A Life Remembered
A loud slap resonated through the small living room, ending the yelling and fighting. A tall, graying man stood with his hand still in the air, his palm stinging from the punishment he had just dealt. His shoulders were rising and falling rapidly, his heart beating fast from the anger and excitement of the past few moments. Standing across from the man was a teenager who had celebrated his fifteenth birthday earlier that day. The boy’s composure was the exact opposite of his step-father; he was calm and composed. He showed no outward emotion at all. The only clues that gave away his true feelings were the angry, red imprint of a hand on his face and a cold, black fury burning deep in his eyes. His entire body seemed to change, as if his rage flowed outwards in waves that distorted his image.
“What? Nothing to say now, boy?” The older man sneered, a grin creeping onto his face. “No more sarcasm or witty remarks to make yourself feel strong?” The boy was silent for a moment as if pondering his step-father’s words, then turned and began climbing the stairs to his room.
“Don’t you turn your back on me you damn disrespectful coward! There will be hell to pay for this you ungrateful little bastard! You’ll see!” The boy, yet again, gave no reaction and locked himself in his room.
A flood of memories from the past three months washed over Matthias as he slumped onto his bed. The funeral of his real father… His mother’s look of disgust as she learned her son had cancer… His first seizure… The lies to his friends, acting like nothing was wrong… And now a slap for his fifteenth birthday. Rage flowed through Matthias, clouding his mind. He idly punched a nearby balloon, a silent remnant of the day’s festivities. Deciding to distract himself from his thoughts, Matt picked up his phone and began texting his many friends. As he became more and more immersed into his conversations, the sea of rage flowing through him slowly ebbed away. His mind was filled with friends instead of family. He had nearly shoved aside all of the hurtful things that had taken place, until one of his best friends, Kite, asked him if anything interesting had happened today. Matt considered his choices. He could A) lie to Kite, or B) tell her what happened. He seriously considered choice A, but then he remembered the promise they had made to each other.
“We are friends Matt. We tell each other things. How can I trust you with anything if I never know that you are telling the truth?” Ever since that day, Matt had never lied to his friend.
“I guess I shouldn’t start now…” he sighed and sent back, “Well… Kinda.”
“If she wants to know, she’ll just have to ask,” he thought. He sunk back into his bed, his face still stinging slightly from his step-father’s abuse. After an inquiring response from Kite, Matt explained what had happened with the least amount of detail possible. He hoped that she would be satisfied with that. Oh how he was wrong. A moment after sending the message (my note: about as long as it takes to read a text message. Duh!), his phone was ringing. Three guesses for who it was. Bracing himself for the interrogation he was about to receive, Matt slid open his phone.
“Good evening Sheepicus,” he said casually, using his nickname for Kite. “To what do I owe the honor of honor of this call?” She hated when he acted oblivious, and he knew it.
“Don’t you play dumb Matt! You know EXACTLY why I’m calling. Did you honestly think that you could tell me something like that and me NOT want answers?!” She fumed, using anger to hide the concern she felt for her friend.
“Actually, yes, I did. I thought that as a very good friend of mine, you would accept the fact that I can take care of this. I’ve helped countless numbers of people in this situation. I think I can take care of one more.”
“But Matt… We care about you. I care about you. You need support too. You can’t just hold all this in. You can-“
“Yes, I can Sheep. Okay? Can we talk about something else? You know I don’t like talking about myself.” Reluctantly, Kite agreed, but she promised herself to bring it up later. After a few minutes of idle chat, they said their goodnights. Hanging up the phone, Kite couldn’t help but think that something bad was going to happen soon.
