The Day of Hope

     I stood beside the elevated stage, hidden by a thick black curtain. I looked at the eager citizens who awaited my presence. My stomach turned, my face went pale. I had to do this, I had no other choice. My escort led me up the steps to the stage and I watched as the crowd went silent, everybody staring intensely at me. I adjusted the microphone to my mouth, cleared my throat, and began.  

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     The bus ride home from my secondary school was the same everyday. I walked up the steep steps, and slowly walked towards the back, to my designated seat. I slid over to the window, and waited for her to join me. The younger girl had short blonde hair, green eyes, and freckles. She came towards me, and smiled. I turned to look out the window. The twenty minute drive was always full of loud children talking, girls gossiping, and boys talking about Cristiano Ronaldo. As I sat there, I wished to be back at school. The laid back atmosphere was intensely desirable. The girl beside me happily got off the bus, excited to get home to her family. I lifted my bag from the ground to the empty part of the seat beside me. The driver called out for some kids to sit down, and we turned onto my street. Knowing my stop was coming soon, I threw my bag on my back, and took a deep, steady breath. The bus came to a rough stop, and I slowly walked to the front. I thanked the driver, then went down the stairs and onto the grass laid in front of my house. 

     I saw the familiar stone path, the dying garden, and walked to the front door. My hand shakily turned the door knob, but it was locked. I knocked quietly twice, with no response. After a pause, I knocked louder. The door was aggressively flung open by my father, and a  whiff of smoke and alcohol engulfed my nose. He had an overgrown beard, messy hair, and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The bottom of his stomach stuck out between his stained white tank top and jeans. I couldn't remember the last time he changed out of that shirt. His dirty, yellow-tinted hands grabbed a tuft of my hair and yanked me into the house. His friends were sitting at the table and laughed at the sight of me. 

     He smacked my face, and shoved me to the ground. I couldn't do this again. I got up and ran towards the stairs. Skipping two at a time, I heard him yell but couldn't make out what he said. Barging through the door of my room, I locked myself in. I heard him coming after me up the stairs, and I hid in my closet. It was silent for a few seconds. The door slowly creaked open, and his footsteps came closer to where I hid. He slowly opened the door, looked at me, and yelled. 

     “You’re gonna pay for that, you useless shit.” His hand flew towards his belt line, and the belt slithered out of the loops. 

     I yelled in agony at the first hit, tears now slipping from my eyes. I tried to push him away, begging him to stop, but it only angered him more. He shoved me to the ground and kicked me in the ribs. I groaned and prayed for him to leave. A hard boot collided with my face, causing pained sob to escape me. My hands flew to my face, wet with blood from my nose. I cried and cried, but he wouldn't stop. He was happy doing this; I deserved it. I curled into a ball as I sobbed, his feet continuously hitting my body. He spat in my face, disgusted. His heavy footsteps stormed out of my room to go back to his friends. I stayed on the floor until I cried myself into a light sleep.

      I awoke with a start, and looked at my clock. Only thirty minutes had passed, so my father wouldn't have noticed. There was blood on the floor, so I went to the bathroom to get a towel. I ran the warm water over it, and wiped up the blood. After rinsing the towel again, I cleaned my face. In the mirror, I saw my red puffy eyes, and my bruised lip. I returned to my room, and silently brought my schoolwork from my bag to my desk. 

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      “Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for being here. I hope you are all doing well. Today marks the commence of my presidency of the United States of America.” I smiled at the crowd, looking at the millions of people in front of me. 

     “I haven't had an easy life. I always thought I deserved nothing from anyone, and that I was simply a burden on the world. My father taught me that. Someone who was supposed to care for me, love me unconditionally, told me that. I was worthless in his eyes, and he wished me gone. In high school things got bad, and he would abuse me everyday once I got home from school. I hated him, and I hated his friends, who would watch him do those things to me. I hated my life, I wanted to get out, to leave, to die.” I looked around at the millions of concerned people who stood in front of me. 

     “I tell you this today, because I believe it helps connect us. Everyone has their own struggles, beliefs, celebrations. These are the things that bring us together, bring us closer. You may think you are one singular person in a world of individuals, but really, we are one group of humans, on one earth, in one universe. We are one. We have different lives, but we do the same things. Our stories are different, but they are all the stories of a human life.”

     “Many years back, during the rough times of my life, my neighbours were celebrating the birth of their new baby girl. They were welcoming her new life into this world. Not far from there, I was at a funeral home, celebrating the death of my father.” I paused to give the people time to let that sink in, then continued. 

     “Both of these are very, very different ideas of something good, something celebratory. But, in the end, we were all celebrating. What we celebrated was not what brought us together, it was simply that we were celebrating. Today, our celebration is the same. I have been elected the 75th President of the United States of America! I am here to lead you to greatness, to bring you freedom, and to contribute to a better world.” 

     Cheers erupted from the crowd, making my smile wider. As I stood in front of them, I thought about all the things my father did to me, the ways he damaged me. It took years for me to repair myself, but here I am, standing in front of millions. 

     “My father told me I would never be anything. I was worthless to him. Simply a nuisance that he couldn't get rid of.  The things he said to me made me believe I would never amount to anything. For so many years, I believed the world was a dark place, full of hatred. Now I am here, and I see a beautiful, bright world full of hope and possibility. I have learned so much from America, and the people that have helped me get here. I couldn't be more grateful for what this election has brought me! I thank you all for coming today, and I hope I can serve you well, and bring you hope that it does get better!” 

     The crowd clapped, and I was escorted down the steps of the stage, towards my helicopter. We rose off the ground, into the sky, and the millions of Americans looked like small ants. Small dots in an enormous world. This was the result of so many years of pain and misery. This day will be remembered for many years, it is the day of hope!