Untitled

[Zariah]

Julian sat in the cold dark passageway, waiting for the footsteps to fade away. He was shivering in his short sleeved shirt, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. Here, at least he was alone and unbothered. Dinner with the family had turned into another one of his fathers “episodes”-One where he would throw anything within reach at whoever was nearby. Julian rubbed his bruised leg as he remember that he got hit with the chicken platter, but what upset him the most was the look of rage in his father’s eyes as he flipped over the dining room table.

 

Back to the present, Julian thought.

 

He was considering calling the police, but the last time his mother covered for him. Her excuse was that he had choked on something and flailed around knocking things over, and that it was not intentional.

 

Yeah right. Both of them make me sick. All he does is physically and emotionally abuse her and she defends him? What does he have that she so desperately needs?

 

He couldn’t figure out what to do for his mom. She was a complete mess. Whenever he’d ask her if he could do anything, she’s simply say, “Oh Hun, dad’s just sick. Pray to Jesus for him, and forgive him for anything that happens. The Lord will help turn him around. Besides, he has me here to help too.”

 

Julian rolled his eyes and clenched a fist in anger.

 

If only I weren’t scrawny and weak, I could fight back and show him a thing or two….

 

But there were other strengths he had that he just didn’t realize. He had the strength of intelligence, street smarts, and good character. He was resolved to do something about his father to free him and his mother from the continuous cycle of abuse.

 

His father had stormed out, most likely to a bar to cool off, and his mom had given up looking for him. Julian took the opportunity to crawl out from the crawl space under the staircase and head to his room for bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next morning, he was quieter than usual, mostly because he was preparing to deal with the authorities. He was approaching the end of his freshman at Lyondell High, with a pristine record of no visits to any of the administrative offices. This made him nervous, since he was not sure who he could fully trust. He had two friends, Claudia and Tim, who rode the bus with him each morning. Claudia was much like him- brainy and skinny, but one of the funniest people he knew. Tim was huge. He was on the football team, but really quiet. They had all been friends since Middle school and even they didn’t know about Julian’s situation.

 

Tim saw the bruise on Julian’s knee and gave him an inquisitive look.

 

“Oh it’s nothing. You know me, I am just so clumsy. I was reaching for something on top of the fridge and knocked down the bread box. Heh…”

 

Usually Claudia would insert some genius quip to make light of the conversation, but this morning she wasn’t feeling her usual self.

[Zariah]

Long as Claudia had known Julian, she had never been invited to his house. They always met somewhere else to hang out. Once, they made it to his yard and he started acting really funny- making up reasons that they couldn’t go inside. Last summer, she followed him home once, and watched him sneak into the house through the back door. She crawled behind a bush and made her way to a window. What she saw when she looked in nearly made her choke on the dum-dum in her mouth.

 

The window she had been looking through was through the laundry room down a hallway. Inside, the house looked like it was hit by a hurricane. There was mess everywhere. She saw Julian walk down the hallway from the stairway and heard a man’s voice boom, nearly shaking the structure of the building. Julian turned beet red and scurried toward the laundry room to hide. She moved quickly from the window so he wouldn’t see her. For the first time in her life, she was terrified to be alone. The man’s voice grew louder, as he made his way toward Julian. She peeked ever so carefully inside, and saw him being beaten severely by a huge man looking shabby and drunk. She slipped back to the other side of the bush and ran as fast as she could home, without looking back.

 

From that day forward, she never pressured Julian to hang out at his house, and she never mentioned what she saw to save Julian his pride.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tim was chubby. Chubby and proud of it. With an overweight and protective mother, he was constantly fed. For Tim’s mother love was food. So, naturally, he just ate a lot. He’d always get two lunches in the lunch line. It began when he was in 5th grade. He went through the line and asked the lady for two trays of stuff. She refused to give him two lunches…even though he had the money to pay for it. So Tim would go through the line once in the front of the line and again at the end. For a while it worked, but the lady caught on. She was just a control freak, if anything, and he was persistent. Every single day at lunch, he’s go through once at the beginning and again at the end, until she decided to refuse to serve him all together.

 

Tim wasn’t one to complain, so he only had one lunch. Over the next few months, he began to lose weight. His mom was concerned because her 200 lb baby boy was a “skinny” 160. She asked him if he was eating. He said he had a lunch everyday, but he was always hungry. She asked him why he only ate one serving when she gave him enough for two. And he explained about the lunch lady.

 

Well this Momma had a few words to share with the lunch lady. The next day, Tim was sitting with Julian and Claudia at the lunch table and in a storming rage; Tim’s mom burst into the cafeteria and made her way to the lunch line. She said some harsh things- quite inappropriate for 5th graders to witness and stormed out toward the principal’s office. No one knows what happened to that lunch lady after that, but she wasn’t there the next day or any afterward. And Tim could get as many trays and servings he wanted for lunch the first time he went through the line.

 

No one messed with Tim, sadly, because they were terrified of his mother.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~