An Ordinary Hero

 Henry, a 14 year old boy living in Wisconsin, was waiting for his mother to pick him up from school. He waited 45 minutes, but no one came. Finally he just decided to walk home. It wasn't a far walk, it was just more convenient and faster for his mother to pick him up.

He walked past a tree with what looked to be an old man carved into its trunk. Henry started to walk faster, creeped out by the tree. He came up to where his house was. He looked around the corner and saw red and blue flashing lights: three police cars and an ambulance greeted him. Running toward his home, he paused and breathlessly pleaded with an officer, "What happened to my house?" The policeman turned around and shook his head while saying "Your mother was beaten to death, presumably by your father." Henry stood in shock for a good ten seconds before being able to register what just came through his mind. Tears began streaming down his face and he said "No, this can't be, how could this happen?" The officer came over to try and comfort Henry but he was resistant. He was too shocked for him to gather anything from the outside world. Henry sat in his own planet of denial thinking it was insane--that there was no way this could've happened. Once he was done sobbing he asked to see the body, wanting proof that it was indeed his mother. The officer told him "it's pretty mangled, are you sure you want to see it?" Henry nodded, signaling the officer to uncover the body, revealing the terrible truth to Henry that it was his mother. Henry became enraged after seeing the corpse, wanting to execute his father himself, wanting to see pain, wanting someone to blame. Henry eerily smiled at the idea but was quickly woken up from his own little trance by the screech of a car pulling into the driveway. It was his father.

Henry screeched and sprinted over to his father's car where he proceeded to angrily tear at the old 1970 Dodge Challenger. His father pulled out a 9mm handgun and began to shoot at Henry, hitting him in the leg. The father then peeled out of the driveway, police just noticing what happened and following. Blood was gushing everywhere, and Henry was screaming in pain and crying out. He was quickly rushed to the hospital where he was examined. The doctors said it was just a flesh wound and the bullet passed right through his leg and a couple stitches later, Henry could be back on his feet.

Henry now wanted serious revenge, wanting his father dead. Henry got out of the hospital and was told to go to his grandmother's house while they sorted out who should be his legal guardian. There he devised a plan on how to catch his father. He knew that his dad would want to kill him as well so he was going to play dumb. However he had some tricks up his sleeve. He found and took his grandfather's old World War II .45 planning to bring it to school the next day. Henry knew his father would be lurking around there trying to find him, and he would be ready. So he went to his high school and went through the day as any other day, just with a lot more attention. People were asking him "What happened?", "How does it feel to get shot?", and most of all "Can I see it?" Most of the time he said yes, but toward the end of the day he was trying to stay away from the kids who were curious about it. However, to Henry's surprise, his father was nowhere to be seen. Henry almost immediately began to think about how stupid it was that he had brought a gun to a school. Henry ended up tearing a rough pocket near the front of his backpack and dropped the heavy gun into the pocket. Henry was so scared of being caught, he got off his bus, a drop off too early and he hurled the hunk of steel into a cold, unfiltered, and dirty pool, thinking it was the best course of action at the time. However, right as Henry threw the firearm, he realized his mistake. Thoughts began racing through his mind like the cars at the indie 500. He thought about what would happen if the police found it, or worse, a child. Henry threw himself into the pool, belly flopping on the way in. He swam through the murky waters and soon retrieved the gun, emerging victorious, but incredibly dirty. He walked the rest of the way home, now more nervous than ever. When he finally got to the familiar sight of his grandparents' house and its unkempt front yard, he nearly collapsed in exhaustion.

Henry washed the weapon and made it clean, maybe even too clean. However, Henry didn't care. He just placed the gun where he last found it and jumped to his bed and fell fast asleep. Henry dreamed of his mother, the scrumptious pie she made, the nice fragrance of the perfume that she wore, and most of all the little bow that she put in her hair to keep it neat looking and to hide the little gray hairs that were showing on the back of her head. Henry woke up sweating. He wanted to see his mom again, to have the comforting smile welcome him into his home. Henry began to cry, wishing for this to all be a dream. A few hours later Henry wandered around the dock, where his dad worked before he was fired for drinking alcohol on the job. He walked around for a bit, admiring the view from there before he heard some awkward grunts coming from behind the pier below him. Henry investigated, and lo and behold, he found a filthy man with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. However, when he got closer to investigate further, he saw it was his father. Henry nearly screamed when he saw him. Henry then considered his options. He could kill him, he could call the police, or he could let him go. Henry was not going to let him go and killing him would lead to Henry's arrest so he could only call the police. So Henry called 911 and explained his current situation. Considering Henry had not alerted his father of his location, his father was rather surprised when he saw flashing lights approaching the pier. The police took Henry's dad into custody and thanked him after reading the miranda rights.

Henry started to head home feeling a sense of accomplishment. However, he was jumped by some buddies of Henry's father and they said rude things like "looky looky what we have here, our little snitch." When Henry heard that he bolted in the other direction, which unluckily was the bad part of town, a place filled with gangsters, addicts, even hitmen. With the gangsters hot on Henry's trail he had no choice but to duck down an alley to try and escape. However, the gangsters caught up with him but then in some miracle a man ran out from the shadows and offered Henry a little bit of a boost over the wall. Henry gladly accepted the offer and was hurled over the wall and onto the pavement below. Feeling ever so lucky Henry felt around his tattered clothing to see if what he was experiencing was real which, thankfully, it was. Henry went on running on home after that.

Henry came home a very happy man, considering he just escaped a beating and got his father (his mother's killer) arrested. He came home understanding that revenge is not always the best option. In fact in most cases, like in this one, it may just escalate the situation. But he did learn that revenge was one of the best feelings he had ever felt. Henry was greeted by his grandparents at the door, where they explained that they needed to talk. They explained to Henry that they were so glad to see that he had gotten their daughter's murderer arrested. They showed their gratitude by giving Henry some fruitcake, which he politely declined.