A long walk home

When I woke up that morning, I thought my day would be like any other. I got ready for school. And went next door to share the long car ride to school with my cousins Sandy and Carmelo. They never said a word to me. And, I was too shy to say anything to them. The ride to school was long and silent. Sandy would put her makeup on and Carmelo would just look out the window. My uncle would say a thing here and there but that was all.

That was my 6th grade routine. I would go to school. Suffer without any friends through math, English, science, history, biology oh and ESL. Yes. I didn't have a cool elective like art class or choir. Two periods of my already tedious schedule were sacrificed to learning English. I didn't need them. Rosie, my best friend and cousin was teaching me everything I needed to learn. I couldn't wait to go home and hang out with her.

As the bell rang, I rushed from my class to wait for my uncle to take me and my other cousins home, but in a moment, everything turned to darkness. I encountered the first of many obstacles that would befall on me that day. To my unwanted surprise, it turns out my uncle wouldn't be picking us up from school that day. Sandy would walk home with her friends. "And who is gonna walk with the teletubby?" Uttered her friend Samantha. She was a huge boar like curly haired girl that took great pleasure in picking on me. "Carmelo, you walk with her" said Sandy, as she and her friends walked home. Carmelo gave me a quick look and said nothing. Then, he began to walk. I walked behind him and took comfort in knowing that at least he would keep me company, even if he didn't say a single word to me. I would have some sort of protection on that long and threatening way home. It was the first time I would ever walk home from that school.

I was so tired from doing all of those tedious grammar worksheets. I couldn't wait to be home, but now I would have to walk. I was tired and hungry, and Carmelo was so ashamed of walking next to me that he walked in front of me. I wondered what was going through his mind.

As I walked that lonely road, I began to notice that my companion walked faster and faster. He walked like a soldier ready for war. Only there was no war. Soon, he took a turn and I lost sight of him completely. He was gone! I tried looking for him but it was useless. That's when my heart dropped to my stomach. I knew he didn't like me, but I didn't think he would be so cruel to leave me all alone on that long road home. We hadn't even made it a tenth of the way there.

Now, I would have to walk all the way home alone. There were no pay phones to call home and even if there were, I had no pocket change and was too shy to ask for some.

I felt like a lost puppy in the middle of the city trying to make its way home through miles and miles of unknown territory. I had no one to turn to. I was as lonely as a single goldfish in a tiny tank, only the tank had been removed and I'd been placed in an aquarium sized one filled with hungry sharks waiting to eat me.

My fears grew to the size of tsunami waves. I had no choice but to walk home. I knew how to get there. I just didn't know whether I would survive.

I walked by the nearby high school. I saw a few older guys and girls, so I relaxed. They didn't know me and I didn't know them but at least they were my kind. They were walking home too. For a minute I was fine.

The next obstacle was the Magnolia park. A huge, but dark, wino infested lot that people called a park. I couldn't stomach the dangers lurking there. It could've been filled with rapists, child traffickers, drugs, poisoned needles, gangsters, crazy people, vicious dogs. Anything. I was so scared!

Yet, somehow, I made it safely through the park. My stomach was sick and I had to use the bathroom, but soon I was feeling better because in a few more minutes I would be home.

As I walked, many thoughts roamed through my mind.

For a moment in some ways, I kind of wished something would happen to me so my cousins would get punished for leaving me. I wanted life to teach them a lesson of responsibility. To make them realize what a terrible mistake they had made. I thought, if 'I disappear, people will put missing child posters, and everyone would hate my cousins for being so evil. My family would miss me a lot, but they would never forgive them. It would be interesting to see what they would do if that were the case. Maybe Carmelo and Sandy would be so emotionally scared by my disappearance that they would build a memorial in my honor or who knows maybe they would run away too.

A million ideas distracted me from the fact that I had walked alone such a long way by myself. I was beginning to feel calm.

It was then that one of my scary thoughts came true. It was at that moment that he appeared. In the distance, a tall and slim beast like man with long black hair wearing dark jeans and a dirty brown jacket was walking towards me. He seemed disoriented. As he got closer, I began to pray that he wouldn't see me. That he wouldn't notice me the way no one at school did. I reeked of fear. I hoped that he would simply pass by me and that I would be invisible to him.

I was lucky. He passed by me and saw me. And he didn't even acknowledge I was there. I felt a tiny moment of peace that would last less than a blink of an eye. I took a deep breath a turned around. Suddenly, I noticed he too had turned around and was now walking toward me. He was approaching fast. My fear had awaken his appetite. He was ready to take me away from my family. As my eyes grew to the size of oranges, I felt an immense fear take over me.

I ran as fast as I could. I was like a terrified cheetah that ran for her life. One that new it was only a matter of seconds before a hunter shot and killed me. I turned back to see if he was still there. That monster was walking slow, but he was still chasing me. During the race for survival, my heart pumped a million litters of blood. I looked everywhere to see if there was someone to help me. There was no one in sight. Suddenly, I came to an imaginary brick wall that would mark the end. I had encountered a red traffic signal. Now, I would have to choose between being kidnapped and possibly killed or being painfully run over by a stampede of 21st century beasts. All hope was lost. I had to chose between being killed instantly or being tortured. 'This is it. This is where it all ends.' I was ready to run into traffic. I was facing death right in the eye. But then, out of the blue something made me turn my head back. I turned to see the killer one more time. To see how close he had come to me. But what I saw made my heart stop. He was gone. He had banished into thin air. For a second, I felt safe.

When the light turned green, I once again ran, but this time instead of feeling fear, I experienced something else.

I was filled with a plethora of emotions that had been crammed inside me and were finally ready to come out. My defenseless little heart was broken. As I sobbed, I thought to myself "why would my cousin Carmelo walk away from me? Why wouldn't he stop? Why wouldn't he turn his head to see if I was still there? To see if I was, alive! Every tear that ran down my cheek carried with itself a painful memory. One that would help me realize how lonely I truly was. And how much I needed someone to care just a little bit that day. I thought "why wouldn't Sandy stand up for me every time her fat hideous friend called me a Teletubby? Why did she refuse to touch her heart and walk home with me that day? Did the angel on her right shoulder not yell loud enough? Where was her conscience?" Had they been there, my brother or sister would've never left me by myself. In fact, Yey and I used to walk home from school in Mexico all the time. We were family. But, then again, THEY were family too. The same blood that ran through my veins ran through theirs. But, they didn't see things that way. Maybe it was because I was born on a different planet. After all, my green-card did say I was an Alien. I was an intruder. An intruder in this country and in their lives. They never said it, but their actions were more than enough to show me how much they hated me. They loathed me for not speaking their language. For not being raised like them. And on top of that they hated me for being so nerdy and so unlike them. For not having any friends of my own. I felt alone. Confused. Angry.

With my heart shattered, I finally made it home.