Liam
Liam walked through the damp halls of his school. The lights flickered, and paintings of his elders almost seemed to watch him; judging him for his sins. He gulped as he continued pushing forward, hoping he would soon reach his dorm. His parents sent him to a boarding school out in Connecticut, the one that they had gone to, in their high hopes to prep him for college. He quickly realized prep schools do not accept gay and disabled students. His autism caused him to be hated by his peers, who thought he was too “weird” or “stupid” to be in their perfect school. His sexuality was hated by both men and women, and he identified as a bisexual student.
Liam hated his school, it was either that or homeschooling. The one thing Liam hated more than his fellow students at Bridgewood Preparatory Academy was his parents. His parents were overbearing, homophobic, rude, obnoxious, and filthy rich. They were disgusting human beings in Liam’s opinion, and he knew they didn’t care about him. They didn’t believe in the public school system, so he was forced to choose between getting his education from his awful parents, or getting an education with other kids his age he hated. It was a close call, but he chose BPA to get away from his parents. At least he would not have to see them during the Fall, Winter, and Spring semesters.
Of course, it was difficult for Liam to be himself. He was not allowed to wear makeup, nail polish, skirts, dresses, jewelry, or anything classified as “feminine.” The only thing even remotely seen as feminine he owned was a necklace. With the no-jewelry rule in his house, it was difficult to wear. He eventually wore his parents down because it was his grandma who gave it to him. And his grandma was dead.
Liam’s grandmother’s death had devastated him. It seemed she was the only one who truly understood him. When Liam was just 5 years old, she would buy him dress-up clothes. She would buy him dresses and ugly plastic heels from the Halloween store. It was his childhood happiness, the thing that made him feel good inside. He was eternally grateful for her understanding and love, she shaped him into what he was today. She helped him discover himself and who he was. And for that, for all that… he is forever in her debt.
His parents were thieves; they robbed their son of his happiness, his freedom, and his confidence – it was taken from him, like a thief. When Liam had been packing up his bags to go to school, his parents gave him a picture. It wasn’t a family picture with fake smiles and memories, of course, it wasn’t. It was a picture of a cross saying, “God has His eye on you.”
His bag held four toothbrushes, to be rotated throughout the four semesters, a few of his favorite books, his iPad and his sketchbook, his diary, and his clothes. He didn’t get much of a selection. They had these uniforms they were forced to wear anyways. Liam’s uniform was a blue shirt with the school’s crest in the upper right corner of his chest, which was tucked into his khaki-colored pants. They were paired with black shoes and a blue blazer. He decided to go against the dress code, he didn’t care about it much. So instead of just the shirt and blazer, he wore a grey hoodie underneath. The hood was untucked and out of the blazer, covering his fluffy brown hair. The school’s crest complimented his brown eyes and freckles. He had taken off his glasses and put them into the case, and packed those away as well. He wore his contacts instead, he figured he looked bad in glasses.
When Liam first arrived at the school, he thought it looked like a castle. It was large with brilliant towers and windows on every floor. He was shocked and amazed all at once. He was starting to think it wouldn’t be so bad. He was very, very wrong.
So there he was, clicking through the halls with his suitcase and bag, heading to his dorm. Of course on choosing day, the first day of the year when you choose your dorms, everyone had a dorm partner except for him. It didn’t seem to bother him though, because he was always alone anyways. He was used to it. He rounded the corner of the boy’s tower, and up to the first years. He sighed and placed his bag on his bed. He was on the very top floor. Great. He had to climb a ton of stairs every day just to enter a room where no one would be waiting for him. He was also very, very afraid of heights. He scanned the room. There were two beds, each had a curtain rod around them to have privacy. There was one large desk near the window with two chairs and two large computers. A single bookshelf separated the large desk into what seemed to be two separate parts. There was a door on the left side of the room; a bathroom. It had one shower and a toilet, and a sink with a small mug. He assumed the mug was for toothbrushes. He creaked open the squeaky under-the-sink cabinet. There was a supply of toilet paper, probably enough to last the entire year. There must have been at least 150 rolls in there. It was a very large space for such a small sink. It must have gone into the wall. He closed the cabinet and left the bathroom, shutting off the light as he got out. He looked out of the large window, and immediately felt faint. He was very high up. He ran to the wall and gripped tight to the doorknob. He told himself it would be okay. He let out a small sigh and remembered where he was. He was safe, and he was okay. On the right side of the room, there was a small button. He clicked it, and curtains quickly swung shut, blocking off the view from the window. He sighed with happiness. So he didn’t have to stare out the window. That was great news for Liam.
He set up the provided bedspreads and blanket, and his one pillow. It was memory foam and cool to the touch. He then flopped onto his bed once he was done, and turned over. He placed his hands on his stomach and stared at the ceiling. Liam had a nervous feeling in his stomach. He felt queasy, but, even though he felt lost, he felt less… sad. He supposed being away from his parents would be good for a while. Living in that toxic environment was far worse than a few high school bullies… right?
