Why Am I Different?
ElectricCircuslover: I had this thought a long time ago and I've changed it many times. It's something the character thinks of all the time. The feeling of never belonging.
Shadow sat at the porch, sitting on the couch swing his mother bought several years ago that faced the dirt road. He looked really sad sitting by himself, trying to get the swing to swing gently.
He just watched his brothers and sisters have fun with the soccer his mom bought for Spring, his older sister. They kicked the ball around, having fun while Shadow watched, looking sad.
"I wish I wasn't so different from everybody!" Shadow cried, slamming his right fist into the flowery cushion.
Angel was ironing in the living room, keeping all of the small clothes for her children wrinkle free. As she was ironing, her sensitive ears picked up crying from outside. She opened the door, peaking her head out in curious about the crying outside.
Here sensitive ears easily pinpointed the source of the problem, "What's wrong, honey?" Angel asked with a soothing voice, hopping onto the swing and sitting next to him.
"Why am I different mom? How come my brothers and sisters have all these bright colors and I'm the one that's all black with red eyes. Heck, I can grow out large bat wings for crying out loud," Shadow wined, looking up at his mother.
"You're different because you're special. No matter how different you look, you're still one of my babies," Angel picked him up and setting her son her lap facing her.
"But, mom. I don't have any powers. How am I going to compete with them? Stitchie, Andy, and Berrie are supers strong, whereas I'm weak like a bug?" Shadow cried.
"So they're strong and you're not. Your sister, Spring, and I are weak. There's no problem with that, is there?" She rubbed her nose against her son's nose.
"I guess there isn't, because you're a girl. I'm a boy. I'm supposed to be strong, like dad," Shadow looked down at his feet.
Angel lifted his head and smirked at him, "Excuse me? I'm weak because I'm a girl?" She began to tickle him, "Where did you get that idea? Let me guess, your father, right?"
Shadow laughed, "Dad says that boys have to protect girls because they're fragile. Well, how am I going to protect my sisters and you if I'm weak?"
"That's a bunch of bologna. Your father just worried because he watches too many of those princess movies that your sisters watch. Have you ever heard of 'Girl Power?'"
"No. I've never heard of that. What is it?" Shadow wondered, wiping his tears away.
"Well, it means that girls are just as strong as boys and that we can take care ourselves. There are women that are even police officers around town. Do they need powers to take care of themselves?" Angel poked his belly.
"Not exactly. Still, I feel like the black sheep of the family. No powers, no unique colors, and I have wings. Why do I have wings? They look so evil to me. I thought the good guys have angelic wings, but look at these," Shadow frown, letting out his large bat wings with horns on the top and bottom of the wings, "Do I look like a good guy? Honestly, mom do I look like a person that would hurt someone?" Shadow started tearing up.
"No, you don't look evil at all. In fact, you look unique in your own special way. You know, Shadow, because something looks evil, doesn't mean it is. Because you scare me at night or your wings look evil, doesn't make you a bad person. You have a wonderful personality and a good heart. You help me clean around the house and dad's been quite thankful for your help on watering the flowers. Do evil people water flowers?" Angel wiped his tears away.
"No. But"-
"But nothing. You are a wonderful child and I am very proud to have you as my son. Don't ever think you're a bad person for what you look like. Look, your father and I were designed to for destruction, but things changed. We may look like cute dogs and puppies to people, but we were made for destruction. When you think of something cute, do you see that thing as evil or dangerous? No. That is the selfish perception of people. Your father and I don't want to destroy, even if we were meant for it. But we don't, and that's our choice. Sure, you look evil and scary, but looks can be very deceiving. You are great person, but that's your choice to continue that. You must understand, Shadow, that people are very judgmental. Never ever let people treat you bad because of the way you look and never believe them. You are your own person, your flesh and blood, your fur, your eyes, all of these are yours to keep, and the greatest part of it all is, that's what makes you, you. Not, Stitchie, not Andy, not Spring, but you, and only you. I can't stress enough that you are a wonderful person and that I'll always be proud for having you in my life," Angel told him soothingly, cradling him in her arms.
Shadow put his wings back inside of his back and cried, "I'll always love you mom."
"I'll always love you, too, my darling, Shadow," she hugged him.
"I feel a lot better now, mom. You know, I don't care what people think of me. I just want to fit in with the family, but looking the way I do, and having no special powers makes that hard to me. I just want to fit in. That's all I want," Shadow said, keeping the side of his face against Angel's neck.
"You do have a special ability, Shadow. You have the ability to understand right from wrong and that's a great ability to have. But your strongest ability is to love and that is the strongest power of them all. Plus, who is the only one out of your siblings that can fly?"
"Well, I don't think that's a great ability, really. But hey, I can play in the sky with Volty, Sparket, and Sparkle. You know, I'm just as much normal as everybody else. Thanks mom," Shadow hugged his mother's face and kissed her cheek before running off into the house.
"Such a sweet child of mine. I wish I could help him with this. He just doesn't deserve this," Angel shook her head, hopping off of the couch swing.
Before heading into the door, there was a loud crash of glass breaking coming from on top of the house.
"Sorry mom!" Stitchie called out.
'Well, there goes a tender moment and another window for me to replace,' Angel thought shaking her head with grief.