Rowen went to school slowly. Every step he took was painful. He wiped the tears from his eyes. He didn't want anyone at school to know what had happened. He knew they wouldn't care if they did. They had already proven it.
His thoughts went to his mother and he grew angry. How could she have left him? Didn't she love him? Rowen thought back towards his earliest memory. His mother holding him her lap and rocking him back and forth. Her fingers running through his hair. Singing an old irish lullaby, she soothed his tears from a nightmare that that plagued him.
Over in Killarney
Many years ago,
Me Mither sang a song to me
In tones so sweet and low.
Just a simple little ditty,
In her good ould Irish way,
And l'd give the world if she could sing
That song to me this day.
"Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's an Irish lullaby."
Oft in dreams I wander
To that cot again,
I feel her arms a-huggin' me
As when she held me then.
And I hear her voice a -hummin'
To me as in days of yore,
When she used to rock me fast asleep
Outside the cabin door.
"Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's an Irish lullaby."
Maybe his father was correct. Maybe his mother couldn't stand the sight of him any longer and this is why she had departed. Rowen sighed and tugged at lock of his hair. He had always liked his hair. It was different.
He entered the school grounds and went to the library. He always found sanctuary there. No one bothered him there. The Librarian a stern woman ignored him. She was more focused on the older students who seemed to think that books were worthwhile and treated them as such.
Rowen loved to read and as he was always so quiet and gentle with the books and treated them with respect he was allowed to stay. This was something that the school normally would not allow of Kindergarteners, but as they viewed Rowen as a problem among other students this rule was let go. It was either let him stay in there or listen to his teacher go on and on what a horrible student he was towards his classmates.
When the first bell rang, Rowen carefully put the book away, grabbed his belongs and headed towards the classroom door where he would line up and wait for the teacher to open the door and let them inside.
He wanted to be the last one in line, but after he had shown up and gotten in line one of the students got out of line and was therefore sent to the end by the others since that was a class rule. Rowen gulped when he saw the student heading down to the end and got in line behind him. He knew that this had been done on purpose.
The student behind him didn't do anything at first, but soon was poking him in the back trying to get his attention. Rowen bit his lip. His back was so sore from the beating that morning. It was all he could do not to cry out in pain.
Finally he couldn't take it anymore he turned and asked quietly in Japanese "Sam please leave me alone". Sam sneered at him. "Why should I? No one wants you here. Why don't you just go back to that rock you crawled underneath from? Everyone hates you. You'll never have any friends freak"
Rowen just shrugged his shoulders and turned around. He didn't really want a friend. It was best to be all alone. His mother left him, his father hated him, so why would he have a friend? Just another person to hate him.
Sam being angry that he hadn't gotten another response out of Rowen yet again, decided that this time he would get Rowen into even more trouble. Fighting at school was against the rule and it didn't matter why the fight had even occurred.
Taking his fist, he slammed it as hard as he could in his face causing his rose to bleed. He started howling in pain as the blood ran down his face. The other children hearing the noise turned and all looked back in mock horror.
"TEACHER" they all yelled when the door opened and Sam left the line and went rushing towards the adult. The teacher frowned at the sight of Sam and put her arms around him. She asked him over and over again what had happened. Finally through his blubbering, she got enough of the story to understand what had happened.
She turned to her Aide "Miss. Soi please take the children instead and get Sam cleaned up" She then turned to Rowen "Mr. Hashiba come with me. You will be going home. Since it is Thursday you will not be returning to school until Monday."
Rowen followed his teacher quietly. He knew his Father was going to be quite angry with him for what he was going to be accused of.