The Failure of a Father
Ch 2: The Truth Hurts Me…
And so, Roberto began pacing around the room, wondering about how Michael's personality changed from loving and kind, to sarcastic and mean.
Lincoln then took a moment to scramble through his thoughts, and he was trying to come up with specific reasons. "Maybe his father…?" Lincoln shrugged.
"You're right…" Michael said as he came into the scene. "…he's not been the best father to me lately since…."
"WHY? WHAT DID YOUR 'FATHER' DO TO YOU?" Lori said, balling her hands into fists.
"Woah, geez, Lori…take a chill pill…" Michael said as he raised his hands in defense, and recapped what the hell had happened in the past 3 weeks . "…and Father, restricted me from going out with my friends, and that's all…"
Lori then walked up to Michael and hugged him tight. "Michael…listen, I know your dad may be an asshole at times, but I'm here for you…"
"Lori's practically my second mother…" Michael said as he smiled, and brushed his hand across Lori's hair.
"Yeah…" Lincoln said. "However…I still can't even digest the fact that your father abused you…"
"So do I…" Roberto added, feeling sympathy for Michael.
Later…
They went to their classrooms, and went for lunch some hours later. Many kids laughed at poor Michael due to him 'having daddy issues'. As such, he had an alias which is a bit similar to Lincoln but different.
"Look! It's the Daddy Issues Kid!" One kid said, as he laughed at Michael.
The bratty group of teens kept laughing their asses off at Michael, until a familiar white-haired kid intervened. "Hey, what's all the mockery about? Leave him alone!"
"I can't believe this…Michael needed an old man to defend him!" Carlton said as he laughed the hell out of him.
Lincoln balled his hands into fists and punched Carlton's Johnson, making him fall to the ground in pain. "Now that'll teach you…" The others looked on at Lincoln with fear. "Anyone else? Now SCRAM!"
The scaredy-cat bastards ran away, with some of them wetting their pants.
Lincoln then took Michael's hand and went with him, making the older teen smile.
At the cafeteria…
Lunch went without a hitch, until someone had to throw food at each other, igniting another food fight like last Thursday.
Due to the food splattering on the walls, and on the tables too, the janitor was VERY annoyed, due to the dreading time the mess would take to clean.
As such, he took a bottle of bleach, diluted 2 parts of it in a bucket of water, and started cleaning away at the walls.
When they got back to their classrooms…
In Michael's classroom, things were not the best for him…and a lot of kids were silently mocking him from behind. They were secretly laughing their asses off at him, until the teacher told them to shut the fuck up at least.
The teacher was explaining the topics for the day, and the students copied their notes.
Then the bratty kids resumed their mock fest about Michael. They laughed silently, and Michael did his best to keep his anger at bay.
Once home-time arrived, the students stampeded to the bus and zoomed off to their paradise.
Some teens were quietly mocking Michael, and boy you could tell by the smiles on their faces. "Poor kid, he even deserved to be teased anyway and was a pathetic bastard anyways..."
Roberto heard them, and he wanted to give them bruises for teasing his friend, as such, he got up and punched one in his face, scaring the others.
Lori then told Roberto to calm down, and he listened to her, whilst keeping an eagle eye on the bullies.
Michael was mentally absent, scrambling through his thoughts was a thing, and what was ringing in his head was…a question.
Does Father hate me? If he loved me, then why did he neglect me in the first place?
Poor young man, what the heck did he even do to deserve this?
When Michael reached home, he walked up the porch, and went upstairs to his room, to write down his thoughts in his diary.
Later, William came home, and he greeted his family. "I'm home!" Elizabeth and CC ran up to him, and he hugged them.
Olivia greeted William. "Hey, honey." She smiled.
Michael didn't come down. "Probably sleeping again…" William thought as he went upstairs and opened the door to Michael's room.
"What do you want?" Michael asked as he turned away from his diary, and looked at his dad. "Shouldn't you be downstairs minding your own business?"
"Dinner's ready…" William said as he left Michael's room.
Michael closed his diary, and went downstairs for dinner.
And as the family ate their dinner, something brewed inside Michael, and he had been wondering if his father loved him or not.
After they ate dinner, Michael sat in the living room, just staring at the ceiling absent-mindedly. When William called him thrice, he didn't respond and he slapped him.
"What?" Michael asked his father.
"You didn't respond when I told you to wash the dishes!" William ranted.
"That's because I was in my thoughts…" Michael said.
"Stop using your dumb thoughts as an excuse!" The Afton father said as he slapped Michael's cheek.
"You slap me for no reason…" Michael said as he yelled at his father. "…THEN LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The oldest Afton child stomped upstairs to his room in irritation.
Little did he know, William regretted what he did. "Am I going too far?" The Afton father thought.
The next day…
They went to school, and Michael got teased by the same annoying group of teenagers. As much as Michael would want to beat them up, he couldn't since he know he will get suspended.
As such, Michael did his best to keep himself at bay, and went to his classroom.
Class went without a hitch, as the teacher explained their everyday topics to the students. One kid was mocking Michael, to the point that he almost wanted to beat him up. Thankfully, the teacher told him to shut the hell up at least.
One kid laughed out loud, and what he got was a one-way trip to the principal.
Lunch arrived…
Michael went to the cafeteria, and paid for his tray.
Roberto and Lori came to him and sat near him. "Hola, amigo…"
"Oh, hey, Roberto." Michael said as he smiled at the American-Mexican. "Why did you guys come here?"
"The seats were ocupado and we have nowhere to sit while eating our comida, so we came here." Roberto said in a thick Spanish accent.
"Yeah…" Michael said. "But I have a question…"
"Tell us!" Lincoln said as he came to the table.
"Does my father love me?" Michael asked.
"He loves you, Michael, he's just bad at showing it." Lori answered.
"…but what if Lori was lying?" Roberto added.
Michael's heart sank upon hearing what Roberto said. "The truth hurts me…" Michael thought, while tears well up in his eyes.
"H-Hey, Michael! Don't cry! Mr. Afton loves you, h-he's just bad at showing it!" Lincoln said, consoling Michael.
"No, Lincoln…Roberto's right…" Michael said as he stood up from his seat. "Lori's lying…Father hates me…"
"Hey, Michael, wait!" Lori said as she chased after Michael but to no avail.
"Oh no…" Roberto thought as he stood up and got out of the door to chase after Michael. "Ey, Michael, wait up!"
Lori and Lincoln look at each other, with worry on their faces, before leaving through the cafeteria door to chase Michael.
To be continued in Ch 3…