damon's warm face and the concern in his voice were enough to make me start sobbing.

'hey, c'mere.' damon said as he pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me.
i cried into the crook of his neck. his hair was wet, i couldn't tell if he had taken a shower or if he had saved me from my near death experience.

it was probably both.

the gentleness of his actions made me feel safe. no one ever really touched me like that before.

he kept me like that for a couple of minutes until i calmed down. he looked at me in the eyes and gave me a smirk.

'you wanna eat something? you must be starving.'
i nodded.

i then started to realize that there were some questions that needed to be answered. did my parents know about it?

i was kinda hoping they wouldn't find out.

they were gonna go wild if they ever found out about this.
i knew they'd sue the guys who had shoved me into the water, they'd demand the teachers, the principal, the whole school... and i really didn't want that to happen.