A young boy slowly got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. He winced as he touched the bruises on his face, and one of the cuts under his dark brown hair opened up and several tears rolled down his cheek as he cleaned himself up. When he was finished, he lowered his head before leaving the bathroom to get dressed.
He hated school, it was the worst thing for him and he wished it would end. His mother was ready to take him to school as he slumped out of his room and put his backpack on his back before leaving the apartment. The drive to school seemed too quick, but as he arrived, his mom hugged him and smiled before getting in the car to go to work.
She watched out the rearview mirror to watch him as he stood there seeing their car get smaller and smaller and got further and further away.
The school bell rang, but instead of going in, he ran around to the back of the building and waiting until he was sure that all of the kids were in class, and then headed in.
He opened the door to the classroom with his head lowered and hurried to his desk so he would spark any conversation. Normally, he would've paid attention, but he couldn't get his mind off of what was going to happen at lunch. He blankly stared out the window and wished things were different, but his dream was abruptly ended with the teacher called his name.
"Garfield Logan, pay attention in class or I'll give you detention."
After hearing that, he turned and faced the teacher and did what the teacher said. Detention was the last thing he wanted. The class ended and he was ready to go to his next class before lunch, but the teacher stopped him.
"I see the bruises on your face. Is there something going on that you want to tell me?"
Garfield didn't answer; instead he just turned his head away and left. He knew that if he told, he would be in even more trouble than what he was already in.
"I hope that whatever going on ends soon Garfield." The teacher sincerely said to the fleeing teenager.
At lunch, he was met by his friends. The first to greet him was a girl his height with blonde hair and blue eyes. They both chatted, and were soon joined by the others. One was a guy with spiky hair and sunglasses, another was a tall girl with red hair, there was another girl with black hair and purple highlights and last was black and built like a tank.
For once, it was a lunch he enjoyed, but didn't talk much. Normally, he would joke around, but he was more fearful of something else happened. His friends asked him about the bruises on his face, but like his teacher, he didn't give them an answer either. The only person he wanted to tell was at work and wouldn't be there until school was out.
The school bell rang again; to signify the end of lunch and they all went their separate ways to finish the day. For the rest of the day, he paid attention so he wouldn't get detention.
What he knew was coming came, then end of school for the day. He was hoping that his mother was already there and waiting for him so he could jump in and go home, but when he got out there, she wasn't. His breath quickened as he waited for her, but minutes passed by and she wasn't there; then suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw what hoped he didn't run into.
"Hey kid." A large boy called out. He had slicked back blonde hair and grungy clothes.
"H-Hey Johnny." Garfield replied.
"Ya got my money?"
"I-I'm sorry Johnny, but I used it all for lunch." Garfield said with his head lowered.
"I see…" Johnny said as he walked towards Garfield.
He stood in front of him, and then punched him in the stomach. Garfield fell to the ground gasping for air. Johnny wasn't finished though, he moved over the young boy and punch him in the face several times. Blood escaped his lips when Johnny's fist connected.
When he was done, Johnny stood up and smiled. "Better have my money tomorrow or it's the same thing." He said before leaving.
Several minutes passed before Garfield moved. No one was around to see what happened because they were around the school were the fence prevented anyone from seeing them. He stood up and limped to the bathroom. Tears started trilling down his face while he washed out the mixture of dirt and blood from his cuts.
As he looked at himself, he could see that his face was nearly black and blue all over. He picked his backpack up and headed back out to wait for his mother.
When he got outside, he saw that she had just pulled out. He got in and began to talk to her, but she put her hand up in front of his because she was on her cell phone talking to her boss from work.
The drive home was silent. After arriving home, he ran up and into his room. His father was home, but he didn't even greet him since he was taking care of paperwork and bills.
Garfield laid on his bed and began to cry, but buried his face in his pillow so they wouldn't hear. The night went on and Garfield didn't come out of his room. His friends stopped by, but he didn't want to talk to them, so they went on.
Nighttime came and he was still in there, he finally got up and left to go tell his mother what's been going on since she was the one always telling him that he could tell her anything, but was unable to since his parents were arguing.
He couldn't tell what everything was about, but he heard his father mention the bruises on his face and say that he should watch his mouth and stop messing around and that he needs to stop being late for school. His head hung low again and he slumped back to his room and fell back on his bed. Even if home wasn't as pleasant as other families were, it was still better than school
A while later, his mother walked in and asked him what was going on, because she knew that's what he wanted to talk about. She could always read what he wanted to do.
Garfield told her everything, but the look on her face showed one of disbelief. She knew that he would never lie, but she was thinking that maybe his father was right since he was always a prankster.
She kissed him on his forehead before she left. Garfield watched her leave, then looked out the window and prayed that things would be different. He desperately wanted them to be different. The tears emerged again as he prayed, but ended up crying himself to sleep while praying.
He woke up and his spirits were a little higher than what they were the day before, and followed his same routine and went to school. However, his spirits were dashed when he saw Johnny standing outside of the school. Johnny waved to Garfield's mom and flashed a smile, then walked over and placed his arm around Garfield's neck.
Mrs. Logan smiled, and then drove away, and once she was gone, Johnny tightened his arm around Garfield's neck.
"You better have my money today." He said before walked away when the school bell rang.
The school day repeated almost exactly like the day before. Class was his only sanctuary and at least he had lunch with his friends, but the end of school came. His mother wasn't there, but Johnny was.
Fear gripped him, making him unable to call for help or do anything, but what Johnny wanted. Garfield gave him his lunch money, but instead of walking away, Johnny attacked him again.
Déjà vu played again as his mother arrived, but was too busy with business to hear him. His father was too busy to hear him also and felt that what they told him meant nothing at all. He felt that they didn't care anymore—he felt no one cared. When he was younger he thought he knew what love meant, but now he didn't know what it even felt like to be liked.
He could hear his parents arguing again over the same things. The tears wouldn't stop coming as he laid on his bed. He wondered where it all went wrong. It was the worst month of his life and he didn't know what to do. All he knew was that he was tired of it. As he sat on his bed, and decided what he was going to do. He took a piece of paper out of his folder and wrote something down on a piece of paper.
When he was finished, he went to the bathroom and got a razor. His vision was blurry from crying so much and he sat down on his bed, took a deep breath, and with one stroke, he ended it all.
That night, his mother walked into his room to tuck him up, but screamed when she saw her son covered in blood. As she looked, she saw the blood-stained razor in his right hand and the long cuts on his wrists. Her husband ran in when he heard her scream and was horrified at the sight he saw. He couldn't believe what he saw and out of instinct, hugged his son. They saw the piece of paper above him on his bed with several droplets of blood on it and read it.
"I keep telling you that Johnny's hitting me but you never listen For what it's worth Just so you know Garfield's mom had a nervous breakdown because he told her, but she didn't listen. She was the one who told him that he could tell her anything, but didn't listen to him. Neither of them knew what to do except hold onto the body of their son who took his life because no one listened.
That's why I'm late for school
Instead you always seem to end up blaming me for things I didn't do
I didn't even want to tell you anything incase it made things worse
Every time I say that Johnny's hitting me
Hey Mom and Dad it hurts"
The End
A/N: This one-shot is dedicated to all of the kids who are neglected by parents, who are abused and bullied and is to say, never give up, never give in.
Talon