Short stories That I write

#1: Don't Judge

"Don't judge a book by its cover"

These are the words that I usually hear from teachers and other people. I know the meaning very well and I had never judged anyone just by their appearance. I used this quote on others who just love to judge others. Then one day, I made a huge mistake.

It all started when I was in my fifth year of primary school. It was a normal day like any other day. We were waiting for our class teacher, Miss Mirza for our English class. She was unusually late as she would never be late for class. The class was starting to make a fuss. Then, Miss Mirza came in with a boy I was not familiar of. "Okay, class. Settle down. Today, we'll be having a new student joining our class starting today. His name is Daniel. I hope you all can be friends with him," Miss Mirza said. The desk next to me was empty so she asked Daniel to sit next to me and asked me to take good care of him. I did not understand what she meant by taking care of him but I was ecstatic to finally have someone to have someone sitting beside me. "Hi. My name's Macy. Nice to meet you," I introduced myself. "Hi. Nice to meet you, too. You look nice. I hope we can be good friends," he seemed excited. After that, we became instant friends.

Soon, we got to know each other very well. I noticed that he really liked to talk about Adventure Time. He seemed to be obsessed with it but I did not mind as I liked cartoons myself. So every time we met, we would always pretend like we were in The Land of Ooo with me as Marceline and Daniel as Finn. "Hey, Marcy. What adventure are we going to do today?"Daniel would ask. " I don't know Finn. Any bright ideas?" I went along with him. It seemed really childish for others but I did not care. I was only eleven and there was nothing wrong to play pretend. The others always said to grow up but I ignored them. All I ever cared about was that as long as Daniel was happy, I would be happy too. Nothing could ever change that. Except for one day, everything went downhill.

I had some things to finish during recess so I asked Daniel to go for recess without me. I was sitting in the class alone when suddenly a few of my classmates came up to my desk.

"You seem really close to Daniel," one of my classmates spoke.

"Of course. I mean, I am his friend."

"Don't you think he's annoying? I mean, all he talks about is that cartoon like he has nothing else to talk about. I can't believe you still can put up with his stupid obsession."

That just made me mad. "What's wrong talking about something you like? I don't think he's annoying at all. He's just trying to make friends." I was furious.

"Well, have it your way. If you don't want to be called weirdos by the whole class, you better stop being friends with him."

I was stunned by what had just happened. Suddenly I felt all of my emotions were mixed up as I started to think about my classmates leaving me alone. It was enough that I did not have many friends with me at school, I did not want to make things worse for me. I made a huge mistake.

Daniel came back from recess and found me standing alone while the other students had already left for our next class.

" Hey, Marcy! Let's go kill some zombies in the lab!" he shouted excitedly.

"Shut up weirdo!" I shouted at him. He was startled.

"What's wrong Macy?" he reached for my hand.

"Get away from me!" I backed off.

"But..."

"Just stay away from me from now on. I don't want to be a weirdo like you. Playing Adventure Time with you is stupid. And you know what? You look really stupid when you play Finn. I don't think you deserve it." I regretted saying it.

"Well...you..do-don't even fit to be Marceline!" he then ran off and I realized a tear ran down my cheek.

After that, I started hanging out with the other classmates. Every time I saw Daniel, I would make fun of him and he would always run away. Then, something unexpected happens. Daniel stopped coming to school. Although I stopped being around him, I was still concerned about him. I decided to go see Miss Mirza to ask about Daniel. At first, she did not want to tell me anything but after I begged her a few times, she told me what had really happened. Daniel died for committing suicide. I was dumbfounded.

"His parents told me that he seemed so stressed out until he couldn't take it. He was autistic, Macy. He may look like an everyday-average boy but he's a bit different. People usually misjudge him just because he plays a lot. I guess something happened to him to make him decide to commit suicide."

After that, I learnt that I had lost something really valuable. A true friend. I should have stood up for him more but I was selfish. Now I was left alone a sin that I could not forgive myself for committing it. It is true that you really cannot just immediately judge a person before knowing them for good.

Author's Note

So this is basically one of the stories that I already had finished editing. This was written as one of my schoolwork. The teacher gave a quote so I came up with an idea to make a story about autistic people. My cousin is autistic and I'm glad her life is fine. But to the ones out there who can't recognize these special people, be careful with your words and don't be mean to people. Because it may cause someone's death sentence.