Dear Stanley [Watty's 2019. Completed]

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Monday, March 18th

Dear Stanley,

My heart is slightly heavy upon writing this letter. A heavy blue stone that could be called Sadness rests in the pockets of my chest.

Today, when I walked into English a few minutes early, I saw a flock of people surrounding the area where I usually sat. It didn't take long to realize why. Breeze was sitting there, her blindingly beautiful smile on her face, chattering with everyone. I heard glimpses of the conversation, something about New York.

I cautiously approached my seat, trying to angle myself so no one saw the bruise which would inevitably be seen. I didn't want to start my first period off with some snarky comment or question about the mark on my face. I tried to make it less noticeable, I really did, but in the end I realized there was nothing I could do. I wasn't a girl where I just had some makeup nearby that I could use to cover it. I was a clueless boy who never had to deal with this kind of stuff before.

But despite the stress about the bruise, my heart was beating in my chest, fast with nervousness and excitement for a whole other reason. Would she talk to me today? Or had she turned bitter towards me already?

I edged closer to my seat, and for a second, through the throng of people surrounding her, Breeze and I made eye-contact. A huge beam broke out on her lips and people turned around to see what she was smiling at. Once they saw it was me, they either shrugged and turned around or muttered something under their breath. I looked at Breeze, who didn't seem fazed at all by the rude reactions, and a mixture of emotions emerged within my chest.

"Ay! Nicolas!" She shouted, "Come over here!" She gestured furiously over to my seat which was being occupied by Mike. She then proceeded to tell Mike to get out of the chair while Mike stared at me with utter disgust.

I saw his eyes glance at the bruise, a flash of curiosity and surprise was on his face before a malicious glow overtook it. My chest tightened. I looked over and saw the Breeze was still trying to get Mike out of my chair, annoyance in her gaze. I braced myself for the nasty comment, wishing it could have come later in the day instead of right when I walked into class.

"Yo, Nic! Where'd you get that nasty bruise from? You couldn't defend yourself cuz your brother ain't here no more?" He called, a sing song tone in his voice. Despite preparing myself for a cruel remark, his words still hit me like slap - was it that obvious that I hid behind you, Stanley?

I felt a dull rage bubble up inside me, but overpowering that rage was the threat of tears. I could feel them building up, the pressure in my head. I blinked furiously and recoiled as I felt all the stares of the students focus on me and the hand-shaped imprint on my skin. The classroom quieted almost immediately.

Stanley, then the scariest thing happened. I was focused on Breeze, focused on how she'd take this information. Her jaw was dropped and a horrific glaze was in her eye. Stanley, it was like she wasn't there anymore. It felt like her mind - her soul - was somewhere else and she was reliving a memory. Like I did yesterday with the waterfall. Except this memory was nowhere near as pleasant.

I could tell from the horror etched on her face that this memory was a nightmare. The look on her face almost made the tears start to spill. She looked like Mom did the day she hit me, except much more disturbed. I felt my eyes become extremely moist, my breathing labored.

Mike, however, had a sly and lazy grin slipped onto his dry thin lips. He looked at me long and hard, clearly enjoying the damage he had done. Mike loved causing trouble. He didn't know what the word respect meant.

"Oh shit, man, that looks real bad, even worse than what Ashley did," someone said. No one responded, still staring at me stupefied. I think it was Joshua. I couldn't tell for sure and I didn't really care because I was still in shock by Mikes words, my heart still couldn't grasp what he had said. No one had ever used your disappearance as an insult before. No one even mentioned it until now.