American History X
By: Lynn Valerie
He couldn't believe it. There Derek Vinyard was holding his dead brother in his arms. His brother had been shot in the boy's room at his very own school, and the boy who had shot him was black. How could something like this happen he wondered. He wondered how he was supposed to change if things like this happened.
"Derek, are you okay?" Dr. Sweeney asked with concerning eyes.
"Get away from me," Derek replied "you're one of them."
Dr. Sweeney backed away out of the bathroom and Derek carried his brother's body out until the ambulance had to pry him away. When Derek was forced out of the building away from the scene he saw the face of his brother's killer in the back of a police cruiser. He then decided he would avenge his brother's death.
"Cameron," said Derek smiling and shaking the older mans' hand.
"Derek, I knew you'd come back to us. I'm so sorry to hear about your brother, what a shame. He was such a great kid," the head skinhead said shaking his head.
"I really do miss him," Derek said as wetness began to fill his eyes once again. Cameron pulled him into an awkward hug.
"Everything will work out Derek, you'll see, now that you're with us again we can show those outsiders what they deserve." Derek looked up nodded his head and waved his goodbye. Just as he was walking out, he saw his old girlfriend Stacey, they broken up and it had ended very badly to say the least.
"Hey," she said leaning against her car, "need a ride?" He got inside the warm car and they starting driving back towards the small apartment where he his two sisters and mother lived.
"I heard about your brother, I'm so sorry," Stacey said breaking the silence. They were sitting in the parking lot of the apartments. She smoothed back his hair and looked into his eyes. Even though things did end horribly with her and he was planning not to ever speak with her again, he couldn't help but miss Stacey. At a time he believed he was going to spend the rest of his life with her.
"I have to go Stacey, I'll call you later" Derek climbed out of the car and walked into his house without looking back. When he walked into the tiny home he was still surprised not to see his brother. His mother sat crying and smoking, very soon she would very well die of a cancer that filled her lungs. Her coughing filled the silence at night while everyone was lying in bed. He grabbed a blanket laid his mother down and wrapped it tightly around her neck. He hugged her and then scrambled out the door to his own room; he fell into a fitful sleep.
In the morning he awoke. Nightmares dictated his dreams. He kept reliving the night; the night Derek killed two men. He threw on some clothes and left the house, he began walking to Cameron's ready to get revenge.
"Derek!" Cameron exclaimed a big smile on his face; he shook Derek's hand and sat him down. "So let's run over the plans for the evening."
Derek pulled on a ski mask and led his skinhead army to a homeless shelter. Even the homeless shelters were divided no whites would live here. They sprayed gasoline everywhere and then watched the flames lick up the side of the old home. People swarmed out wearing rags. The skinheads scrambled away just as the firemen pulled up.
"It was an odd fire, three out of the twenty four residents of this home were found dead. The main problem is they have no where to go…" the TV clicked off.
"Derek! How could you do this? Those poor people I don't want to lose you again. We need to get out of this town, this just isn't right. God Derek what am I suppose to do?" his mother frantically ranted tears strolling down.
"Mom it's nothing they didn't matter away." Derek mumbled.
"Derek you killed three people, they won't wake up for tomorrow. Everyone is a person Derek no one should be treated differently. Here I want you to have this." She handed him a rolled up piece of paper.
"What is it?" Derek grabbed it opening it slowly.
"Your brother wrote it before he died."
Derek skimmed the paper and he started crying. At the end one sentence stood out. 'Hate is baggage; life is too short to walk around angry all the time'. Pain surged through him; he was going down the exact same path as before. He was exactly the same as the boy who had murdered his own brother. He couldn't live with this; he couldn't leave his family again. They needed him. Those three years he spent in jail all came back to him. He remembered his life when it was filled with hatred and he knew how much it hurt his family. His family was all he had. He couldn't give that up, he couldn't mess up again.
"Come on mom we're leaving, go pack up all your things I'll call a moving truck." Derek's mother nodded and starting grabbing things as fast as possible. "Davina came into the room holding with his little sister. She had a huge smile.
"Finally, lets leave all this behind us," she grinned.
Danny had lived on through his family. In a way he had helped them get away from all the hate. Danny had helped them get away from a town. The hate was like a poison, all they had to do was suck it all out. Before the moving truck pulled in Derek had to do something.
"Mom, I have to help them."
"I know Derek," she nodded "we'll call you when we get to our new home and give you directions."
Derek nodded gliding through the door of the house. He got in his car and drove off to where a meeting was being held. The skinheads were the ones holding this, and he could very well be shot trying to speak to them. Derek pulled into a gravel driveway and there was loud music blaring and people all around. Stacey strolled up and hugged him. She was smiling really big until she saw Derek's face. "Not again Derek," she glared at him and walked away. Derek was just in time for the speech Cameron just began talking when Derek ran onto the stage. There were over a hundred people in the audience.
"Hi everyone," Derek said and Cameron moved out of the way so he could take the mike, " I know you don't want to listen to what I have to say but I want you all the to know the life your living, its hardly living at all," people began to boo. " You can't live like this! You can't hate everyone you see! You'll end up like Danny! I love a lot of you, some of you are my dear friends and I don't want you getting hurt or killed. I'm leaving town today and I just want you all to look at your life and tell me. Has anything you've done helped you live a better life at all?" everyone grew silent. Derek nodded "That's what I thought you can be better, you don't have to do this anymore." Derek silently exited the stage. First only one then many more joined in. Was he imagining it? It was clapping. He smiled and got in his car and left the town, never returning.