the football team that beat him up with their fists leaving him sore all over. Jinks were forced to drag he home despite the soreness walking till he reached his home with his Mom. He went to his room ignoring his Mom sitting in the living room speaking his name with a curious tone in it. Jinks sat on his bed and allowed the tears to flow then he went to the window holding the bottle was sleeping pills which he looked out feeling a creepy feeling of being watched which he ignored. Jinks pulled down the shade getting rid of the feeling and went to his bed to sit on. He pulled out a bottle of water from his backpack and set it on his bed stand table with the bottle and sat staring at it. He reached with a hand slowly towards the bottle and stiffened as his hand was grabbed by another hand which jerked him to look at his left. He stared with shock seeing his Mom looking upset that pulled him up from the bed and hugged him while crying out his name repeatedly. Jinks burst into tears allowing the emotion to take control making his form shake. He waited till his Mom settled him on the bed in a sitting position with her next to him.
He stared at his Mom who signed “Jinks, talk to me. Are you being bullied?”
He stiffened at her question seeing an awareness look in her eyes that told him she knew something about him he didn’t know she knew.
Jinks signed as the tears flowed “I can’t take it anymore. I can’t take them bullying me. I just can’t take it.”
His Mom signed “Have you complained to the teachers about it?”
He signed “Their not listening to me when I complain to them. Their not doing anything at all and neither is the principal.”
Jinks looked down to stare at his hands. He felt a hand touch his chin forcing his head to look at his Mom’s direction which he looked to stare at her with pleading in his eyes.
He saw her sign “Jinks, I’ll talk to your father who’ll do something about it.”
Jinks stared at her with a confused expression on his face as she continued to sign “Your father is a powerful man with influence in the government and is well known. I’ll ask him to do something to make it easier for you at school. I must warn you that it’ll take time so you’ll have to put up with the bullying some more.”
He nodded his head as his Mom grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills then gently tousled his hair with affection in her eyes as he stared at her. He watched her leave the room closing the door. Jinks flopped himself onto the bed on his stomach and shut his eyes allowing himself to sleep while feeling exhaustion overtaking him. He dreamed of himself at a beach facing the water while wearing clothes that seemed alien to him. He stared at the water struggling to find peace within him. He felt a hand touch his left shoulder with a gentle tight grip which he looked to see with curiosity a man with his face having a serious expression while wearing a crown on his head and dressed in shiny clothing.
Jinks stared at the man who spoke in a voice tone that made him think it was cruel “Jinks, I’ll make sure that you won’t suffer what you’re suffering anymore. Just be patient for it’ll take time before your suffering will end and you can live life to its fullest.”
Jinks sighed as he felt the hand on his shoulder gently rub the area followed by the man putting his other hand on his forehead going lower to force his eyes shut.
Jinks remembered to he that it was the first time he met Lance in a dream and remembered his reaction to the meeting. He had jerked his eyes open with a gasp of shock running through him. He sat up with a confused expression on his face wondering who the man was. He shook his head as nothing came to his mind identifying him. He felt himself terribly hungry got up from his bed and went downstairs to see his Mom on the deaf type writer like phone called a TTY at a desk furiously typing on it while pausing to read words on the screen before typing again. Jinks sighed as he went to the kitchen and prepared a meal of a cheese sandwich which he found himself still hungry ate another sandwich and drank some milk from a cup. He went to the living room to sit on the couch staring at his Mom’s back and hearing her typing noises that made him think she was angry about something judging by the sounds. Jinks leaned back against the couch and shut his eyes ears still trained to the typing noises. He felt sleepiness hitting him felt himself tired opened his eyes and got up from the couch yawning. He went to his bedroom shutting the door and laid his form on the bed on his back and stared at the ceiling feeling sleepiness persist which he surrendered to it shutting his eyes.
Jinks remembered one day sophomore year day of the first football game happening. He was bullied by the football players before school very badly that made him sore all over. He spent the rest of the school day wincing of pain hitting him from his sore body whenever he moved. Jinks wound up bullied again by the football players after school enough to make him hurt some more that he had dragged he home instead of taking the bus to the football game. He arrived home and collapsed on the floor panting for breath. His Mom wasn’t in the apartment at this time which he crawled himself up the stairs crawling into his room shutting the door and got himself onto the bed shutting his eyes. He woke up as it was night time feeling he terribly ache with soreness all over and his clothes felt confining to him. He got up wincing and yanked his clothes and shoes off his form leaving his underwear shorts on and got back into the bed. He laid his form feeling the pain get worse groaned to feel he too weak to get up and pace. He groaned from the pain hitting him moaned loudly felt his underwear shorts become confining forced himself to get up from bed to yank them off. He got back onto the bed yanking the blankets to cover him up to his waist as he groaned loudly from the pain hitting him. He forced his eyes shut feeling himself too hurt to sleep forced them open to stare at the ceiling unseeing it in the darkness hitting his room. Jinks didn’t know how long he lay in bed till he heard the sound of his door open followed by a light switch clicking. He blinked his eyes from the glare of lamps turning on in his room as his Mom he saw walked into the room with an annoyed expression on her face that turned to shock with concerned worry in her eyes and facial expression seeing him.
Jinks forced his hands up to sign “Mom I hurt.”
He lowered his hands letting them fall limp on his sides as his Mom darted towards him to put a hand on his forehead which he felt soothed by her touch. He stared at his Mom who put hands on his face feeling him all over which he grimaced from her pressing on his skin. He grimaced forming it on his face as his Mom put her hands on his upper body pressing on the area then removed her hands.
He stared at his Mom who signed “You feel and look fine to me.”
Jinks groaned as his Mom put a hand on his forehead rubbing the area which he felt soothed from her touch sighed loudly.
His Mom signed again after removing her hand “Just get some sleep, Jinks. I’ll be downstairs on the phone with your father. I think I need to tell him to hurry up and do something. You being like this are not right.”
He could only nod his head as his Mom left him shutting off the lamps with the light switch and closing the door. Jinks laid in bed with his eyes open for an uncertain number of time which he felt exhaustion overtake him shut his eyes forcing himself to sleep.
Jinks remembered he spent the rest of the rest of the night and the rest of the weekend including a school day in bed sleeping on and off with visits from his Mom carrying trays of food for him to eat and checking on him. He noticed during her visits that she was appearing to scrutiny him with narrowed eyed looks while staring at his visible body not covered by the blankets.
Jinks recalled waking up one morning on a school day feeling he better. He felt himself hungry got up from the bed to find his clothes on the floor gone along with his shoes. He had assumed that they were put away along with his shoes in his closet. Jinks got up and noticed three big boxes on the floor of his room with his name on them scrawled in unfamiliar handwriting. He went to his dresser next to the bed to yank out clothes which he found the drawers empty. He frowned as he went to the closet to find it empty of clothes and groaned as he shut the closet door to stare at himself
in the mirror on the door. He stiffened with shock seeing himself no longer gawky thin but muscular with muscles on his body and eyed the growth chart on the wall next to the closet. He went to the growth chart and stood sideways pressing his form into the wall and brought a hand on top of his head making a vertical line to the growth chart and then stepped back to stare at where his hand was. Jinks widen his eyes seeing he had a growth spurt from his former height to a bigger height to tower above his Mom’s height. He sighed as he turned around to eye the boxes which he went to one and opened it to see clothes and shoes inside it and checked the other boxes to see that they held the same thing. He yanked out a pair of underwear shorts which he put on his form finding it fit his new growth spurt. Jinks yanked out clothes from the boxes and put them away along with the shoes. He found a bathrobe in the box put it on covering his form and with both hands carried the boxes out of the bedroom to down the stairs. He found the apartment empty and saw a note taped on the TV that mention that his Mom had gone out grocery shopping with nothing to indicate about the boxed clothes in his room. He frowned set the boxes in the living