'Ricky do this, Ricky do that!'

He though about all the orders his parents always flung at him. They were so lazy. He had to take out the trash, feed the dogs, mow the lawn, vacuum, dust, clean the toilet, do the dishes, water the plants, and trim the hedges all in one week. Most of those he had to more than once a week.

"Stupid parents. I wish I was at school." he groveled to himself, shoving his face in a pillow and holding back a cry of frustration. 'At least my friends will remember my birthday tomorrow.' He was excited about the first day of school. He always got to see his friends again. It got boring being at home listening to his mothers incessant nagging and his father’s gruff shouts. At least he could relax and his friends would celebrate his birthday.

"RICKY! GET DOWN STAIRS AND CLEAN UP THIS MESS NOW!"

Her voice was shriller than a Harpy's. He got up slowly and brooded all the way down the stairs, cussing under his breath at her. 'Why is it that this only happens when I'm almost about to relax' he thought.

He moved into the kitchen and saw a cup sitting on the breakfast table. His mother was, as usually, standing next to it with her hand on her one hip and one hand pointed at him. He moved reluctantly and shuffled over to the lone cup. Picking it up gingerly as his mom screamed at him, he thought of school. At least his teachers were better than this.

-"Have no respect young man! Are you listening to me? That's it, no more Wii for you. Go take a shower and go to bed! I can't believe you; you don't even care what I'm saying. I'm sick of dealing with this crap, you disrespect me so much and you know it. It's like you want to hurt me!"

Ricky paid no attention to her. He simply moved back upstairs as slowly as he had came. He stopped listening at "no more Wii for you". His room was blank looking. A Transformers poster on the far wall, a massive closet with nothing but dirty clothes in it, and a bed that was far to old to sleep on. Angrily, he threw open his drawers and removed the necessary clothing for sleep. He had taken a shower that morning, so he refused to be redundant. Slipping on his pajamas he slid under the covers. The broken spring in his mattress poked his backside, and it took him several hours to properly fall to sleep.

The morning sun was no irritant to Ricky. His shutters were always closed. No, instead of having the pleasant face of the sun peak through his window and lick his face every morning like most kids did, he awoke to none other than his mother standing in the doorway at 5:30 every morning. As always her hand was on her hip and she was eyeing him with disgust.

"This room is a pigsty, I raised you better than this. You'd better clean it up when you get home." She huffed away, walking out the door to work. She was a school bus driver, and unluckily enough...she was Ricky's school bus driver. He looked around at his filthy room. Some Wii remotes were lying in front of his TV, and an Entertainment Weekly was open near the closet.

'Horrible isn't it.' he thought to himself. He almost fell down the stairs because he was to tired to focus on the steps. When he reached the kitchen counter, where his meager lunch money lay every two weeks, he found a note.

"Ricky,

If you think you're going to use the computer this morning, think again. I told you were grounded last night. Don't try and get on, I shut it off and the password has been changed.

Love, Mom"

"Who tells their kid they don’t trust him to use the computer and ends it with the word 'love'"...he said aloud. He slumped into the chair and flipped on the TV. An old re-run of Sponge-bob was brightly churning on the screen. He enjoyed this show, if not only for its colorful art, which kept his eyes from closing. He didn’t have to go to the bus stop yet, school didn’t start until 8:00, and so he had three hours to waste watching Sponge-bob and Patrick getting into trouble.

When the time came to leave, he threw on his heaviest coat and moved reluctantly outside. The cold handle of his trumpet case bit his hand when the wind caught it. The bus stop was visible from his house, considering it was two houses away. He sat down next to the fence that blocked off the old park...first as always.

When his friends arrived, they were in feverish conversation.

"What’s going on?" he asked.

"You wouldn’t understand, we're talking about when all of us...well almost all of us...came over to my house over break, we had so much fun. Sorry you couldn’t be there Rick."

Rick nodded and turned away, watching his breath steam out of mouth. He had been grounded all break for his C+ in Math, which was his worst subject anyway.

The bus pulled up and his mom stared at him through the doors. When they opened she said just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Did you brush your teeth and put deodorant on, I know you forget to all the time."

"Yes mom…" he was used to it. And of course the laugher it drew from the "cool" kids.

At school, his friends never mentioned his birthday, even though they knew full well it was that day. They just kept talking about the party they had had. Ricky was feeling more and more isolated.

The teacher screamed at him in math class, he got yelled at in P.E. for not wanting to play, he was scolded in English because he couldn’t use a semi colon properly, his band teacher complained about how he was hitting all the wrong notes at the right times, and his science and social studies teachers were mad because he was late. Of course he wouldn’t have been late is Jimmy Harper hadn’t hidden his backpack and his trumpet.

Jimmy Harper…Jimmy Harper was the cruelest kid in school. He did drugs, drank profusely, and was involved in several local gangs. Worst of all he hated Ricky. They had been worst enemies since third grade, and ever since then, Jimmy had done all that was in his power to hinder Ricky’s life process and make very last waking moment horrible for his victim. Of course Jimmy wasn’t exclusive to Ricky, Jimmy preyed on freshman in particular. He hated freshmen. He would set out contracts on freshman he didn’t like and then beat them into a pulp if they refused to submit. Luckily Jimmy wouldn’t lay a hand on Ricky, because everyone knew the two hated each other. It was too obvious.

Ricky didn’t ride the bus home, thank God for that. He got a ride from one of his friend’s fathers. Gerrod Applebee was Ricky’s best friend, but lately the two had seemed so distanced. Gerrod’s dad has just recently been released from prison, so Ricky’s mom was reluctant to allow him to drive Ricky home. It was the only arrangement though, as the buses didn’t stop in that area in the afternoon. Gerrod had been influenced by his father, and wanted to be a gang member like him. Gerrod had gotten active with the rival gang of Jimmy Harper, and his father had no idea about it.

Ricky always feared for Gerrod’s life, but Gerrod seemed not to care.

They pulled up to a stoplight and that’s when it happened. The glass shattered and Ricky saw blood splatter on the seat in front of him. He saw Gerrod slump over and Ricky felt cold. He blacked out.


When he woke up, or at least when he was in a right state of mind, he was sitting on a church pew. The casket was open, and the boy inside wore a suit just like Ricky’s. Only Ricky’s was white. Bright white. Ricky felt like crying, this couldn’t be. He looked around. His mother and father were sitting in the front row, as were Gerrod’s mother and father.

‘Why did Gerrod have to die like this?’ Ricky though to himself.

He overheard some of the adults talking. It was Gerrod’s mother and father.

“Poor Gerrod…he…he was…was…so upset…he refused to…to…to…come” Gerrod’s mother was sobbing so hard her speech was almost indecipherable.
Ricky stood up, confused. Who had died? No one noticed him get up, they were all sobbing atrociously. He peered into the casket and saw his own face staring back at him.







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