PART 1: How it all began
Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Darren Wilden. Darren was a cute, if typical, fun-loving, and slightly stingy only child. Sadly, one day his mother was killed in a random act of violence. A bunch of teens skipping school were competing to see whose chosen object could fall the fastest from the apartment building roof. One kid smugly threw down a golf ball which happened to hit Darren's mother on the head. She died later in the hospital from a brain hemorrhage. Father and son were mortified. At the funeral, Darren wept wildly. He cried tears of sadness that his mother was gone, but also tears of anger that his mother had left him. A good father would have stood by his son holding his hand for support, but Darren's father stood trembling far away lost in his own rage and grief and tears. From his mother's death onward, Darren still had warm meals to fill his belly, but nary a warm smile to fill his heart.
It would be the first of his three most life-changing moments.
Darren's father (let's call him Wilden Sr.) wanted to get justice for his wife. The teens got off with community service because they were minors. The light sentence made Wilden Sr. angry and spiteful, and his grief amplified. He could not get closure on his late wife and move on. This turn of events affected young Darren's life forever. After the death of his mother, he became more introverted and anti-social. He became gawkier and the other kids avoided him at school. Wilden Sr. neglected to notice anything about his son's well-being. With every year, the loneliness and sadness ate away at Wilden Sr. and he slowly became more deranged. He started to drink more, then became a regular at bars, then started to stay out late at strip clubs, until finally he just started bringing prostitutes home. Darren went to school to escape home, and went home to escape school. Life was miserable and nobody noticed. He was average in every way, sports, grades, looks, that no one ever looked twice. Teachers never saw him get bullied. His father never saw his bruises. Or maybe they just didn't care to notice? They all looked right passed him. Darren was stuck and all he could do was wait for things to change, if that was even possible.
One day near the end of the 8th grade, Darren experienced a day without bullying. During Field Day students were under very careful watch, not to make sure nobody got hurt, but to make sure the right team won. Of course, it didn't feel any different to Darren since he kept getting hit in the head with balls and in the shins with sticks. Come dismissal, the bullies were not satisfied and decided to take their chance with dishing out Darren's daily beating in the car pick-up line. At that moment, Darren's father pulled up and saw his son's turmoil for the first time. He was shocked. How could his son be such a loser as to let himself be bullied! Wilden Sr. gripped his steering wheel. "No son of mine will grow up to be a wimpy loser." On the night of 8th grade graduation, while all the other kids were drinking punch and dancing at the after party, Darren was being driven home. He looked at the house ominously and entered with a deep sigh. Unbeknownst to him, in his bed lay a prostitute hired by his father; and while all his classmates would be bumping and grinding, Darren would be the first to lose his virginity.
It would be the second of his three most life-changing moments.