Be Gay Do Crime

The Polemicist

                                                       POV: Alder

          I walked through the halls at school, constantly hearing homophobic slurs being thrown at me. It made me want to go up to them and give them a piece of my mind. No matter how much I always wanted to, I knew it wouldn't change their opinions. No amount of persuasion could get through their childlike hardheadedness. That's the only reason I never even bothered talking to them. However, that changed one day after debate club.

        People have always depended on me. They brought me their problems, I gave them advice, and everyone walked away happy. Even if I didn't have the ability to give them advice on the subject, I always gave them someone that would listen to them. I couldn't ever allow anyone to see the anger that's constantly beneath the surface of my bubbly personality. 

     My school had a really weird schedule. Most schools in most places across America ended in early June, but ours always ended around the last week of June. Granted, we started in September instead of August, but it was still annoying to have to explain it to people. So, it was a week before the last week school. The debate club always saved the most controversial topics of the year for the end of school, that way we never hated each other by the time we came back from summer vacation. We always had a couple months to let the anger simmer down.

   The last topic was different for me though. Our president had recently been trying to pass laws that enabled adoption centers to turn down same sex couples from adopting. To take away their right from completing their family. I'm passionate about a lot of things, but this one hit home for me as a non-cishet individual. The last bell of the day had just rung, so I grabbed my stuff from my locker as quickly as possible and ran to the debate club classroom. 

    I always liked getting there as soon as I could so I could help Mrs. Robinson set up the chairs. Our school's always been low budget on anything but athletics, so we never got anything special. I set down my stuff in the corner of the classroom and walked over to start pushing desks and chairs out of the way. That's when I saw the essential question Mrs. Robinson was writing on the chalkboard in the front of the room. "Should same-sex couples be allowed to adopt?" 

      That's when Ryker walks in. The best way I can describe him is the jock of the geek world, even though he might as well just have gone ahead and associate with the 'cool kids'. He was one of the main ones who yell out homophobic slurs in the hallway. Not to mention he was racist and misogynistic as well. No amount of arguing with him would have changed his mind on anything. I can only imagine how horrible his parents are.

    He gets in and immediately sits on the side designated for those who don't support adoption. It's not like I ever expected him to be an open minded kind person. It would have been nice if he was though, not gonna lie.

     As soon as the others were in there he automatically looked at me and called me a dyke. He had to wait for the others so that the teacher didn't hear. I got so angry that my cheeks turned red. I get so fed up with close-minded bastards like him. I calmed myself down before anyone could see. 

    Soon enough, the debate is over, and Mrs. Robinson congratulates both sides of the argument. She's always careful as to not let her opinion on matters show. Ryker walked up to me while I was pushing the desks back into place and told me to meet him outside of the building when I was done being a suck-up. I considered going through the back doors and walking around, but I was tired of letting Ryker think that I was anything other than strong. 

     What most people don't know about me is that I've also had some weight training. I'm pretty strong for someone my size, and no one expects it. Especially with the amount of loose clothing that I wear. I finished pushing all the chairs and desks back into place and picked up my pen and notepad. It's something I always carry around with me, taking notes on debates or even just doodling here and there. 

    After I grabbed all of my things, I let my parents know debate was done and I'd be on my way home in a few minutes. Yeah, I didn't even end up getting in my car. I walked around to the front of the building and saw Ryker with a few of his 'buddies'. Everyone knew that he just used people, he honestly didn't even really have friends. I still had my pen and notepad in hand.

    I tried to walk past him nonchalantly at first, but he didn't let me do that. Instead, he grabbed the back of my sweater and literally dragged me towards him. Anger and adrenaline course through me as I turn around and look up at him. He looked at me and merely said 'why are people like you such transtrenders?'. 

    The pen becomes the only thing in my hand at that moment. I dropped everything else that I was holding and swiftly stab Ryker's eye out with the end of the small ballpoint pen. In a matter of moments, the unassuming writing tool became nothing other than a deadly weapon. He fell to the ground, clutching his eye. He screamed out in pain just as Mrs. Robinson walks through the door. She looked at him before looking at my face, and then at my blood splattered yellow sweater. She erupts into a screaming fit and starts scrambling for her phone to call the cops.

     I thought about running, but that would only make the situation worse. I stood there mulling over what I had just done when I realized that Ryker wasn't breathing anymore. I went over and checked his pulse. Gone. Then two police officers showed up and arrested me.

     I was sitting in a jail cell in our local police department building when somewhere a TV started making this really weird screeching sound. I thought it was odd but it was a jail so weird stuff may happen quite a lot. That's when time started seemingly slowing down. It was like everything suddenly had a slight slow-mo filter put over it.

    Things got really different when two big people walked in wearing full black suits, something akin to what a S.W.A.T. team would wear. They burnt through the cell bars with some sort of laser and turned to look at me. They simply asked if I was Alder Reyes, and I replied yes. 

    They got on either side of me, made sure I didn't have anything in my pockets, and took me out into a large black armored van. They basically tossed me in the back and we drove off. It was hours before I saw the light of day again. 

     They opened the door, blindfolded me, and walked me into a building. It was stifling hot. That leads to where I am now. In some random room, still in the blood splattered yellow sweater. They told me I'd get more information once the last one arrived, but I have no idea when that'll be. For now I'm pacing the room, wondering why I had to be so stupid as to stab a man in the eye and how in the world did that end with me being busted out of a jail cell.