MSMF Prompt #98: Family
Family
How can I write about family? I don't have one!
The youth looked out the orphanage's window, at his fellow orphans playing in the tarmac-covered backyard. The sight only served to make him even more frustrated at his situation.
A series of failing grades in his classes had led the school principal to meet with the orphanage headmaster and the end result was a weekend cooped up with extra homework.
Most of it was done. He was sure the math was done right, but the headmaster was going to check it all later, after he returned from a meeting out-of-town. Physics homework was done too. Now he was working on the creative writing assignment. "Write about each of the following topics:" the assignment paper said. He had turned in a paper, covering a few of the topics, but his teacher had declared it not enough. So instead of getting to pick five out of the fifteen topics, the principal had decided to make him write on all fifteen.
Family. Why did they have to make me write about family? Doesn't she get it, I'm here because I don't have a family!
There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" he called. The door opened, revealing a pair of kids, one tall and skinny, the other short and squat.
"Hey, Chiro, aren't you going to join us? We need one more for our game!" the skinny one said.
"Yeah, Chiro, don't you want to play with us?" the squat one added.
"Hey B.T., Glenny. Sorry, I'm stuck doing extra homework." Chiro waved a hand over the piles of papers. "I can't even take a break to watch The Sun Riders."
"That sucks," Glenny said. "Well, see you later!"
"Later!" B.T. echoed.
"Bye guys," Chiro said half-heartedly.
Why do I even need all this stuff? Why can't I be a super hero like the Sun Riders. I bet Johnny Sunspot doesn't have to write essays on family. He just gets to drive the Nebutron Six.
Chiro decided to skip the troublesome prompt and work on the rest of the assignments. The next time he looked up, it was late Saturday evening, and he had missed his favorite show. He took a moment to stretch his stiffened muscles and while he was doing so, the dinner bell rang downstairs.
Headmaster was back, sitting in his usual spot at the head table. When Chiro entered, he gestured for the youth to come over.
"Did you finish your homework Chiro?" Headmaster asked.
"Almost. I still have part of the writing assignment to do."
"Very good," Headmaster said. "I will check over your work tomorrow morning after breakfast. Try to finish it all for me, okay?"
"All right Headmaster," Chiro said.
"Go ahead and eat, you've earned it."
Chiro wasn't in a talkative mood and so he picked a spot in the corner instead of sitting at his usual table. He ate quickly and escaped back to his room, feeling uncomfortable stares being directed his way from friends who knew he had gotten in trouble over schoolwork.
It was very late, well past midnight, when he finished the assignments. All except for one. The writing assignment was finished except for one prompt. Family.
Chiro scribbled out a short line on the paper. He stacked all of the homework on his desk and then crawled into bed.
He tossed and turned, and after a couple of hours gave up. He put on a clean school uniform, the only kind of clothes he owned, pulled on a warm sweater, and stuffed the tiny handful of personal possessions he had in his backpack.
He reshuffled the pile of homework so the one line he'd written for 'Family' was on top. Working slowly, trying hard to not wake anyone up, he picked the lock on his window and slipped out, breathing a sigh of thanks for seniority giving him a ground floor bedroom.
He moved quickly at first, putting some distance between himself and the orphanage. Once he was sure he was not being followed and was far enough away to not be seen, he slowed down. Wandering aimlessly, dawn broke as he walked.
What am I doing? I shouldn't have run away. All because of a stupid homework assignment. Maybe I should go back, I mean, what am I going to do about food? Or a place to sleep? Or – what's that?
Chiro had been kicking a small discarded tin can but stopped when he noticed something metallic in front of him. Looking up, he noticed a giant robot. Approaching cautiously, he laid a hand on the toe of the robot, which was taller than he. When a doorway opened in it, he jumped, then curiosity lured him in. Walking inside, the door closed behind him.
Peering around in the dark and dusty room he'd entered, Chiro noticed a large power switch. "Here goes nothing..." he muttered to himself and flipped the switch.
Suddenly he felt a surge of energy flow through his body. Lights slowly flicked on throughout the inside of the robot and in another part of the robot, five pairs of eyes opened.
Back at the orphanage, Headmaster went to check on Chiro, having noticed the youth hadn't shown up for breakfast. When there was no response to his knock, he entered the room. The bed was a little mussed up, but it had been made. Everything else was tidy, and a pile of homework sat on the desk. The top sheet read,
"I don't know anything about family, because I don't have one, yet."
THE END