The boy who almost stopped breathing

Once there was a boy named Aaron. Aaron lived in a mansion with his parents. Mr and Mrs Saunders. They were of high rank in the social society because of their well-paying jobs. Their son, however, turned out to be a rotten and spoilt child. Aaron loved to lie and throw tantrums when things didn't go his way. Everybody knew that Aaron was not to be trusted. At 15, he already had a bad reputation. A troubled young man, people would say.

When he was 5-years old, he stole chocolate and a drink from the shop. After being confronted about this by the shop owner, he said there was no food in his home. The shop owner forgave him and let Aaron go.

Aaron only got worse. He lied to his parents, multiple times and also tricked them. Aaron lied about being bullied, his friends and even his teachers. He would say that his teachers gave him beatings and robbed him of his marks. Since his parents were influential, they had all those teachers fired and the children expelled. Aaron pretty much had his way. Poor Mr and Mrs were blind to their son's deceptiveness. They hastily did all Aaron had asked and believed every lie he told.

It was Tuesday morning when Mr Saunders got a call from Aaron's school,

"Hello Mr Saunders, this is Ms Mitchel from Fredrick Private school",

"Good morning Ms Mitchel how can I help you, is there a problem?" he asked.

"Yes, Mr there is. Aaron has not completed his homework. He said to me that you did not allow him to and instead said that he should do some tidying up,"

"I wanted to confirm if this is true or is it a lie?" she added.

"No no, its a lie Ms Mitchel, yesterday he told me he had no home work," he replied.

"Alright then, that means Aaron has lied again. Why am I surprised? Of course, he lied!" Ms Mithchel said in annoyance.

"I apologize Ms Mitchel, I will talk to him and make sure something like this never happens again." Mr Saunders said.

"Sir you always say that, but we still find ourselves in this kind of situation. You need to discipline your child, otherwise he will be the death of you. Goodbye!" she said and hung up the phone.

Mr Saunders became infuriated and told his wife. They decided to lock up his bicycle. They commanded Aaron that from then forward, he was going to walk to school. They also insisted on him that he stopped telling lies so much. As expected, Aaron was unwilling to comply. He wanted to have his way. He began thinking of a new lie to tell tomorrow to avoid walking to school.

"Oh, I know better. No way I'm going to walk to school tomorrow! If I show up without my bicycle then no one will respect me anymore. I don't care what my parents said, I'm going to lie forever. I'm not going to stop breathing suddenly, because of telling lies. That itself is a lie! I'm going to lie whenever I want," he thought to himself.

Wednesday morning came. It was cold and windy outside. It was also a perfect day to be sick. Being sick is what Aaron was practising to carry out his plan. Little did he know how wrong his day would go. Aaron practices having difficulty breathing. After a few tries, he feels confident in himself and then calls his parents.

" Hello... dad, can you... can you hear me? he said while pretending to gasp for air. "My chest... chest hurts... I can't breathe!" Aaron exhausted his chest. His worried father called the ambulance in a hurry. Mr Saunders requested professionals and experienced paramedics.

"Make sure you bring the best of the best of your staff! My son's life is at stake." he said with worry in his voice.

From there on, Mr Saunders contacted Aaron's school and told them the news. The teachers, however, did not believe him. They were aware of Aaron's shenanigans. Although, they did not make this transparent to Mr Saunders.

The ambulance sirens rang loud enough for Aaron to hear. He saw how close they were and began faking his breathing again. The paramedics ran into the house, headed straight to 'sick' Aaron.

"This boy, he never gets tired, does he?" said one paramedic.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Aaron!" shouted another.

"You knew, didn't you? When will you ever stop lying, young man? This kind of behaviour is apalling," said the first paramedic.

They were all furious and so they left. Aaron waved goodbye to them with a satisfied smile. His plan turned out perfectly. Or so he thought.

He felt a has head spin right after closing the door. Aaron struggled his way back to the sofa. He held on to anything he could to get there. The counter. The fridge, wall and the bar table. And before he knew it, his heart began pounding as if a drummer was in his chest. He felt difficulty taking in the air, for real. All his faked symptoms had then become true. Feeling drowsy, he looked for the phone again. With his vision being blurry and breathing profusely, he took steps slowly. Aaron managed to plead with the paramedics to come back. Although they were angry, they did not want to ignore him.

The ambulance drove back to the Saunders mansion. Upon arrival, they saw Aaron lying on the floor. With his hand on his chest. His eyes were red, and a few tears were visible on his cheek. One paramedic quickly performed CPR on him. Soon after, he regained his senses.

From that day on, Aaron stopped lying. He realized lying is not the solution. The boy promised himself to never lie again, neither to his teachers nor his parents. Can you believe he even became the highest performing learner in his school? Things change.

And so, in that way, he gained favour within his community.

I guess going through an unfortunate situation made him change his mind. Who knows what he went through in those brief minutes of unconsciousness?