Chapter 1
Pedal by pedal, I watched as my mother plucked out each flower by its head.We had a lot of daffodils in our front yard, so I personally didn't understand what was really wrong with them.
"I don't want anyone to think that I am housing a femme boy," my mother said without even looking at me.
"Mom, you know that I only have long hair because--"
"Yes, I know; you've explained," my mother said. She started to panic as soon as she saw neighbors walking by our house, which caused her to pluck the flower heads faster.
Personally I never understood. Yes, people liked to accuse me of being gay and all just because I had long hair and wore this necklace--but the necklace I wore was a Metallica necklace.
"I just--not quite done, but you know, I'll finish later, or maybe I'll never finish at all! Here, maybe you can take care of the rest of the flowers, while I go back to my studies."
Yeah, the thing with Mom is that she constantly needs to take time off to do school. She's still doing everything she can to finish up college. Of course, I guess I can pat myself on the back for actually being a bit of a smart-ass for staying in school. Not that I actually am at that level yet, but at the very least I'm well...enough.
"Hey, Mom, I'm going to be going over to Ben's this afternoon," I called over to her. "You know, I've just gotta blow off some steam." I flicked some of my blond hair out of my eyes.
"Yeah, sure, I'll be hopefully studying if I can sit down and do it," Mom said. She felt so self-absorbed as she wiped the dirt off her hands. I could feel the pain inside her.
"Bye," I called. It looked like she didn't hear me, so I walked outside next door to where Ben lived.
For me it felt like absolute eternity since the last time I had seen Ben. The previous time his mom had kept pestering my mom to get to school and how dare she try to sell out her own education like that. Ever since then, Ben and I hadn't quite seen each other for a very long time. We had phones and once in a while we would text each other, but other than that, not much else. Guess Mom was trying her hardest to ensure that she make it to the level of Mrs. Jacobsin so she'd stop pestering her.
"So...nice to have you over man!" Ben said as he motioned me through the door.
"Yeah, I agree. It's been totally a long time," I said.
We caught up with each other. Talked about simple things like the weather, school, our new math teacher--until finally when our conversations turned to the new comic book we were trying to write and draw.
"I have these new character designs, see here," Ben said. He showed me a man that had flower petals coming out of him.
"What's this supposed to be?"
"This is Super Candy Man. I made him when I was a little boy. I thought maybe we could somehow figure out a way to make him into a better character."
"Send him off to the drawing board! I love the fact that we are starting to figure out a new story."
The drawing board stank a stench that literally caused my nostrils to flair up. I couldn't help but chuckle at Ben. From your boyhood, I thought as I smirked.
The more I thought of that, the emptier I felt.
"You know, son, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," I could hear a voice inside my head. It felt like one that I had heard before.
