On the way home, I said" I have one last surprise for you at home but youll have to close your eyes when we get inside". He nodded excitedly and said"okay".When we arrived home,I lead him into his room and said" open your eyes".When he did,he immediately began screaming and jumping around and I said "it's all yours" and he said cool...I even have my own tv a-and I have my own bed!! And my own clothes!!.The room was bright red with a racecar bed, a toy ,chest, and the big flat screen I had in there for my office as well as a brown dresser and a red nightstand next to the bed and a closet. After he explored his room, he came into the living room and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and said "thanks I love it" and I smiled and said you're welcome.
The next day I took Marco off to school for his first day back school and I could tell he was nervous. After I dropped him off. I went to run a few errands before coming back to check on him and when I looked through the door, I saw Marco sitting alone and Suddenly I began to slip back into my memories.
[FLASHBACK] I sat up in my chair in Ms. Fick's class and as usual, Byron and Dante were making faces at making punching gestures toward me but this time they kept saying "wait until recess". Byron and Dante were of a few cool kids who loved instigating and picking on people and I happened to be their favorite for two reasons; I had a lazy eye and I had a bladder problem. As I looked at the calendar it read November 16, 2009. It was 3rd grade, one of the worst years in school because I peed myself multiple times because of my bladder problem and it earned me the name "pee boy" from Byron and Dante who later convinced half the class to call me it.
Later that day at recess I was on edge looking around for them to strike until I thought they'd forgotten but Jose, a guy who didn't really get involved in stuff looked at me and said: "they're coming for you". We were on the jungle gym and I had a good view of them closing in so I slid down the pole started dodging them as I darted for the teacher and luckily I managed to outrun Dante and Byron which was surprising since they were the fastest in class.
The rest of 3rd grade consisted of Byron and the other popular kids picking on me, calling me cross-eyed and pee boy" but sometimes they would let up and pick on the class tattletale, Daniella, but I and Dante ended up becoming cool after I found out Byron had lied on me to him.[end flashback]
I snapped out of my flashback when the teacher came to the door and said "Ahh you must be Mr. Neighbors; Marco's father" and I said "yes ma'am " and I asked for her name and she said "oh sorry I'm Ms. Edmond" and I said "nice to meet you and I apologize for interrupting your class, I just wanted to see how Marco was adjusting and she smiled and said" ahh yes I've heard he's been through a lot ". I said yes ma'am he has and she said "I understand, I'll let you talk to him" and I said "no, thank you I don't wanna embarrass him, but thank you, Ms. Edmond, I feel more at ease at meeting you". She said "my pleasure" as I walked back to the lobby, exited and got in my car. As I looked at my old school building, I began to drift off again.
[Flashback] I was at lunch, arguing with Dennisha over gibberish as usual. The calendar read January 16th, 2012 and after Dennisha and her friends destroyed me with yo mama jokes, our teacher, Mr. Everette Trask, came to get us. When we got back into class, I sat alone because I had no friends, literally the whole class hated me because I'd call them names and talk about their mommas and stuff. Every since 3rd grade on up to 5th, I've felt alone because I was different and the other kids ridiculed me for it, so I lashed out at the others for it over the years, to the point where no friends. Some classmates like Janay, Dennisha, Ramiro, and Alex would talk to me occasionally, but kick me to the curb as if I didn't exist when one of their friends came over.
I dreaded group work because It reminded me of how alone I was; there were often times when the teacher forced me to join a group but I would just sit there and not talk because no one cared what I had to say and I didn't care what they had to say either. I learned to do everything myself because of my distrust towards the other kids and the teacher would often call home. but the truth was that I didn't mean to annoy the other kids but at times my ADHD got me in trouble and other times I just had sheer fun taking anger out on others. The rest of the day I would work alone, and then just stand there on the jungle gym at recess and watch others play and pretend that I was the safety monitor so I felt like I was important and each day was the same until I graduated. While everyone was getting girlfriends and boyfriends, I had no one. [end flashback]
Reliving those memories were enough to trigger my anxiety and part of me almost got out of the car and was ready to pull Marco out of class, but before I could, my boss called me into work for a few hours. She needed help sorting out the new workers so off to work I went. I almost wrecked twice on the way to work...I was very nervous. when I parked I took a few minutes to calm myself before going inside. I was now shaking at this point, my heart was palpitating and all I could feel was anger as I thought to myself about how unfair I was treated. I feared that Marco would suffer a similar fate and that's the last thing I wanted for him.
YOU ARE READING
The survivor
AdventureAndrew is a broken man who struggles with his traumatic past and moving on from it.But one night he comes across a runaway orphan, who reminds him of himself and he adopts the boy hoping to shield him from what he went through but it ends up making...
