The Good Old Days: A Crystal Memories Story

Newborn

How should I start this? I've never written a memoir before, so this is all new to me. Should I just start it with a conversation with myself? Self-aware beginnings are effective, aren't they? Well, here goes...

My name is Rhys Thomas. I was born unto this world on the 7th of March in the year 1974. I was born in the Boston Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. It wasn't a particularly interesting year. Well, I don't remember much of it. I was only just born, of course. My home wasn't particularly fancy, but it wasn't bad either. I lived a pretty damn simple and quiet life, with my mother and my father. My mother was an elementary school teacher. A very kind and caring person, who tried her best to love as many people as she came across. She often donated to children's charities, most notably UNICEF and the St Jude's Children Hospital. I have tried to follow in her footsteps in my life, donating to similar charities. But she was more of a 'philanthropist' than me. I think that she's one of the greatest women that I've known, influencing most of who I am today. 

My father was also an influential person in my life. A courageous and brave soul. He was a firefighter in the Boston Fire Department, and a decorated one at that. He saved a lot of lives, and risked his life everyday. I wanted to be in a line of work where I could save people, just like he did. And that's what I became. An F.B.I Agent. But before I delve into that part of my life, I'm going to have to go back. Back to my years in education.

It was my first day at school, and I was totally alone. I had no friends. My mom sent me to a school different to the one she taught at, to save me from 'potential embarrassment'. Looking back, I think this was quite a smart decision on her part, but at the time, it caused a bit of torment. Cast out from all of the friend groups that were formed, I had no opportunity to develop social skills. When I was a small boy, I didn't realize why. I thought I was weird, or annoying, or anything else a normal kid would ostracize another kid for. But I was wrong. It was because of my skin color. I was prejudiced because of it. And I didn't have any friends. Until two weeks into my school life, when I met my best friends.

On that day, I was doing my usual routine. Which was sitting alone at lunch. I saw three kids glancing at me and whispering, which is a noticeable sign that they're trying to talk about me without my knowledge. They started walking over to me. I was confused. No one had ever walked over to me before, so I didn't know what to do. I just kept eating whilst internally panicking. They each pulled up a chair and sat with me. I had forgotten how to speak to kids my age at the point, so I struggled to bring out a quiet "Hi" from under my breath.

"Hello," one of them said, "my name is Felix." He introduced himself to me? Curious. I decided to look up at him. He had shaggy, dark blonde hair that covered his right eye. Periodically, I could see him blow his hair away to try and see out of his right eye. It made it easier to see that he had different colored eyes. Is it called heterochromia? I didn't know at the time. It's a word I only just learnt about a week ago, as of writing this. Anyway, Felix had, and still has, heterochromia. One eye green, and one eye blue.

"And I'm Charlie," a short girl piped up. I had never known a girl called Charlie at that point. I did eventually learn that it's gender neutral, "nice to meet you." This was new. It was never nice to meet me, mainly because no one had said it to me. She had black hair which was tied into pig tails. Her hazel eyes flickered with child innocence. She seemed like a genuinely nice person. Just like Felix, and the third person did too.

"My name is Florence. But you can call me Flo." Her smile was wide, and she spoke with a relatively cheerful tone. Wavy locks of blonde hair bounced with each word that left her mouth. But why were they hanging out with me?

"I'm Rhys." I eventually answered, "Are you here because the teacher told you to?"

"What? No we're not!" Felix replied, in a joking tone, "We thought you could use some friends."