The little boy stared into the man's eyes. They were unforgiving and cold. Why are you so cruel?, the little boy thought. Picking up the child, the father swore at him and mumbled to himself.
"And if it wasn't for you being born," the man said, and thrust the child into the wall, "I'd be getting somewhere in life! Instead, I'm living in this hellhole with you and your dimwitted mother, and--"
Not saying anything else, the man dropped the child from in the air. And the kid fell hard.
"I hate you," he finished, staring down the boy, who was silently sniffling to himself.
The boy feebly got up, but the father shoved him around.
He wouldn't stop shoving the boy!
"Johnny?" a woman's voice called.
He opened an eye, and saw Veronica slightly nudging him in the shoulder. So that's where the shoving was coming from, he mused. Finally, it was morning. He had enough nightmares already. The last one was the worst. Of course, dreams are just dreams, right...?
It was all too real.
"You didn't wake up for a few minutes! I had to start pushing you. Sorry."
"Oh," was all he managed to spit out before getting up from bed. He was still in the athletic pants and white T-shirt. Apparently, Frank was into running, and that was the only thing he had besides a suit.
Johnny followed Veronica down the hall and into the kitchen. "Now, I'm guessing you're not hungry, right?"
"Actually, I --" he started to say that he was.
"Good, because we don't have breakfast in this house. Get used to it. You may want to leave now, the bus comes randomly at any minute."
Ticked off at the woman for being so catty, Johnny left the house wondering what school would be like. Is it fun? Scary? Full of demons? He found the bus stop eventually, and stood by the bench. On the bench sat a girl who looked about the same age as him.
"The bus usually comes earlier than this. It's late," she said to Johnny without looking up.
"Why isn't it here?" he replied, not looking down.
"Last time it was late, there was a new driver that kept hitting curbs. They got into an accident and a new bus had to come around this way. Say, what are you doing here? I'm always alone. Not that having company bothers me or anything, but, you know."
Johnny waved his hand in the air, not pointing at anything specifically. It's not like she had looked up. He honestly had no idea where he came from, let alone how he was going to find his way home. "Oh, you know... over there."
"Do you see that red house over there?" the girl asked. "That's where I live. Are you new around here?"
"Yes.. well, no, I've always lived here, but I'm going to school now." Johnny looked down, and saw that the girl was staring back up. It was the first time that he had ever felt compelled to look someone in the eye; it was the first time he had done that in a long time, if he had ever done it, really.
The girl looked concerned. "You've.. never been to school?" She said, saying slowly as if she were putting together pieces of a puzzle. "Your parents didn't care?"
"Ahm." Johnny looked in the other direction. As much as he'd like to talk to someone, about anything, he wasn't going to spill his heart out to a stranger at the bus stop.
"Okay, well, maybe I'll see you at school," the girl smiled and got on the bus. He followed. "By the way, my name's Aria."
"Amelia?" an old woman recited, taking attendance of the high school class. The girl waved her hand in the air. "Robert?" Another wave, this time from a mean-looking guy. "And there is a new student in class, isn't there? Johnathan, where are you?"
"Johnny," Johnny mumbled so quietly, he could barely hear himself.
"Hello? Where's Johnath-- oh! I see you. Right in the back! Don't be afraid, I won't bite!"
"I like to be called Johnny," he said a little louder.
"John? John-NNY? Knee? Am I getting this right, knee?" the old woman asked. He wondered to himself if this woman was half-deaf.
"Johnny, yes."
"Hey, knee, why are you so ugly?" the guy who was apparently named Robert cackled. "Oh, I get it! Johnny! Nny! That has got to be the dumbest thing. Get a life. You're ugly. Eat some food for once!" He laughed with his friends. Johnny looked down silently at his desk, staring at the speckles of color in the otherwise blank surface.
"Nny. That is a hip name, I think," a girl wearing a "mod"-looking outfit said behind mirrored sunglasses. "I wish I had a hipster name as deck as that."
A girl in an all pink outfit, sitting in front of her, turned around and laughed. "Ehmagod! Good one, babe."
"Knee will be a part of this class, so make him feel at home," the teacher said, staring blindly across the room as if she couldn't see a thing. "By the way, I'm Mrs. Robinet."
Nny, Johnny thought, still staring at the desk. That's, actually,not a bad name at all.
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Ehm, yeah. How do you guys like it so far? Sorry my other chapters have been short, but there just wasn't much to write. I'll try to put up longer chapters! Please review!