Too Loud

I sat there feeling completely helpless. Staring at the empty document on my laptop the cursor blinking. I am trying to think, trying to write but I can’t. It was a cold evening and the leaves on the trees danced to the tune of the wind. I have been sitting in this exact chair in front of an empty page for over two hours already. “Think Fred, think!” I thought to myself. My best friend Daniel on the other hand was typing away. We had to write a 1000 word essay for english class and it's due tomorrow. Daniel was always smarter than me. In grade one I could barely put a sentence together while he was writing full paragraphs with no spelling or grammar mistakes.

“Do you need some help?” Daniel asked kindly

“Yes please” I said

“Give me two minutes and I will help you with your essay, okay?” He said

“Okay” I replied

Daniel was always so nice to me. I always thought that as soon as he saw how much smarter he is then me he wouldn’t want to be my friend but that was not the case. We are now seniors in high school and have been best friends since kindergarten. If I hadn’t been friends with Daniel throughout school I would still be in fourth grade. He has been there throughout my entire life supporting me. My parents were abusive. My father and mother either hit me until I had bruises all over me and blood pouring out of me or they forgot about me. When I was seven they left the house for an entire week and left me home alone, they didn’t even tell me they were leaving. I was hungry as I didn’t have any money and they took out all of the food from the house. Daniel saw me at school that day with an empty lunch box and split his lunch with me. After school his mother invited me over to his house and I stayed there for over two weeks. When I went back home my parents were livid. They were so angry that I didn’t shrivel up and die all on my own. That night I woke to a gunshot. I went downstairs and saw my mother lifeless on the floor. And my father is holding a pistol. “SHE WANTED TO FEED YOU!” He yelled “SHE STARTED TO CARE ABOUT YOU AND WANTED TO WASTE MY PRECIOUS MONEY ON YOU!!!”. “SCRAM OR I WILL SHOOT YOU TOO” My father continued. I still remember the look on his face, His face blood red but his eyes had white cold rage in them. I ran up to my room and felt hot tears streaming down my face. I didn’t like my mother but that doesn’t mean I hated her and wanted her to die. That night I ran away and Daniel's mom took me in. I have been living at Daniel’s house ever since and his entire family treats me like one of their own.

Daniel and I started working on my essay together and in under half an hour we completed it. We started joking around and then started to leave. I waited at the entrance of the library while Daniel went to go pick out a book and all of a sudden somebody shoved me from behind. From the floor I looked up and saw a man dressed in black with a black ski mask covering his face

“WATCH IT PUNK” He screamed and all of a sudden he pulled out a gun

“EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR” He yelled and shot some bullets at the roof. A librarian walked in and I wish she didn't

“What is going on here?” She said

“Sir please quiet down, this is a library”. I heard a shot and saw a hole in her chest. Crimson blood leaked out of the wound and stained her silky white blouse. She sank to the floor, lifeless, I felt sick.

I ran alongside Daniel. We ran to the nearest door and as soon as we got in we realised that it was a bathroom. We couldn’t leave because if the man saw us he would shoot us just like he did to the librarian. All of a sudden we heard loud footsteps enter the bathroom

“Come out, come out wherever you are” Called the man. I had to bite my life to keep from screaming. The door to the stall Daniel was in swung open and I heard a shot. Daniel's body fell to the floor with a pool of blood surrounding him. As soon as the man started leaving I opened the stall door and pounced on him. While he was recovering from the fall I quickly grabbed his gun. 

“This is for Daniel” I said. Then I pulled the trigger. I shot a man tonight. I now have a burden I will carry on my back forever and a secret locked inside of me that I vowed I will never tell anybody. I pulled the ski mask off of the man in black and felt faint immediately. I shot my father. I stared at him and his lifeless eyes stared back. I don’t care though. He killed my mother and my best friend. He took my life away from me and for that I will never forgive him. I hope he rots in hell for all of the damage he has done. 

30 years have passed and I am now a father to two girls and one boy. I vowed to myself that I will be a better father then my father could ever be. I went to every sports game and every talent show my kids were in but most of all I was there for them which is something that my father never did for me. I honestly don’t know how my father used to sleep at night after doing so much damage. All I know is that I still hate his guts and that this world is better off without him.