“Don’t move. I have to give you your medicine,” my mom says.

It is practically clockwork. Every afternoon I had to get my medication, which not so pleasurably is from a massive needle.

I am the definition of a weird kid. Seriously, I never leave my house, and when I do it is in a full body blue gas suit. If that isn’t enough explanation for why I don’t like leaving my house, here it is plainly. Wouldn’t you laugh at a 11 year boy in a blue “astronaut suit?” Yeah laughing is just the beginning. The amount of stones thrown, punches made and spit slung is so bad, I’ve lost count.

Why do I wear a gas suit when I go everywhere? Simple. I am allergic to air. If any part of me is exposed to oxygen I quickly begin to burn. My blood boils, my skin welts, and ultimately my throat closes. I’m the only one in the world with it. The only one in the world who sits in a strictly oxygen filtered room alone all day.

Obviously there is no cure, and the pills I take everyday are supposedly “the only reason I'm still alive.” If I’m completely honest being alive is miserable. What is the point of life if there is no one to share it with?

The next day. The same time. The same pill. I pop it into my mouth from my mom's glove covered hands. But I don't swallow it. I spit it out and slip it into my shorts. I’m awaiting my death any minute now. “James take the pill or you die.” It is always James this, James that. I don’t care what my parents say anymore.

The next week. Same time. Same pill. At this point I was more than suspicious. The pills sloshed around in my pocket as I wonder why I am alive. There is only one way to find out.

I punch in the code, slowly unlatch the door and poke my head out. A sense of instant tension washes over me. I’m dying, I think as I gasp for air. But nothing happens, I breathe. I'm breathing, real air. How is this possible?

I can't think about anything else but breathing the fresh air. Grabbing the door handle my pulse increases. I sling open the door and dash into the yard slamming the door behind me. I'm normal now. The wind swirls around me, the birds chirp in harmony and the smell of fresh cut grass dances through the breeze.

For an instant it all stops. The pill. Why am I normal without taking the pill?

She grabs my wrist from behind me.

“Son. What do you think you're doing?” she says surprisingly calmly.

“You. You evil woman.” I choke on my words.

“James, I just wanted you to be mine forever. I don’t want you to leave, to go out into this big world,” she says as the bottle of oxygen poisoning pills shake in her coat pocket.