What It's Like To Be Different

Chapter 2

   I woke up at three in the morning.

   It was still really dark.

   I sat up in my bed and checked my phone. Shane had texted me at nine telling me goodnight. Since I was awake and had my phone on already, I went through my pictures.

   I had so many pictures of my mom.

   She had a really nice smile and her eyes basically shone. I had a picture of her singing. My God, she loved to sing, and let me tell you, she was good. She was gonna be on Broadway but she met my dad and had me before she got her chance.

   My mom and my dad ended up both being teachers at a New York Central Middle School.

   There was a picture of her trying to eat a squid when we went to a Chinese restaurant. Then there was a pic of me and Shane. Then there was another pic of Shane kissing my cheek, as a joke, even though my mom told me that we were cute. 

   I looked at my pictures for a while.

   The last picture I saw was a selfie of me and my mom. She was smiling and she had her arm around my shoulders and she was poking my cheek. I remembered that day. My mom, Shane, my dad and I all went to see a movie that day. We watched Jurassic World, I remembered because my mom thought the flossoraptors were really cute.

   I hung my head thinking of my mother.

    I thought about how she use to call me Johnny Cash because of how I was a good singer. I remember how she use to make me sing to her, she was so proud. My mom had been my manager and my biggest fan. My only fan really. Thinking about it now, I really took her for granted.

   She was so nice, so talented. Without thinking I threw my phone at my closet. I'd never really shown it but I was angry.

   I was really angry.

   My mother was the one of the best people ever, for what? To be mugged and shot. Just a common criminal taking her life as if she were just a faceless victim.

   I didn't cry like I thought I would.

   I just thought about how much I missed her before I fell back down into my pillow.

* * *

   The sunlight woke me up the next morning. I opened my eyes and grabbed for my phone before remembering what I had done. I just sighed and sat up in my bed.

   I yawned and stretched before I got out of bed and went to get my phone out of the closet. I was only wearing sweatpants so I was a little cold. I dug around in my closet that was already showing signs of future unneatness. I'm not sure unneatness is a word but I'm pretty sure my point is taken.

   After I found my phone I put it on my charger. I put on the first shirt I saw and I went downstairs to eat because I was really hungry. I found my dad asleep on the couch and I eventually found a poptart that I decided I would eat.

   I brought my poptarts upstairs to eat it.

   I watched another movie for a while, even after finishing my "breakfast." The only interruption to my movie was my dad checking up on me. He asked me about my day and told me good morning and all that fun stuff before walking along back to his room.

* * *

   The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, no surprise there, right? Anyway, the only reason I really came out of my room was to eat dinner, which my dad spent an hour making.

   It looked really good.

   We ate some kind of chicken with baked potatoes and green beans. My dad did something to the green beans so they were actually good. Go figure.

   So the dinner was great but the dinner was bad. The actual food was good, but the whole dinner time was bad because my dad actually wanted to talk to me. At first we talked about music, a popular topic of interest in my family. We talked about which artists were better such as Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash. That sort of stuff.

   Then it got real.

   "So, school starts in a couple weeks." My dad said, practically stomping all of my fantasized futures of staying in my room the rest of my life to dust.

   But what are dads for?

   "Yeah." I said. I mean what was I suppose to do? 'That's right! Oh joy! I just can't wait!' Yeah, no. I think he sensed my disillusionment.

   "It'll be fine, Thatcher, I promise." He said. I tried not to say anything. Like he knew. "You'll meet new people. Meet new friends. Get a girlfriend."

   I had to look at him when he said that last thing to make sure he was joking. What he said was a joke, of course, but the fact that he said it must've been, too. I knew my dad worried about me. I never really had many friends where I came from except for Shane. My mom had basically been my best friend and my dad knew that. He probably actually did want me to get a girlfriend, just so he wouldn't have to worry about me so much. 

   He kept on about how nice the school is and everything, just like he had told me two thousand times before. Dinner ended eventually and I got to enjoy the rest of night thinking about a scary thing called my future.