Chapter 1: Our Own World and the Real World
~Flashback to Rich at age 8~
"You are doing that wrong….that is the worst horse I have EVER seen. Be kind!" I said as I stole a red crayon from my classmate's box and scribbled blood in strategic areas over the "horse."
When I finished improving my classmate's drawing I shoved it over with a smile. The classmate in question started crying and went over to our teacher to show her what I did as I sat there crossing my arms. Looking as bewildered as I felt.
"Richard! It is not kind to take someone's drawing and scribble over it" the teacher yelled with a stern face. I shrugged and mumbled under my breath "I was trying to help." The teacher grabbed my hand and dragged me to the "time out" spot. A ridiculous punishment, really, since I hated many of my classmates and they seemed to feel the same way about me.
As I was sitting there trying to figure out how I was going to survive by "punishment" a gangly dirty redheaded boy walked in with a mean looking woman. The woman was talking with her hands explaining to the teacher that she has tried everything with this little boy and nothing has worked. Meanwhile the little boy was looking around with a huge smile on his face. Something about this boy made me smile…maybe it was his stupidity for looking so happy to be here.
Finally the mean looking woman left and this little boy went around saying hi to everyone. He even came over to me and said "HI!" louder than necessary since he was right in front of me. Before I could respond the teacher took the boy's hand and said "Alo…come over here! Rich is thinking about what he did wrong." I rolled my eyes as the boy was dragged toward a table. Alo…I thought to myself…strange name for a strange boy.
As I sat there I saw two boys who were absolutely nasty—worst human beings in the world—begin a conversation with Alo. He looked so happy about it which proves how little he knew about people. I watched as Alo tried to impress the boys with his drawing and how he presented it with a bit of a dance. The boys kept encouraging Alo to continue acting like an idiot while they gave one another secret looks that signaled to me of their real feelings towards the strange boy. Alo, on the other hand, seemed happy to have an audience.
At recess, I was in my usual spot alone against the wall watching the other kids play and do dumb things. Alo was still with those boys. Only I can see that things were getting a bit rough when one of the boys pushed Alo and told him to give them his lunch money. Alo looked confused. I got angry and walked over there not knowing what I was doing—I pushed one of the boys to the ground. The other boy kicked me and pushed me to the ground taking my money as well as Alo's. My first attempt to be a knight went pathetically wrong.
"You really know how to pick your mates" I said shaking my head.
Alo looked sad. "I just wanted a mate."
"We could be mates…if you want…do you like zombies?" I said looking hopeful.
"OF COURSE I DO!" he said excitedly as he did a pathetic imitation of a zombie causing me to laugh.
We looked at one another and smiled. Together we spent the school day pretending to be pirates, zombies, and drawing strange things to make one another laugh. Together we created our own world that only we understood. Everyone else thought we were strange, but that was okay because for the first time I had someone to laugh with.
This was ruined when my Mum came to pick me up. Immediately she lectured me about removing the tie she forced around my neck this morning. She picked the tie up from the floor and placed it around my neck strangling me with it as I grabbed a pair of scissors to destroy the evil item.
"RICHARD!"
~ To the present – Rich Age 15~
"RICHARD! One of your cousins is getting married and you will wear a suit and tie. Stop fretting pumpkin" with a sweet voice that made me want to vomit.
"I will wear the suit…only if…I can wear my metal bow tie. Otherwise….ANITA…I'm not going. I don't even care about this fucking wedding" I said in an exasperated tone staring at her.
Anita threw her hands up in the air and turned to Kevin as she always did with an imploring look as if to say "fix him" before heading up stairs to cry herself to sleep. Because I am evil.
Kevin looked at me scared before saying, "I wish you wouldn't do that. You get her so upset. Go apologize."
I threw the offending suit on the table looking at him like he had nine heads and no balls.
"I am not going to apologize for telling the truth. Let her throw her tantrums. She's absolutely mental" I said heading to the door.
"When you are older and you fall in love you'll understand that you'll do anything to make that person happy."
"I wouldn't fall in love with a mental case." I said as I slammed the door close behind me to take a bit of a walk.