Time

Recess

Next was recess. There was soccer, basketball, hula-hoop, football, and a swing set. Caden ran up to me, his blonde hair swaying in the wind, "Hey Mike! Wanna hang out with me?" He had a smile on his face. "Uh.. Sure!" I said, not used to the energy. We sat down on a bench and talked. "Do you have a positive or negative backstory?" He asked out of nowhere. "Um.. what do you mean?" "I mean like, have you been through difficult things in your past?" He clarified. "Well, I've been picked on but that's about it. Life is great right!" I answered, hoping things would stay positive. "Oh... Lucky." He said, with a sigh. "Why is that?" "Well, you see," he started. "I live with an abusive father. My mom isn't on his side, but she doesn't... let's just say, accept me." I decided not to ask about the acceptance part, but I patted him on the shoulder and said, "It'll be alright bud. What exactly do they do?" "My dad physically hurts me. Not anything too bad, just a slap to the face here and there." I was silent for a few seconds until saying, "Why don't you tell anyone?" Before I let him answer, I thought the best thing to do was check his arms. Yep, I knew there would be cuts. "H-hey.. why would you do that, you i***t!?" he snapped, "Sorry, I'm used to hiding my arms.. I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I-" "Hey, it's alright," I added. "I just want you to be safe. It may be the first day, but I care." "Aw.. thanks. Please don't tell anyone" "I won't tell unless you don't stop. Things will get better, trust me." "Will they though?.." he said with a shaky voice. "Yes. Now let's go have fun so we can get our minds off of things!" I said with a smile. "Okay.."