The Trip

" Good Morning " " Morning " " Good Morning " "Morning " " Good morning " " Morning " A bunch of kids scurried passed Frank repeatedly with happy expressions plastered on their faces. As soon as they got closer to him, words of greetings would immediately be spilled out of their mouths. Frank replied all of their greetings calmly even though his head was currently in a state of chaos. ' Should I go? ' He thought inwardly. A few weeks ago, his brother had invited him to come join him in managing his business in the city, but he had yet to give any actual feedback, which could therefore be taken as refusal. Normally, news like this is supposed to have being a good cause for celebration, but there was a problem. It all came down to an incident a long time ago. Once upon a time, he and his brother attended the same secondary school, which was weird, as after their primary school they had yet to both attend the same school again. Frank was someone who had always been praised by his parents and every other person who knew him at school for being an extremely intelligent person, always having his spot in the top eight of best students in a class of over thirty to forty students. The continuous praise had caused him to develop a sense of pride that was etched into his bones. Suddenly, after entering the same school with his brother due to some circumstances, for some unknown reason, Frank became unbelievably dull, so dull that he was overshadowed by everyone, becoming the worst of the worst in the school. His fame as a failure became so renowned that his name would be used as scape goat whenever teachers wanted to discipline or advise other students. His brother, Josh, on the other hand, though not excellent intellectually, had a level of fame that could be ranked among the top five of famous students. Mind you, this was a school of over a million students. He was the school renowned prince charming, girls and boys flocking to him like bees to their hive. Girls, crushing on him, while boys wants to be his friend to increase their own fame. Frank, who was once believed to be the golden seed between him and his brother, somehow ended up becoming the black sheep from that moment. Though this occurrence lasted for only one session, which was approximately one year, it left a not-so-easily removable shadow in his heart. Those moments of his life were the worst moments he had ever experienced. A few years later, after they had grown up, Josh was doing so well for himself in the city, while he was still here in the village. He, of course, felt off, though this feeling was nothing like jealousy. His action of not giving an answer or, better still, refusal, wasn't because he blamed his brother for what happened to him. No, it was nothing like that. The true reason was what he called a brain malfunction whenever he was around his brother. Whenever he was around his brother, that dull bearing he had painstakingly managed to wash off seemed to come back, causing him to become clumsy. Maybe it was just him overacting, or a mental strain left from those days. He didn't know, but he hadn't been able to get rid of this effect on him. Quite a number of people claimed that he was scared of his brother, but only he and his brother knew that it wasn't the case. His parents had consistently urged him to comply with his brother's suggestion and leave for the city, but he gave no reply. He would usually dodge the question systematically or find a way to get himself out of that situation. One thing was certain though, his parents didn't take his refusal likely. His refusal was like a fuel, leaving them in a furious state. They had even started to believe their earlier suspicions of him being jealous of his brother. Their suspicion served as more fuel to further increase their anger towards Frank. In the last few days, this feeling of anger had turned into aa minor form of maltreatment as they seemed more than willing to unleash hell on Frank if he let this opportunity slide away due to his stubbornness or whatever he called it. Even though he suffered maltreatment, Frank felt no sort of animosity towards his parents as he knew that their actions were merely due to the love and care they harbored towards him. They were unwilling to see him lay waste to this golden opportunity, as even though he could still be considered young, opportunity came but once wasn't an empty proverb. Such opportunities, especially in recent days, weren't ones that could be seen on a regular basis. Besides, though they claim to be willing to maltreat him, it wasn't anything serious as all they did was make him skip meals on a regular basis. Truthfully, they did this while knowing that their threat meant nothing to Frank as he currently had more than a single means of earning money for his meals per day. But that was just it, money for his meals. He was completely unable to afford any other utility he required. " Sigh..." A sigh escaped his lips as he slowly stood up and walked away. He had finally made a decision after his long time of contemplation.