A Young Dream Falls Short

Time is said to be the arch nemesis of one who attempts to hinder it. Obviously great and ingratiating men have tried their best hand at understanding the complexity of the mystical yet magnificently relevant concept , all for coming to a conclusion that it delves beyond a realm of our knowledge of stuff that we have no clue exists . It certainly is a gluttonous man's drug because it actually provides an incentive to overcome a present distress , even if that meant an excruciatingly treacherous attempt to cure the past. This is what scholars have failed to understand for millennia . Then what chance does a teensy tiny toddler have at satisfying the maddening urge to shift from a reality and enter an unknown past? 

Derrick Garners was no different. Derrick was a student who was as peculiar as they come. His attachment to this world seemed superficial to his parents since his mind was a minneapolis of absurdities and glitches. No , he was not anything close to a disabled or special kid , yet his exceedingly suspicious notions pertaining to basic real life events , especially at an age of 11 was of worry to his folks. It felt like he refused to accept the legitimacy of every minuscule activity around and within him , such that it made it impossible to make him fall in line with the pack. At school , at residence , at vacations and in solitude too , his stance to things was always reasoning based and yet the fact that his nature was frowned upon by his very own parents made him feel sad. Needless to say , he was bullied lethally in school and every other place. 

One distinct day , as Derrick soporifically attended his routine lectures , he was pointed out by a professor and was asked a question to which he had not paid a scintilla of attention. "Who discovered gravity Derrick!?" asked the teacher in a tone about as subtle as the naval commanders in training camps. To nobody's surprise , Derrick was awestruck and apparently dumbfounded. That day he listened to his professor for the first time and he was totally drawn into the professor's words explaining the concepts of gravity and how they originated from a mere unobtrusive apple which landed on Newton's head. This newfound inkling for gravity was however short-lived since his earlier fumble before the class meant a belligerent bullying session by his very own classmates in the recess break. They threw stuff at Derrick and mocked him for not knowing who Newton was. As he trotted home that noon , he mulled over his teacher's words and his fidgety mind began pricking him for finding answers to his questions about Newton. Upon going home he researched a tad too much about Newton , such that his parents were shocked to see a Derrick so focused on one thing. As he delved into the life of Sir Isaac Newton , the tales of the era revealed more and more interesting facts about this obsession of Derrick's. 

Turned out , even Newton was a victim of bullying back in the 1660's . His prodigious mind felt discomforting to the likes of his fellow mates . The parallels that were being created among Derrick and Newton in Derrick's own mind were euphorically similar to him. The era of king Charles II , the era of mathematical discoveries sweeping the world , the era when there was more ignorance than knowledge, the era when wars broke out more often than not and incidentally the era which was categorically recalled for its astounding piece of work ‘Principia Mathematica’ by a 22 years old colt , Newton . This was the era Newton belonged to and Derrick fantasised about. The feeling of restlessness that rose inside Derrick was incomparable and never seen before. It was like a total frenzy of thoughts and emotions , prayers and theories , doubts and questions. He wanted to know how a puny apple could have an astronomical impact on the way Newton thought and he wished he could emulate the same in a manner such that his thought process was judged for its depth and not the lack of ability to follow redundancies. Derrick also was keen on finding out the circumstances which would unfold , had he managed to alter the course of events that culminated in the apple falling upon Newton's head. Moreover the state of the world after technological discoveries was something he wished to make sure Newton knew and he wanted to see whether Newton would still go on with his discoveries despite knowing the fact that they were leading a greedy human race to death and destruction ultimately.

All of this , in the brain of an 11 year old borderline social outcast with an inspiration to read about a long gone era just because of his fellow students' bullying . Derrick had never felt more connected to the human race than he was that time. The sweet seduction of a chance to unravel the paths that our brain traverses through is enough to hook anybody on a journey.  Isn't it queer how the most unexpected places lead to the easiest path to one's destination . Derrick was a genius , a maestro because of his reasoning powers , a potential future Newton, a good human being and above all someone with a point of view as different from anyone as could be. But this was sadly found out after the examination of his brain in the autopsy the day after , when he was ultimately beaten to a pulp by his classmates for finding out more about Newton and gravity in one day than they could ever . The fact that the boy who they had labelled as a lost cause , actually could trump every single one of the little snobs and emerge as the learned one , instead of a system sloth incited the minds of the pampered pansies to an extent such that they mutilated the tender body of Derrick and another flower was nipped in his own bud. Thus lay bare open the skull of a glorious soul , lost to limpid envy.