Tyler's Hope

Chapter 2: Secrets

In the mornings, children usually have an alarm clock to wake up by. But Tyler, being the different child that he was, had a father beating on the door yelling for him to wake up. Tyler just stared at the only thing that separated himself from hell: the door, and all of a sudden, he loved his door more than he loved any of the other furniture in his home.

"Get up, you worthless piece of crap. If you do not get up and open the door right now, I will kick it open," said Danny from the other side of the door.

The minute that Tyler put his hand to the door, all hell broke loose.

"Come on, get up you wretched boy. You were supposed to be down here ten minutes ago. Get your butt up and MOVE," said Danny hitting Tyler hard in the stomach to almost make him pass out.

When Tyler awoke, he saw the fleeting image of his father descending down the stairs. Only when Danny was out of sight, did he painfully get up and head to the washroom.

After he was ready for school, Tyler walked down the staircase, each step feeling to him like needles in his feet. When he finally got down the stairs, he was kicked out the door without any breakfast.

He landed on the cold pavement, pretending to examine the gravel upon the ground pretending that everything in his life was golden though it was far from it.

He was lying there when he heard someone walk up and kneel beside him. He automatically cringed thinking it was his father ready to lay a merciless hand on him again. He was quite surprised when he heard a woman's voice speak to him.

"Son, are you all right?" she asked, oblivious to the fact what kind of life he led. In the process of talking to him, she lay her gentle hand upon his back compassionately.

Tyler winced in pain, but did not surrender. He had to fight all he had to not crawl up into that woman's arms and confess to her everything, but he had to be strong. He could not give up. He was not that type of person who gave up, but unfortunately, he had to convince himself of that fact every day when he woke up. Instead he said to her without facing her, "I'm cool." I wish said his inner voice.

"May I help you?" asked the woman with a caring soothing voice.

"I got it," said Tyler hoisting himself up stiffly before getting up and wavering on his two feet.

"You sure?" asked the woman holding his arm gently until he got his balance.

"I'm positive," replied Tyler turning and limping away slowly.

When he got to school, it seemed like everyone suddenly lost his or her voice box, because you could hear a pin drop in the vast hallways of the place. When he got to his locker, his friends were overcome with worry.

"Tyler, what happened? Are you ok?" asked Val worry evident on her face.

"I'm fine. Why?" asked Tyler back, unaware of the fact that his appearance was making everyone so quiet.

"Well, it's just that you do not look your best, that's all," said Hank trying to be nice.

"Oh, it was that last night, I was not looking where I was going, and I ran into a wall. That's all," said Tyler, hoping that little white lie would pass. More like I got slammed into it.

"Well, I better get to class. I don't want to be late," said Tyler so that the pressure was off him for a change.

"I guess you're right," the others said quite reluctantly, for they all wanted to know what really happened last night.