The world around me quivered...
Leaving my head spinning. I sit in a wooden chair that sat on the end of my beloved parents long wooden table.
The rain trickling down each shingle, cascading across each glass window, the slightly cracked panes flushing us with a light crisp summer breeze.
"I heard you were being bullied" mother interrupted his thought proceedings, leaving him with an abrupt jolt of anxiety.
"Yes I am being bullied, but I'll handle it" a frown came to her face before a tear struggled down her aging right cheek. Even at the end of the table I could see how much this fact of my daily life wounded her and her gentle heart.
She stood up, carefully carrying a bowl of plain steel cut oatmeal. Her favorite breakfast treat.
"You know the struggle I went through to get here?" Her hands shook vigorously as of thoughts of a past encounter between her and someone left her with subtle but immense pain and heartache.
"I heard the stories" I responded my hands still wrapped under my favorite long black hoodie. I couldn't move, mother grasped my shoulder with what felt a superhuman grip. "Stay for a minute" she proclaimed. I nodded with wince and falsely smiled before she went back to eating her flavorless oatmeal.
I stood up, she looked up at me one last time.
Another tear falling from her eyes as I said "I'm going to stand up for myself this time". A small smile defiled her gloomy exterior before I walked out of the old creaking house and sat on the wooden sculpted porch, the soft clanging of the rain tumbling off the rusted metallic paneling above my head, calming my nerves before the school bus arrived to take back into another day of needless busywork and stress.